The document summarizes four engineering projects in South Africa that received awards from the South African Institution of Mechanical Engineers for outstanding engineering projects and systems. The highest award went to South African Breweries for their R290 million Rosslyn factory, the largest brewery in the southern hemisphere. Pretoria Portland Cement received an award for their R33 million slag processing factory. Mechaniplan received an award for their R4 million coal export facility conversion project. Group Marketing & Development received an award for one of their bulk explosive loading vehicle projects under R500,000. The awards recognized engineering excellence across large and small projects in South Africa.

1. Projects and Systems'87
South African Breweries'
Rosslyn factory
byJohn Cluett
South Alrican Breweries (SAB) Beer Division's 8290-million Rosslyn lactory is lhe biggest
brewery ever built by SAB, and is the largest in the southern hemishpere, with a current
weekly capacily 0t128 000 hectolitre.
John Cluett, Chiel Design Engineer ol SAB Beer Division and leader ol the prolect, gives
more inlormalion.
ket, Rosslyn brewery is now being de-
signed to increase production up to
150000 hectolitre per week, making it
one of the largest breweries in the world.
Overalldesign
The design of the brewery encompasses
the high quality standards set by SAB in
the production of beer. Rosslyn's beer
quality is regularly rated as one of the
best of the 13 plants in southern Africa.
The mega-production achieved in this
brewery embraces the state of the art in
brewing technology and equipment de-
slgn.
Some of the salient design features
are highlighted as follows:
I Malt and maize are stored in concrete
silos numbering2T, each of 330 tons,
for malt. and 1 of 330 tons and 2 of 215
tons for maize. Btihler Miag handling
equipment.
tr The brewhouse consists of 1 brewline
of I 000 h{ and 1 brewline of
1 500 h{/h . Huppmann brewhouse.
tr The tank farm, where the beer is fer-
mented and matured. consists of 65
tanks of 2060h{ and 83 tanks of
3060h{. Consanitanks.
tr A filtration plant of 1 line of 400h{lh
and two lines each of 600 hllh . Niagara
and Filtrox filters.
n Bright beer cellar capacity consisting
of 24 tanks of 1294h( and 12 tanks of
647 h!. Sudmo valving and piping for
entire process system.
n Packaging lines with the following ca-
pacities:
Line I 42 000 quarts (750 m{)/h.
To the left An aerial view of the S A Breweries
Rosslyn factory BelowView ollhe boiler
house and coal silos.
lntroduction
In order to cope with increasing market
demand for beer. SAB decided to build a
grass roots brewery on a 20-hectare site
located at the Rosslyn industrial estate.
Construction started in February
1981 on a production unit of 40 000 hec-
tolitre per week. This first phase of the
project was completed in October 1982.
As the initial phase was being com-
missioned. a second phase u as in process
of design. By April 1984, a second mod-
ule of 85 000 hectolitre per week was
completed. This made Rosslyn one of
the major brewery projects built in the
world in the eighties and with a capital
investment of R290-million, the largest
brewery in the southern hemisphere.
With current demands in the beer mar-
Q service cara[ozosD] THE SOUTH AFRICAN N,lECHAN CAL ENGINEERxVOL 37flN4AY 1987 203

2. Projects and Systems'87
Line 2 48 000 non-return bottles
(340m()th.
Line 3a 60 000 cans (340mC)lh
Line 3b 60 000 cans (3a0 m{)/h.
Line 4 45 000 quarts (750 m{)/h.
Holstein and Kappert packaging line,
FMC can seamers, Metal Box and
Te lemecanique can dep alletis ers.
I High temperature water heating sys-
tem with 7 boilers each of 12.5MW
nominai raling. John Thompson boil-
ers .
I Coal storage capacity of 3 600 tons in 4
silos. Brandt Contracting coal and ash
handling.
tr Refrigeration plant consisting of 3
compressors each of 1760KW(R)-
Sullair-and 3 compressors each of
3 520 KW(R)
-
Howden.
! Compressed air plant with 5 compres-
sors each of 2490m31h. Atlas Copco
compressors.
tr Carbon dioxide plant with 2 instal-
lations to process 1,120kglh.
I Total installed electrical capacity is
12MVA.
tr Water reservoir capacity of 3 528 m3.
The project was managed by an SAB
project manager. The overall design
management under an SAB design man-
The central control room.
ager, with a multidisciplinary team of en-
gineers and design staff, ensured that the
design was integrated at all stages, in-
cluding commissioning. The adminis-
tration and site management of the pro-
ject, which was carried out by Foster
Wheeler Energy Ltd, ensured that the
necessary cost control and construction
progress went according to plan.
