Flovac Protecting the Environment in Barcelona

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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’s First Project in Botswana

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A Flovac vacuum sewerage system has been installed at the site of one of Africa’s most important infrastructure projects, funded by the African Development Fund.

Kazungula Bridge Connecting Countries

The Kazungula Bridge project which is connecting Zambia and Botswana over the Zambezi River will be a 40{1deaea03afbf3f3fb2d45caffee157f5a0ec73dd837732cad8f5061c47eb75db} boost to the GDP of the countries involved as it opens up the regions for trade all the way to the port at Durban.

The Kazungula Bridge is located at the only area in the world where 4 countries meet together. Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Victoria Falls is located a short 1 hour drive from the project.

As the new Bridge opens up trade and tourism between the four countries it was necessary to set up a new border customs and immigration complex. Zhong Gan, an experienced International engineering and construction company based in Botswana, has done numerous projects for the World Bank and Botswana Government and decided to use a Flovac vacuum sewerage system on this project which services this complex.

Justin Peng the project director of Zhong Gan chose a vacuum sewer as a value engineering proposal to the client as there was a high water table which prevented deep excavations required by the original gravity system proposed. Ensuring that no sewage could overflow to the Zambezi River was also important as the area is home to elephants and others in Africas Big 5.

Installing a Flovac Collection Pit and Valve

Smart Vacuum Sewer System

The Flovac system is the first smart sewer system installed in Botswana which allows the operator to have a complete system overview. The smart system allows the operator to look at the performance of each vacuum valve in the system and independently alert operators to any potential problems.

Mr Peng chose Flovac due to the operator friendly nature of the design and equipment and the overwhelming positive feedback from prior installations that his team visited. The Water Utilities Corporation approved the system who were extremely pleased by the advancement in technology and ease of maintenance compared to other systems that had been installed in Botswana and Southern Africa.

The Flovac Team worked very closely with our local representatives Multi Waste Pty Limited headed by Andrew Davies. Multi Waste are a large domestic company , experts in water, wastewater and energy in Botswana and Southern Africa. Multi waste set up a fabrication plant for the Flovac pits and handled all assembly of the system at their head office in Gaborone prior to delivery to site.

The Multi Waste team will operate and maintain the system for the time being with support from the Flovac International Operations Group via the monitoring system.

 

The Flovac and Multi Waste Design and Install team

 

 

 

 

Why Hilton Resorts chose a Flovac Vacuum Sewerage System

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The Hilton Salwa Resort is designed to become one of the largest resorts and residential projects in Qatar. Utilizing a Flovac vacuum sewer system the resort is constructed on 257 acres of land in the Salwa area. The beach resort and villas is a massive project that includes a water park, marina, dive center, cinemas, pools, a health club, spa and a considerable retail space. In addition to the rooms and suites in the main hotel building, the resort will also include two small “villages” of family villas. (Hilton Hotels  announcement)

Hilton Salwa Beach Resort and Villas

Flovac was asked to design and supply a vacuum system that would be able to handle the high flows that will ultimately be handled by the Resort. The vacuum system needed to facilitate not only the hotel but also residential areas, restaurants and the marina. The client was aware of the good work which Flovac had done at Reef Island in Bahrain (Read Here) and was particularly impressed with the monitoring system that had been installed.

The monitoring allows operators to see exactly what was happening anywhere in the network including the operation of the vacuum pump station. Mr Willem Gooren one of the founders of Flovac managed the project and was based in the Middle East for extensive periods during the projects establishment and finalization.

Smart and Safe Installation

In sandy soils, especially areas where there is a high water table vacuum systems are ideal as all of the pipework is installed at a shallow depth in the ground. A stepped profile within the pipeline design allows for some utilization of gravity while keeping the pipe shallow.

Installation of vacuum mains is a lot faster than the installation of gravity sewers as there is less requirement to de-water or pre-load the land. HDPE pipe is used often when installing in hot climates and where soil conditions are unstable.

Leak Proof

The use of a Flovac system was also important to ensure that there would be no potential leaks from the system. As all vacuum pipework is under a negative pressure sewage cannot leak from the pipe in the event of a break.

The Vacuum Pump Station is one of the largest stations in the world. Housed in a dry and air conditioned environment the two large collection tanks are connected to five large Busch Mink MM 1202 vacuum pumps. Flovac has used Mink pumps since before 2005 and so has great experience in the correct set up to maximize the ability to handle the large flows required in this project.

