Archive for category: Applications

Flovac was in charge of the design and installation of a Flovac vacuum sewerage system at the MB92 Port of Barcelona expansion project to collect wastewater and ensure that no environmental damage could occur in the area.

MB92 expands its installations at Barcelona’s port

Marina Barcelona 92 (MB92), a company dedicated to the maintenance and repair of superyachts, was in charge of carrying out the ambitious project to expand the port coastline of Barcelona, in the Port Vell area. The project, started in 2015 and completed in 2019, consisted of the construction of a large surface area in which a new boat lifting system (known as shiplift) would be located, with the aim of grounding yachts of up to 4,000 tons for repair and maintenance. Currently, it is the largest shiplift in the world dedicated exclusively to yachts.

The Project

The project, which involved a total investment of 50 million euros, was completed in August 2019 after 4 years of work. Thanks to the shiplift, customers have more ability than ever to work out of the water, which offers more flexibility, capacity and opportunities when it comes to maintaining and repairing yachts. Since its launch, the shiplift has already carried 22 superyachts with an average of over 75m LOA. It is a feat of world-class civil engineering in the heart of the port of Barcelona.

Raising Capacity

• Capacity to lift vessels up to 115m LOA.
• 30,000m2 hard standing area to host up to 9 vessels of up to 115m LOA on dry land
• Hard standing area includes integrated keel pit with dimensions of 8m depth, 5m width and 14.5m length.
• Bidirectional rail system to facilitate flexible and more efficient maneuverability of vessels once hauled out.
• Supply of all essential services such as fresh water and shore power connections.

Flovac Looking after the Environment

Flovac was commissioned to install a vacuum sewerage system in this project in order to collect the wastewater generated by MB92’s activity. The goal of Flovac and the products it offers is to reduce the human footprint. Therefore, one of the main priorities was to guarantee the environmental protection of the area. The installation is made up of 2 independent vacuum networks; one for the wastewater from buildings and yachts, and the other one for industrial wastewater produced from yacht repair. The industrial wastewater is transported to a new treatment plant, at MB92’s own facilities. The facility has 4 tanks with 2 vacuum valves each. Flovac has finished the commissioning this July.

To find out more about Flovac’s port and marina projects you can click here

Flovac Polska, the largest designer and supplier of vacuum sewerage systems in Poland has just completed providing a vacuum sewer system for the small rural town of Zakościele. The community is a ribbon development along the Pilica River.

The small town with about 150 houses is located approximately 60 km south east of  Łódź. Some of the houses are located alongside the river and above the road sloping down towards the river. Between the river and the main road, where most of the houses are located, flooding has become a regular occurrence. It has become a health issue with septic tanks overflowing when the flooding occurs.

At first a tender came out for  a gravity system with a number of pump stations located along the rivers edge. When our colleagues from Flovac Polska contacted the town and contractor (designer) about the benefits of a vacuum system in this location, they were very unsure as they had never heard of vacuum system. After a whole of life costing analysis and discussions with the contractor about the capital costs it was clearly shown that the vacuum system would be a much cheaper option. More importantly a Flovac system was seen as a much better system to install in an area where flooding was a problem.

Read here about how the Flovac Valve can operate under water

Another major benefit of the system is that it is fully monitored, so all of the collection pits and pump station sends data to the central control system and the operators. This includes a high level alarm and an alarm that warns of any possible infiltration occurring. All of the monitoring equipment is rated at IP68 so that it can operate under water. This is shown here on a video taken of one of the Flovac valves operating under water with the MZA monitoring device attached. SEE HERE

Poland has become one of largest countries in the world using vacuum sewerage systems and Flovac Polska has designed and installed more than 60 systems, nearly all of which have been septic tank replacement schemes funded by the European Union.

wastewater system at Kawakawa Bay, Auckland, New Zealand has been awarded an Environmental and Sustainability Award at the Arthur Mead Awards Function. Flovac’s system was awarded one of three prizes, which was presented by IPENZ, Auckland Branch.

