Avoiding the shutdown of BASF's ammonia plant
- The Challenge
Misdiagnosed problem at fertilizer plant could cause costly shutdown
- The Impact
BASF avoids shutdown and huge revenue losses
- The Solution
Correct diagnosis and a new specification power system
Client:BASF
Location:Antwerp, Belgium
Sectors:Petrochemical and refining
The Challenge
A fast solution for a costly cooling problem
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company. In Belgium, it has seven chemical production sites – the largest is in Antwerp. Here, at the company’s ammonia installation, about €10 of revenue is generated per second from fertilizer production. A shutdown would lead to huge losses.
Yet this is what BASF faced – or thought it did. The site’s maintenance manager contacted Aggreko asking if there was any way we could provide 7.5 MW of cooling capacity at minus 18°C at short notice. We both knew this was a near-impossible task. The real question was: is there another way to fix the problem?
The Solution
Address the problem’s root cause: vibration
We dug a little deeper and discovered that the root cause of the problem wasn’t cooling. Instead, two compressors running at 60 Hz were vibrating too much.
We designed a power system that ran between 45 and 50 Hz, significantly reducing vibrations and making it safe to restart the installation. We initially delivered 11 x 1,250 kVA generators to start the compressor, and then scaled back to four generators running round-the-clock, with seven on standby in case another restart was needed.
The Impact
Shutdown and revenue loss avoided
Without our power package, BASF’s ammonia plant would have faced shutdown for up to six weeks. At €10 per second, the revenue losses would have added up fast.
Instead, Aggreko helped BASF restart the installation with a power system that solved the root cause of the problem. With our temporary power in place, BASF could keep production going until new compressors were delivered.
