The first picks made by the Manitowoc 18000 was a scrubber drum that weighed 198,000 lbs. and was 100 ft. long.
Last year, Croda Inc. made a $170 million capital investment to expand its Atlas Point facility in Delaware. Once complete, the Croda plant will be the first in North America to produce to 100 percent renewable non-ionic surfactants, the active emulsifying agents used in face creams, toothpaste, paint, and laundry detergents. In addition to converting chemicals, the plant will eliminate the need for long-distance rail shipments of hazardous ethylene oxide from Texas. The new expansion of this bio-ethanol plant is scheduled to go online this year.
Since the beginning of construction, the Maxim Crane Works/AmQuip team supported the project with several contractors. It recently reached its first milestone by completing the steel erection of the main processing center. The team in the northeast region successfully erected the steel structure using a variety of support rough-terrain and all-terrain cranes, ranging from 75 to 550 tons. The largest crane used during this stage of the expansion was a 440-ton Liebherr LR1400 crawler crane equipped with full counterweight and main boom.
At the end of 2016, additional milestones were made, keeping the project on schedule and on budget. The Maxim/AmQuip team erected its 800-ton Manitowoc 18000 crawler crane with 240 ft. of main boom to erect all processing equipment into the newly completed processing center. The first of many picks (shown in the image) that required the Manitowoc 18000 crawler crane was a scrubber drum that weighed 198,000 lbs. and was 100 ft. in length and 20 ft. in diameter. The Maxim/AmQuip team successfully uprighted the scrubber drum with the Manitowoc 18000 crawler crane, along with assistance from a 500-ton Liebherr LTM1400-7.1 AT crane to safely set into position.
The company will be on site for several more months, as the project continues.
