Natural Gas Plant Furnace Stack Replacement

Northern Natural Gas wanted to replace its 150-foot, refractory lined furnace stack with a 75-foot tall stack. UCI was selected as the design-builder for the project. MKEC performed the engineering design and drawings for the new stack and Piping and Equipment fabricated it. The stack was shipped to Bryant Refractory in Tulsa, OK to have the refractory applied prior to installing it at the Bushton facility. One of the complicating factors associated with replacing the existing stack was to make sure the base of the stack and the flange that connected to the furnace were in correct alignment. Otherwise, significant field modifications would be required. MKEC utilized its laser scanner on the existing stack and found that the furnace flange was off a few degrees from the standard, thus the stack flange was installed to match. When the new stack was set, it fit perfectly and no field modifications were required. UCI identified needed refractory repairs in the furnace prior to setting the new stack and immediately brought in Bryant Refractory to make repairs prior to the new stack installation. This work was performed without causing delays to the completion schedule, which was critical for furnace start up.