New construction of an acetylene plant, BASF Ludwigshafen, Germany
At BASF SE in Ludwigshafen, a new state‑of‑the-art acetylene plant is currently being built. The basis for the construction of the facility is an innovative, BIM‑based scaffolding concept as well as the PERI UP scaffold system with its high level of flexibility for ensuring consistently safe work operations.
With a capacity of 90,000 tons per year, the plant is scheduled to replace the current facility at the end of 2019 and will operate in accordance with the world's most efficient production processes. Acetylene is an important intermediate product and is used as a central source material for around 20 production plants at BASF's Ludwigshafen site for numerous products used in everyday life: for example medicines, plastics, solvents, electro chemicals and highly elastic textile fibres for the automotive, pharmaceutical, construction, consumer goods and textile industries.
Major industrial construction site
Not only does the new plant work with the world's most modern technical facilities and processes. During the construction, modern planning and working methods have also been used – this has been the basis for the assembly work remaining on schedule. At peak times, up to 1,300 people work on the jobsite, which covers an area of around 55,000 m², which is the equivalent of almost eight football pitches, and an installation height of up to 90 m.
In order to efficiently and safely install the plant technology featuring more than 400 machines and pieces of equipment along with a 90 km long pipe system and electrical installations, the PERI UP Flex modular scaffolding system will be used in Construction Phase 2. On an almost daily basis, new working levels and access means are being realised for the upcoming construction and assembly operations.
Forward-looking comprehensive BIM solution
The combination consisting of BIM methodology for the planning and execution as well as high standards of work safety form the central project approach in industrial construction. The scaffolding concept, which was jointly developed in cooperation with promaintain – a specialist for scaffolding construction management, provides the basis for a comprehensive, innovative overall solution for 3D planning, coordination and execution in order to minimize planning time and costs over the long term. The forward-looking and cross-trade planning approach reduces time-consuming and cost-intensive modification measures. At the same time, the flexibility of the PERI UP Flex scaffolding system in conjunction with VARIOKIT system components ensures excellent adaptability and therefore a very high level of work safety.
Flexibly adaptable
Industrial applications demand an adaptable scaffolding system. At the same time, the working areas created must meet the highest requirements regarding work safety. The PERI UP scaffolding system takes all of these requirements into account. With the consistent metric system grid of all components and the possibility to change the direction of the individual decks, the PERI UP Flex modular scaffolding is extremely adaptable to suit different local conditions. Safe and secure working platforms and access means can therefore also be realised for higher-positioned working areas of an industrial facility. Workspaces can be covered for the most part without any gaps while obstacles can be accommodated without overlapping planks. Due to the self-securing ledger connection on the rosette and the integrated protection against lifting in the decking, PERI UP Flex is simple and safe to install. During use, the end‑to‑end guardrails and yellow toeboards as well as the non-slip decks ensure a very high level of working safety.
Well combined
In addition to the flexibility, the possibility to combine the formwork and scaffolding also provides advantages regarding the project management. In particular, the VARIOKIT Engineering Construction Kit facilitates cost‑effective realisation of a wide range of supporting structures. Both systems – VARIOKIT and PERI UP Flex – are based on a metric grid arrangement and are therefore compatible with each other. Furthermore, standardised connecting parts ensure friction‑locked connections and virtually limitless combinability by means of system components - this saves on improvised assembly work.
Digital competence
Digitisation will fundamentally change industries and, in the process, open up tremendous opportunities for all concerned. Weissenhorn‑based formwork and scaffolding specialist, PERI, constantly strives to play a decisive role in the design, development and finally in the implementation of this industrial change with its expertise and expertise as well as creating real digital added value for its customers.
The scope of digital applications ranges from product-related apps for simple calculations through to formwork and scaffolding systems and the online customer portal myPERI, which, as a comprehensive information platform, supports the entire execution time of a project. In addition, various software solutions provided by the Weißenhorn-based company ensure that complex tasks and processes in large-scale projects can be optimised.
PERI has been one of the industry leaders in BIM (Building Information Modelling) for many years now and already has a number of impressive international project references – projects that have been successfully managed using BIM principles.
The construction of the new acetylene plant in Ludwigshafen is one of the first industrial scaffolding projects worldwide to be realised using the BIM method. In addition to the 3D planning of the scaffolding systems, the focus is on issues such as planning coordination, automated collision check, safety checklists and QR codes for object navigation. Moreover, relevant data is provided digitally for the assembly of the scaffolding by means of a tablet solution for the construction site.
