Engineering Company with a Passion for Technology ... - Iv-Groep

Ivormatie is a publication of Iv-Groep | Volume 25 | December 2011
ormatie
magazine
Engineering Company with a Passion for Technology
Magazine
Designing DolWin Alpha platform | Iv-Consult designs dry
dock Oceanco | A wastewater treatment plant for Kobuleti

Excavation Panama Canal
Challenges
It is Tuesday 15 November. I am in Panama to discuss a few ongoing matters with the client. As readers will
probably know, we are currently designing the new Panama Canal lock gates. This is an enormous project, and as
in all enormous projects there can occur some enormous problems. Perhaps it would be better to describe them
as ‘challenges’.
But there are no problems or challenges today. I am on site, standing at the bottom of a deep trench through
which the new, extended canal will flow in just a few years. It is some fifty metres deep and at least 100 metres
wide. It is difficult to estimate the length: this is, after all, a canal. It is easy to spot where the new lock gates will be
located, since the excavations are much wider at this point. Standing here, one feels very insignificant. It is a very
special feeling.
They are currently pouring the concrete. At present, some 20,000 m 3 is mixed and poured every month, but the
volume will be increased to 120,000 m 3 a month. And that is just for one complex: the same volume will be
required on the other side of the canal. These are enormous quantities which are almost beyond comprehension.
According to my maths, 120,000 m 3 a month is the equivalent of twelve thousand truckloads: four hundred a day,
forty an hour. Almost one truck a minute, every minute.
These enormous quantities are produced at a new purpose-built plant where rocks are broken up and the debris
mixed with sand, cement and water. Some water is added in the form of ice: for cooling, it would otherwise become
far too hot. My calculation overlooks one salient point: there are no trucks. The concrete is actually transported to
wherever it is needed on enormous conveyor belts.
What an undertaking! And just think: when the canal was originally dug over a hundred years ago, none of this
hi-tech machinery had been invented. Everything had to be done by hand or with very rudimentary machines.
Excavating this much soil with just a shovel and small digging machines just doesn’t bear thinking about. It were
the French who first attempted to construct a canal to link the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. That project began
in 1880, but was abandoned after over 20,000 workers had died, mostly from malaria and yellow fever. In 1904,
the United States launched a second effort. Despite a further 5,600 deaths, the gates of the Panama Canal were
officially opened on 15 August 1914. Their replacements must be ready precisely one hundred years later.
Rob van de Waal
Managing Director Iv-Groep
I realize that I am standing on a location with a truly remarkable history. What an honour it is
to work on a project like this. And the ‘challenges’? They’re all in a day’s work!
2 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011
December 2011, Volume 25, Number 5
Editorial staff
Iv-Groep, Marketing & Communication
department
Ivormatie
A publication of Iv-Groep:
Iv-Oil & Gas
Iv-Infra
Iv-Industrie
Iv-Consult
Iv-Water
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Escher Process Modules
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Muzada
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Iv-Consult Sdn. Bhd.
Iv-Caribbean
Nevesbu
Editorial office
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Copyright © 2011 Iv-Groep. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part requires written
permission.
Cover: Buska Bay asphalt lake on Curaçao

Content
4
6
8
12
14
18
22
24
28
30
Winksele compressor project
A completely new H-Gas compression station at Winksele, Belgium
BP Chirag Oil Project
ESCHER focusses on Caspian Sea
Transporting Wind Energy
Designing the DolWin Alpha platform
The IJsselmeer area
Condition assessment and maintenance scheduling inspections in the largest
lake district in the Netherlands
Building a wastewater treatment plant for Kobuleti
Improving the water supply and effluent treatment
Oceanco new-build
Iv-Consult designs dry dock
Integration of free cooling into an existing operational situation
Iv-Industrie delivers engineering services for India's 'largest
blast furnace'
Cleaning up Buska Bay asphalt lake on Curaçao
A relatively simple solution to a major environmental problem
Early attention to risk and safety management offers extra
oppurtunities
ormatie
3

Winksele compressor project
A completely new H-Gas compression
station at Winksele, Belgium
In June 2010 Joint Venture Winksele (JVW), a cooperation between Visser & Smit Hanab and
Iv-Oil & Gas, was awarded an EPC contract by Fluxys NV at Brussels for the design, construction and
installation of a completely new H-Gas compressor station. The project comprises the Engineering,
Procurement and Construction (EPC) of the station, including the Completion and Commissioning.
The project will be carried out at Winksele in Belgium. In the 2010 December edition of the Ivormatie
magazine we already informed you about this project, now the construction work is in full swing.
4 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

Het compressiestation bestaat uit vier nieuwe compressoren samen
met de vereiste bijpassende installaties, constructie en civiel werk.
Dit zorgt voor een compressiecapaciteit van maximaal 3.500.000
Nm³/h. Iedere compressor heeft een vermogen van 18 MW en
is elektrisch aangedreven met variabele regeling. De installaties
bestaan verder onder andere uit filters, koelers, transformatoren,
controle systemen en vereiste ondersteunende voorzieningen. De
constructie activiteiten bevatten de bouw van de gebouwen, de
omheiningen, de fabricage en installatie van de nieuwe installaties
en pijpleidingen, de complete elektrische installatie vanaf 150 kV en
een afblaastoren.
Joint Venture Winksele
Visser & Smit Hanab and Iv-Oil & Gas, Joint Venture Winksele, are
fully responsible for the project as a whole. Iv-Oil & Gas is designing
the entire gas compressor station and is handling procurement.
Visser & Smit Hanab is responsible for the mechanical side of the
construction work. All other work is being carried out by the Joint
Venture.
Project
Starting its design and engineering work in July 2010, Iv-Oil & Gas
subsequently began purchasing all equipment, pipes, instruments
and electrical components. At the end of January 2011, JVW
received permission to prepare the site facilities for construction
work. It was possible to cordon off the temporary site after
confirmation of the first permit. The site was hardened with gravel
to enable the beginning of constructing the project office. Because
the new compressor station is being built alongside an existing
station, five incoming and outgoing gas pipelines are already in
the ground. These pipes were localised and marked with concrete
tiles to avoid heavy vehicles to drive over them. To protect the
underground pipes, crossover protections were created at places
where JVW must cross the existing pipelines. Our customer Fluxys
has also moved into the project office to oversee the project in
terms of progress, quality standards and safety onsite.
Oil & Gas
The civil engineering work began by excavating the site at
the location of the transformer building, the extinguishing
water reservoir and the substation. Then a temporary road was
constructed and the road along the compressor station was
broadened. After the foundations of the other buildings had been
excavated, the temporary floors and the reinforcement could be
realised. Two tower cranes were used to ensure that the different
types of work could be carried out in rapid succession. One crane
was used for the transformer building and substation, while the
other was used for the compressor and VSD buildings.
In April 2011 the first fittings and piping materials arrived at piping
pre-fabricator Visser & Smit Hanab at Veendam (the Netherlands)
and onsite in Winksele. The Fluxys specifications were used
to compile welding procedures and these were subsequently
submitted to Fluxys for approval. The welding work was started
after all the material certificates had been checked, the welding
procedures had been approved and a pre-inspection meeting had
been held with Fluxys. The made to measure pipe sections were
installed underground and in the buildings. The first machines and
150 kV transformers have been installed and the compressors and
filters will follow in the coming months. The project is contractually
scheduled for completion in September 2012.
Michel Bosman,
Manager of Projects, Iv-Oil & Gas
5

