In 2016, Potrerillos smelter, owned by CODELCO and located in the Atacama Region, Chile; went through an upgrade project for the collection and processing of flue gases.
By November 2016, LEPSA was awarded by OUTOTEC CHILE for the engineering and manufacture of ducting, fittings, and special parts in FRP.
The ducting was 86” and 130” diameter and designed to vacuum and significant deformations due to thermal expansion and seismic loads. All engineering was compliant to Chilean wind, snow, and earthquake actions design code NCh2369, NCh431, and NCh432.
Straight ducting was manufactured by hoop filament winding and unidirectional fabrics. All fittings and special components were manufactured by Hand Lay up in one piece in order to keep the structural integrity. All resins used during manufacture were brominated vinyl ester, which provides fire retardancy properties, as requested by CODELCO.
For the engineering, the complete line was analysed by FEA, and design considerations were referred from ASME RTP-1.
Finally, the Project also involves an OUTOTEC’s quality inspector, who reviewed the production process in order to ensure that all technical specifications for the project are met. All equipment was successfully delivered to site.
