Leading designer and manufacturer of fencing solutions, Betafence in Sheffield, recently turned to leading hazardous chemical storage solution provider, Denios, to bring its chemical storage safely under one roof.
Going against the current business trend, Betafence is operating at full capacity seven days a week. Its expertise embraces three core product groups, namely: agricultural fencing, perimeter protection and welded mesh for a variety of industrial applications. A major development initiative named the ‘Tardis’ project is focused on bringing wire drawing, galvanising and finished goods production under one single roof rather than the separate locations, and this also served as the catalyst for appraisal of all health and safety aspects. This was the key consideration for Denios, a well known German multi-national hazardous storage specialist.
Mike Southworth, of Betafence sets the scene: “For some of our main chemicals the usage figures are really dramatic, such as some 6,000 litres of hydrochloric acid per day on the three galvanising lines, which is used for cleaning the wires after heat treatment with each acid bath holding some 22,000 litres. Zinc ammonium chloride is also much in evidence as a pre-treatment flux prior to the molten zinc galvanising process, with each flux bath containing approximately 5,000 litres. We also utilise numerous other liquids such as mineral oil, sulphuric acid and alkaline neutraliser but in slightly smaller volumes. When the decision was made to optimise the storage systems, we knew the reputation of Denios and no other manufacturer could offer what we wanted. Our health and safety team confirmed their comfort with Denios, and the whole discussion and delivery project went very smoothly. The twin aspect of separate containers on site and external large scale storage is absolutely ideal and the team has quickly and easily adapted to it.”
The Denios solution is based on 12 heavy gauge plastic intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) of 1,000 litre capacity fitted with robust steel cages, of which three are situated adjacent to the production lines with different contents and assisted by delivery platforms. Spare IBCs are located outside within two large storage units which guarantee safe storage and heavy duty PPG 26 compliant sumps to prevent water pollution in the event of a spill, and a naturally vented environment.
