On September 13th, Toray Industries, Inc. announced on its official website that its developed vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VaRTM) process technology for in-situ ship repair has obtained type approval from the American Bureau of Shipping (hereinafter abbreviated as "ABS").
This technology is aimed at floating production storage and offloading systems (FPSO) and floating storage and offloading systems (FSO). It uses carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) as a standard ship repair method for areas where equipment thickness has been reduced due to corrosion. It is reported that this process has also made Toray Industries the first company in the world to receive ABS type certification.
The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) is one of the world's leading classification societies, with about half of the global FPSO and FSO being ABS-certified ships. The approval of Toray Industries' new technology allows these ships to use the proprietary VaRTM process, thereby reducing the time required for ship repair engineering review and verification.
Currently, equipment maintenance for FPSOs and FSOs is usually carried out at sea using traditional steel materials for repair. However, welding or hot work can lead to the suspension of oil and gas production. As early as 2020, Toray Industries, in collaboration with MODEC (Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Co., Ltd.), jointly developed the VaRTM repair process. This process requires the application of Toray's TORAYCA™ carbon fiber fabric to the surface of existing steel structures. This fabric has excellent strength and modulus. After the carbon fiber fabric is applied to the metal surface, a film is used to cover the fabric, then vacuum-sealed with a vacuum pump, epoxy resin is injected, and it is cured to form an integration of CFRP and steel structure, thus completing the repair.
Compared with traditional steel material technology, another advantage of this in-situ VaRTM process is that it can more easily transport materials and equipment to the designated location and carry out rapid repairs with fewer personnel and shorter time. In addition, since the repair process does not involve hot work, it can minimize the impact on oil and gas production.
VaRTM on-site process flowchart
It is reported that Toray Industries will continue to commit to applying the in-situ VaRTM process to a range of industrial applications, while developing repair and reinforcement technologies for FPSOs and FSOs to meet market demands in a timely manner.
Floating production storage and offloading units hundreds of kilometers from land
For the repair of FPSO and FSO units, Toray Industries, in collaboration with Mitsui Ocean, has jointly developed a repair technology based on carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), which has been approved by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) as a standard repair method for corroded parts.
It is not difficult to find that the repair technology for FPSO and FSO units based on CFRP, from obtaining approval from the American Bureau of Shipping at the beginning of 2021, to recently passing the ABS type certification, has taken more than three years. This also reflects that CFRP needs to go through a long period of verification and evaluation before being applied demonstratively in different fields.