Emirates Steel, the only integrated steel plant in the UAE, a subsidiary of Senaat, announced the introduction of the ground-breaking inspection technique utilizing unmanned aerial vehicle, (UAV) drones, to its annual safety and maintenance inspections. This project is a major step towards achieving increased plants availability, and maintaining efficient production by implementing a regular maintenance program based on reliability, risk inspection and in line with Emirates Steel maintenance strategy for its plants and facilities.
The new technology enables Emirates Steel to track maintenance risks, analyze it and plan a customized repair program in a safer mode avoiding possible shutdowns. The first phase of the project includes using drones to inspect live flares at two direct-reduction plants.
Moreover, utilizing this technique allows Emirates Steel to save millions of Dirhams in reduced inspection time, as the most important feature of aerial inspection is the elimination of plant shutdown time due to the fact that reaching such locations, if possible, would require ladders, scaffolding, and human elements. On the other hand, eliminating these from the picture and introducing a drone /UAV technique allows for a much safer environment and easier inspection process. tt is usually used to inspect oil & gas, and petrochemical sectors. Commenting on the project, H.E. Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO, Emirates Steel said:” We are keen to adopt the latest approaches and advanced technologies to ensure reliability of our assets operations and manufacturing processes, and to achieve the highest standards of asset integrity. Emirates Steel is one of the first regional and local industrial groups that has utilize unmanned aerial vehicle, in such inspections. Our number one priority is to maintain safety at our premises and plants with full commitment to minimize risks”.
The drone inspection included the inaccessible areas of the two direct-reduction plants at Emirates Steel; two flares – 70-feet Bunsen burners which flare off gases that are a by-product of the manufacturing process. The new technology helped avoid a five-day shutdown in the DRP plants, which is typically required to inspect the flares.
Sky-Futures (www.sky-futures.com) the leading provider of drone (UAV/UAS) inspection and data management services, utilizing a web based portal, for the oil and gas industry globally, completed the first drones inspections for Emirates Steel.