Industrial Insulation

Recently we were approached by a firm that supplies specialist equipment to the Oil & Gas Industry.

Compressor base during construction

They were building a containerised compressor station for an oil field in Kazakstan. The compressor station will be exposed to extremes of temperature, with temperatures dropping as low as -40 degrees centigrade in winter. Due to space limitations, a high performance insulation was specified to insulate the floor of the structure.

Handi-foam polyurethane foam insulation was sprayed into the base of the compressor station to an average depth of 9 inches, to provide a high level of protection against the extreme temperatures.

The first layer of foam is applied to the steel floor

The foam was sprayed in layers and the layers were built up to achieve the 9" insulation thickness.

The Quick-cure grade of Handi-Foam was used in this application, as it allowed the layers to be built up quickly to the required thickness.

The time taken to insulate the base? About 3 hours with 2 men spraying the foam. Not bad considering the structure was 14 metres (46ft) long and 3.8 metres (12ft) wide and required 9" of foam!

A total of 8 large foam kits were used with approximately 40 nozzles.