Skip to main content

Reactor Installation

Barnhart was hired to offload a 45,000 lb. reactor and install it in a fully operating chemical plant in Tennessee. The reactor was first offloaded from a truck using a Liebherr mobile crane.

The reactor had to skate 200 feet down a narrow hallway, making two 90 degree right turns into the reactor bay.

The heat on the reactor floor was over 100 degrees. Due to limited headroom, the team had to install temporary lifting beams on the existing structure at 30' elevation above the floor. The reactor was lifted until there was no more head room. The gantry system was built and slid under the reactor so that the crew could work safely under the reactor.

The gantries were used to finish lifting the reactor from underneath to a resting point where braces were installed to bolt the reactor to the structure, Once the reactor was in place, the temporary lifting beams were removed.