MACOGA S.A.
About us
Macoga SA is a global leader in the design and manufacture of metallic and rubber expansion joints for demanding industrial applications. Family owned and established over 60 years ago, Macoga has grown from its origins in northern Spain into one of the world’s most respected expansion joint specialists, supporting customers in more than 90 countries.
The company specialises in highly engineered solutions for critical services, including chemical processing, refining, petrochemical, power generation, LNG, cement, mining and heavy industry. Macoga’s product range covers metallic and rubber expansion joints from small bore sizes through to very large diameters, including complex pressure balanced, gimbal, hinged and universal designs for high temperature, high pressure and aggressive operating environments.
Engineering excellence sits at the core of Macoga’s offering. All expansion joints are designed and verified using advanced calculation tools in accordance with EJMA, ASME and EN standards, supported by finite element analysis, thermal analysis, vibration and fatigue assessment. This approach ensures long service life, predictable performance and maximum plant reliability.
Manufacturing is carried out in state of the art facilities where the entire process, from raw material control through to final testing, is managed in house. Macoga operates under a comprehensive quality management system with international approvals including ISO 9001, PED, ASME, Lloyd’s, DNV and Bureau Veritas, giving customers full confidence in both product integrity and compliance.
In addition to manufacturing, Macoga provides a complete lifecycle service offering, including technical consultancy, site inspections, installation supervision, emergency support and fast track replacement for shutdowns and turnarounds. This combination of engineering depth, manufacturing capability and on site expertise makes Macoga a trusted long term partner rather than simply a supplier.
At Chem UK, Macoga presents itself as a technically driven, globally experienced expansion joint manufacturer, focused on delivering safe, reliable and cost effective solutions for the most challenging chemical and process industry applications.
Products
Expansion Joints for FCCU
Expansion joints used in FCCU service are exposed to high temperatures, high pressures, large movement conditions and very aggressive media and therefore they are considered highly engineered units and one of the most critical and complex types of expansion joints manufactured. The design of these expansion joints is complex because: -They must be suitable to operate at high process temperatures -They must be resistant to erosion by catalyst -They must be resistant to corrosion and stress corrosion cracking during operation and shutdown conditions -They shall ensure an adequate fatigue life -They must absorb large movements -They shall ensure a good pressure resistance capacity while having a good flexibility MACOGA has advanced capabilities to design and analyse FCCU Expansion Joints and all its components and accessories operating at high temperatures. Our analysis tools, e.g. non-linear finite element stress and heat transfer analysis (FEA) make possible to analyse complex components. With our 3D mechanical CAD software our engineers design FCCU Expansion Joints to the same conditions that they’ll experience in the real world before they have been built. This is a design validation tool that helps our engineers to test the designs earlier in the design cycle and against real-world conditions. This lead us to improved design quality and manufacturing efficiency, while reducing time to market, costs and materials waste. FEA/CFD Our engineers are skilled in using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computer Fluids Dynamics (CFD) to analyze the thermal-mechanical performance of different kind of systems. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) based structural stress analysis is a valuable tool in the evaluation and optimization of product designs for systems including structural stress due to mechanical and thermal loading.
Metal Expansion Joints
Metal bellows expansion joints are used as components in piping or as parts of pressure vessels. An expansion joint is any apparatus containing one or more metal bellows used to absorb dimensional changes such as those caused by thermal expansion or contraction of a pipeline, duct, or vessel and to absorb vibrationscaused by engines, pumps, motors, etc. In other words, a metal expansion joint is a device primarily formed by flexible bellows used to absorb movements in a piping system while containing pressure and a medium running through it. The key element of an expansion joint is the bellows. The bellows is a flexible element consisting of one or more corrugations and the end tangents. A corrugation (convolution) is the flexible unit of a bellows and end tangents are the straight un-corrugated portions at the ends of a bellows. The flexibility of the bellows is derived from the inherent flexibility of the corrugation given its shape and its own design. In the design and construction of the bellows, in addition to considering that they must be flexible and such flexibility must be controlled, other operating parameters such as pressure, temperature and chemical resistance to fluid passing through them must be taken into account.
Rubber Expansion Joints
Thermal growth, equipment movement, vibration or pressure pulsation may generate movement in a piping system. When this movement is not absorbed by the piping system itself, an expansion joint is the perfect solution. A Rubber Expansion Joint is flexible connector fabricated of natural or synthetic elastomers, fluoroplastics and fabrics and, if necessary, metallic reinforcements used to absorb movements in a piping system while containing pressure and a medium running through it.
Expansion Joints for Heat Exchangers
Differential axial expansion between the shell and the tube bundle is a well-known problem in fixed tube sheet heat exchanger and pressure vessels design. In heat exchangers, inner tubes and shells frequently do not expand at the same rate due to differences in the materials used, varying temperatures, and other factors. If the heat exchanger is not prepared to control this longitudinal thermal expansion, pressure and dimensional changes in the tubes or shell can cause significant damage to the unit. Expansion joints are promising for accommodating differential thermal expansion of heat exchanger shells. Differences in the axial expansion of the shell and the tube bundle due to high mean metal temperature differentials warrant incorporation of expansion. This is particularly true for fixed tube-sheet exchangers. In most cases, the internal tubes of exchangers are made of nickel alloys or stainless steel material which means that they expand approximately 50% more than carbon steel, which is the material from which the shells are usually manufactured. The most optimal way to manage and control the differences in thermal expansion between tubes and shell is with the installation of expansion joints in the outer shell.
Clamshell Expansion Joint Repair
If a bellows is leaking or damaged, or if a bellows has to be changed with a target to having the minimum down time, this is where a clamshell should be considered. MACOGA Clamshell bellows is the best solution when a quick and unexpected replacement of the bellow is necessary. Clamshell bellows is a two-piece bellow which is welded around the existing unit. The bellows is split in half longitudinally in our works. The halves are match-marked to ensure the bellows halves are aligned correctly. The clamshell is fitted accurately in position. A purge gas is set up to minimize oxidizing of the weld to ensure a good quality weld. The clamshell halves are then welded back together.