The design team comprised the fol-
lowing:
n Brewery planning and process consul-
tants
Alfred Jorgensen Laboratory, Copen-
hagen, Denmark.
a Architects
Helsted, Madsen and ThomPson, Co-
penhagen, Denmark.
aMechanical Consultants (refrigera-
tion, C 02, compres sed air )
Worthington-Smith & Btouwer, B
Korsholdt-Christensen, APS, Copen-
hagen, Denmark.
a Mechanical Consultants (HTW heat-
ing system)
Watson, Edwards, van der SPuY and
Partners, Andreason, Boeck-Nielsen,
APS, Copenhagen, Denmark.
E Instrumentation and Control Consul-
tants
Procon Engineering (Pty) Ltd.
II
II
II
II
II
II
It
It
It
II
II
J
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
II
We are proud to have been associated
with South African Breweries' award-
winning Rosslyn proiect.
Designers, monufocturers &
suppliers of corbon, olloy ond
stoinless steel
PRESSURE VESSELS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
AIR RECEIVERS
STORAGE TANKS
Serving the refrigerotion, food,
chemicol, minerol processing &
generol industry.
Computer oided designs io ASME
Vlll Div. l, TEMA, BS 5500, APl650,
852654 ond ossocioted
specif icotions.
Quolity Control
ln occordonce with SABS 0157
Port I
Full inspection & NDT focilities
ovoiloble
For f urlher inlormotron pl@* contoct:
P O 80X 599
EDENVATE ]6IO
SOUTH AFRICA
GENERAT ENGTNEERTNG (PTY) LTD.
TELEX ,l-20925 SA l8 INGWE ROAD
SEEENZA, EOENVALE
TELEPHONE (Ot t) 609-3000/| ryL
rl
senice cardfu2O4 THE sourH AFBTcAN MECHANTcAL ENGrNEERnvoL3TnN,lAy 1987

3. n Electrical Consultants
Watson, Edwards, van der Spy and
Partners.
o Civil and Structural Consultants
Techtronics (Pty) Ltd, Kurzke,
Salmon and Associates.
Some outstanding leatures of
process and utilities design
The entire brewhouse is fully automated
and controlled by process logic comput-
ers (PLCs) from a central control room.
The process vessels and piping in the
yeast handling, cleaning in place area,
filtration plant and bright beer cellar, are
fully automated and controlled by PLCs
from the central control room.
All fermentation and maturation ves-
sels are piped up to two central service
spines, with minimal manual interface
ensuring a high reliability in the tank
farm area.
Packaging
The packaging lines for quart bottles
constitute the largest production unit of
its kind in the world on this type of pack
using returnable cartons. A further
quart line to handle 60000 bottles/hour
is planned for the next expansion of this
brewery.
High temperature water heating
system
High temperature water (HTW) at
165'C and I l00kPa gauge pressure is
generated in 7 shell type coal fired boil-
ers to provide average peak process heat
requirements of 30 961 G Cal/h. The ex-
pansion system comprises a nitrogen gas
pressurised system designed to accom-
modate the variations in water volume
over a temperature range of 145 "C to
180"C. The circulation system is de-
signed for a constant heat flow corre-
sponding to peak heat consumption and
temperature control of the individual
plant items is effected by three-way or
two-way valves with by-pass systems.
The average return water temperature is
125"C and the circulation rate of
1 064 m3/h is provided by 8 main circulat-
ing pumps. Maximum pipe diameter is
450 mm.
The supply and return piping runs
from the boiler house across a pipe
bridge to the main spine which runs the
full length of the production block and
into packaging.
Coal is delivered by either rail or road
to an underground bunker from whence
it is stored in silos by means of an outside
coal handling system with PLC control.
Five operating programs are provided,
three being coal intake programs and
two being discharge programs.
The following are the unique features
of the high-temperature water heating
system:
tr The system is undoubtedly the largest
HTW heating system installed in
southern Africa.
n The boiler plant is the largest shell
boiler installation in South Africa.
I The system is the only HTW heating
system utilising coal-fired boiler plant
in the brewing industry internation-
ally.
I The Rosslyn Brewery is one of the
world's largest breweries and the
HTW heating system is the largest of
its kind to be installed in any brewery
in the world.
