Toray Industries, Inc., announced that it has developed a carbon fiber reinforced plastic-based repair technique with MODEC, Inc. The technology is for floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) and floating storage and offloading (FSO) systems that MODEC designs and builds and for which it provides operation and maintenance services. Toray has jointly developed a repair technology using Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics and has obtained approval from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) as a standard repair method for thickened parts due to corrosion.
Since maintenance of FPSO / FSO is carried out while continuing oil and gas production at sea and only repairs with steel materials are permitted. It has been desperately desired to require a new construction method that makes easy to bring in materials and equipment which does not involve fire work.
Toray has a patent for a vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VaRTM) repair technique that can be applied to a narrow work site, and Toray has been considering applying the technology to repair of FPSO / FSO in the field of floating marine oil and gas and production equipment including FPSO. And now Toray has been working with MODEC, the world’s leading company and the only specialized company in Japan.
The two companies jointly developed a repair technique that uses a dedicated carbon fiber fabric with high strength and high elastic modulus which makes it easier to carry in materials and equipment compared to the conventional repair method using steel materials, and requires a small number of people and a short construction period. In addition, since it does not involve fire work, it can be expected that the impact of repair work on oil and gas production will be minimized.