WA urea project using modular fabrication in India

Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers has received delivery of all 110 modules for Project CERES from Indian engineering and manufacturing company Larsen & Toubro (L&T). According to L&T, the 47 pre-assembled modules and 63 pre-assembled racks weighed approximately 64,000 metric tonnes in total and were shipped from India to Karratha across 23 marine shipments in fully tested, pre-commissioned and ready-to-install condition.

Project CERES is planned to be Australia’s largest urea manufacturing plant with a planned capacity of 2.3 MTPA, and is being developed by Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers in Karratha, Western Australia, under the Saipem-Clough Joint Venture.

The modules were fabricated at the L&T’s Modular Fabrication Facility at Kattupalli, near Chennai, India. The company says that Project CERES is a landmark demonstration of modularisation capability in India, illustrating how substantial portions of a major project can be built thousands of kilometres away from their destination. Fabrication, equipment installation, integration, testing and pre-commissioning were undertaken in a controlled environment, enabling parallel execution, greater oversight of safety and quality, improved predictability and fewer interfaces at the project site.

“Project CERES reflects how L&T is elevating India’s role in the global project-delivery ecosystem, from a manufacturing base to a source of integrated engineering, technology and execution capabilities,” said S N Subrahmanyan, Chairman & Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro. “Delivering modular fabrication of this scale, with an excellent safety record, for Australia, demonstrates the depth of India’s industrial ecosystem and its ability to meet demanding international standards.”

The company says the project achieved 37 million safe work-hours and met stringent Australian biosecurity and Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Areas requirements. Rigorous dimensional, quality and interface controls supported the successful integration of the modules at the Karratha project site. Much of the complex equipment, integrated into the modules, was fabricated at L&T’s advanced manufacturing facility at Hazira in Gujarat.

L&T’s says its Modular Fabrication Facility at Kattupalli is India’s largest module fabrication yard. Spread across 900,000 m², the waterfront facility has dedicated marine load-out infrastructure and an annual fabrication capacity exceeding 70,000 metric tonnes.

Image credit: Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers