Barnhart was called to a refinery in California to remove and replace four CFH reactors. The tallest ones stood at 64’6” and the heaviest weighed 490,000 pounds.
There were numerous challenges, including a tight working area of less than 40’ x 80’ and adjacent obstructions. The units had to be tailed in an alley with a width of 25’. Barnhart constructed their first cantilevered Modular Lift Tower, which included approximately 400,000 pounds of counterweight for stability, and used one-shot gantries for the tailing process.
Once lifted, 1600 kip end trucks slid the tower to the tailing area, and the CFH reactors were rotated on a swivel hoist. Strand jacks lowered the reactors, and one-shot gantries and a custom tailing device were used to tail the reactors.
The reactors were loaded onto a Goldhofer trailer and transported to a temporary staging area. The process was repeated for the other three reactors and reversed for the installation of the new vessels.