Conclusion
SAB brewers and engineers were in-
volved at all stages of the design, con-
struction and commissioning. This team
co-operated to achieve a very tight pro-
gram and budget in both phases of the
project. The co-operation of the sup-
pliers completed a very successful ven-
ture, in which team work was an under-
lying factor throughout the three-year
period.
Turnkey Breweries and Maltings
Brewhouse Equipment
Vessels-Tanks
lndustrial Ref rigeration
HRCH. HUPPMANN ENGINEERING
(souTH AFRTCA) (PTY) LrD
P.O. Box 711, BEDFORDVIEW 2008
23-24 Mountjoy Street, Wilbart,
GERMISTON 1401
Telephone: (01 1) 53-995516171819
Telex:4-20372 S.A.
Huppmann is pnoud to have supplied the entine
bnewhouse equipment fon the awand winning
Flosslyn bneweny. We congnatulate South
Afnican Bnewenies on achieving this awand.
6
Srnirc Crrdffiruil
THE SOUTH AFRICAN MECHANICAL ENGINEERfIVOL3T-MAY 1987 205

4. Projects and Systems'87
Winners of the'87
Proiectsand Systems
Awards
by lngrid Halkema
Top awards lor outslanding engineering projects and syslems were presenled al the SA
lnstitulion of Mechanical Engineers' annual banquet which was held in the ballroom ol the
Carlton Holel on 13 March. The banquetwas attended by500 members and guests.
Plaques designed and engraved by Neels Coetzee were presenled to lout South Alrican
organisalions which were selected lrom eight entries lor prolects ranging in cosl up to R290-
million.
Submissions were judged in the categories ol over 810-million, between R500 000 and
R10-million and below R500 000.
Introduction
Four South African companies received
highly prestigious awards for outstand-
ing engineering projects and systems at a
banquet which was held at the Carlton
Hotel, Johannesburg, on l3 March.
This is the fourth year that the South
African Institution of Mechanical En-
gineers has presented these awards with
the aim of recognising and encouraging
engineering excellence in South Africa.
The winning projects are the South
African Breweries Beer Division
Rosslyn factory, the PPC slag processing
factory at Newcastle, the Mechaniplan
coal export facility at Durban, and the
Group Marketing & Development bulk
explosive loading vehicles.
Awards were made in the following
categones:
n Two awards for projects and systems
in the category over Rl0-nillion-
South African Breweries Beer Div-
ision and Pretoria Portland Cement.
Flecipientsof thelgsTProjectsandSystemsAwardsfrom lefttorightare:PeterBrown,ManagingDirectorof GroupMarketing&Development,
Chris Everett, General Manager of Mechaniplan (Pty) Ltd, Minister of Economic Affairs and Technology Danie Steyn, Roy Marcus, President of the
S A lnstitution of Mechanical Engineers, Pete Lloyd, Managing Director of the Beer Divrsion of S A Breweries, and Joe Harzenburg of Slagmenl
(Pty) Ltd.
Q senice cara[@ THE SOUTH AFFICAN N/tOHANICAL ENGINEEHIVOL3/lll/AY 1987 199

5. Projects and Systems '87
I One award for projects and systems in
the category between R500000 and
R10-million
-
Mechaniplan.
D One award for projects and systems in
the category under R500 000- Group
Marketing & Development.
South African Breweries Beer
Division Rosslyn factory
The objective of this R290-million pro-
ject, submitted by South African Brewe-
ries Beer Division. was to meet increas-
ing local demand for beer. The Rosslyn
factory is the biggest brewery ever built
by SA Breweries, and is the largest in the
southern hemisphere, with a weekly ca-
pacity output of 128 000 hectolitre.
The beer travels through 60 kilo-
metres of piping, 25 kilometres of which
is made of stainless steel. According to
visitors from overseas breweries, the
quality of welding and installation is
among the highest they have encoun-
tered. The plant's 30 silos include malt
silos with a capacity of330 tons each and
maize silos with a capacity of 215 tons
each. The silos are fully automated with
a capacity of 50 tons an hour, either tak-
ing in malt and maize, or sending it to the
brewhouse. The brewing process is con-
trolled by a sophisticated S32 process
logic computer.
The Rosslyn factory operates as a
bulk shipment facility, and its output is
carried by road and rail to distribution
depots servicing the Pretoria, Wit-
watersrand and Vereeniging areas as
well as neighbouring markets.
The plant was built at a faster rate
than most similar breweries in the world,
and SA Breweries met their com-
missioning date and kept within budget.
