Project Profile - Fire Water Intake System

Shifting Operations

For the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, shifting their operations from a refinery to a storage and export center for liquified gases meant many of their systems would need to be completely upgraded. One of the most important tools needed for their new operation is their firewater intake system, which draws water from the river to put out fires that would be catastrophic if they were to arise. To protect the newly-installed cryogenic tanks, S. T. Hudson provide a structural design and constructed a fire water intake system complete with automated pumps that were procured and tested.

Project Goals

Safety was a primary priority for this project. Meeting the firefighting needs to protect the cryogenic tanks was of paramount importance.

Design Fire Water Intake System

Meeting the construction and procurement schedule was a top priority to protect the infrastructure integrity of the complex.

Build River Water Intake Structure

The system would require the use of river water, necessitating the design and build of apparatus to pull and transport the water.

Key Data Points

5,000

Sq Ft Cofferdam

Deep Excavation

800HP

Diesel-Driven Water Pumps

Jockey Pump

Inch HDPE Pipelines

To tie in the new pump system to the refinery water system

Project Details

To protect their newly-built cryogenic tanks that stored liquid gas, the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex needed a reliable firefighting system in the event of a fire. S. T. Hudson designed and built a new fire water intake system featuring two diesel-driven water pumps and durable HDPE pipelines.

In 2012, the Marcus Hook Refinery was acquired by Sunoco Logistics, who merged with Energy Transfer in 2017. Due to fluctuations in the energy market, they decided to repurpose the refinery into a complex for building and storing cryogenic tanks, transitioning to become Marcus Hook Industrial Complex. This shift, however, necessitated an upgraded fire water intake system to ensure they had the proper firefighting capabilities for the new facility. On the land side of the complex, large cryogenic storage tanks hold gas pulled from the ground and frozen into a liquid. Gas converted to liquid loses roughly 300 times its volume, making it more efficient to store. However, if the freezers fail for whatever reason and the liquid becomes a gas, the dynamics of the tanks change, potentially presenting a fire hazard.

S.T. Hudson understood the complexities of the job, one of which was the very specific amount of water that would need to be pumped for the system to be effective and work properly. Using their advanced design engineering knowledge, the team developed a design that would meet the pumping capacity. After building the complete river water intake structure, the system was tested and met all regulatory standards and compliance requirements.

Project Highlights

The complete scope of work for this project included:

Structural design of pier demo
Structural design of cofferdam
Design of pumping and piping systems
Design of electrical, mechanical, and instrumentation integration into the new system
Material procurement from all over the country
Construction management and services
Coordination with piping, electrical, and mechanical contractors, engineers, and consultants