The mechanical engineering capabilities in MegChem cover a wide variety of detail engineering services.  The five engineering groups and three mechanical drawing office groups are managed as separate business units and are staffed with over 40 qualified engineers and 30 draftsmen operating from offices in Secunda, Sasolburg and Centurion.  Our services and engineering capabilities are applied mostly in the petrochemical environment; however, but includes solutions on any pressure bearing equipment and rotating machinery in other environments as well.

Detail equipment design

The MegChem Mechanical design team compiles professional design packages for statutory as well as non-statutory equipment, conforming to the OHS Act, client specifications and international codes and standards.  All design packages prepared by MegChem consist of the design calculation showing all steps of the calculations and formulae used, the approved for construction drawings and supportive documentation, and is internally verified as per our Quality Management System procedures.

MegChem perform detail mechanical design for:

• Pressure vessels – all categories
• Shell and tube heat exchangers
• Air cooled heat exchangers
• Electrical heaters
• Reactors
• Storage tanks
• Piping components
• Customised rotating equipment

Our design calculations are done using commercial software as listed below, as well as customised calculation sheets mainly prepared in Mathcad.

Software capabilities:

• Compress – Pressure vessel, reactor and heat exchanger design
• CodeCalc – Pressure vessel, reactor and heat exchanger design
• PV Elite – Pressure vessel, reactor and heat exchanger design
• OptiVessel – Pressure vessel, reactor and heat exchanger design
• OptiTank – Storage tank design
• Nozzle Pro – Nozzle load stress analysis on vessels and tanks
• PRCI welding institute software – Calculation of on-line welding integrity and safety
• Mathcad – Mathematical modelling software – used for all customised calculations
• Microstation – 2D and 3D drafting
• Solid Edge – 3D parametric modelling

Plant maintenance support

In the petrochemical industry, the Mechanical Engineering divisions provides specialist capabilities in Plant Maintenance support, repair procedures for tanks, pressure vessels and heat exchangers, shutdown assistance and new equipment design.

We support clients in updating drawings and other statutory documentation, often required to be transferred in electronic format for modern record keeping.

We perform fitness for service analysis on most equipment that requires engineering input to verify its suitability for service and remaining life assessment.

Project execution support

Mechanical Engineering prepares the technical purchase specifications for various types of equipment such as pressure vessels, heat exchangers, pressure and temperature relieving devices, storage tanks, centrifugal and positive displacement pumps, compressors, specialised inline equipment and filtration equipment.

The mechanical engineering and design teams assist the project team in the following actions:

• Preparation of technical scope of work
• Preparation of technical purchase specification for equipment to be procured
• Bid clarification meetings
• Technical bid evaluations
• Hazard and Operability studies
• Potential deviation analysis
• Fabrication assistance (to ensure that execution follows the design intent)
• Detail equipment design where required
• Design verification of external designs
• Verification of quality control documentation
• Punching of mechanical installations
• As-built documentation.

Our Piping Engineering group represents a core competency in MegChem’s portfolio of engineering expertise. This group currently consists of some 70 Piping Designers, as well as 16 Piping Engineers, located in Secunda and Sasolburg.

The group’s expertise centers around design and layout of high pressure, high temperature piping, as is typically encountered in the oil and gas, power generation and related industries. Although most of our designs conform to the ASME codes as per client specification, we are capable and experienced in most international codes (e.g. DIN, BS, EN, AS etc.). All our piping designs also conforms to all local regulations and laws, and specifically complies with the newly promulgated Pressure Equipment Regulations (PER) of the OHS Act.

In order to ensure quality and to comply with all standards and client specifications, MegChem has developed a rigorous Quality Management System (Certified to IS0 9001:200). This quality system, together with our highly experienced engineers and designers, enable MegChem to produce engineering designs that may be used with confidence by project managers, clients and construction teams.

A wide range of state-of-the art software is being used; amongst others this includes Microstation or AutoCad together with Cadworx for 3D modelling. We are also well experienced in the SmartPlant Suite (3D and P&ID) from Intergraph, and recent projects have shown significant increase in productivity through utilization of this integrative software platform. Integrity of piping and compliance to design codes is ensured by using dedicated piping flexibility analysis software, including Caesar II and AutoPipe.

Although a major part of our work is being performed as part of an integrated multi-disciplinary engineering team under guidance of a project manager, we are also well suited to do piping design work for clients on a single discipline basis, as is typically required by Owner-Operators in maintenance related work or for small design changes on existing plants.

MegChem also has significant expertise in regenerating statutory documentation of existing plants. Amongst others, this documentation includes “as-is” P&ID’s and piping isometric drawings. Over the years, many plant owner-operators find that their statutory documentation becomes outdated, and does not reflect the current status of the plant. In order to regenerate such documentation, MegChem employs high definition laser scanning of the existing plant. 3D modelling of the plant may then be done based on these scanned plant images. 3D modelling may be done either in AutoCAD or SmartPlant, depending of specific client requirements.

