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Sunday, Aug. 16, 1998
Steel Plant Rising
Iron carbide plant here is big news for the area and for the steel industry
By GLASTON FORD
Staff WriterTwo construction workers straddle narrow steel beams more than 240 feet above the ground.
They watch as a crane slowly lowers another beam to their level. Each ironworker, as they are called, grabs an end and moves it into place.
With each steel beam, Qualitech Steel Corp.'s iron carbide plant on the Corpus Christi Ship Channel is one step closer to completion. The project that is costing at least $125 million is only the second iron-carbide plant in the world and the first on U.S. soil.
Qualitech's project is closely watched in the steel industry. The plant's product is an important part of a new steel-making process that uses iron carbide as a supplement to scrap metal in electric furnace steel mills.
Proponents believe it has the potential to lower costs and yield a more pure steel that can be sold in higher grade markets, such as the automotive industry.
The iron carbide plant is also a significant industrial development for the Corpus Christi area. It is the first industry related to steel-making located in the Coastal Bend, said Gary Bushell, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Corpus Christi Business Alliance.
``We hoped that this company would be a door opener for the industry,'' Bushell said. ``It will get the attention of other people in the industry.''
The plant is about two months away from producing its first iron carbide, a black sand-like substance made from iron ore, said Steve Emerson, vice president and managing director for Qualitech Steel Corp.
Being a part of a new facility such as the Qualitech plant is a good opportunity, said Ralph Carriaga of Qualitech who will help run the equipment when the plant is operational.
``It has been rewarding to get in on the ground up, because you get so much exposure to how it is being built,'' said Carriaga, who has 26 years' experience operating industrial equipment at companies that include Koch and Union Carbide.
After so many years in the business, you reach a point where you begin to look for a challenge, he said.
``And this is definitely a challenge,'' Carriaga said. ``I feel real fortunate to have gotten on here at ground level and see this thing go up.''
And going up it is. As many as 600 contractors are working on the iron carbide plant and another 130 are working on nearby support facilities, such as a dock and an iron ore storage facility.
It's ``busy as hell,'' said Doug Schad, director of operations and construction for Qualitech, with the sound of power hammers, drill bits and heavy equipment in the background.
Surrounding the 240-foot structure that houses the reaction vessels is a maze of steel beams, plates, bolts and valves, staged and ready to be put into place.
When completing a project like this, ``You push real hard,'' said Schad, who oversaw construction on the world's one other iron carbide plant, built by Nucor Corp. in Trinidad and Tobago in 1994 and 1995. ``The intensity is such you sometimes take it home and dream about it at night,'' he said.
Qualitech's plant -- constructed with 4,300 tons of structural steel -- is considerably larger than the Trinidad facility, built with 1,800 tons.
The biggest challenge for those who oversee the ironworkers is ``keeping anybody from getting killed,'' said Bobby Lewis, structural superintendent for Bay Ltd., which is building Qualitech's plant.
High and windy work
The high-walking ironworkers carry about 90 pounds of tools and bolts and are exposed to strong winds, much stronger than those on the ground. Sometimes the wind blows so hard that crews have to stop because the cranes move too much, Schad said.
The workers wear full-body harnesses tied to nearby beams. If a worker fell, the fall would be only about 12 feet, Schad said.
These guys like doing this kind of work, Lewis said. ``They are up there where no one else can go, doing things no one else can do.''
The ironworkers will be finished with the structure in about two weeks -- at which time they will plant an American flag and a Texas flag on top of the steel framing, Lewis said.
Other ironworkers move on beams on the lower floors. Some of them are installing steel grating so Qualitech employees will be able to get to equipment once the plant is running.
Schad points to a neatly staged group of beams, plates and bolts on the ground, saying, ``That's about two weeks' worth of work.'' Colored ribbons are tied to the beams indicating which piece is needed for which location.
Next to the plant, workers have set up a temporary lunch area -- a dome-shaped tent that looks like a miniature Memorial Coliseum with the ends open. Dozens of small ice chests sit on rows of picnic tables waiting for the 11:30 a.m. lunch break.
