INNOVATION July-August 2013

. 2013 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Platform and Containment System

2012

Purcell Painting & Coatings was contracted to blast and paint the historic Ballard Drive Bridge, a 90+ year-old bascule bridge, in Seattle, WA. They faced the challenge of erecting a suspended platform and containment system, which would have to remain in place even when the bridge was raised to near vertical. Purcell proceeded with a system proposed by D.H. Charles Engineering. President Jasper Calcara, P.Eng., developed a suspended platform and staged containment system which allowed for raising and lowering of the bridge, and included careful adjustment of the counterbalance

during each phase of work. A detailed structural analysis of the bridge structure was performed by DHC in order to prove that the framing would be adequate to support all proposed loading. The system functioned perfectly and work was performed without incident.

Salmon Arm Landfill Gas Purification System

Renewable natural gas derived from landfill gas is now being delivered to the FortisBC gas distribution system. The first-in-Canada project was a result of a partnership between the Columbia Shuswap Regional District and FortisBC. The system removes contaminants from the landfill gas to a point where it is interchangeable with natural gas and it avoids flaring at the landfill. In addition to capturing landfill gas emissions, the project will displace the equivalent amount of natural gas for 300 homes annually. Using a pressure swing adsorption-based plant designed by Xebec Adsorption, Fortis BC provided project management, the interconnection station, civil works, underground piping, installation and integration.

Owner: FortisBC. Professionals involved: Niko Boskovic, P.Eng,; Andrew Loge, P.Eng.; Scott Gramm, P.Eng; and Rehan Shahab, P.Eng. Project manager: Mike Walls. Landfill engineering services: Fransen Engineering, Sperling Hansen Associates.

Copper Regrind IsaMills TM in South America Xstrata Technology Canada completed installation of two M5,000 IsaMills TM at the Antapaccay mine in Peru during 2012. The IsaMill TM is a high intensity, energy efficient, horizontal grinding mill developed initially at the Mount Isa Mine in Australia. The energy efficiency in the IsaMill TM is achieved by using small media (1-6 mm) moving quickly enough (~20 m/s) to break coarse particles while maximizing media-particle interaction. Due to the energy intensity of the IsaMill TM , it requires a much smaller footprint than conventional grinding technologies. IsaMills TM are fast becoming the technology of choice in many regrind applications around the world with 33 mills installed or ordered in the Americas. Xstrata Technology engineered, installed and commissioned these IsaMill TM regrinding plants at Antapaccay over a two-year period.

Owner: Xstrata Copper. Engineering: Bechtel Chile. Supplier: Xstrata Technology (David Prescott, P.Eng.; Mark Adams, P.Eng.).

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