The project team achieved a world re-
cord in commissioning two of its five bot-
tling lines on the same day, and the en-
tire bottling installation was constructed
in four months.
Pretoria Portland Cement Newcasile
factory for Slagment Ltd
This R33-million factory was designed
and constructed to increase slag pro-
cessing capacity in South Africa by
sourcing blast furnace slag from Iscor's
Newcastle works.
Nine 54-ton truck trains unload and
stockpile raw slag in 30 minutes, utilising
only two men. Reclaim from the stock-
pile takes place by automatic demand
control from the raw slag storage silo.
Drying to a predetermined moisture
content is effected by a fluid bed furnace
provided with a constant coal feed.
Notable achievements of the project
include more efficient arrangements of
standard equipment, fast-track con-
struction, first-time use of tube con-
veyors and fluid bed heat generators,
and the development of new equipment
for rail truck handling.
The objective in laying out the plant
was to maximise service to the customer
in the form of road and rail sales and to
reduce labour requirements by provid-
ing efficient and low maintenance stor-
age and bandling equipment.
Mechaniplan Pier 109 coal export
facility
Mechaniplan's R4-million entry was an
entirely in-house South African oper-
ation. It involved the conversion of a
largely unused alumina importer into a
low-cost, full-scale coal exporting fa-
cility, at a fraction of the time and cost
required to design and build a new fa-
cility.
Mechaniplan was awarded a contract
to design and build the facility in Decem-
ber 1985, with a completion date of June
1986-less than a year after a feasibility
study had been commissioned. This fast-
track approach was necessary to capital-
ise on the current state of the coal export
market.
The most challenging task facing the
project team was the conversion of the
silo. This was previously flat bottomed
and discharged by air slides into a central
tunnel which only ran from the centre to
the perimeter. The tunnel was extended
through the bottom of the silo with four
openings through its roof, and four large
side wings were then constructed.
Mechanical and structural work on
top of the silo was also very awkward and
dangerous with the occurrence of rain
and gale-force winds at the most critical
part of the project. Nevertheless, coal
was first run through the system on test
at the beginning ofJuly 1986, only three
weeks behind schedule. Since then a
considerable tonnage of coal has been
loaded.
Group Marketing & Development
bulk explosive loading trucks
The objective of this R450000 project
was to facilitate the loading of slurry ex-
plosives for blasting at opencast mine
sites and quarries, thereby increasing
speed and efficiency in minerals extrac-
tion.
The trucks are capable of carrying up
to 21 tons of bulk explosive ingredients,
with a gross mass of 37 tons. The stain-
less steel tanks are designed for excep-
tional volume/weight ratio, consistent
with vehicle stability.
The system for explosive delivery al-
Iows flexibility of operation to provide
for delivery of accurately weighed quan-
tities of all required mixes of explosive.
The trucks are believed to be the
largest in use in the world for this
application, and were entirely designed
and built in South Africa.
Judging
Judging was exceedingly difficult be-
cause of the high standard of projects
and systems which were submitted,
ranging in cost from R450 000 to R290-
million. The standard of submissions in
tbe category for projects costing more
than Rl0-million was so high that the
judges had to make two awards: one to
South African Breweries Beer Division
and the other to Pretoria Portland
Cement.
The basis of selection of those chosen
to receive an award is:
D Degree of South African expertise in
the design and construction.
n The amount of equipment manufac-
tured in South Africa.
tr Cost of construction in relation to
original estimates.
tr Construction time in relation to orig-
inal project programme.
All submissions had to satisfy exact-
ing criteria including those of perform-
ance, reliability, ease of operation,
safety, ease of maintenance and good
appearance. Teams of engineers eligible
for awards had to have been responsible
for the overall projects from the concep-
tion and planning through to manufac-
ture and construction. It was also a re-
quirement that solutions to problems
inherent in the projects be innovative
and represent an important advance in
the field concerned.
A project or system is seen as any ma-
jor enterprise that requires substantial
planning, mechanical design, manufac-
ture, construction and co-ordination.
While the major part of such a project or
system was of a mechanical nature, it
was understood that other disciplines
such as electrical, electronic, civil and
structural engineering, could also play
an lmportant part.
Award
The award took the form of a plaque
which was designed and engraved by
sculptor Neels Coetzee and which was
presented to award winners in each cat-
egory atthe Annual Banquet. D
THE SOUTH AFRICAN IVECHANICAL ENGINEEBIVOL37trN/AY 1987 201