 

 

 

 

Sydney Superyacht Marina gets a Flovac Makeover

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Clemens Overdijk – Marina Manager at the Sydney Superyacht Marina

Sydney Superyacht Marina Sewage Pump Out System Upgrade

This standout marina was first built in the late nineties to accommodate visitors to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Since that time, not only have the yachts gotten bigger but the requirements of many of the yacht owners have reached the point where a number of upgrades to facilities are required. Clemens Overdijk, the Marina Manager since 2016 has been very interested in ensuring that their customers get the best experience possible.

One aspect that is very important to many yacht owners is the ability to quickly and cleanly discharge any wastewater from their vessels. No one wants leaks or the risk of overflows, or odours and importantly no one wants to spend hours tied up discharging wastewater. Or even worse needing to go to a different marina to discharge. There are many smaller marinas now unable to handle the size of the tanks, or the depth of the yachts, causing them to go elsewhere, at quite a cost. An important bonus for the yacht owners is that each berth offers a direct connection to the vacuum system.

Clemens looked at a variety of solutions from around the world and found that Flovac, a local company, was doing large scale marina sewage systems at a number of large marinas around the world and catering to the largest of yachts. These included projects in Barcelona, Spain, Italy and Greece, home of the superyachts.

Remote Activation of Pumps

One aspect of the work that Flovac had been doing around the world  was in the technology space. Flovac has pioneered the use of IOT (Internet of Things) technologies to enable remote

New Pump Station Upgrade and touch screen application

troubleshooting of the system as well as remote operation of the system. Many existing pump out systems require the yacht manager to locate the pump station, turn it on manually (if it is working), go back to their yacht to start the operation which may take many hours to complete. If someone else is using it, or if there is a problem, it may well affect the ability of the yacht to get back into action in a timely manner. Flovac has developed an app for the phone, which the yacht owner can log into from the comfort of his or her yacht. At a glance they can see if the facility is available. Couple the yacht to the access port, push start on the phone and discharge the wastewater.

System Success

The very first yacht that tried out the new system was a new 65m superyacht, one of the larger yachts at the marina. They had experienced a lot of difficulty with the old system, often having to go to a different marina altogether as the system could not handle receiving pumped flows. With the new system, the 6,000 litre discharge took less than an hour and a “smooth operation”for all involved. Telling our operator and other boat owners that this was the best system that they had come across in Australia.

The “significant investment” that required securing the best system has now become part of the key features of the marina that gives captains the confidence that SSM can meet their requirements.

Sydney Superyacht Marina

If you would like more information about the work Flovac has done at Marinas and Ports please Read Here

For an overview of the Sydney Superyacht Marina you can view that here

Contact here for a concept design or budget for your Marina

Helping Hurricane affected communities in the Caribbean

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When Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc through the Caribbean Islands in 2017 leaving a trail of destruction, it was clear that many towns would need to be completely rebuild many of their buildings but also their water and sewage infrastructure.

Having already been engaged in other Caribbean countries to install Flovac vacuum sewerage systems the engineers in Grand Case on Saint Martin approached Flovac to see if a vacuum sewerage system would be the best technology for the island.

This area is very flat and has a high water table, which meant that you could not dig more than one meter without finding salt water that would damage a system using gravity piping networks. Until now Grand Case had a network based on septic tanks that was not adequate. After the damage caused by Hurricane Irma, Saint Martin needed urgent repairs and a new, more efficient sanitation system. Work began in Grand Case (Saint Martin)  towards the end of 2019 and it was clear that a vacuum sewerage system was essential in the area.

Shallow Vacuum Main Installation

Often working in narrow streets with other cables and pipes already installed it was clear that a vacuum system was the only system that could be installed with the least amount of impact on the local community. The people of Saint Martin were also very happy to hear that there would be no odors from the system as well as no potential of sewer leaks from the pipes.

As the region had experienced more major storms and hurricanes in recent years it was also important that the system was resilient and would still operate during extended power outages.

Being a remote community with little experience with vacuum sewer technology the local managers and operators were very happy that Flovac installed a monitoring system throughout the network that could be watched and supported by the Flovac operations group in Europe. If there is ever a low vacuum or breakdown, Flovac’s experienced operators could assist.

The main design and installation was handled by Flovac’s project group based out of Barcelona as they had recently installed a system nearby in Canouan. This group, headed by Bruno Galindo and Francisco Rodríguez  is now supporting Saint Martin’s operators.