The awards are named after Auckland City Waterworks Engineer, Arthur Mead, who performed the initial survey and created the designs for Upper Nihotupu and Hia Dams. They are awarded every year to projects that use sustainable features, deal with waste management, avoid negative environmental effects and promote community involvement.

As well as fulfilling the requirements of the rewards, Watercare’s project highlighted the close relationship the company maintained with residents and community groups throughout Auckland. Raveen Jaduram, acting chief executive of Watercare, said that one of the company’s main objectives was to improve wastewater treatment services in order to continue to better Auckland’s estuaries, harbours and waterways.

The celebrated project was designed by engineering consultancy Harrison Grierson with Flovac Systems and constructed by Fulton Hogan. Watercare took over the operation of the Kawakawa Bay system after it had been in operation for a year. Following the implementation of the system, ageing septic tanks in the area could be removed, helping to reduce pollution to local streams and groundwater. The pollution caused by the septic tanks resulted in the Bay being unsafe for swimming in 2002. The safe-for-swimming status was restored at the end of 2012.

The wastewater project makes use of a Flovac vacuum collection system, which is a first for New Zealand. This allowed for the fast construction of shallow pipelines, reducing the impact on residents in the area.

Vacuum collection systems allow wastewater from each individual property to drain into a pit before going through a vacuum pipe network. This is controlled through the use of a pneumatically controlled vacuum interface valve in the pit. Once the wastewater is in the network, it moves to the vacuum pump station through by differential pressure created by opening and closing valves throughout the network. The wastewater is then moved from a collection tank at the pump station to a treatment plant.

– See more at: http://www.envirotech-online.com/news/water-wastewater/9/breaking_news/auckland_wastewater_system_wins_award/31129/#sthash.eTXiUt4g.dpuf
Kawakawa Bay NZ Case Study

What happens when six months of rain hits your town in one weekend.

The second weekend of December this year  saw nearly 500mm (20 inches) of rain hit the coastal town and tourist favorite Byron Bay in Northern NSW, Australia.

Over the last year, Byron Bay Shire Council has rolled out Flovac’s new innovative wireless monitoring system. It alerts operators at council of any failures in the system and can even alert operators ahead of time in some cases.

Vacuum sewer systems are usually installed in coastal areas with a high water table. They are highly regarded for not letting in any stormwater or groundwater. Unfortunately this doesn’t always stop infiltration occurring on the customers property.

Byron Bay Shire Council were one of the early adopters of vacuum sewer technology due to its green credentials of low energy and no overflows. But in recent years rising water tables and stronger storms had left the system vulnerable to infiltration, often taking the system down for days at a time.

Major improvements in wireless technology has allowed Flovac and Byron Shire Council to roll out a solution which has paid off in a very short amount of time. This weekend’s major rainfall and flash flooding could have caused significant problems for the town.

The graph shows vacuum pressures within the collection network. You can see that when the heavy rains started on the 12th, vacuum pressures within the network collapsed to nearly zero in certain areas. This could of caused outages for residents but the problem was identified on this system and resolved quickly. As the rains continued another even bigger problem occurred late on the Sunday night. As you can see, this also was very quickly resolved and vacuum pressure returned to normal.

The operator was able to pinpoint the individual collection pit that was being inundated with water. The typical number of activation’s for this valve is 60 per day. When the rain started the operator was alerted, via text that there was an unusual amount of activity. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, this valve had activated more than 2,000 times indicating high levels of storm water infiltration. The operations team went directly to the address listed on the system and found a clean out cap on the homeowners property was broken allowing stormwater to enter the system. This was quickly fixed and the problem resolved.

The operator could then see that all vacuum valves in the system were operating normally and were showing green tags. If there were a problem the tag would turn red and a text would be sent directly to the operator.

Full financial payback within a very short amount of time, allowing operators to focus on other important problems within their city.