BP Chirag Oil Project
ESCHER focusses on Caspian Sea
Escher Process Modules (ESCHER) secured a prestigious order from BP at the beginning
of last year for the design and delivery of a gas dryer installation consisting of a glycol
contactor, gas scrubber, glycol regeneration unit and hoisting equipment. The gas
dryer is part of the BP Chirag Oil Project in the Caspian Sea. It was shipped out from the
Netherlands to Azerbaijan at the end of August 2011. In October this feat of engineering
was put in its final place on the offshore platform. Vincent Rüter, deputy director of
ESCHER, explains how the project has progressed and outlines the next steps.
6 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

BP has five offshore platforms in the Caspian Sea for the
development of the Azeri-Chirag Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) field,
which started in 1994. The field is now completely operational
and BP is using the five platforms to produce oil and export it via a
large terminal at a rate of 1.2 million barrels a day. BP has invested
another six billion dollars in an additional platform – the Chirag Oil
Project – that will be operational by year-end 2013. BP approached
ESCHER in autumn 2009 and requested a design for a gas dryer
installation needed on the new offshore production platform for the
Chirag Project.
ESCHER and BP had previously cooperated with each other
several times. But on this occasion it was not just about a new
design with important safety aspects, but also about a state-ofthe-art
end-product. ESCHER is doing more than just the design,
emphasises Rüter, it is also responsible for the execution of the
design, manufacturing, testing and transport. At the beginning of
last year BP and ESCHER conducted negotiations for the gas dryer
installation. This is a major project for ESCHER which was discussed
thoroughly. The design and proposal were subsequently tailored
to fit the project and in March 2010 ESCHER received from BP the
contract to design, build, certify and deliver the new installation.
The gas dryer installation extracts water and hydrocarbons from
the gas. The gas mixture runs through two large drums. The first
drum removes the free water and the second absorbs most of the
residual water and hydrocarbons by means of the added glycol.
The ‘dry’ gas then passes through the outlet. A regeneration unit is
used to cleanse the glycol of some of the water and hydrocarbons
for reuse in combination with freshly added glycol. The exact inlet
specifications and, even more important, the outlet specifications
were laid down contractually.
Vincent Rüter is enthusiastic about the innovative nature of the
design. He says: “What we’ve developed for this client is also usable
in other fields. For example CO drying, because it involves the same
²
aspects. The lessons learnt from previous projects were examined
critically during the design work, because ease of maintenance,
accessibility and safe operation of the installation were key aspects.
When it comes to these subjects you can learn time and again from
earlier projects or recently gained experience.”
Oil & Gas
“Besides the lessons learnt, the dimensions and weights of the
entire installation required extra attention, because of its use
offshore, the need for hoisting, the safety requirements and because
the installation has to fit into the limited space available on the
drilling platform. Optimisation and efficiency are very important.”
To design the installation ESCHER cooperated intensively with
various specialists available in-house at parent company Iv-Groep.
They included professionals at Iv-Oil & Gas, Iv-Consult and
Iv-Industrie. “That is the real strength of our organisation and also
part of the added value we offer our clients,” says Rüter.
On completion of the drawings and calculations, ESCHER in its
role of main contractor engaged various qualified subcontractors
and suppliers for the required components and activities. For the
manufacturing of the installation the leading role in this project
went to Hollandia Systems of Heijningen (the Netherlands), where
the skid-mounted unit was ultimately constructed under ESCHER’s
responsibility and supervision. ESCHER cooperates regularly with
this company on account of its considerable know-how within the
offshore, chemical and process industries. All in all it took six months
to complete the manufacture and assembly of the piping. In early
August the installation underwent a thorough Factory Acceptance
Test (FAT) in consultation with the client. This was followed by
fine-tuning, after which the structure was shipped to the Caspian
Sea towards the end of August to be lifted on to the platform in
October. The next step will be to connect the installation to the rest
of the oil platform of which it will be an integral part. Vincent Rüter
expects the internals to be installed in the drums in spring 2012. He
does not expect the installation to be commissioned before yearend
2012. For that process ESCHER will provide various specialists
to work alongside the client on the platform for the commissioning
of the entire installation. After commissioning the climax will be
the Site Acceptance Test (SAT), which involves demonstrating that
everything is working properly and that all defined specifications
have been met. “We will obviously remain responsible for the
project all the way to the end of the warranty period in 2014,” says
Rüter.
Vincent Rüter
Deputy director, Escher Process Modules
7

