Cooling Tower Expansion at Sappi Saiccor
IWC was contracted by Sappi Saiccor through consultants Wood PLC, to design, fabricate, deliver and install an additional cell to their existing 3 cell cooling tower. The existing 3 cell tower was part of Sappi Amakhulu Project where we were commissioned to design, build and install the towers in 2007.
The new tower installation is part of Sappi’s Vulindlela Project, which is an expansion of the mill’s dissolving wood pulp capacity along with significant technical and process upgrades with the two main drivers being the improvement of the mill’s environmental footprint and satisfying increasing customer demand globally.
As part of the current expansion, an increase in cooling tower capacity is required. Based on the previous mill expansion in 2007/8 which included the installation of three independently operated induced draft cooling tower cells, an additional independent cell was constructed with completion on time in August 2020.
Sappi Saiccor mill is the world’s largest dedicated single-site producer of fully bleached sulphite dissolving pulp. Viscose fibre is produced by Sappi Saiccor’s customers by dissolving the pulp in a solvent. The resulting liquid is pumped through spinnerets and regenerated as man-made fibres.
The partial civil tower construction is from cast in-situ concrete including a concrete roof slab. Civil construction was carried out by others. This induced draft cooling tower package is complete with corrosion resistant materials using stainless steel, fibreglass, polypropylene and PVC.
All the components for the installation of the tower were sent to site directly after the lift of the lockdown, from Level 4 to Level 3 on the 1st of July 2020. Despite the COVID pandemic, we have successfully completed, incident free, the safe erection of the cooling tower on schedule, with only commissioning outstanding once electrical works on site are completed.
“IWC’s approach to, and execution of the contract, was professional and also sensitive to the needs of local communities to be part of this work opportunity and inclusion of people from the area around the mill complimented their construction team’s success and enhanced Sappi’s standing in the community. Sappi have every confidence that IWC can fulfil the obligations and responsibilities on similar projects in the future.”
Why IWC?
Industrial Water Cooling Towers vast range also heat exchangers and chillers; along with their allied spares and services. Besides new builds, Industrial Water Cooling also undertakes off-crop cooling tower refurbishments and repacks as well as conducts complete cooling system audits and inspections.