This grouping of MegChem is represented in Secunda, Centurion and Durban and specializes in services related to the materials of construction and its degradation. Our staffing consists of approximately 15 engineers and technical staff and we are active in the petrochemical, power, construction, manufacturing and legal sectors locally and globally. We utilize our own well equipped laboratories and also perform metallurgical testing on site.

Metallurgical Engineering is the study of the internal structure and engineering behaviour of metals and engineering materials. Metallurgical knowledge is applied to study the structural strength, deformation behaviour, failure and environmental interaction of in-service engineering components.

A comprehensive metallurgical consulting service encompassing all aspects of Physical and Mechanical metallurgy, materials engineering, welding and corrosion, is supplied by MegChem.

A team of experienced metallurgical experts are supported by a well equipped metallurgical laboratory and certified testing facility, enabling MegChem to provide a one-stop metallurgical service to the petrochemical, mining and manufacturing industries, ranging from advanced failure investigations and Asset Integrity Management studies to basic material testing and certification. Due to our close co-operation with the petrochemical industry, specialist capabilities in the field of corrosion engineering, testing and monitoring, as well as plant integrity assessment and Risk Based Inspection were developed.

Our Equipment

• Serviced and calibrated equipment for mechanical, metallographic and corrosion testing are available at the SecMet facilities in Secunda.
• Cyclic loading capabilities on one of two tensile testing machines are utilised in advance fracture mechanic testing and fatigue simulations.
• A state of the art Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) enables accurate identification of failure mechanisms metallographic structures and corrosion products.

Industry Sectors Served

• Chemical industry
• Petrochemical industry
• Mining industry
• Power generation industry
• Heavy fabrication industry
• Paper and Pulp industry

Capabilities

• In-house machining for sample preparation
• Sample preparation
• Material and Product Test and Evaluation
• Heat treatment
• Hardness testing
• Corrosion monitoring and testing
• Scanning Electron Microscope examination
• EDS analysis
• Metallographic examination
• Mechanical testing, including fracture mechanics and polymers
• Creep and high-temperature testing of steels

Specialist Services

• Corrosion Engineering
  • On-line Corrosion Monitoring
  • Specialized corrosion testing
  • Corrosion Monitoring Software
• Materials testing
  • Specialized corrosion testing
  • Creep Testing
  • Omega Testing
  • Low-load mechanical tests (ceramics/ polymers)
• Materials Consultation (Metallurgical Engineering in support of Design & Manufacturing)
• Welding Engineering (Welding Engineering in support of projects, repairs and qualification of procedures and welders)
• Shutdown assistance
• Asset Integrity Engineering
  • Degradation Mechanism Identification (using API 571)
  • Mapping of probable degradation mechanisms on flow diagrams (MCFD’s)
  • Condition Assessment Surveys
  • Risk Based Inspection (RBI) studies (using API 580 and 581)
  • Fitness for Service Engineering Assessments (FFS, using API 579 and dedicated software)
  • Fracture mechanics testing and calculations
  • Failure/ forensic investigations and root cause analysis
  • Fire damage assessment

MegChem Forensic Engineers provide expert engineering services to the insurance companies, law firms and manufacturers. The forensic engineer meticulously investigates accidents and failures with the objective of establishing causation and the sequence of events leading to the accident. This work is then utilized by the legal profession for both civil and criminal court proceedings.

Forensic Engineering is primarily concerned with the correct reconstruction of an incident which resulted in failure, loss, injury or death. As such, Forensic Engineering is also often utilized in investigations with a commercial or industrial focus. Engineering knowledge, concepts and techniques are used in order to arrive at the required reconstruction.

The Team

In performing the forensic reconstruction the MegChem multi-disciplinary engineering team combines specialized knowledge and systems in the fields of materials behaviour, stress and structural analysis and failure, to arrive at the correct reconstruction. In doing so, they utilize state-of-the-art techniques and software, draws on the extensive experience of its staff. Our Forensic Engineers are supported by fully equipped Material and Mechanical testing laboratories. As a consequence, we often provide testing services, failure simulations through finite element modeling, reconstruction of failure reports and expert testimony following industrial incidents. These investigations have included failure and collapse investigations as well as fire and explosion investigations.

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MegChem’s metallurgical division is a one stop solution for welding engineering services.

Welding engineering involves the development of welding techniques, procedures and the application of welding knowledge in the solving of and optimising manufacturing and welding related challenges.

Welding expertise in the form of weld related failure and forensic investigations as well as services for the design and approval of welding procedures is provided by MegChem.

MegChem also has PQR testing capabilities, making MegChem’s metallurgical division a one-stop solution provider for welding services.