Cutting-edge technology
Inside the temporary administrative building, a voice over the intercom calls Qualitech employees to the locker room to be fitted for flame-proof clothing. Once the plant is up and running, the clothes will be needed for employees when they go near the reactor.
Seeing the plant this close to completion is exciting, Emerson said. ``We are creating jobs and cutting-edge technology.''
In a project this big, some problems are to be expected, construction executives said. The plant has cost a little more than estimated, Emerson said, declining to give specifics.
Delays in some of the process plans created a delay for the detailers, people who determine what is needed to hold it together -- down to the nuts and bolts, Schad said.
So the company took the unusual step of dividing the detail work among five companies to make up for the delays in engineering, he said.
Keeping concrete cool
Another construction challenge was pouring the 2,000 yards of concrete for the foundation for the reactor, Schad said.
The concrete, which crews poured last summer, must be kept below 90 degrees or it is rejected, Schad said. To keep the concrete from overheating, crews poured the foundation at midnight.
About 25 percent of the plant's annual output will go to a sister steel plant in Indiana, which Qualitech completed earlier this year, Emerson said. Another portion will go to an Indiana steel plant owned by another company. The rest will go to two companies that will resell the iron carbide.
The design and construction of the plant has two major components -- the process systems and the support structure, Schad said. The process includes the two reaction vessels, pipes, valves, conveyors and bins that are used to convert the iron ore to iron carbide.
Mitsubishi International Corp. and Kawasaki Heavy Industries built much of the plant equipment.
The support structure is just what it sounds like -- the steel beams needed to support the massive, heavy, process equipment, Schad said.
Dockage, storage, power
The iron carbide plant has spurred a flurry of construction of support infrastructure. Bay Ltd., a Berry Contracting company, is constructing the storage building for the iron ore and the dock to unload the iron ore as it comes in from ships. Berry Group Ltd. owns and operates the dock and storage building and will provide the bulk materials handling services for Qualitech, Emerson said.
Qualitech also is leasing the land for its plant from Berry.
The iron ore will be kept in a closed building, instead of an open air storage pad like many bulk materials, to keep the ore from getting wet, Emerson said. Wet ore takes more energy to burn, he said.
Central Power and Light Co. built a new substation next to Qualitech to serve the plant's needs. Air Liquide will supply the hydrogen. And Enron built the natural gas line to the facility.
While contractors are completing the plant, Qualitech's administrative personnel have been hiring the people to run the facility.
Between September and June, the company processed 1,053 applications for 22 jobs available. The plant eventually will employ about 45 workers.
Qualitech had plenty of qualified people to choose from, said Philip Bell, director of administration and human resources for Qualitech. Recent downsizing at Koch's Refinery and the Celanese Technical Center increased the pool of applicants.
``I think it gave people an entrepreneurial spirit to join a start-up company,'' Bell said. ``The allure of this is they can impact the direction of the company a lot more quickly and significantly than they could at other companies.''
Educating operators
A majority of Qualitech's employees are operators, also called process technicians -- the people who will actually run the machines when the plant is operational. Qualitech has hired most of its operators already to give them time to learn the process and observe the plant being built, Emerson said.
It is not often that operators get to watch the construction of their future workplace, Emerson said.
So far operators have spent most of their time studying process diagrams, detailed line drawings showing every pipe, switch, valve and turn in the equipment.
The operators have got to be able to see the whole system in their minds, Schad said. If anything goes wrong or needs attention, an operator needs to know exactly where that pipe or valve is and what it does without having to check a diagram.
For many of the operators, it has been an odd time of study and anticipation -- odd because they are used to dealing with real pipes and valves and not having to spend all their time looking at complicated diagrams.
Qualitech will begin testing the first of 32 separate systems this month, Emerson said.
Operator Andy Hanson has been studying flow plans since he was hired in November, going over the piping and instrument drawings repeatedly, said Hanson, a former operator with Encycle Texas, a metal recycler on the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.
``There is still some more learning to do,'' he said. ``This is all mind-boggling.''Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web