Constructing a cost-effective maintenance strategy for reducing equipment failures at a nickel purification plant.
Mangope, Monare
Mangope, Monare
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Abstract
Maintenance strategies are important for the reliability and safety of nickel purification plants. Operating plant equipment outside the design specifications or without proper maintenance may lead to premature failure. This can result in production downtime, higher repair costs, and safety implications for workers. Corrective maintenance has a high long-term cost due to unpredictable equipment failures. The goal of this study was to investigate and establish the best maintenance strategy to reduce the frequency of equipment failures and breakdowns at a nickel purifying facility. A multi-criteria decision-making tool was applied to construct a cost-effective maintenance strategy where technology and equipment, safety, cost and reliability are considered the primary criteria for judgement. A survey questionnaire was used to collect qualitative data from selected participants to gain insight into the target audience with reference to the topic. The research study demonstrated that safety criteria dominated their preferences when all four criteria were compared. The participants from the nickel purifying plant gave the condition-based maintenance strategy the highest overall relative score of 58 per cent in comparison to preventive and corrective maintenance methods. Cost was ranked as the highest criterion (65.5%) for the condition-based maintenance method when compared to other three criteria. This is because condition-based maintenance is capable of reducing the overhead costs associated with unnecessary maintenance and repairs. The results can serve as a benchmark for a cost-effective maintenance strategy that ensures a low number of equipment failures and breakdowns in a nickel purification plant. The same approach can be utilised in future hydrometallurgical plants. The study also concludes that the analytic hierarchy process is an effective method to be used in nickel purification plant and is comparable with results from other chemical plants.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree, Master of Engineering: Engineering Management in the Department of Industrial Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the Tshwane University of Technology.
Date
2024-02-01
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Tshwane University of Technology
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Keywords
Maintenance strategy selection, Nickel purification plant