Transporting Wind Energy
Designing the DolWin Alpha Platform
Multiple offshore HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) transformer substations are being built at
about 60 km off the German coast in the North Sea. These substations are used to convert electric
power from Alternating Current (AC) to Direct Current (DC) in order to interconnect offshore
wind farms to the German power grid. TenneT Offshore GmbH is the Electrical Grid Controller
of the substations and the customer for the design, manufacturing and installation of the HVDC
transformer platforms.
8 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

Location of DolWin Alpha
DolWin Alpha
Netherlands
DolWin Alpha is one of these HVDC transformer platforms.
ABB Offshore Wind Connections is the main contractor for the
entire project. The project consists of the DolWin Alpha offshore
transformer platform, an onshore transformer substation at Dörpen
(Germany) to make the connection with the German electricity grid
and all the interconnecting onshore and offshore cables.
Heerema Fabrication Group in Zwijndrecht (the Netherlands) was
contracted by ABB to design and build the platform including its
platform support facilities and they asked Iv-Oil & Gas to perform
the design.
Germany
Oil & Gas
Offshore wind farm
Energy is increasingly generated from wind farms offshore, because
of the great potential of the wind offshore. A growing number of
offshore wind turbine farms are being developed.
The energy, generated by a wind farm, is gathered at 155 kV
Substations. From these substations, the energy is transmitted by
Subsea cable to an HVDC Transformer Transmission Platform.
Here, the energy will be converted from high-voltage alternating
current (155kV AC) to direct current (320kV DC) and transported
onwards to shore. Because of large throughput and the long
distance to the shore, it is proven to be more economical to
transport the electricity by direct current than by alternating
current, as it reduces the energy losses caused by heat dissipation.
9

Dimensions of the DolWin Alpha platform, seen from the front and side
DolWin Alpha platform
The DolWin Alpha platform houses an 800 MW HVDC transformer
substation. This substation receives electrical energy from
the nearby wind farm substations, each supporting blocks of
approximately 80 wind turbines, using relatively short distance
subsea cables at 155 kV 3-phase AC. At the HVDC substation, the
alternating current is converted to 320 kV direct current to be able
to transport the electricity to the onshore receiving substation.
Flowchart
8 metres
20.8 metres
10 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011
62 metres 43.3 metres
24 metres
9.5 metres
21 metres 36 metres
27 metres
41.68 metres
The HVDC transmission platforms are grouped together at sea to
be able to expand the HVDC system easily, reducing the operating
costs. By installing bridges between the platforms, one of them,
normally the first one, will be used as mother platform. The mother
platform houses all the central facilities, such as the living quarters
and a helicopter deck. DolWin Alpha will act as a mother platform.

The key components of the transformer platform are a 155 kV Gas
Insulated Switchgear (GIS) for connecting the AC cables to the wind
farm, main transformers of 155 kV/320 kV and a 400 kV rated GIS
for linking and protecting the main step-up transformers. Other
components are also necessary, as the flowchart on the previous
page shows.
The DolWin Alpha platform consists of a jacket with a large topside.
The jacket comprises a conventional support structure with six
legs, which has a footprint of approximately 24 x 26.4 metres. The
legs are supported by six foundation piles driven approximately
55 metres into the bottom of the sea. At the platform location, the
water depth is approximately 27 metres. The jacket further supports
the 12 ‘J tubes’ (used to pull and guide the electricity cables on to
the platform) and four caissons to protect the sea water pumps,
used for the cooling system.
The topside measures approximately 62 x 43.3 x 36 metres,
excluding the helicopter deck. The total weight of the platform
as a whole is 17,500 tonnes, with the topside accounting for
11,000 tonnes, the jacket 4,000 tonnes and the six piles jointly
approximately 2,500 tonnes.
Windfarm
Substation
platform
33/150 kV
Transformer
platform
O�shore
Distance and power
determine AC or DC
energy transfer
155 kV Ac kV320 kV Dc
155/375 kV Ac 320 kV Dc
Input from other substation platform
Transmitting large volumes of energy over large distances results in large losses in the transmission cables
There is a tipping point at which it becomes more economical to transmit the energy by means of direct current instead of alternating current
Requirements
The platform design satisfies the requirements laid down by the
German Authority for offshore installations, BSH (Bundesamt für
Schiffe und Hydrography), while the design calculations and safety
facilities are being reviewed and verified by the independent
classification society DNV (Det Norske Veritas). The platform,
including all equipment, was designed according
to the regulations. The emphasis was on availability of the power
transmission system, the reliability, low maintenance and easy
servicing and repairs.
The platform and all its supporting systems have a minimum service
life of 30 years and have been designed with a view on minimizing
the total cost of ownership, based on operational and maintenance
costs. Suppliers are required to guarantee the availability of spare
parts and technical support for the platform’s entire service life.
=
Onshore
DC Link
Transformer
platform
=
Oil & Gas
Electricity
grid
Wim van der Horst
Project Manager, Iv-Oil & Gas
11

The IJsselmeer area
Condition assessment and maintenance
scheduling inspections in the largest lake
district in the Netherlands
The Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (‘RWS’) is a Dutch
government agency with a department that is responsible for the area in and around the
IJsselmeer, an artificial lake in the centre of the country. The department’s tasks include
managing four primary flood defences and constituent assets such as hydraulic structures
like locks and sluices. The catchment area embraces the Afsluitdijk causeway and the
Houtribdijk dike that protect the important IJsselmeer and Markermeer freshwater basins.
RWS also manages waterways in the IJsselmeer, Markermeer and peripheral lakes around
Flevoland and various adjacent banks, harbours and mooring facilities.
12 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

