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The BHPBilliton owned Queensland Nickel (QNI)'s Yabulu Extension Project near Townsville is an extension of the metal refining section of the existing refinery. QNI's Yabulu Refinery is a laterite nickel and cobalt processing plant and the extension will process an intermediate nickel product (mixed hydroxide precipitate - MHP) from the Ravensthorpe integrated mine and primary processing facility in Western Australia.While the production process will essentially be the same as the current process, equipment based on latest technology and Smart instrumentation will be installed throughout. Construction will take approximately two and a half years and involve up to 600 workers. The project increases Yabulu's competitiveness and more than doubles its production from 33,000 tons pa of nickel to nearly 78,000 tons pa, and 3,500 tons of cobalt.
The engineering, procurement and construction management services required for the project is a joint venture between Hatch Associates and Multiplex Engineering and is known as the Yabulu Extension Project Joint Venture (YEPJV).
After evaluating all the leading instrumentation suppliers, Endress + Hauser Australia was chosen for their breadth and quality of field instrumentation as the Main Instrument Vendor (MIV) for the project. Overall, the expansion project comprises over 3000 loops, with about 7000 I/O tags. Endress+Hauser Australia supplied around 650 field instruments tags totaling over A$2 million, and is presently delivering the devices, and all associated documentation, to site.
'The alternative to working with a single MIV would have been to work directly with several different instrument companies causing the project to lose a tremendous amount of efficiency and consume much more time. Working with the client, Endress+Hauser Australia, who placed a qualified instrument engineer at the YEPJV offices for over six months, were able to provide to the whole Team engineering assistance with instrument selection to ensure correct specification and application of the instruments,' commented Ross Colvin, Head Engineer at YEPJV.
Colvin confirmed, 'The presence of an Endress+Hauser instrument engineer in the project design office using an automated database linked to the P&IDs and 3D modelling has led to a much greater understanding and response by the instrument supplier to the need for priority supply of certified 2D dimensional drawings of individual instruments to assist in the project 3D modeling process. Simply completing an instrument datasheet, ordering instruments and providing appropriate catalogue data is no longer adequate in this 3D design environment. The project gain in instrument vendor expertise plus timely supply of instrument GAs to the piping 3D design group has provided efficiencies in the project engineering process that far outweigh any consideration of differential costs in the capital value of instruments.'
In addition learning the intricacies of one company's products, rather than those from several different companies, saves time and money during commissioning and training as well as simplifying asset management, maintenance, and spare parts holding,' concluded Colvin.
Photo caption: QNI's nickel processing plant near Townsville.
For more information:
phone 1300 363 707
fax 02 8877 7099
email info@au.endress.com
John Immelman, Managing Director
Endress+Hauser Australia Pty Ltd
www.au.endress.com
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