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Douglas Channel in British Columbia, Canada, is no stranger to big ships.
The fjord connects the Pacific Ocean to the deep-sea terminal at Kitimat, a name borrowed from the Haisla First Nation, where Alcan and then Rio Tinto have operated an aluminum smelter since the 1950s.
Pyrocrete 341 delivers 3-in-1 multi-hazard fire protection at Canada’s largest LNG export terminal
Bauxite comes in, smelted aluminum comes out. But soon, more big ships will ply these waters.
That’s because a joint venture led by Royal Dutch Shell is building Canada’s largest LNG export terminal here. Instrumental to that project has been the application of a massive amount of passive fire protection (PFP) material that will protect the facility’s staff and infrastructure once it opens in 2025.
Foundational to successful operation
Constructing the facility has been a case study of complexity.
The sprawling complex is composed of over 200 large modules which were fabricated in China, hauled via ocean barge across the Pacific and up Douglas Channel to Kitimat, and then strapped to special flatbed trailers for a slow, careful journey to the assembly site a mile up the road.
The modules rest on steel piles driven into the earth, which is too soft here — and too seismically active — for a conventional slab foundation. Steel support stools bolted to the tops of the piles anchor the modules in place. Because these stools bear structural loads, code requires that they be fireproofed.
Pyrocrete 341 delivers 3-in-1 multi-hazard fire protection at Canada’s largest LNG export terminal
But unlike the fabrication, transportation and assembly process, achieving the needed fire safety ratings here was smooth and simple.
Pyrocrete 341 simplifies hazard planning
The steel support stools are covered in Pyrocrete 341, a next-generation Portland-cement based fire resistive material launched in 2020 and tested to meet the following criteria:
- UL 1709 hydrocarbon fire up to four hours
- ISO 22899-1 hydrocarbon jet fire from 30 minutes to four hours
- ISO 20088-1 cryogenic spill protection to -319°F (-195°C)
- ISO 20088-1 cryogenic spill followed by ISO 22899-1 hydrocarbon jet fire
- NFPA 290 simultaneous torch and hose stream-resistant, extended to 150 minutes
- 4-bar overpressure blast resistance
- 4-bar overpressure blast resistance followed by hydrocarbon fire
Aware that LNG plants deal with a commodity held at cryogenic temperatures, Carboline technical staff knew that Pyrocrete 341’s more comprehensive protective features would simplify LNG Canada’s fire protection regimen. Here, one application of a single product provides three-in-one pool fire, jet fire and cryogenic spill protection.
Pyrocrete 341 covers all the bases — and all of the 3,000+ stools supporting this key piece of Canada’s energy export puzzle.
A game-changing origin story
Pyrocrete 341 delivers 3-in-1 multi-hazard fire protection at Canada’s largest LNG export terminal
Pyrocrete 341 is relatively new, but its name may sound familiar to anyone responsible for onshore hydrocarbon facility fire protection at any point in the last four decades.
Its antecedent, Pyrocrete 241, is arguably considered the industry standard cementitious PFP product for onshore hydrocarbon facilities.
With proven performance in actual loss scenarios, Pyrocrete is synonymous with high quality. But engineers, contractors and owners likely didn’t think so when Carboline first marketed the lightweight Portland-cement based material in the late 1970s.
Achieving better performance than cast-in-place dense concrete at one-third the installed weight seemed too good to be true, and it took some time — and the bravery of early adopters — before the industry realized how badly it had needed Pyrocrete 241.
For one thing, it changed the notion that all construction needed to be completed in-situ. Introducing off-site techniques reduced material, shipping and installation costs associated with passive fire protection.
For another, it demonstrated reproducible performance and thermal response of protected substrates for a finite period when evaluated to industry-developed standards.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it relieved designers of the annoying burden cast-in-place concrete imposed upon them. They could re-think material selection, layout and even facility function with greater freedom.
Those benefits made Pyrocrete 241 the mainstay among those responsible for protecting assets from hydrocarbon fires.
But fuel refining is much different today. Commodities are more numerous, processes more complex and risk matrices wider ranging. Particularly noteworthy are alternative fuels like liquid natural gas and liquid hydrogen, the refinement and storage of which involve cryogenic temperatures.
Last generation’s fire resistive materials provide last generation’s level of performance. Facilities today need something better. They’re getting it with Pyrocrete 341.
Pyrocrete 341 delivers 3-in-1 multi-hazard fire protection at Canada’s largest LNG export terminal
A new chapter in Canada’s energy saga
Depending on whose statistics you cite, Canada is either the fifth or sixth-largest energy producer in the world.
Could the Kitimat facility help it earn a spot higher on that list? Indeed, demand for Canadian energy exports has increased in recent years. And LNG Canada wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of building this terminal if industry players did not expect that to remain the case long-term.
When the export terminal opens in 2025, it will mark a new chapter. Most of the LNG it produces there will go to Asia or points beyond, and not to the U.S., which previously has been the destination for around 90% of the energy Canada extracts for export.
Diversifying exports is a good thing. It means smoother sailing for the Canadian economy.
A rising tide lifts all ships, including those big ones that they’ll be seeing a lot more of in Kitimat.
For more information, visit carboline.com.