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Engineering Analysis specializes in using numerical techniques to solve static, dynamic and transient problems in the fields of structural and fluid mechanics. The division consists of qualified engineers specializing in a wide variety of analysis disciplines. MegChem’s Engineering Analysis team integrates its experience in engineering analysis in the fields of FEA, CFD and experimental analysis to provide engineering solutions to the industry by using state-of-the art computer hardware and software technology. Abbreviations

• CAD – Computer Aided Design
• FEA – Finite Element Analysis
• CFD – Computational Fluid Dynamics
• CAE – Computer Aided Engineering

Who are we? Engineering Analysis is the division of MegChem that specializes in engineering analysis. The division consists of qualified engineers specializing in structural and fluid analysis using numerical techniques to solve static, dynamic and transient problems. What can we do? The Engineering Analysis division integrates its experience in engineering analysis in the fields of FEA, CFD and experimental analysis to provide engineering solutions to the industry. The tools Structural analysis: We use software developed and marketed by MSC.Software (www.mscsoftware.com), one of the leading providers of CAE software, most commonly used:

• MSC.Patran
• MSC.Nastran
• MSC.Fatige
• MSC.Marc
• MSC.Adams
• MSC.Dytran

CFD Analysis: We use CFX developed by ANSYS Inc. (www.ansys.com). Experimental Analysis: The highest quality transducers are used for experimental analysis. The strain gauges, accelerometers, displacement transducers and other types of transducers we use are all manufactured by companies known for the quality and consistency of their products. We use LabVIEW by National Instruments (www.ni.com) to create data acquisition software that can easily be customised for specific applications. Common Areas of Application Detail Design: The experience and tools available to MegChem enables us to perform accurate designs on virtually any equipment or part. Using online measuring techniques, applied loads and temperatures can be accurately determined. In flow applications, CFD analysis can be used to quantify pressure and temperature boundary conditions. Using finite element analysis a detail stress distribution can be calculated. Stresses can be evaluated statically or dynamically. Afterwards, online measuring can be used to verify results. Design Optimisation: By means of computer simulation the duration of design cycles are drastically reduced compared to physical prototypes. In addition to being excellent design tools, FEA and CFD can be highly cost-effective when used to optimise a design to reduce cost of manufacture or operation or to increase the operational efficiency. Accurately quantifying operational loads by means of online measuring could also result in a more optimised design by decreasing design safety factors. Failure Analysis: The cause of failure of a component can often be determined after determining the operational loads and using these as input for a detailed stress analysis. Very often, cyclic loading can be a cause of unexpected failure. MegChem has the ability to perform advanced fatigue analyses on components. Using a combination of online measuring and finite element analysis, a stress history during an operational cycle is obtained. In-house developed software is then used for stress cycle counting and fatigue damage assessment. The method is also used for real-time fatigue damage assessment of components during operation. A fracture mechanics analysis can also be used to determine growth rate and severity of defects. Problem Tracing: By measuring the boundary conditions and simulating the operation of a part or process by means of FEA or CFD, a good basic understanding of the principles of operation can be formed. This invariably leads to an understanding of problems that are being experienced with the equipment and the formulation of likely solutions. Proposed solutions to the problem can be evaluated with FEA or CFD to reduce the risk of failure to acceptable levels.

The Control & Instrumentation (C&I) Department supports the Project Management and Engineering Management departments within MegChem with technical assistance and quality assurance and control. We assist during the process of detail engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning.

• MegChem has the following combined member experience in the Control and Instrumentation department:
• 22 Years of electrical construction in the domestic, commercial and industrial sector.
• 20 Years of professional project management experience in multidiscipline projects.
• 3 Years of design, specification, selection and inspections of instrumentation hardware in the petrochemical environment.

Skills and competencies within the Control and Instrumentation department are:

• System and Instrument specification, selection and evaluation.
• Control system design and implementation (SCADA, PLC, DCS).
• Safety Instrumented system design and selection.
• Design of instrumented systems in hazardous areas.
• Engineering design of instrument installation requirements.

The C&I department ensures that sub-contractors contracted during engineering and/or construction phase comply to the Client’s technical and electrical safety, specifications and standards. The regular attendance of seminars and symposiums aids the C&I department in the gaining up to date knowledge on the latest technologies.

