Barnhart towers above reactor

US firm Barnhart Crane & Rigging has used its modular lift tower to lift a 360t, 30m long reactor at BP Amoco’s Toledo, Ohio refinery. The old reactor was being demolished to make way for a new one designed meet the tougher standards of the US Clean Air Act.

The company lifted the reactor with 27 strands threaded through a single 400t-capacity strand jack on top of a 36m tower. The tail end of the reactor was supported by a Barnhart-built fixture mounted on a Goldhofer platform trailer.

The tower took six days to erect using a Manitowoc 999. ‘This is longer than normal – three days – due to the nearby obstructions,’ said senior vice president Jeff Latture. ‘Note the proximity to the stair tower which required some custom fabrication for bracing,’ he said. He added that the tower was less expensive and had less impact on refinery operations than a big crawler crane.

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