Upgrading Modular Construction with BIM Technology Innovation
Modular construction is a construction method where structures are prefabricated and assembled at factories, transported, and then installed at the project site compared to conventional methods where structures are assembled directly on site. Once a popular method for building residential facilities and buildings, it is now spreading its horizons to more complex construction projects such as for petrochemical plants and power plants to enhance efficiency in their construction process.?
DL E&C has been a pioneer in this area, having applied the largest module in Korea at the time in 2017 when building the S-OIL Residue Upgrading Complex (RUC) in Ulsan, a city in southern Korea. Since then, modular construction has continuously evolved, becoming more sophisticated with higher precision to be implemented in a wider range of plant projects.
Compared to conventional construction methods which require numerous parts and equipment to be brought directly to the site, modular construction offers many benefits including faster completion, less on-site manpower, increased efficiency, and savings in total costs.
Moreover, modular construction is expected to reduce the scale and duration of heavy equipment usage on construction sites compared to traditional methods, thereby directly curbing carbon emissions.
Innovation for High-precision Modular Designs
Recognizing the advantages of modular construction, DL E&C is spearheading innovation in the field by adopting BIM technology and 3D scanning for enhanced precision.?
Enhancing precision can prevent delays in work that stem from errors which in turn can cut overall work hours at the construction site. It also makes coordination of workflows more feasible, keeping different construction processes from conflicting or getting in the way of each other, naturally lowering the possibility of safety accidents.
DL E&C uses automated designs generated from a coded database that includes precise measurements and information from past projects to save time and keep possible design errors in check to finalize designs earlier than before. This allows building structures to be produced within a minimal timeframe without modifications or revisions based on the confirmed designs. Then, 3D scanning is brought in to compare the module to the schematic design to spot errors and cross-check various stages of project development directly to project execution including production, transport, and assembly.
Project Spring in Singapore for the World’s Largest Polyisoprene Latex Factory
Taking advantage of such innovative technologies, DL E&C recently carried out massive modular installations for project SPRING in Singapore. The project was issued by DL Chemical which is investing around KRW 500 billion to build a new polyisoprene latex factory for its subsidiary in Singapore, Cariflex. The rubber latex plant for medical end markets that will be built on 61,000m2 of land on Jurong Island.
It is the second modular plant project for DL E&C and the first carried out overseas. Modules used for the project have a maximum height of 15m while weighing as much 180 tons. With the total production period being 8.5 months, the first round of shipments consisted of 11 modules (1,140 tons) followed by a second shipment of 15 modules (930 tons).?
DL E&C’s First Modular Project - S-OIL Residue Upgrading Complex
When DL E&C embarked on the S-OIL RUC project, it attracted attention for being the largest-scale modular construction plant project in Korea at the time. It was also a challenging project due to its massive scale with construction costs reaching KRW 3.5 trillion while having a limited timeframe of just 35 months, not to mention narrow land to work on. ?
To overcome such impediments, DL E&C chose modular construction as its approach. This allowed multiple processes to be carried out simultaneously to complete the project on time. It also prevented different processes from colliding which eradicated possible safety accidents.
Applying Modular Plants to the U.S. Market – The GTPP Project
Building on the success with project SPRING, DL E&C plans to apply large-scale modules to GTPP in the U.S. GTPP is a project ordered by Golden Triangle Polymers, a joint venture between the US Chevron Philips Chemical and Qatar Energy to build two polyethylene production units with an annual production capacity of 1 million tons. With processing already underway for material that will be used in the modules, DL E&C is confident in creating another success story as it collaborates with industry leaders to advance the realm of modular construction.