MegChem utilizes a multi-discipline, integrated, systems approach for design. This is achieved by an experienced team of Engineering Managers that skilfully execute the engineering design stages of our projects. Knowledge of inter-discipline interfaces and the complex integration requirements of existing infrastructure, ensure high integrity solutions for most engineering challenges on a project. We are frequently called on to solve the most demanding problems in industry within constraints that varies from tight schedules, extremely harsh operating environments, to working on live equipment. MegChem executes small to medium sized projects engaging with clients in various contracting strategies including, EPCm, EPC and Turnkey. Our contribution could involve any portion of the typical project life cycle ranging from Conceptual Design, Basic (Preliminary) Design, Detail Design, Procurement, Construction through to Commissioning. However, our strength is on complex projects where the design component is substantial. Most of our projects are executed on brown fields and in shutdown environments. Risk mitigation and detail planning are key focus areas to meet these demanding requirements, and we perfected our in-house technologies, such as 3D laser scanning and 4D modelling, to accomplish that. Our Project Managers ensure that the client’s project objectives are achieved in terms of Cost, Schedule, Quality and Safety. In addition, a project office team carries out daily project activities in accordance with our ISO certified Business Management System using accepted project management principles as backbone. MegChem’s excellent collaboration between Engineering Management and Project Management delivers exceptional results time after time.

It is the responsibility of the Procurement Department to procure goods and services in a structured, documented manner in accordance with the Procurement procedures of MegChem (Pty) Ltd. The procurement function operates within industry standards and best practices to enhance and provide a value added service. All procurement actions are consistent with ethical leadership and corporate governance principles which strive to interact with all parties in a positive and constructive way to achieve win-win situations. Purchasing officials are expected to fulfill the following role as and when applicable:

• Create and issue RFQ’s which is clear in Scope of work and other requirements.
• To enquire and place orders in a responsible, ethical manner which will enhance our image as a professional engineering company.
• Dealing with quotations, confidentiality and sealed bid opening procedures.
• Evaluating and clarifying all technical and commercial issues on quotations.
• Recommending the best value for money option with the least risks to the project manager as link between MegChem and the client.
• Obtaining a formal commitment from our clients prior to establishing orders addressing all the requirements of the client and MegChem.
• Managing suppliers, expediting and dealing with schedule issues.
• Prepare and recommend payments as and when invoices comply to order requirements as well as dealing with penalties if applicable.
• Keeping records, filing of orders in a specific format to create uniformity.
• Attend project close out meetings with the view of continuous improvement.

Activities of the Procurement section:

• To know and to implement the Purchasing procedures and systems in MegChem in order to support the company’s strategic vision.
• Know who the approved suppliers are for a specific product for a specific company.
• Create a project procurement plan specific for a project if required.
• Be aware of the client’s special commercial requirements for orders and reporting information in instances where a “For and on Behalf of” service is rendered.
• Ensure that we are aware of metal price increases/decreases, oversupplies and demand at international level – LME, ROE etc.
• Understand and manage Cost Price Adjustments mechanisms and principles.
• Ensure risks and costs are covered using international INCO terms and have extensive understanding of logistics. Operating hand in hand with global freight forwarders.
• Create and adapt commercial commitments to limit risks while ensuring no loose ends.
• Having agreements / orders which eliminate the need for lengthy and costly legal cases between MegChem and its clients.
• Negotiate best value for money agreements based on fit for purpose requirements.
• Adapting our services while still complying with all the basics of good commercial practices.
• Filing and archiving all procurement documentation for audit purposes.

Quality Management in MegChem follows a team coherent strategy to meet company objectives and stakeholder expectations. Sustained customer satisfaction is achieved by consistent delivery of quality products and services at the right cost and conforming to agreed and accurate schedules.

Key to company success are our management’s commitment to quality and employee support of well established business and quality management systems based on the principles of Quality Standard ISO 9001:2000, having been certified since the year 2004.

Quality Management at MegChem consists of an ISO 9001 Systems Division responsible for the maintenance and continuous improvement of the Business Quality Management Systems as well as a Quality Assurance and Control Division.

Quality Assurance and  Control is performed by very well trained personnel experienced in the petrochemical and allied industry. Pressure vessel, pressure piping and related equipment manufacturing and maintenance work are governed by approved quality assurance procedures in accordance with statutory and legal requirements.

Customer feedback relating to quality is of a very high level and MegChem earned the “Supplier of the Year” award form Sasol in 2008 and maintains this quality service level.

The MegChem Safety Department operates on a Risk Based system, and complies to the ISO 45001:2018 standard, which is verified by means of an annual 3rd party audit.

We believe that Safety is a team effort between all the different departments, clients and service providers, which can only be achieved through open communication and interaction with one another.

The Safety department has several competent and experienced safety personnel that contributes towards Corporate Safety, Project Safety and the Risk Management department. We are also involved in the Auditing of our Service Providers to ensure compliance to legislation, client requirements and MegChem requirements.

The Safety Department has an integral involvement in Risk Management, by means of facilitation, identification and mitigation.

Achievements:

• Achieved 5 000 000 Disabling Injury free record in June 2018
• 1 000 000 Disabling Injury free hours achieved in October 2019
• 1 500 000 Disabling Injury free hours achieved in August 2020
• ISO 45001:2018 Safety Certification achieved in 2021