Scope
RWS put out an inspection contract to obtain a good picture
of the current situation throughout this area and of the likely
maintenance costs over the coming fifteen years. The contract went
to the combination Advin/Iv-Infra/Tauw. The Management and
Maintenance and Waterways sectors of Iv-Infra carried out the work.
Inspections
The inspections were performed from land and on water. A new
vessel was used for the waterborne inspections. The vessel is usable
for inspections in all coastal and inland waters. The small height
of the vessel makes it ideal for inspections around the waterline. It
makes it possible to obtain from the right perspective a snapshot of
the degradation of bank protection and structures caused by wave
attacks or corrosive conditions.
Waterborne inspection in the harbour of Den Oever
Reproduction
The observations made at these large assets were recorded by
GPS to ensure the reproducibility of the inspection results. The
data of the GPS loggers was linked to photographs taken during
the inspection. The advantage of this approach is that photo
overviews are viewable by means of readily accessible software. The
photographs were put on to the map in the right locations.
Lorentz sluices at Kornwerderzand
Infrastructure & Ports
Condition assessment according to NEN 2767-4
The present condition of RWS’s IJsselmeer area was recorded in
conformity with the new NEN 2767-4 standard for assessing the
condition of infrastructure. The standard prescribes a method
for uniformly describing assets and the defects and deficiencies
observed on them. Application of this method produces a condition
score that indicates the state of the different parts of an asset and
the expected residual life.
Risk management
The condition assessments were supplemented by a risk-based
prioritization and long-term maintenance scheduling inspection.
The data was entered in the database of the Iv-Beheerprogramma
(Management Program). This is a program that provides a clear,
uniform and transparent report on each asset. The generated
maintenance schedule also clearly shows the costs of each
asset. One of the key advantages is the establishment of a clear
relationship between the observed defects, the risk analysis and
the repair recommendations. The repair recommendations are
subsequently re-included in the risk analysis to assess their effect.
Risks that cannot be reduced to an acceptable level after targeted
measures will thus remain visible.
The entire RWS IJsselmeer catchment was mapped in this way to
give RWS in its role as the infrastructure manager an unambiguous
picture of the prevailing condition of the assets, the risks and
the maintenance costs. This provides the manager with accurate
information for managing, maintaining or commissioning the
maintenance of its catchment area.
Bas de Ruiter
Advisor Asset Management, Iv-Infra
13

Building a wastewater treatment plant
for Kobuleti
Improving the water supply and effluent
treatment
Kobuleti is situated on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, 35 km from the regional capital of Batumi. The
town has always attracted tourists and has great potential for becoming Georgia's principal
tourism centre. Tourism is one of the key pillars of economic growth in Georgia, so the country's
central government decided, in consultation with the regional government, to press ahead on
developing Kobuleti. They have given high priority to developing the town's infrastructure by
improving the water supply and effluent treatment. The objective is to improve the standard of
living for the local population and tourists. The European Union regards pollution in the Black Sea
as the region’s main problem and is subsidising the project.
Settlement tank with a chain-and-flight collecting mechanism
14 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

These are the circumstances under which Orange Water Solutions
(part of Visser & Smit Hanab) was contracted to design and build
a water treatment plant for the Kobuleti region. To carry out this
contract Visser & Smit Hanab asked Iv-Water to contribute its
specific knowledge of treating effluent and building wastewater
treatment plants.
Project
The objective of this project is to use simple and proven technology
to design an economically sound and maintenance-friendly plant.
The design of the wastewater treatment plant can be divided into
four disciplines:
• process technology: design the process from effluent to 'clean'
water;
• mechanical engineering: design and produce specifications for
all mechanical engineering installations and process pipelines;
• electrical & instrumentation engineering and process
automation: design all electrical systems and the automation of
the wastewater treatment plant;
• architectural design: design all architectural elements, including
the building itself and the concrete tanks complete with their
foundations.
Cross-section of a settlement tank with a chain-and-flight collecting mechanism
Water
The design of this project presented the challenge of dealing with
greatly fluctuating seasonal loads. An explosive growth in the
number of residents in the tourist season means a far greater supply
of sewage at this time of the year, than in the other seasons. So
the wastewater treatment plant has to be sized to handle the load
in both periods. Another challenge was the short time available
for preparing the design. Everything had to be ready within three
months.
Engineering of a wastewater treatment plant with an active
sludge system
The process at the Kobuleti wastewater treatment plant involves
biological treatment using an 'active sludge system'. A variety of
bacteria grow in this system. The types of bacteria partly depends
on the inbound effluent. It is necessary to bring the bacteria to a
state where the right bacteria will grow and survive so as to achieve
the targeted level of treatment.
15

The Kobuleti wastewater treatment plant consists of a selector,
an aeration tank, settlement tanks, sludge thickener and sludge
storage.
The Selector
A selector is needed to obtain active sludge with good settlement
properties. Two kinds of bacteria grow in a biological treatment
plant. They are bacteria that grow as flakes and bacteria that grow
as strings. The strings interfere with the separation process in the
settlement tank. Therefore, the selector 'selects' the bacteria that
grow as flakes from the other bacteria. The result is a lower Sludge
Volume Index (SVI) and, consequently, a better separation process.
Aeration tank
The aeration tank is where the biological treatment actually occurs.
The water is twirled around in a carousel in the aeration tank while
oxygen is added. See the accompanying photograph of an aeration
tank in Antwerp (figure 1). Oxygen is added by means of a surface
aerator. Figure 2 shows a surface aerator. Various processes occur
due to the changing conditions in aerated and non-aerated zones.
Figure 1 An aeration tank in Antwerp
Figure 2 A surface aerator
16 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011
Settlement tanks
Sludge is separated from effluent in settlement tanks by allowing
the sludge to settle on the bottom. Specifically for the Kobuleti
wastewater treatment plant, it was decided to use rectangular
settlement tanks. The sludge is scraped from the bottom by a chainand-flight
collecting mechanism into the collector from where it
is pumped away. Given the great load differences between the
different seasons, it was decided to build several settlement tanks
alongside each other. All will be used in the tourist season. In the
other seasons it will be possible to suffice with only one settlement
tank.
Sludge thickener
The sludge is thickened in the sludge thickener to reduce its water
content. This makes it cheaper to dispose of the sludge.
Sludge storage
The thickened sludge goes to the sludge storage from where it can
be pumped into lorries for outward shipment.
Status update
The design has been submitted to the client in Georgia for
evaluation. Over the coming year a civil engineering contractor will
be sought in Georgia to start building the foundations and concrete
structures. All equipment and all systems will be purchased in the
Netherlands and shipped to Kobuleti (this is a requirement of the
organisation providing the subsidy). The initial construction work is
expected to start in 2012, with delivery of the wastewater treatment
plant scheduled for 2013.
Marcel Krullaars
Project Manager, Iv-Infra

