Oil Sands Expansion
THE MAGAGINE DEVOTED TO NICKEL AND ITSAPPLICATIONS
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FLUE GAS DESULPHURIZATION plant at Syncrude Canada's oil sands processing facility in Fort McMurray,
Alberta, Canada. (Views of the same unit from different angles follow.)
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Flue gas desluphurization (FGD) plant to use low-iron nickel alloy. By Dr. Gerry
Crawford
Nickel magazine, October, 2003 -- Hundreds of tonnes of half a dozen different
nickel-containing alloys are being used in two new flue gas desulphurization (FGD) installations in Canada.
One is the Syncrude Canada oil sands operation at Fort McMurray, Alberta and the other is NB Power's Coleson
Cove oil-fired power generating station on the Bay of Fundy, near Saint John, New Brunswick (see separate story).
The new FGD plant for Syncrude is larger than the one at Coleson Cove. The absorber will be 21 metres in diameter and the complete installation will soar nearly 95 metres in height.
A distinguishing feature of this plant is the use of N06059. The material retains high corrosion resistance to aggressive media such as hot sulphuric acid, even in the welded condition. The alloy, 700 tonnes in all, is supplied both as solid plate, in thicknesses from about 6 to 13 millimetres (mm), and as 1.5-to-3-mm hot-rolled cladding on carbon steel backing, by Thyssen Krupp VDM, Germany.
Much time and care have been taken to develop and corrosion-test 20 specific welding procedures for the different forms of N06059. The tests were designed to optimize welding productivity and quality assurance. "One of the challenges has been to limit iron dilution in the weldment of the clad material to 3.5% iron, at most," says Brian Lade of Syncrude. "N06059 contains only 1.5% iron maximum, and dilution from the carbon steel backing compromises the corrosion resistance of the weld." The welding procedures are those of Horton CBI, a subsidiary of Chicago Bridge and Iron Co., the on-site fabricators of the plant.
The FGD plant is designed by Marsulex and will use the proprietary Marsulex process to produce ammonium
sulphate fertilizer. Marsulex will operate the facility, under contract, for Syncrude. SNC Lavalin, which has
offices in Calgary and Edmonton, is the engineering contractor. The FGD plant is scheduled to start up in
mid-2005. It is part of an upgrade and expansion that will increase oil production to 165 to 170 million
barrels per year by 2008. It will reduce air emissions to 200 tonnes of sulphur dioxide per day, from
the approved level of 245 tonnes per day. Syncrude is the world's largest producer of oil from oil
sands.
Dr. Crawford is a consultant to the Nickel Development Institute
COMPUTER RENDERINGS: courtesy of Syncrude Canada
 Syncrude Canada |
For other recent Nickel Magazine articles on the use of nickel-containing materials in the
energy sector, click here. |
