Integrated Global Services has continued with its duty of ensuring plant reliability globally with routine responses to emergencies even during this global pandemic

In these unprecedented times, delivering specialised services for mission-critical equipment in the energy sector can be a challenge. To this, IGS said - Challenge Accepted!

'For IGS, it is essential to keep delivering the quality of services that our clients around the world are expecting from us, so they, in turn, can continue to provide critically important services such as power and other energy products to the world economy,' says Hayden Hill, COO of Integrated Global Services (IGS).

IGS teams are stationed in multiple strategic locations around the world, enabling speedy mobilisation of crews to the various job sites. International travel can be required to resource the larger projects, such as the projects in the Middle East, where the IGS teams were in the middle of executing when the Covid-19 pandemic went global.

STAYING BACK

When it became obvious that global travel restrictions were imminent, the teams operating on multiple projects in the Middle East in February had to make that all important choice: to continue to execute the projects while risking not being able to get home, or to leave, thus, postponing the work.

The experienced and cohesive teams made the unanimous decision to stay and finish the projects. Upon completing the initial scope, IGS was able to execute additional work between January and March 2020 in both Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
 
Saudi Arabia: The project involved protecting four process vessels from metal wastage in two plants, from February 12–20 and March 3–6.

High-Velocity Thermal Spray (HVTS) cladding was applied to a rich amine flash drum, the preheater, the separator, and the stripper column protecting them from any further metal wastage and ensuring the reliability of these vital petrochemical complexes.

IGS was able to mobilise resources at very short notice and provide a metallurgical upgrade to the base metal of the vessels and columns suffering from severe corrosion damage. Both plants went back in operation ahead of their shutdown schedules.

Dennis Snijders, Senior Regional Director – Middle East, comments: 'A big salute to our crews for working under difficult circumstances, and still delivering the high quality that our customers deserve. IGS goes above and beyond! We continue to serve our customers throughout the Middle East while maintaining the health and safety of our field teams. We have been executing multiple projects in Saudi Arabia and Qatar since early January. We are still continuing to serve our customers in the Middle East to this date, despite the logistics challenges in moving resources in-country and between countries.'

IGS’s technicians and project managers are stationed in multiple locations enabling the delivery of project executions with very little notice in these ever-changing circumstances.

Japan: The project involved application of 565 sq m of HVTS in a circulating fluidised bed boiler, from March 23 to April 20.

Tokyo-based chemical company and the world’s fourth-largest silicon manufacturer is operating is No 7 CFB Boiler to provide power and steam for its petrochemical plant. The company has an annual shutdown of the No 7 CFB boiler in March-April, where IGS Japan team, with the help of IGS technicians from the USA and Indonesia, completed the project on schedule, even with extended scope.

Indonesia: The project involved 305 sq m of HVTS cladding applied in Unit 1, from March 23 to May 5. A government-owned electricity provider has been operating its boilers below full capacity. To help increase capacity, IGS applied HVTS in its coal-fired boiler. Despite issues with getting the resources on time due to the global pandemic, the project was completed successfully by the IGS local team in Indonesia with QC support from IGS Japan.

Poland: The scope involved CFB boiler waterwall protection, from May 19-22. IGS mobilised to support a turnaround in a power plant, which is part of Poland’s critical power infrastructure. The team made a thorough inspection of the CFB boiler waterwalls and identified high metal wastage areas. These areas were refurbished with the HVTS cladding to prevent leaks of the pressure parts.

The power plant also asked to protect an additional area, which was subjected to an accelerated metal loss. IGS team managed to execute this further scope promptly, avoiding any delays in the critical path. IGS HVTS cladding stops base material metal loss, making pressure part-exchange and welding obsolete.

France: The project involved extending components’ lifetime, from May 26-27. An FCC unit in a refinery had localised pipeline erosion at the elbows and tees. IGS Europe applied HVTS cladding to remedy the problem and extend the lifetime of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) column, avoiding replacement and associated downtime and costs.

US: IGS was invited to preserve the life and ensure the reliability of a Copper mine’s FS waste heat boiler (WHB) inlet tubes through SO2 corrosion mitigation, and a variety of other areas, from May 25-30.

Italy: The project involved boiler revamp, from May 28 to June 9. A waste-to-energy boiler was suffering fireside corrosion on the waterwall tubes. IGS has applied its HVTS cladding at the top of the 2nd path and the superheater tubes in the same area. This application will significantly extend the lifetime of these critical boiler components’, preventing any unforced outages in the future.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT DURING COVID-19

IGS has produced documentation and carried out extensive training for all its staff aimed at reducing the spread of the Covid-19 virus while working in a safe environment and providing first-class services for their customers. Some of these best practices that continue to enable IGS to deliver projects during this global pandemic include:
 
Travel to and from site: All staff have been provided with their own face masks to be used while traveling. Best practice on avoiding contact with surfaces, such as using prepay or digital payment methods, has also been shared. Most importantly, frequent hand washing, and sanitizing have been stipulated.

Lodging and accommodation: Staff have been thoroughly briefed on what to expect in hotels, which have now implemented their own procedures and protocols for reducing the spread of the virus. From unnecessary items being removed from rooms, to changes in cleaning services and ‘Grab and Go’ breakfast arrangements.

General precautions: Daily temperature checks before the shift start have been made mandatory. While IGS is still operating in 12-hour shifts due to the necessary project completion deadlines, the teams will not overlap and all contact between teams will be avoided. Toolbox talks are conducted while maintaining social distancing. Reusable PPE is disinfected prior to the start of each shift.

Site safety: Asset owners have implemented their own control measures, which are to be followed and include: pre-site access quarantine, site access temperature screening, site access questionnaires, Covid-19 awareness training, and new PPE requirements, among others.

Symptomatic employees: Immediate self-isolation is enforced if an employee is showing any signs or symptoms of Covid-19 or if they have been exposed to another person with suspected Covid-19 or its positive diagnosis.

Routine responses to emergencies: Every day, IGS dedicated local teams continue to perform safely and efficiently in these challenging conditions. All while ensuring the reliability of the most critical energy and chemical producers to facilitate the continuity of essential services in these challenging times.

IGS is an international provider of surface protection solutions headquartered in Virginia, US. It operates operational hubs, subsidiaries, and sales offices around the world to service global asset owners and operators.

IGS has 40 years of experience helping customers solve metal wastage and reliability problems in mission critical equipment and is an industry leader in the development and application of solutions to corrosion and erosion problems in challenging operating environments.

IGS’s proprietary High Velocity Thermalspray (HVTS) coating systems solve corrosion and erosion problems in process vessels, towers, columns and other mission critical equipment.

IGS’s Cetek ceramic coatings and Hot-tek cleaning, repair, and inspection services optimise the efficiency of high temperature process equipment.

IGS’s environmental products improve the reliability and efficiency of critical equipment with unique solid particle filtration and airflow redistribution.