The Challenge
In line with our commitment to sustainability and to become the best allies of companies in their transition to a greener economy, we accepted the great challenge of degassing 12 benzol tanks, located in the storage park within the former Cok Battery of Arcelor Mittal in Avilés, Spain.
Given the hazardous nature of this compound, the main objective of this work was to prevent the emanation of toxic gases into the atmosphere and to generate an atmosphere inside the tank that would allow it to be cleaned more safely.
The degassing was part of the dismantling work being carried out by the ERRIBERRI-AFESA joint venture. DOMINION Environmental Services collaborates with AFESA, a benchmark in the demolition sector in Spain, on a recurring basis. In this particular project has worked on various activities within the range of environmental services offered by DOMINION, performing more than 20,000 hours of industrial cleaning and managing more than 18,000 tons of different waste.
DOMINION's +
To carry out this work, DOMINION used a Mobile Combustion Unit, specially designed and built for the elimination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through combustion. To ensure the complete removal of VOCs, a temperature of over 850°C is maintained in the combustion chamber of the unit. The DOMINION degasification unit is equipped with all the process equipment and instrumentation necessary for optimum control and safe operation of the combustion process.
Before the start of the degassing work, each tank was checked for the presence of benzol. After the initial check, the gases were burned with the additional propane, which was necessary to ensure a minimum burner temperature of 850ºC at all times.
Once it was verified that there was no significant presence of benzol in the tank, degassing was completed and the second phase began.
During the second phase, the hydromechanical cleaning work was carried out while the tank was continuously degassed, as the gases contained in the sludge were released when the sludge was removed. As in the first phase, in this second degassing phase, the atmosphere inside the tank was also continuously monitored.
On a professional level, it has been a unique experience to be able to count on DOMINION Environmental Services for this project. I don't know of any other company that had the equipment to provide us with a solution to such a complex challenge. The result; a project carried out with a professionalism and diligence within the reach of very few
Jon Viteri
| Afesa Medioambiente
Results
The process was a success in terms of the results obtained, the execution time and the procedures applied. There were no emissions of these toxic compounds into the atmosphere. In other words, all the gases inside the tanks were combusted at temperatures above 850ºC. In addition, this procedure allowed the people who subsequently carried out the manual cleaning work to work in a safer atmosphere.
