Petronas receives tallest fractionator column

PETRONAS has taken delivery of the tallest and heaviest propylene fractionator process column in Malaysia, for its steam cracker facility located within its Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC).

The column measures 121.3 m high and weighs over 1,800 t, comparable to the height of a 37-storey building, and similar to a combined weight of a fully-fuelled A380 Airbus and a Boeing 747 aircraft. The fractionator has been recognised by the Malaysia Book of Records as the country’s tallest and heaviest process column.

The column had travelled eight days aboard a jumbo shipping vessel from South Korea, before arriving at an offloading facility port in Johor on 25 June. The vessel also carried a smaller-scale propylene fractionator and an ethylene fractionator. All three process columns are part of the main structures for PIC’s steam cracker complex.

Petronas’ PIC project is a mega-scale development consisting of 23 process plants for refining, steam cracking, petrochemicals and associate facilities. The project is entering the construction phase and is due for completion in Q1 of 2019.

Colin Wong Hee Huing, senior vice president at Petronas, said: “We are optimistic that we can deliver this development within a relatively short timeframe of 52 months from when we reached our final investment decision in April 2014. We are now at the mid-point of the project schedule and are on track towards achieving the overall PIC startup in 2019.”