The efficient and safe installation of heavy objects for a world-first, large-scale carbon capture and utilisation plant for building material manufacturer Heidelberg Materials is under way, with the assistance of heavy lifting and transport solutions company Mammoet.

Under the name ‘Capture-to-Use’ (Cap2U), Heidelberg Materials and engineering company Linde established a joint venture (JV) for the construction and operation of a CO₂ capture and liquefaction plant, which is currently being built on the site of the Lengfurt cement plant. The plant is being planned and built by Linde Engineering.

Mammoet was chosen by Linde Engineering to assist in the development of a lifting and installation concept for the various heavy and sizeable components needed for the Cap2U plant.

This concept included the delivery of the large components to the construction site, the planning of areas for pre-dressing within the swing radius of the crawler crane, as well as the crane setup and heavy lifts.

Mammoet analysed and examined various solutions, conducting a feasibility study a year before execution to ensure that workflows, interfaces and construction progress were planned in a precise manner.

In its early involvement, Mammoet’s team was able to provide recommendations for adapting the layout of the Cap2U plant to the requirements of the installation. Additionally, the space requirements were integrated into the overall construction site logistics. This later enabled a safe, efficient and smooth execution, saving the JV time and costs.

Mammoet used a three-dimensional (3D) model of the existing cement plant to leverage its own engineering platform, Move3D, to visualise the complex processes, space requirements and potential interfering edges at the confined construction site. This visualisation provided a better understanding of the planned moves for all affected parties and made coordination easier.

Additionally, the use of a 750-t crawler crane proved to be the most flexible and efficient method of lifting and installing large components safely and on time at the site. Further, with the 3D planning, the parties could ensure that crawler track for the crane would be kept as small as possible, minimising the impact of lifting operations.

Crane Solutions

A 100-t absorber column was erected on the pre-dressing area using a tandem lift. The load was swung almost 180º on the hook of the crawler crane and moved about 20 m to the installation position. There, the column had to be carefully guided behind a building before it could be positioned, aligned and bolted onto the foundation in the steel structure.

Owing to the 55-m length of the absorber column and the high complexity of the lifting process, this was the most challenging heavy lift.

Following this, the 67-t stripper column, four tanks each weighing 72 t, and the 178-t heat exchanger were installed.

Mammoet notes its crawler crane solution offered several crucial advantages. “The crawler crane was flexible enough to safely lift loads of varying sizes and weights over long distances . . . so, intermediate transport on the construction site could be avoided.”

To allow for the pre-installation and parallel construction of the steel structure, the configuration of the crawler crane was changed shortly before the project began. This adjustment saved additional time.

The early involvement of Mammoet, 3D engineering, close supervision of the execution by the on-site planning engineers, as well as the “open, solution-oriented, and trustful collaboration” significantly contributed to a successful project.