Building the biggest ever bunded chemical storage tank!

Pushing the boundaries of bunded thermoplastic chemical storage tanks, we have just designed and manufactured the largest and heaviest bunded chemical storage tank in our history.

After celebrating 60 years of designing and manufacturing chemical storage solutions, in we used our Spiral Wound manufacturing method,  developed with Cambridge University back in the early 1990’s to create the bund and inner tank, with the tank reaching 9.2m tall and the bund 7m and almost a gigantic 14m in circumference.

The design calculations for the finished tank weighed in at just under 12 tonnes, so the standard lifting lugs which are used to manoeuvre a tank during the various stages of fabrication as well as load and unload for transport needed to be redesigned. The upgraded version needed to accommodate the combined weight of the tank, bund, nozzles, side manway, ladder and handrail.

The production process

While the fabrication of the bunded tank was taking place we posted regular updates on Linked In so followers could see the project progress. The whole design and manufacturing process for the thermoplastic bunded chemical storage tank took place on site in Dewsbury, the only exception being the galvanising of the steelwork.

Once the cylinders had been produced the tank moved into fabrication with the redesigned lifting lugs, tank and bund bases and tank lid being added. The holes for the nozzles and side manway needed to be cut from the bund and tank cylinder walls, the thickness of the walls demanded them to be drilled prior to cutting.

The tank lid was complete, lifted on and welded in place. The tank was then lifted into the bund to check the alignment of the manway and nozzles and the rainskirt added. Finally, the overflow logo nameplate as well as the Davit arm to support the side manway, ladder and handrail were added.

This colossal feat of engineering involved the skills and expertise of Joe Rhodes and Jordan Rock, the Project Engineer and Senior Fabricator for this project. The pair started on the same day in 2004 as apprentices and celebrated their 20th Anniversaries in September as the production of the tank reached the final stages.

Rigorous tank testing

Every tank we manufacture goes through a rigorous schedule of in-process checks to prove its integrity before it leaves site.

One of these is the Hydrostatic Test which requires a tank to be brim-full with water for a period of 24hrs without any loss of containment. The water used is from our Recycling System which we had installed back in 2020 to minimise our consumption. Both tank and bund passed with flying colours!

Delivered direct

The specially designed lifting lugs did their job successfully supporting the weight of the tank as it moved through manufacture and fabrication and in the final lifting and loading onto the specialist transport to take the tank to its new home.

The journey across the country involved 3 police escorts from 3 counties over 48 hours and  the tank is now successfully installed as part of the waste water project for a cosmetic manufacturer supplied by WA Cooke.

This was a great project for our 60^th anniversary year, a massive undertaking and success, thank you to everyone involved.