The refinery is well known for its production of aviation fuel and one of the main objectives is to promote employee health and wellbeing, despite the often difficult working conditions.
During a 19-day major maintenance period, the refinery’s Vac Vessel required some repairs to be carried out in a confined space and without delay.
ChallengeTeams working inside the Vac Vessel were carrying out a range of activities including cleaning, grinding and welding stainless steel. Fumes created by these activities are carcinogenic and highly toxic, which if not removed could pose significant risk to the health of worker, especially when contained within a confined space.
Without a suitable fume extraction method, it would have resulted in over reliance on Personal Protective Equipment and downtime from stopping works due to a build up of fume and gas.
RAVEX® Wandafilta Plus Filtration Kits were installed with VENTEX® 200S HP Centrifugal fans for localised fume capture that filtered fumes to H14 (HEPA) standard. This means that an impressive 99.99% of 0.3-micrometer air particles are captured so out of 1,000,000 particles, only 10 particles will not be captured.
The fume extraction solutions used custom-made narrow arms that were fitted with brackets, meaning they were easily attached to scaffolding inside work areas, making it easy for workers to move the capture hood whilst welding to capture fumes directly at the source.
The turnaround was deemed a success, with KPIs and safety goals being met alongside customer requirements.
