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B&W shores up new projects in Bangladesh
February 25, 2020
There’s no mountain high enough, no valley low enough, and no river wide enough to keep us from trying to find a steam generation system’s ‘fountain of youth’ and restore units to peak performance.
In the fall of 2016, B&W was contacted to help a fertilizer plant in southeast Asia improve the performance of three industrial package boilers. State government-owned Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL), located on the southeastern coast of Bangladesh, has a capacity to produce 1700 tonnes of urea and 1000 tonnes of ammonia per day. Its three natural gas 85 t/h units, originally supplied by a Canadian subsidiary of B&W in the 1980s, were worked hard and operated well for more than 30 years. After an assessment of the units and an evaluation of the most cost-effective options, it was determined a retube was necessary. The project commenced in 2018.
Throughout the project’s planning stages, our personnel would often visit the plant, which was accessible only by boat. On these voyages, we deepened our knowledge and appreciation for the Chittagong region and the tremendous growth it is experiencing. In addition to the retube work at CUFL, we also were invited to help with a boiler replacement at a nearby refinery and to supply two additional industrial package boilers at fertilizer plants in the region.
“In the process of performing the work, B&W also helped in developing local expertise, which ultimately speaks about B&W’s commitment to foster people-to-people connections globally and educate them on safety and maintenance,” said Brigadier General Tameem Ahmed Chowdhury, Managing Director of EcomTrade International, the general contractor for the CUFL project. “We are confident that this successful project at CUFL will have a far-reaching, positive impact on the agro economy of Bangladesh.”
We are grateful to have a part in the region’s development by helping industries maximize their investment in and extending the life of their equipment. The CUFL retube project is currently wrapping up, with preliminary tests showing that all performance targets have been met. The units have recaptured their youth.
About B&W Babcock & Wilcox is a global leader in energy and environmental technologies and services for the power, industrial and renewable markets. With headquarters in Barberton, Ohio, USA, B&W companies employ approximately 4,000 people worldwide. We have been transforming our world for over 150 years.