Refining, natural gas liquefaction and power generation for oil and gas industry often involve combustion turbines with an output above 40 MW.
In such cases, the combustion turbine itself, a gas fuel module and a water injection module are powerful noise sources of which the impact must be limited to protect workers in the power plant and neighbors as well.
Noise barriers walls and sound enclosures (both: with a steel structure able to withstand high loads due to wind and snow and seismic load as well, and with removables panels for walls and roof, if any) are constructions being appropriate for such a purpose, as long as they are compatible with maintenance requirements.
To enable the ventilation of the turbomachinery components, sophisticated ventilation systems are needed, involving fans meeting ATEX (for Explosive ATmospheres) requirements - based on a european directive - and silencers to limit (through openings needed for air inlet and outlet) the propagation of noise emitted by encapsulated hardware and also due to moto-ventilators themselves.
The features associated with industrial soundproofing equipment in Oil and Gas sector are many and varied: they require multidisciplinary skills.
The existence of domestic regulations for building and for electrical works always involve complex works for project management and documentation preparation, for soundproofing works in the oil and gas sector : the stamping by local authorities is sometimes an essential phase.
Robust experience in metallic construction, electrical works and administrative tasks is required to face succesfully all challenges related to such projects, especially when related to overseas installations or/and petrochemical sites.
ITS has participated in the construction of soundproofing devices for 3 combustion turbines on a carabbean island in the context on an oil and gas project.
As often in such cases, it came to the design and construction of buildings whose envelope could oppose the propagation of noise, as well as the soundproofing devices of associated ventilation systems.
Thus were the subject of in-depth studies (with calculations in acoustics, thermal, aeraulics, structures) and a careful construction of buildings for soundproofing, whose walls were designed on the principle of (modular) panels fixed to a metal frame (which is not always the case, since it is possible to envisage in certain cases such achievements - also marketed by ITS - based on the concept of prefabricated panels - shear wallsl - with large dimensions without separate metal structure: fewer elements, but with a much larger size and weight, must then be handled during assembly on site):
- internal sound-absorbing lining: based on high density mineral wool, surfaced by a glass veil and protected by a perforated sheet
- external steel sheet (non-perforated) to limit noise tarnsmission
Such walls have thus had the 2 complementary functions required for an effective soundproofing device in the Oil and Gas sector, making it possible to obtain, at 1 m from enclosed hardware, sound pressure levels as low as 80 dB(A) - or even less when required - which is considerable in terms of insulation performance e.g. when the sound power level of some noise sources approaches 140 dB (A), which is truly deafening.
Soundproofing devices for ventilation openings (to evacuate the heat dissipated by enclosed hardware, and in certain cases e.g. in the event of a leak, to prevent the formation of gas pockets, with the inherent risk of explosion) and fans (whose noise emissions are rarely negligible given the size required for this equipment - sometimes installed in series or in parallel to allow useful redundancy in the event of failure of one of them - and which must be in compliance not only with more or less general regulations e.g. ATEX but also with local electrical standards) were also the subject of engineering work (acoustics, aeraulics, general layout) prior to their manufacture (this involved again a metal construction, with sound-absorbing splitters installed in a casing with reinforced acoustic insulation - as appropriate: with rectangular or circular cross section -).
The use of ITS business partners being seasoned for such projects of soundproofing works in oil and gas has allowed a smooth project management.