During the months of August and September 2021, the Unit’s General Shutdown (PGU) took place at Vale’s Onça Puma project, located in Ourilândia do Norte, southeast of Pará. Concremat is responsible for managing the Current Investment works at the plant and was recognized by Vale for its performance in the planning, supervision and execution of activities at the PGU. Around 400 people were involved, 40 of which were Concremat employees, working for 36 days, in two shifts.
PGU’s objective is to carry out the necessary maintenance on the unit’s equipment so that it is possible to reach the production target set for the following year, as explained by the contract coordinator, Márcio Martins: “With the plant in operation, routine maintenance is carried out, subject to the physical availability of the equipment depending on the scale of production. That is, these repairs are made when the equipment is idle for a certain period. However, there are more complex maintenances, which require more time to be performed. These maintenances are necessary so that there are no unforeseen interruptions over the following year and, in this way, the unit reaches the stipulated production target, called the campaign. For this reason, the Unit’s General Shutdown is held every year”.
In 2021, the PGU lasted 30 days, with more than 300 activities involving various engineering disciplines, such as civil, electrical, mechanical, maintenance and instrumentation. Charllen Carvalho, contract manager, notes that the duration of the PGU varies depending on the amount of equipment that will be serviced and the complexity of the repairs.
“The calculation of downtime is based on the production target for the following year. The higher the target, the shorter the plant’s downtime should be, as this would compromise production. In this way, we analyze the risk of a certain piece of equipment breaking down and, depending on whether it is high, medium or low, we prioritize its maintenance at the PGU. This is what we technically call the physical availability of the equipment,” he says.
Márcio Martins adds that, in this PGU, the most important interventions were the refractory maintenance of the electric reduction furnace and the rotary calciners and the replacement of the refrigerated duct sections of Furnace 1, “a simple operation, but which required a lot of safety documentation because it involved lifting the load due to the weight of the ducts”, he explains.
PGU was completed on schedule and with no record of accidents.
This was the third year in which Concremat coordinated, in partnership with Vale, the PGU for the Current Investments area, actively participating in the execution of the scope encompassing Planning, HSE (Safety, Health and Environment), Quality, Supplies, Engineering and execution. The activities were completed on schedule and without any accidents.
To recognize the efforts of all eight service providers operating in Onça Puma to carry out the PGU, Vale awarded the employees who stood out the most during the execution of the activities. Of the 20 recognized employees, six are from Concremat. They are the Planning Technician João Batista da Costa Pereira; Operational Analyst Eliomar Ferreira Frassi; Mechanical Technician Michael Damazio da Silva; Mechanical Technician Adenísio Paulo de Moura; the Electrical Technician Wanderson da Rocha Sousa and the Occupational Safety Technician Bianca da Silva Dias.
“The result of this work exceeded the most optimistic expectations. This year, Concremat took over the planning of the PGU and, in addition to carrying out everything that was planned within the short term, we increased the scope, spent less than was calculated and with zero accidents. The team fills me with pride”, said Thais Cadorim, quality analyst at Concremat.
