BSP hammers in piles for Europe’s largest paper recyling plant
In less than 18 months from the start of construction in April 2008, the manufacture of newsprint will begin at Europe’s most advanced and largest paper recycling plant at the Saddlebow Estate on the outskirts of Kings Lynn in Norfolk.
Formerly a sugar beet factory, the site was bought by the Palm Group, Germany’s leading privately owned paper company, with plans to invest £400 million for the development of the 55 hectare site, construction of a recycling plant and installation of the most technically sophisticated paper processing machinery. When fully operational the plant will be capable of receiving on average 630,000 tonnes of recycled waste paper annually from which 500,000 tonnes of standard newsprint will be produced. Up to 150 people will be employed initially with a further 150 employed indirectly.
Following demolition of the derelict buildings and site clearance in February 2008 foundation piling started in April. To carry out the piling work Kurt Fredrich Spezialtiefbau (www.kurt-fredrich.de), a specialist groundworks and piling contracting company based in Bremerhaven, Germany was appointed to install the 9,000 concrete piles required for the 800 metre long, 100 metre wide processing plant, associated buildings and structures.
To drive the cast-in-place concrete piles, Fredrich purchased two BSP International Foundations piling hammers from BVV Spezialtiefbautechnik Vertriebs, the Ipswich company’s German sales agent based in Munich. The hammers, two CX110 models, were mounted on a Fundex F3500 and a Hitachi KH180-2 leader rigs respectively.
The two BSP hammers were chosen by Fredrich mainly on account of their reputation and well proven versatility in many different ground conditions throughout the world. As a testimony to their versatility, the CX hammers have been designed for driving a variety of bearing piles including steel tube, combi piles, ‘H’ sections and reinforced and pre-stressed concrete piles. In addition, the CX hammers are available in three standard configurations: supplied with back guides to suit the client’s leader system such as the two CX110s on this site; legs and inserts for driving sheet and bearing piles, freely suspended or supplied with pile guides for driving tubes vertically or at rakes.
Large cast-in-place piles were chosen for this site, not only because ground conditions were ideal but also because they produce no waste or spoil and have practical and economic benefits. Driven cast-in-place concrete piles on the Palm Paper site are constructed by driving a tubular steel casing pile with a disposable base plate to the required depth of the pile. The reinforcement cage is then placed in the casing before the concrete is poured into it. When filled the casing is then withdrawn and the concrete allowed to set and harden.
Two lengths of concrete piles were specified – 2,000 with a diameter of 610mm driven to a depth of 22 metres and 7,000 piles with a diameter of 400mm driven to a depth of 19m. Approximately 5.5m3 and 4.2m3 of ready mixed concrete was required for the larger and smaller piles respectively. This equates to a total of over 40,000m3 of concrete.
As the ground conditions on the site comprise soft alluvium layer with a band of peat and underlying stiff kimmeridge clay, pile installation was straightforward with only a few minor operational problems being reported.
Thomas Piasta, Fredrich’s on-site engineer, says: “The BSP hammers have performed well, fulfilled our expectations and have proved to be extremely reliable. On average the two hammers have driven nine piles per day but we have been able to drive a maximum of 15 piles per day. Product support from BSP throughout the piling phase has been excellent and we were able to finish our part of the contract by the end of October, 2008.”
BSP hammers are renowned for their versatility, reliability and controllability. The proven four-model range of CX hammers of which the CX110 is the largest has a ram weight of 9,000kg, an impact energy of 106kNm, a blow rate of 36 per minute and an operating pressure of 250bar.
Major features include total control of hammer stroke and blow rate while the efficient hydraulic system gives low energy and running costs. Dollies can be changed quickly and the cylinder and dropweight connection and shock absorber are easily accessible for maintenance. The hammer’s relatively low hydraulic demand of the actuator reduces fuel consumption and, combined with today’s more efficient diesel engines, gives less fuel emissions. Noise emissions are reduced with the use of improved dolly material, sound attenuating panels and helmet shrouding.
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