Grand Case St Martin

Gratulacje Flovac Polska for a new Septic Tank Replacement Scheme

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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.

Flovac’s first project in South Korea

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This is a unique project, designed and installed by Flovac’s partners in South Korea Coway EnTech Co. Ltd.

Mr Changil Koh the Deputy Manager in charge of the project, said that vacuum systems are very useful in handling the wastewater from the offices and facilities in industrial projects such as Nuclear Power Plants.  they have also been installed in Oil Refineries and at airport facilities as no power is required at the collection points only at the vacuum station. This means that there are no points of ignition risk within the system.

Mr Koh said that the laying of the HDPE pipework was  a lot easier than using gravity sewers as it could be installed above ground where required or in shallow trenches. There is more than 2 kilometers of pipework involved. Most area’s where industrial complexes are built in flat areas with difficult to construct ground conditions. This is ideal for vacuum sewers.

The Shin-Kori Nuclear Power Plant #5,6 – Sanitary Water Transfer Facility in Busan will be providing much needed power by 2022. It is owned and operated by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, a subsidiary of KEPCO. Flovac was chosen for this important project after an exhaustive trial to ensure that all of the Flovac components could handle the extreme conditions where temperatures can often drop to well below freezing.

Vacuum sewerage systems can be installed in a wide variety of projects READ HERE

 

Upgrading your Vacuum Pump Station

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The Vacuum Sewerage Industry is now 50 years old and for a variety of reasons some of the systems infrastructure will need to be replaced or upgraded. It could well be a move away from old liquid ring pumps. It could be that some of the equipment has just come to the end of its expected life. You may have inherited assets that were never looked after as per the suppliers manuals.

Hopefully you have a station that was designed with the future change out of equipment in mind. Large doors and a cranes to get pumps out of the building. A roof that can be dismantled without too much problem to get the tank out and replaced. Fortunately the building was designed so that upgrades or refurbishment could occur. A new stainless steel tank was installed. An upgrade can give the utility a chance to look carefully at the catchment area with fresh eyes. Have the daily household flow rates gone down, have you installed new monitoring systems that have sorted out any infiltration.

Are there more houses or another developer that you could now accept into your catchment if the pumps were slightly larger? The Flovac Engineering Group is often asked for advise on the upgrading of a vacuum pump station and as the group has designed more than 300 stations and probably designed the one you are now upgrading, they would be the best people to speak to.

The Flovac Operations Group is the next point of call. What changes have there been to suppliers equipment, what lessons have been learned from hundreds of systems around the world. Are there changes to health and safety regulations. What impact will there be on power use, ventilation and odor. The most important aspect is what is your plan to upgrade a system that is now live without major problems.

The operations group have been involved with the installation of more than 300 vacuum stations and the upgrade of more than 50 stations. Flovac can supply containerized vacuum stations to support the upgrade.

For a more in-depth look at what is required when a vacuum pump station is upgraded there are more details here or call our engineering or operations groups.

Versatility for Developers

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A “Plug N Play” Temporary Solution.

Installing infrastructure at the early stages of a residential housing development can often disrupt the staging process and the cash flow of the project. Vacuum sewerage systems can make it easier.

At Flovac, our engineers have used deployable engineering solutions that will be incorporated into long term projects.

The town of Clevedon in Auckland New Zealand is finally beginning the process of eradicating septic tanks which have been causing environmental problems and will install a new Flovac vacuum sewerage system. Growth in the town had been on hold due to the lack of a proper municipal sewerage system. This has impacted on the restaurants and commercial premises and the increased demand on housing which is just a short drive to Auckland City.

Gravity sewers were looked at for the area, but a very high water table made that a very expensive and disruptive alternative. Low pressure Grinder pumps were also looked at but with an ultimate population of more than 6,000 people costs made that prohibitive. There were also other downsides with looking at grinder pumps where the local utility has had some terrible experiences. An increasing number of severe storms meant that power outages left communities with no access to sewer services. Also off sewage during low flow periods put added pressure onto Treatment Plants. The main issue was also the reluctance of the community in having sewerage infrastructure on their properties which would need to be accessed whenever problems arose.

The proposed vacuum sewer system will require only a single vacuum pump station and all sewage infrastructure will be outside the property boundaries. There will also be far less impact on residents as installation can be a lot faster than a gravity installation as all pipework will be shallow in the ground and so less de-watering will be required.

