AK Engineering Awarded INVISTA Upgrade Contract

INVISTA (previously DuPont Textiles & Interiors) has awarded AK Engineering Services a contract to overhaul and upgrade the Ketone Alcohol (KA) Non Boric section of their Adipic Acid plant at Wilton, Teesside. KA is a mixture of cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol, and is an important nylon intermediate.

The project will be managed from the AK Engineering Services office in Stockton-on-Tees, whilst the pipework fabrication will be handled from its Wilton workshops. The initial planning commences immediately, and completion of the whole project is scheduled for early October 2004.

This is a multi-discipline project which includes elements of civil, structural, mechanical, E/I and piping scope. As well as the traditional overhaul workscope, the project includes the removal and replacement of existing piping and mechanical items and the installation of new process equipment.

In order to reduce the workload during and the length of the shutdown phase, AK Engineering Services aims to maximise the pre-shutdown phase of the project by pre-installing as much of the workscope whilst the plant is live. This will need to be carefully planned and executed to avoid any disruption to process operations. Any work executed during this period will be restricted to 'cold' work permits only.

INVISTA has nylon intermediate plants in the USA, Europe and the Far East, and expertise in a range of nylon intermediates technologies. The plant upgrade part of this project involves the boric acid technology being replaced with a high yield hydrogenation step within the cyclohexane oxidation process. This will make the process more environmentally friendly than the current production method and that of any commercial KA process.

Drawing on these global resources INVISTA was able to design a retrofit for the Wilton KA plant which will create one of the most competitive sites in the world, whilst at the same time adopting a technology with the lowest environmental impact of any commercial KA process. Ultimately, the full contract value to Aker Kvaerner for this project is expected to be approximately GBP10.5 million, however initially, Aker Kvaerner's contract will encompass the front end works (GBP2.5million).

Added to site on 27/04/04

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