Water
17

Oceanco new-build
Iv-Consult designs dry dock
A customer with a vision came up with these terms of reference: “Give us a functional building
that looks like a showroom and has a museum-like climate to enable us to take the next step in
building luxury yachts, the step from 100 to 140 metre-plus yachts.”
The customer’s wish
Alblasserdam Yachtbuilding Properties b.v. (AYP) develops, builds
and sells highly exclusive and innovative super-yachts under its
Oceanco brand. To fulfil its ambition – to build super-yachts with
lengths up to approximately 140 metres – the company decided in
2010, after years of deliberation, to develop a covered dry dock. The
complex must be built on the Zuiderstek 30 site, the former
Giessen-De Noord yard, in Alblasserdam (the Netherlands).
Construction work is due to start mid-April 2012 and delivery is
scheduled for mid 2014.
18 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011
The work of designing the complex has been divided into two parts.
Roughly speaking they are the superstructure and the substructure.
Iv-Consult is responsible for the substructure. This comprises the dry
dock with its foundations, the main dock door and an intermediate
door. There are now also twelve contracts for extra work, including
demolition and modification of a jetty, expansion of a retaining wall,
design of a swivelling crane gantry and a launching facility.

Location
The site at Zuiderstek 30 is the former Giessen-De Noord shipyard.
AYP is already using the northern side of the site. The company
builds yacht hulls with lengths of up to 80 metres in the existing
factory with workshops and offices. This work occurs at ground
level. The yachts are transported between the water and the
factory by means of an on-site ship lift and self-propelled modular
transporters.
Transport of Y703 to the ship lift
On the southern side there were until recently still some old
buildings belonging to the former Giessen-De Noord yard. All have
now been removed and stripped to their foundations. There are still
numerous obstacles in the subsoil and also some minor pollution.
The obstacles must be removed and the soil must be remediated
before construction can get underway in 2012.
Yacht building process
The business process consists of building and finishing the
complete interior and exterior of yachts. The bare hulls are made
elsewhere in Europe and brought to Alblasserdam either complete
or in parts. The yachts are finished to a very high standard, for
example the high-gloss lacquer. The working areas must have
excellent air conditioning to spray on the paint and to assure the
quality of the end-product. One of the requirements that this
imposes is the fitting of insulation and floor/wall heating in the
concrete dock. The dock door must also be insulated. This will be
accomplished by installing a separate insulated wall in front of the
door.
Dock
The dock consists of a segmented concrete slab resting on combipiles.
The outside of the dock is approximately 168 metres long, 38
metres wide and 12.5 metres high. The wall thickness varies from
0.6 to 2 metres and the floor is 2 metres thick. The dock incorporates
a variety of standard facilities such as climb-out ladders, mooring
rings, sump pits and similar. An exceptional facility is the floor and
wall heating. It consists of 16 pipeline loops in each dock segment
about 300 mm below the surface. They ensure a constant surface
temperature of approximately 20°C. Iv-Bouw was engaged for this
part of the design.
Floor and wall heating
Longitudinal view of the dock
Cross-sectional view of the dock
Building & Structures
19

Main dock door
After studying several variants it was decided in consultation with
AYP to equip the dock with a self-floating trapezoidal door. The
main dock door is double-turning. The door must be able to cope
with a water level difference of 10.5 metres when resisting water
on one side. It must also be able to resist water on both sides when
there is a river water difference of approximately 3.5 metres. The
door must float up approximately 2 metres in order to position it in
The door is equipped with trim and float tanks. The dock is filled and emptied by means of pumps
connected to the piping on the doors.
Top of the door with piping and facilities for filling and emptying.
20 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011
Sealing of the door.
Intermediate door
AYP wants to be able to house several yachts of different lengths
in the dock. This is possible by creating an intermediate door that
can be installed at different predefined locations in the dock. This is
a simple sloping-segment door. Six segments placed against each
other form a closed seal.
Swivelling crane gantry
Based on the zoning plan, the amenities committee specified the
lines of sight and contours of the new building. It is not permitted to
affix to the exterior any appurtenances, structures or similar, other
than those agreed in the zoning plan.
As a result of fresh insights after approval of the zoning plan,
however, AYP wanted to be able to take the two overhead travelling
cranes used in the factory outside the building and down to the
riverside. The desired capacity of the gantry was to lift 100 tonnes at
approximately 20 metres from the building façade. This would make
it possible to carry whole sections and heavy parts inside. However,
the zoning plan ruled this out. But Iv-Consult saw a solution and
devised a concept for a swivelling crane gantry that could operate
within the imposed conditions. After making a realistic concept, this
resulted in a contract to design the swivelling crane gantry.

Concept of swivelling crane gantry
Preliminary design of the swivelling crane gantry; other parties are designing the concrete section on top of the dock.
3D view of the dock, with extended crane gantry and main door.
Planning
The design of the dry dock complete with doors was finished mid-
October 2011. This does not include a number of contracts for
extra work. Some of the components being designed by Iv-Consult
have yet to be tested as integral parts of the superstructure. The
complete design is expected to be ready in December 2011.
Building & Structures
AYP has now initiated a call for tenders with the aim of awarding the
contract to a contractor in mid-January 2012.
Casper van der Pol
Project Manager, Iv-Consult
21

Integration of free cooling into an
existing operational situation
A bank has to process numerous large-volume data streams. A data center has computer rooms
which are filled with hardware. The servers installed at the centres produce large quantities of
heat. This necessitates the continuous cooling of the rooms. The energy consumed by the cooling
plants to cool the computer rooms accounts for a large proportion of a data center's total energy
consumption.
Iv-Bouw was asked to come up with the simplest solution for reducing the power consumed by the
existing cooling plants of a data center. Iv-Bouw launched a feasibility study into various installation
concepts. The concepts were examined in close consultation with the client and compared with
each other in terms of TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), CO 2 emissions and incorporability in the
existing situation.
22 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

