| Space-saving vertical bitumen tankage allows site re-design |
Hanson’s Bradford asphalt plant serves a busy local collect trade and several resurfacing contracts which involve extensive night work.
A new electrically-heated vertical bitumen tank storage system has replaced the old oil heated tanks and has resulted in dramatic improvements in safety and operating conditions. The saving on space has permitted a re-design of the site, such that bitumen tankers no longer have to undertake lengthy reversing.
The key advantages of the system are:
• The electrically heated tanks are insulated and thermostatically controlled to a level which sets the new benchmark for reducing energy requirements;
• RBA-approved “traffic light “system for high level and ultimate high level control;
• Triple lip mechanical seals on the bitumen pump eliminating bitumen weepage;
• The old ring main bitumen delivery system has been replaced by a single bitumen pipe, minimising the chance of bitumen leakage;
• The tankage has been reduced from a cluster of four conventional oblong tanks to three in-line tanks with the introduction of a blending system; and
• The space saved by having three in-line tanks has been used to significantly improve associated traffic management, eliminating a lengthy reversing manoeuvre.
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