Project Management and Consultation

The Projects division is well positioned to provide a wide range of engineering services.  This includes project management, turnkey solutions, feasibility studies, simulation, design and optimization as well as construction, commissioning and operation of specialised thermal-fluid plants and systems.  M‑Tech has successfully completed various consultation projects for clients such as Sasol, Sastech, Omnia, Gold Fields, Anglo Platinum, AngloGold Ashanti, Eskom, Iscor, Gencor, Kentron, Denel Aviation, Aerosud, IST Holdings, Read Swatman & Voigt, TWP, High Pressure Equipment (HPE) and Highveld Steel and Vanadium. 

Examples of past projects are:

• Techno-economic optimization of the steam plant at Sasol One.
• Modelling and optimization of compressed air networks for various mines as well as for Highveld Steel and Vanadium.
• Design, construction and testing of a complex aircraft ventilation system, testing of aircraft engine intake geometry and development of an aircraft fuel tank ventilation system simulation model.
• Review of Stirling engine development and technology and development of a Stirling engine simulation model.
• Investigation of the flow field in the ventilation duct/main shaft junction of the Wildebeesfontein North No 15 Shaft and Winkelhaak No 6 Shaft, as well as calculation of the flow distribution in coal mine tunnels due to forced ventilation with the aid of CFD.
• Development of a numerical model for the prediction of the transfer processes in a cylindrical membrane.
• Investigation into the efficiency of a nitrogen fertilizer applicator.
• Investigation into the energy efficiency of the MAP process of a fertilizer production plant.
  

M-Tech has also recently been appointed as one of seven multi disciplinary engineering companies to provide Eskom with Owner’s engineering services for the Eskom Capital Expansion Programme that will entail the design and construction of a number of large Coal, Gas and Hydro power plants in South Africa.

M‑Tech is also involved in the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) project since the inception of the project in the late 1990s.  Projects done in this regard include:

• The simulation and optimization of the Helium Test Facility at Pelindaba to perform commissioning analysis, system characterizing, operating procedure development and test procedure development. This work is done in cooperation with IST Nuclear.
• Techno-Economic optimisation for the PBMR Main Power System power upgrade.
• Investigation into the two phase flow characteristics of the Reactor Cavity Cooling System of the PBMR.
• Investigation into the behaviour of a closed loop single shaft Brayton cycle during dynamic operation.
• Development of state-space models for advanced control and investigation into the application of modern control techniques for the PBMR.
• Pre-conceptual design of a PBMR process heat plant.
• Development of the Cycle-C code to perform techno-economic analyses of different PBMR plant configurations.
• Development a new combined cycle lay-out for the power conversion unit (PCU) of the PBMR.
• Design, construction, commissioning and operation of the High Pressure Test Unit to investigate the thermal‑fluid phenomena in the pebble bed reactor core.
• Design, construction, commissioning and operation of the High Temperature Test Unit to investigate the thermal‑fluid phenomena in the pebble bed reactor core.
• Concept design of the PBMR Recuperator Test Facility.

M-Tech is also involved in the techno economic investigation into the feasibility of coupling the PBMR reactor with various process heat technologies such as oils sands recovery, hydrogen production and sea water desalination.  In this regard M-Tech is part of the Westinghouse/PBMR consortium who has been awarded the tender for the pre-conceptual design of the US Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project.

Project Management and Consultation

Jaques Holzhauzen
+27 (0)18 297 0326
mve@mtechindustrial.com