Sustainable installation concepts
In the existing situation the data rooms and offices were being
cooled all year round by mechanical cooling in the form of watercooled
compression cooling machines. The hot water from the
condenser side of the cooling machines was cooled by means
of open cooling towers. The Iv-Bouw feasibility study revealed
potential for a significant energy reduction through a combination
of increasing the temperature ranges and incorporating free cooling
with the existing cooling towers.
Free cooling was accomplished by letting the hot recycled
water from the data center flow across a heat exchanger that is
immediately cooled on the other side by the cooling water from
the cooling towers. So for the larger part of the year cooling will
occur by means of some transmission pumps and ventilators of
the cooling towers. By installing the free cooling in series with the
cooling machines, the rest of the cooling will be provided by a
combination of free and mechanical cooling.
To increase the temperature ranges, a separate network of lines will
be installed for low-temperature consumers like air conditioning
and dehumidification. The heat streams in the computer rooms will
be optimised as well.
The feasibility study of Iv-Bouw showed that modifying the cooling
plants in the way described above will significantly reduce the
CO emissions of the cooling plants. This will be accomplished
2
with a reduction of annual lifecycle costs (energy consumption +
maintenance + financing of new installations).
Building & Structures
Design
The new installations had to be incorporated into an existing
operational situation. This posed numerous challenges in the design
phase. Sometimes innovative solutions had to be found for the
location of new components and piping. For example, fitting chilled
water pipes to the front wall of the building because of a shortage
of space in the existing shafts.
Numerous control engineering modifications had been made to
the cooling plants. A sophisticated piece of control engineering
was devised especially for the operational situation where cooling
will be provided by a combination of free and mechanical cooling.
This involves activating and deactivating cooling machines using
variable setpoints according to the total capacity required, the
capacity delivered by free cooling and the temperature after the
heat exchanger.
Besides incorporating free cooling it was necessary to optimise the
cooling plants in a few other respects. For example, the blow-off
channels of the ten cooling towers were extended so as to minimise
the risk of a thermal short-circuit. Control of the cooling towers was
optimised for energy efficiency and two cooling water buffers were
installed on the roof. Two emergency sources were created on site
to allow the extraction of groundwater to top up the cooling towers
if there is a loss of water pressure in the water mains.
Performance of work
The data center and cooling plants have to operate round the clock.
A cooling failure would have major consequences. For that reason
the work was divided up and carried out in nine phases. Mechanical
and control connections to the existing installations had to be made
at the weekend within a time frame of eight hours. The connections
were prepared down to the last detail by means of scenarios and
risk analyses. The new control technology used for the cooling
plants was completely tested beforehand in several simulation
sessions (FAT). The control technology had to work properly right
from the initial connection.
At the time of writing, eight of the nine connections had already
been completed successfully. One of the two cooling plants is now
running entirely on free cooling. The last connection will be made at
the end of January 2012, followed by delivery of the project.
Boudewijn van Putten
Engineer, Iv-Bouw
Han Engel
Project Manager, Iv-Bouw
23

Iv-Industrie delivers engineering
services for India's 'largest blast furnace'
To fulfill the increasing demand for steel in India new production facilities are needed. As a result
of this a consortium of Danieli Corus BV, Danieli Corus India Pvt. Ltd. and Tata Projects Limited
has signed a contract with client NMDC Ltd. (National Mineral Development Corporation) for
the turnkey supply of the largest blast furnace in India. NMDC Ltd. is a state company, which is
founded in 1958 and was set up to exploit the natural resources of India.The blast furnace will
have a 4506 m³ inner volume and will be built at NMDC's new 3 Mtpa integrated steel plant in
Nagarnar, Chhattisgarh, India.
24 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

The new furnace will enter the world top 40 of steel plants . The
equipment which is used is state-of-the-art Western technology and
provided with a high density, high conductivity platecooled lining.
The consortium for this mega project consists of Tata Projects and
Danieli Corus. Tata Projects is responsible for the construction of
the complete plant. Danieli Corus, a well-known engineering and
consultancy company in the global steel industry, is responsible for
providing the engineering and materials for the blast furnace and
related equipment.
The project was officially launched in June 2011 and will run for 33
months. The furnace should be in operation in 2014, this will take
Lay-out scope of main systems
120 man years of work. Large parts of the project are
subcontracted to various engineering contractors. Iv-Industrie plays
an important role in the basic engineering phase of the project.
Iv-Industrie’s scope of supply for the basic engineering includes the
following activities and services.
1) 3D Modeling and stress design of the complete Hot Blast System
which contains the following subsystems:
•
•
•
•
•
Cold Blast Main
Mixer Air Main
Blast Furnace Gas & Mixed Gas Main
Combustion Air Main
Waste Gas Main
Industry & Energie
25

