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Record-breaking heat
exchangers for Saudi Arabia
Interviewwith
Olivier Samson
CASE STUDY
The project
In Saudi Arabia,
Mersen is helping to build
Ma’aden’s new phosphoric acid plant
scheduled
forcommissioningin2016.Theproject’sprimecontractor,
South Korea’s Hanwha Engineering & Construction,
has ordered 13 graphite tube heat exchangers, each
comprising920 seamless 5.5-meter tubes.
The challenge
Mersen is the only company capable of producing
6-meter long tubes without seams, which reduces the
risk of major breakage. But more than the length, the real
challengewas to deliver 13exchangers in just one year.
Mersen’s solution
A dedicated workshop was set up at the Pagny-
sur-Moselle facility in France to assemble several
units simultaneously. An ultra-precise process was
implemented to streamline the flow and output as soon
as the graphite was received. In addition, throughout the
project, aMersen teamwill stay in constant contact with
Hanwha andMa’aden in Seoul tomanage relations with
the various customers.
TheMersen difference
In addition to our excellent understanding of Korean
culture and organization, we offer better technology
at a more competitive cost, with isostatic graphite tube
sheets that are much more resistant than our rivals’
extruded graphite.
Pagny-sur-Moselle workshop
Highlights
A
€6-
million contract
13
graphite tube
heat exchangers
Record seamless
lengths of up
to sixmeters
A special
workshop
dedicated to
the project
in Pagny-
sur-Moselle
Scheduled
for delivery
up to2020
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Olivier Samson
Project manager