InfraStructures - September 2017 - Demag® AC 1000-9 Lifts Top Section of Fractionating Column at Refinery in Vienna

Demag^® AC 1000-9 Lifts Top Section of
Fractionating Column at Refinery in Vienna

A series of maintenance activities at the OMV refinery in Vienna, Austria, required for the 13 t top section of a fractionating column to be replaced. For this challenging task, which required ample planning expertise, OMV commissioned Austrian crane service provider Prangl Gesellschaft m.b.H., which relied on the capabilities of its Demag^® AC 1000-9 all terrain crane for the job.

Whenever production operations have to stop at a refinery, it costs a fortune. Accordingly, the Prangl team left nothing to chance and planned out the project with utmost meticulousness. They chose their Demag AC 1000-9 crane because it has enough lifting capacity to lift the load to the required height of 70 m while still maintaining an adequate safety reserve, and at the same time, it is manœuverable enough to move through the labyrinthine refinery with its numerous pipelines.

“The AC 1000 is our biggest telescopic crane, as well as one of the most powerful cranes in the world. That’s why we had it come from its previous work location in Hamburg all the way to Vienna without further ado,” points out Christian Fida, project manager at Prangl.

The AC 1000 was also able to shine at the refinery thanks to another one of its characteristics – namely, its ease of assembly. The Prangl assembly technicians had come up with a setup strategy that took advantage of precisely this characteristic: First, they pre-assembled the crane with the 100 m telescopic boom, Superlift system plus winch frame, and 4 outriggers in front of the refinery gates, after which crane operator Heinz Schuller manœuvered it underneath 2 pipe racks and all the way to the designated crane setup location. Once there, the 188 t counterweight was added and the outriggers were extended fully. With this configuration, the crane was ready to lift the top section, which weighed 13 t together with the slinging gear being used, to a height of 70 m with a radius of 60 m so that it would be possible to install it on the fractionating column.

Source: Terex Corporation

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