Today's Industrial Products and Solutions May 2019 | Page 18

Complex Processing Vessel Fabrication Calls for Grace Under Pressure Engineering Meets Craftsmanship to Address Manufacturing’s Most Acute Needs Chemical, oil & gas refinery and petrochemical facilities use complex processing vessels such as heat exchangers, chemical reactors, distillation columns, and pressure equipment that operate under ex- tremely intense environments. These vessels must endure high temperatures and high pressure over decades of grueling use. They are critical pieces of operating equipment that often function as the central processing units of an en- tire manufacturing facility. As a result, any equipment downtime can be extremely costly to the opera- tor. Supporting the many industries that depend on these high-performance vessels is a marketplace of equipment designers and engineers, specialized in metallurgy, vessel fabricators, maintenance and re- pair services, advanced product testing technologies and certification and accreditation organizations. Given the performance and safety requirements for a complex processing vessel, leading fabricators certify their vessels with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to indicate that their 16 TIPS Magazine • May 2019