EL.+0
MIXED GAS
DOWNLEG ID 1800
2870
3180
1894
856
55
65
26 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011
800
810
820
825
830 840
6800
2) Each subsystem will be designed, modelled and stress
calculated using Inventor and Caesar II. Iv-Industrie’s
deliverables are:
•
•
•
•
Pipe stress calculations reports
Stress isometric drawings
Loads and displacements reports which include; saddle
loadings, Nozzle loading, dead loads, strength and stress
analysis, displacements, expansion joint displacements
Expansions joint movements
T.O.S. EL.+12750
The engineering information is delivered on so-called C-drawings
(Basic Engineering drawings) which contain the following data;
diameters and preliminary shell thicknesses of all mains, preliminary
(maximum) displacements of the supports and expansion joints,
the refractory and insulation loads of each main, individual loads of
supports, valves, pipelines and connections onto the mains.
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a furnace which produces molten iron from iron
ore, coke and limestone using a blast of hot air. This blast works as a
turbocharger in the blast furnace. Hot combustion gas is delivered
from the stoves to the blast furnace through a so-called hot blast
main, a large, refractory-lined duct. A consistent high temperature
of the blast gas is critical for the efficient operation of the blast
furnace.
On top of the blast furnace there is sinter in separate layers of coke,
iron oxide pellets and loaded ore pieces. Hot air (approximately
1200 °C) is blown into the pulverized coal via the air vents, if
necessary enriched with oxygen. The oxygen from the air burns the
carbon from the coke and pulverized coal to form carbon monoxide
(CO). The CO gas is heated to a temperature of about 2200-2400 °C
and will rise through the layers of coke and ore. The iron oxide in
CL EL.+8350
WASTE GAS
ID STL. 4200
1400
CL EL.+38500
COMBUSTION AIR MAIN ID 2300
EL 0.00
2160
2140
2130
2120
2110
7.5°
10.5°
1138
2045
MGGV-1
INSULATION
100mm (TYPICAL)
GAV-MG-005-01
2240
MGVT-1 SEE DRWG.
2B09897H1-M115-C0210
MIXED GAS DOWNLEG
ID 1800x8mm
SEE SECTION
BLEEDER LINE
MGCV-1
2170
MGSV-1
MGSP-04
MGIV-1
MGSP-01
MG VALVE TRAIN
SEE DRWG. 2B0987H1-M115-C0208
GA Combustion Air Main front view GA Combustion Air Main side view
the sinter, pellets and piece of ore turn into iron reduction under
these conditions and will melt into liquid iron. This hot metal
trickles through the coke and is collected at the bottom of the blast
furnace (also called hearth of the blast furnace). If there is enough
hot metal collected in the hearth, the blast furnace is drilled open
at the bottom and the hot metal flows out through the tap hole.
It is then collected in mixers. These mixers are train cars with a
torpedo-shaped reservoir with refractory lining. The hot metal will
be transported to the steel mill for further processing. When all the
hot metal from the blast furnace is tapped, the tap hole will close
again. This tapping takes about 90 minutes. Sinter, pellets and ore
pieces also contain iron oxide impurities, such as calcium oxide
(CaO) and silica (SiO2). These materials also melt and form the slag,
which together with the hot metal is tapped and digested in the
cement industry.
For this project Iv-Industrie has also provided the basic engineering
of the piping that belongs to the gas-cleaning (scrubber).
Iv-Industrie delivered the models of all piping, elevation and
sections top view, specially displayed on the P & L drawings. The
new blast furnace is part of an integrated steel factory, including
rolling mills. More than two billion euros are involved in the project
in total. The furnace accounts for around three hundred million
euros. The new furnace will produce about three million tons of
steel each year, due to the very large internal volume.
"Three million tons of steel in India is enough to
produce five million cars."
The internal volume of a blast furnace cannot increase more,
because the production no longer increases proportionally. This is
because the gas (air), especially in the periphery of the furnace, will
continue, which has implications for the metallurgical activity.
60
2245
TE
01 09
1200 2665
TOS EL+36950
TOS EL+20350
TOS EL+4150

Growth
The Indian economy is growing very fast, with growth rates around
eight percent. The demand for steel will increase rapidly in the
coming years. Now only a few kilograms of steel are needed per
person per year, compared to hundreds of kilograms of steel per
person each year in our Western economy. New blast furnaces
should therefore be built rapidly in the coming years for India to
keep up with the growing economy.
This growth is not only good for the Indian economy, but also for
our Western engineering companies in the steel industry, with
specialized knowledge and capabilities.
The new blast furnace at Nagarnar represents a significant
step in the annual production of steel in India, which will now
increase towards the eighty million tons. The capacity in 2030 will
approximately be two hundred million tons of steel per year.
The blast furnace is the fifth 'Greenfield furnace' which
Danieli Corus is building in India. The term 'Greenfield' means that
the furnace is constructed from scratch. The blast furnace will be
fully based on Western European technology. This is essentially
done at Danieli Corus and is developed and refined due to the
worldwide experience of Danieli Corus.
Industry & Energy
Although this new blast furnace is equipped with the latest
technology, the final productivity in India will be considerably lower
than in Europe.This has nothing to do with the design of the furnace
itself, but the process which is largely dependent on the quality of
raw materials (iron ore and coke). In Western Europe, records were
set at about four tons of iron per cubic meter working volume per
day. In India, 2.5 tons per cubic meter working volume per day is
quite an achievement.
Rob de Graaff
Head of Piping & Process engineering department, Iv-Industrie
Rick de Jong
Head of Mechanical engineering department, Iv-Industrie
27

Cleaning up Buska Bay asphalt lake
on Curaçao
A relatively simple solution to a major environmental problem
In mid-2006, Asphalt Lake Recovery (ALR) received the exploitation rights for the Buska Bay asphalt
lake on the island of Curaçao. The company is now close to completing an installation that will
convert asphalt to crude fuel oil. The tradable crude fuel oil will be sold on the market. ALR intends
to recover the asphalt over a period of five to six years. Iv-Caribbean is supporting ALR by providing
technical advice and designing specific parts of the installation.
28 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

