High visibility for Alfa Laval in Sea Lapland with the delivery of large-scale heat exchangers

“We offered the client a custom solution, based on which they decided to procure the equipment from Alfa Laval. Previous experience of cooperation also influenced the decision, as Alfa Laval has successfully supplied equipment to Outokumpu before,” says Juha-Matti Kuoppala, Product Portfolio Manager at Alfa Laval Vantaa, who was in charge of the delivery.

“Outokumpu chose Alfa Laval’s heat exchangers after making technical and financial comparisons,” says Outokumpu’s Janne Ollila, who was the area manager for the ferrochrome smelter plant in the project.

The plate heat exchangers were manufactured at Alfa Laval’s Lund plant and the air heat exchangers in Vantaa.

High energy consumption a challenge for heat exchangers

The Tornio works uses as much as three per cent of all energy in Finland, for which reason the client paid particular attention to the energy solutions chosen.

The air heat exchangers made by Alfa Laval, with a length of more than 13.5 metres, are very large by Finnish standards. Their blower diameter is two metres and their performance is optimized to the needs of Outokumpu.

The air heat exchangers are located on the roof of the expanded plant and, due to their sheer size, can be seen from quite a distance.

“Our products were delivered to the site installation-ready: we had completed all the cable routings and electric wiring at the plant. The plug-and-play delivery was ready for installation down to the last component,” says Juha-Matti Kuoppala.

The choice of materials for the Alfa Laval products delivered to Tornio was made with particular caution. In the process industry it is important for equipment to function reliably and to endure decades of use. In this way the maximum benefit is obtained from the important investment.

However, the mere manufacture and delivery of products is never enough. A significant part of the guarantee of quality was the training in their use, arranged by Alfa Laval for the operation and maintenance personnel of the Tornio ferrochrome plant.

“Our primary task has been to ensure that everyone working with the heat exchangers knows our equipment through and through. So we arranged several half-day training events at the client’s site,” emphasizes Product Portfolio Manager Juha-Matti Kuoppala.

“The training provided by Alfa Laval consisted of both classroom and hands-on learning, which was what we wanted. It therefore covered the theory as well as the practice of heat exchangers,” says, Janne Ollila, Head of Department, Outokumpu Chrome Oy.