A modern bottling plant in West Africa
The Friedlander Côte d’Ivoire branch, specialising in work for the installation and maintenance of industrial and petroleum units, built and commissioned a new LPG filling plant for the Société Nationale d’Opérations Pétrolières de la Côte d’Ivoire in Abidjan (Petroci).
Over a 24-month period, Friedlander’s Ivorian teams implemented the full project, from bare land to plant commissioning and the training of future operators. Engineering studies and equipment orders were managed by Friedlander International at the Head Office of the Ortec Group, in Aix-en-Provence. Construction and civil engineering were supervised by Friedlander engineers directly in Abidjan. In November 2013, Friedlander Côte d’Ivoire delivered the new LPG bottling plant to Petroci with an 8,000 m3 sphere, one of the largest in West Africa, whose storage capacity is 4,000 t of liquid gas.
The plant complies with modern construction standards. It is used to store and redistribute liquid gas. LPG arrives by boat in the Port of Abidjan and is transported by pipeline to the storage sphere, which is connected to a gas filling plant fit with bottling carousels with a capacity of 200 t/h and an area for loading onto lorries. From there, liquid gas leaves in 6, 12 and 25 kg bottles to fuel African homes.
Dealing with challenges and hazards: lagoons and ATEX zone
During the design and implementation of the plant, the Friedlander teams took into account the nature of the site, which stretches out on lagoons. The foundations of the facilities were built on sand thanks to vibroflotation*, which can help reconstitute granular soils. To build the base of the sphere, the Friedlander teams also used 500 t of concrete. Since all of the facilities are in an ATEX zone, Friedlander connected the plant to a fire-fighting system with a 1,200 m3/h capacity and a 4,000 m3 water table. The site is equipped with detectors that trigger a sprinkler safety system in the event of a fire.
By relying on the synergy of its businesses, Friedlander fully adhered to the client’s specifications, designing a made-to-measure facility compliant with current construction standards and safety requirements.
Key figures:
- Duration of work: 24 months
- 200 people on site
- 8,000 m3 sphere with a storage capacity of 4,000 t of liquid gas
- Bottling carousels with a capacity of 200 t/h
*Technique for the liquefaction of granular soils by vibration, allowing liquefied granules to become rearranged in a denser state.