Background
The asphalt lake in Buska Bay is one of Curaçao’s biggest
environmental disasters and dates from the Second World War. The
rapid production of fuel for allied troops during the war left no time
for refining the residual products. The result was a large volume of
waste in the form of cracked asphalt. At the time the decision was
made to dam up part of Buska Bay and to dump the asphalt in it,
thus creating an asphalt lake.
The asphalt lake covers 52 hectares and consists of a wet and a dry
part. The calculated volume of asphalt that must be recovered is
500,000 metric tonnes (1 metric tonne equals 1000 kg). When the
hot asphalt was dumped in the dammed up bay, it mixed with water
and solidified. Consequently, the asphalt contains approximately
10% to 20% water.
Technical solution
ALR’s solution is a relatively simple process, but it does pose a few
technical challenges in terms of its implementation.
Excavators remove the asphalt from the lake and is taken by
dumping trucks to a technical plant where it is put into a melting
installation. The installation brings the asphalt to a temperature
of approximately 150°C in three stages (dumping, melting, and
drying). This process makes the asphalt sufficiently liquid to be
pumped (i.e. transported) through pipelines. The heating stage
evaporates the water from the asphalt, thus ‘drying’ the asphalt.
One of the challenges in this project was how to purify the large
volume of released water vapour containing unwanted components
like mercaptans (thiols) and hydrogen sulphide (H S). The asphalt
2
releases these components together with the water vapour.
The water vapour and the other gases are captured by means
of a ‘knock-out drum’, a large drum in which the water vapour
condensates and is removed through the bottom of the drum. The
other gases (including thiols and hydrogen sulphide) are removed at
the top and transported to the gas washer. The gas washer removes
the gases by bringing a water spray (in which special chemicals have
been dissolved) into contact with the gases. The gases bind to the
dissolved chemicals. The chemicals with the bound gas components
are fed back through a separator drum and put back into the endproduct.
This ensures that the gas components do not end up in the
environment.
Industry & Energy
The liquid asphalt is mixed in a blender with light components (i.e.
the products that were once extracted, such as kerosene and diesel)
and the obtained intermediate product is then filtered to create the
end-product: heavy fuel oil.
A pipeline transports the end-product to a storage tank a the nearby
ISLA refinery. From this tank the product is sold commercially on the
market.
Design
Iv-Caribbean worked out the details of parts of this technical
solution for ALR, namely the capacity calculations of the heating
coils, sizes of the heating drum, pressure and steam knock-out
drum calculations of the heating drum and interconnecting piping
between heating drum and knock-out drum. The design was
produced in close cooperation with the client (mr. Frank Veeris,
technical manager of ALR) so as to optimise the combined use of
the knowledge and experience of the two parties. The other parts of
the plant, such as the blender and gas washer, were constructed by
means of standard deliveries and installations.
Initial product delivery
The design and construction of the installation is completed and
the installation was started up successfully. ALR exported the first
90,000 bbl of blended asphalt lake material in the first week of
December 2011. The product's final destination is Singapore where
it will be sold as bunkers.
Ramphis Sambre
Mechanical Engineer, Iv-Caribbean
Hans Mark Bunschoten
Managing Director, Iv-Caribbean
29

Early attention to risk and safety
management offers extra opportunities
Industrial safety and risk management still receive insufficient attention in the initial phase of
many projects. This is a mistake, according to Arno Willems, Risk Analysis & Systems Engineering
Manager, and Gert Schmitz, Industrial Safety Manager. Processes are becoming increasingly
complex and to ensure the success of projects it is becoming more and more important to
control risks right from the start. Willems and Schmitz have combined the knowledge of their
departments to provide special services for industrial safety and risk management. They explain
to us the gains that can be achieved with this approach.
30 IVORMATIE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2011

Optimising reliability and availability
“My department performs risk analyses of the aspects of time,
money and quality in large projects,” says Arno Willems. “Using
our models the project managers are constantly able to control
process-related risks. Another focus for us is to optimise the
Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety of systems,
or RAMS engineering for short. For example, only three hours a
month are available for maintenance and fault repairs at the new
navigation locks in the Panama Canal. The reliability and availability
of the locks have been increased enormously by such measures
as having backups for the drive mechanisms of the lock gates and
keeping stocks of spare parts for fast repairs. During construction of
the new North-South metro line in Amsterdam (the Netherlands), a
system of compressors keeps pressure and back-pressure in balance
while work is in progress deep underground. The consequences
would be disastrous if something were to go wrong with the air
pressure system. We demonstrate that the designs of such systems
are expected to satisfy the client’s reliability and availability
requirements.”
Optimum strategy
“We use systems engineering and in-house developed software
to assist clients and contractors in producing specifications and
contract documents. The Directorate-General for Public Works and
Water Management, for example, wants to construct a river crossing
for a minimum number of vehicles per day that will cause the least
possible environmental harm. We support the client in translating
this objective into a statement of functional requirements, call for
tenders and system-oriented contract management. We are helping
private-sector companies to structure the design process in a way
that demonstrably shows that the client’s requirements will be met.
A field in which we possess a lot of expertise is performancebased
and risk-based operations and maintenance. This involves
optimising operations and maintenance by taking into account the
frequency, nature and scale of a system’s failure modes.
Industry & Energy
To prevent a structural failure of steel lattice work, for example, you
need a different kind of maintenance strategy than the one required
to deal with the hidden failure of a fire detection system. We assist in
determining the optimum strategy.”
Workable solutions
“From our office in Haarlem (the Netherlands) we focus on
operational processes of industrial companies that pose risks to
human health and the environment,” adds Gert Schmitz. “Using
risk analyses and classifications we look for workable solutions in
order to prevent accidents with machines and process installations,
promote employee health and safety, and minimise environmental
impact and risks for the surroundings. Rather than looking for ways
to combat problems, we prefer to prevent them. By combining our
knowledge of real-life situations, process installations, machinery
and the associated operational processes, we are able to offer
practical and workable solutions.”
Attractive partner
Incidents like the recent fire at a chemical company in Moerdijk
(the Netherlands) regularly spotlight risks and safety, but these
matters still tend to receive too little and too late attention, say the
two experts. “If you factor in potential risks at an early stage, you
can incorporate solutions immediately in the design phase. This
approach avoids later repairs, stopgap solutions and situations
where companies or facilities go down and cause costs that can run
into millions of euros.”
“Our departments complement each other,” adds Willems. “Gert
and his colleagues are completely familiar with the relevant safety
standards and legislation. For all the disciplines in which Iv-Groep
is active, we possess the in-house expertise necessary to handle
and support projects integrally and to manage and optimise
them according to the RAMS performance. This is exactly what
we are doing for the Directorate-General for Public Works and
Water Management in the RINK project, in which we perform risk
analysis of hydraulic structures. Our combined capabilities make
us an attractive partner for international companies in a diversity
of sectors. With this cooperation, we believe we can leverage more
opportunities.”
Arno Willems
Risk Analysis & Systems Engineering Manager, Iv-Infra
Gert Schmitz
Industrial Safety Manager, Iv-Industrie
31

www.iv-groep.com