Refinery-wide Advanced Controls Upgrade.
TALSON personnel were challenged with the consolidation and
upgrade of all controls within a 300,000 Bpd facility. Project
highlights included: 1000 P&ID's field verified, over 30,000 loops
converted in 40 process units, one new main control room with 6 satellite control rooms and 22 substations with 15,000 power monitoring loops.

Turnkey Design Build of a Multi-Million Dollar Wire
Manufacturing Facility.
Developed a 26-acre site and designed and installed the
infrastructure for a 600,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant and
1,000,000 sq. ft. warehouse. The facility consisted of a Rod Mill, Copper Rod Warehousing, Finished Goods Warehousing, Plastics Production Plant, Rail Loading/Unloading System, Aluminum/exotic metals production plant and warehousing.
Project was completed 20% under budget and 4 weeks ahead of schedule.

Design of First Commercial Catalyst Demetalization Facility.
The continuous process required the use of exotic metallurgy and ceramic-lined vessels to handle high temperatures (up to 1400 F) for 100% H2S and Chlorine gas. The three reactor vessels were fluidized and designed to handle the erosive and corrosive material. The waste water clean up had to remove the nickel and vanadium in .25 ph solution.

Emergency Design & Repair of Refinery Distillation Column.
A Caribbean refinery had an emergency shutdown and found
12 - 25 foot dia. trays destroyed. The original tray manufacturer
quoted an unacceptable 12 week delivery. TALSON personnel
were called to determine if the unit could be put back into service
in less time. Engineers worked around the clock to design new
trays, find material, fabricate new trays, package trays and install
them in the Caribbean refinery. The unit was in operation
10 days after the contract was awarded.

Activated Alumina Plant
This 35,000 man-hour project involved the design of an Activated Alumina Plant and all support offsite facilities. The scope of services included all phases of the project including conceptual planning, capital budget estimates, process design, and detailed engineering, preparation of construction bid packages, construction management assistance and project documentation.

Emergency Engineering Support Following Explosion of a Urea Autoclave Reactor
For the timely proceedings of the insurance claim, an assessment of the damage had to be made before the area was cleared and opened by OSHA. TALSON personnel assembled a Field Team of specialists to review the damage from afar, recording the damage on photographs and VCR. The initial damage estimate was prepared by listing all the equipment, using the available (and limited) P&ID’s, drawings, specifications, and maintenance records. The final damage estimate and report on repair cost and cost of lost revenues were prepared to support insurance adjustment requirements.

Design/Build $83MM Sugar Refinery and Ethanol Plant
TALSON personnel performed turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction services for a 4,000 metric ton cane per day (MTCD) sugar refinery and a 45,000 liter per day ethanol plant in a third world nation in Eastern Africa.

Relocation of Ammonia Plant from an Iowa Site to North Dakota
The relocation of a 1,000 ton a day ammonia plant was achieved in one week ahead of schedule. The scope was to take down, piece mark, and ship a 1,000 ton per day ammonia plant from Iowa to North Dakota. Total shipped load was 3,750 tons on 156 trucks. The largest single lift was 300 tons. The complete project from start to finish was completed in less than 11 weeks.

Replacement of Variable Speed Drives on Critical H-Oil Reactor Bottom Pumps
A Louisiana refinery utilized a process with four high temperature, high pressure reactors with non-spared variable speed circulation pumps with 250 horsepower motor drivers. To improve reliability and process control, a system providing redundant variable frequency drives (VFD) for each pump and a control system to improve response of process to replace the existing system was designed. The system was supplied in a prefabricated building. The scope of work included the installation of the building; specification of all electrical, instrument, and mechanical equipment; routing power and instrumentation underground from an existing MCC to the VFD and from the drives to the pumps. The instrumentation interface between the VFD and an existing DCS control system was also included in the scope of work. Internal control and monitoring of the VFD systems was performed through critical process controller (CPC). Interface between the CPC and the DCS data highway was through a DHP. This critical project started up on schedule and within budget.

One Grass-Roots Formaldehyde Unit and Upgrade Two Existing Units
TALSON personnel provided all engineering services for this 30,000 man hour project. In addition, all engineering services for the offsite transfer, storage, cooling water, and electrical facilities associated with this major upgrade project was provided. The existing controls and PLC were upgraded to a new DCS system.

Automation of 250,000 BPD Refinery Tank Farm and Gasoline Blending System
TALSON personnel performed the engineering for a 25,000 man hour project for instrumentation modernization of a tank farm and installation of an automated gasoline blending facility. A new DCS system was installed. The design included modifying interconnecting piping among blend components, finished gasoline, and local sales tanks to install remotely operated motor operated valves. Tank agitators were installed to accommodate blending directly to the local tanks rather than transferring to them from a large finished tank as was previously done. A new coalescer to remove aqueous caustic from gasoline was designed and specified along with a new tank gauging system and level and temperature indication for 120 tanks. A new blend control analysis system and auxiliary equipment skid was provided. The analysis was provided in a prefabricated building and included two knock engines, infrared analyzer, gas chromatograph, and two RVP analyzers.

Upgraded Refinery Wide Flare Gas Recovery System
This project was to eliminate maximum allowable working pressure of vessels, eliminate relief valve chaffer and reduce back pressure on the relief valves throughout the refinery. The project was performed in two separate phases as the North and South Flare projects. The design included new distribution headers, revisions to towers and vessels, and new relief valves and relief systems though out the plant. The project was designed around operating unit outages, and blinding and isolation installation procedures established. New pipe bridges and pipe racks through out the plant had to be installed. The scope of work included conceptual, process, and detail design.

Engineering/Procurement Services to Support Offsite Facilities for Refinery Low Sulfur Diesel Project
In order to support this critical schedule to implement the Refiner’s Low Sulfur Diesel Project, TALSON personnel performed the necessary engineering for such offsite facilities as:

• Flare Gas Recovery System
• Coke Pulverize Unit
• Automated Additive Injection Facilities for Lubricity, Red Dye, Cloud, and Pour
• Sulfur Analyzer System
• Analyzers, Control Rooms, and Injection Facilities
• Upgrade Automated Diesel Load Out Truck and Marine Systems
• DCS Control for Loading of Diesel Run Down Tanks
• Upgrade Low/Medium Electrical Transformer Capabilities
• Upgrade Sour Water Stripper Facility
• New Cooling Tower and Auxiliaries
• Replacement of Insufficient Pumps and Controls Systems in various process units