Following a spate of incidents where harmful chemicals were leaked into the water supply, the Water Authorities sought to improve the health and safety of chemical dosing. The enclosures they had only contained control systems, meaning that the tank and the bund were exposed to the elements. This increased the risk of contamination, thus leading to a greater health and safety risk. It also meant that a large footprint area was required to house each component separately.
We at Pro-tect GRP Enclosures Ltd took it upon ourselves to improve these enclosures through careful planning and design. Through research and development, we aimed to design and manufacture a chemical dosing kiosk, which incorporate the control equipment, tanks and bund all in one. This in turn helped by reducing the footprint area and minimising the health and safety risk to both the operator and the water quality. It also has the benefit of being easy to transport and is ready to plug in on site.
There were several technological uncertainties to overcome, as combining all the elements successfully had never been done before. These were namely ensuring that the bund did not leak when encapsulated in the enclosure and providing adequate access to the storage tanks without compromising the bund while taking into account health and safety requirements. We also had to ensure that should there be a leak, the floor would not react with a range of common chemicals used in the water treatment process e.g. caustic and ferric sulphate.
To overcome these difficulties, we:
Calculated the chemical and water pressure of a spill with very little deflection in the wall and floor to ensure that should a leak occur, the bund would contain the chemical until it could be safely removed.
The floor area of the tank compartment is designed so that a leak would drain away into a sump value and a suitable chemical resistant flow coat was applied to the floor to prevent a chemical reaction.
The roof of the kiosk is removable to allow for easy access and maintenance to the storage tank without compromising the bund.
A fill point has also been incorporated into the kiosk design to protect the tanker driver from being exposed to chemicals.
The control and dosing section of the kiosk has been segregated from the chemical storage area.
Upon completion of the kiosk, a hydrostatic test was carried out to make sure that the bund would hold.
The knowledge being sought was not readily available, as this type of enclosure had not been built before. Others have attempted to do so but have failed in the process.
We are proud to present our highly successful bunded enclosures.
To view a video of our hydrostatic testing, please click the link below: