DEPLOYMENT OF A DUST-FREE BLAST MACHINE DURING OVERHAUL OF TANK TERMINAL IN AMSTERDAM

Several tanks are currently undergoing major maintenance at a large tank storage terminal in Amsterdam. In addition to the mechanical work, the tanks are also being repainted. This work is carried out by Van der Ende Industrie BV, which has been the main contractor at the Terminal for 18 years.

During maintenance, an EBE 350 shot blast machine will be used for blasting a number of wall rings on the inside of a tank wall. The high operational speed of this machine and the fact that the mechanical work could continue as normal during the machine blasting process ensures that the tight deadlines set to the planning will be met.

The dust-free blast machine dry-blasts the walls to a cleanliness level of Sa 2½. This is the perfect pre-treatment for applying solvent-free tank linings. The conventional way of dry grit blasting generates a lot of dust and waste, but if the object allows for it, we can machine-blast large parts of the surface. Not only does this result in a perfectly blasted surface area and a workable environment for other disciplines, it also reduces the amount of blast-cleaning abrasive residue of up to 95% and is completely dust-free.

After this pre-treatment, a primer is applied to the blasted surface area first, after which the tank lining is given its final coat in the form of a 500-micron layer of Sigma Novaguard 890.

This results in a tank lining with a guaranteed life expectancy of at least 20 years.