Watercare who are the water and wastewater service provider for the greater Auckland area is leading the project and has had a lot of experience with the successful Flovac vacuum sewerage system at the town of Kawakawa Bay which has won a number of engineering and environmental awards. members of the project team have also visited the successful projects that were installed in Christchurch NZ which replaced systems impacted by large earthquakes. Auckland is also in an earthquake zone, making vacuum systems an even better solution.

As the township of Clevedon connects up to the sewer network a number of new residential developments will also be built and will connect to the system. The vacuum sewerage system is versatile enough to cope with developers adding on new houses as they are built over the coming 10-15 years.

As there are multiple developers involved in the project, the timing of infrastructure installation can be difficult. What roads need to be built first, which group of houses need to be serviced first.

One well know developer with a small block of 26 houses positioned at the very end of the catchment wanted to develop their land well ahead of the infrastructure being ready for connection. As it is a major project it will take over two years to complete and possibly longer before the pipework reaches all the way to the end of the catchment. Working with Flovacs engineers an interim solution was proposed and Watercare was flexible enough to allow the developer the opportunity of utilising short term infrastructure.

Flovac’s deployable sewerage systems have been used in a variety of projects around the world, including at the London Olympics. You can see details of the projects here.

The developer installed the vacuum mains and house connections as well as the Flovac collection pits. A plug and play containerized vacuum pump station was positioned next to a temporary treatment plant and the system was connected up. Once houses are built, local plumbers can connect to the vacuum pits. The system will be operated and maintained by a local operator with support from Flovac. As the station and all of the collection pits have wireless monitoring, Flovac’s operations center in Sydney Australia can provide 24 hour support.

When the time comes, the deployable system can be moved on to the next project and the vacuum mains connected up to the main Clevedon project mains and vacuum pump station 4 km away. The developer has spent a minimal amount of money which allowed them to start selling houses significantly faster than traditional methods would have allowed for.

First Flovac Project in Vietnam – The Ana Marina in Nha Trang

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The Riviera of the South China Sea

Vietnam’s first marina is nearing completion, and will include Flovac’s first vacuum system in the country. Upon completion it will contain berths for over two hundred yachts and Super-yachts. Ana Marina in Nha Trang on the south east coast of Vietnam will be the country’s first world class marina, initially offering 60 berths for vessels of 20-40m and extra wide berths for catamarans. 

Future phases will include a super yacht dock for six yachts up to 70m in length and an additional 100m berth is under consideration. The remaining berths, to bring the overall total to 220, will accommodate yachts of 10 to 20m and will be operational by 2021.

General Manager of the project, Ruurd Van Putten, gave us his insight. “It’s a unique project in Vietnam that will ignite a whole new industry. Yachting is generally known for its high standard, quality and innovation. Marinas have proven to be a catalyst for economic growth, development of tourism and overall improvement of leisure services and facilities.

With environmental concerns a high priority in coastal developments, Ana Marina is heavily focused on the key concepts of Sustainability, Durability and Responsibility. “A marina means less pollution, cleaner water, and protection to vulnerable marine life. It will have special systems to prevent spillage of oil, fuel and waste of boats.

This will result in better water quality allowing plants, coral and fish to grow un-threatened, and also a safe and clean area to swim and play. We are dedicated to raising awareness that the sea is the beating heart and lifeline of Nha Trang, and must be preserved and protected at all costs”, Ruurd concluded.

A Flovac Vacuum Marina system was chosen as it has been demonstrated that it can provide certainty around the environmental benefits that the client has determined to be of absolute importance. Flovac marina systems have been installed in a number of high profile areas including in Barcelona, Greece, Italy and the Caribbean.

The Flovac systems look after boats of all sizes and can include the handling of bilge water and oil separation.  The larger Superyachts pump their wastewater or bilgewater into a Flovac collection chamber which can be sized and designed to fit into the marina area.

For smaller boats a pillar that often houses water and power will have a connection point for a hose that will suck the wastewater from the boats. This is often done by the marina operator or can also be via a key card or code-pad operation by the boat owner. Flovac has initially supplied 9 pillars to the project and all are connected to a single vacuum pump station. All of the pillars will be located on floating pontoons.

The main benefits of the Flovac vacuum sewerage system is that it will not leak into the water and is very easy to install. All points of the system are fully monitored from the central command center as so easily managed. To see more details of our marina systems please go to this page.