Saval increases the fire safety level at AEB
The Afval Energie Bedrijf (AEB) is a waste processing company in Amsterdam. AEB processes waste from Amsterdam and the region, and has three waste incineration plants at its disposal. This way they convert waste into electricity, district heating and high-quality building materials. Every day approximately 400 employees are committed to processing about half a million garbage bags and 3000 tonnes of industrial waste into sustainable energy and reusable raw materials.
Scope of the contract
As a fire safety specialist, we are involved by AEB to offer fire safety solutions for the specific risks of waste processing and associated process installations. After a best value procurement process, we have signed an agreement. The work started in January 2019.
The spaces that needed to be secured were designated in advance. The technical implementation of the solutions is entirely done by us. We have designed and installed various fire protection systems in the HRC and AEC power stations in the Westelijk Havengebied. We were responsible for the principles, implementation of the FM Global data sheets and acceptance of the insurer, in this case FM Global.
Insurable by FM Global
All solutions were immediately inspected by the FM Global insurance company, without the intervention of inspection agencies because everything had to be insured by FM Global. They look at the existing risks and the effects of an incident on the continuity of the process. That is why all business-critical processes are protected against fire.
Various fire risks
AEB has to deal with various fire risks that are covered in different ways.
We explain a few of them:
Turbine
There are various risks associated with the turbines and parts of the turbines. A FM approved low pressure water mist system is installed in the turbine housing, which is controlled by flame detectors. An additional risk of the turbine is the failure of the lubricating oil line. As a result, flammable lubricating oil can spread in the process cellar under the turbine for a longer period of time during the run-time of the turbine. This risk is limited by a sprinkler installation with foam admixture. Another risk is the oil supply of the turbine, which consists of an actual oil supply and pumps. These are protected with flame detectors and a low-pressure water mist system.
Critical switch rooms
Critical switch rooms are 14 electric rooms with an underlying basement for the power distribution of highly critical operating processes for the pumps, taps, fans, etc. All rooms are secured with aspiration detection and extinguishing gas system. The extinguishing gas agent used is FM Approved IG541, this is like IG55 with a share of CO2. To make the rooms suitable for extinguishing gas installations, all mechanical fire dampers in the air ducts are equipped with drive motors so automatic control is possible.
Operator crane cabin
The crane cabin is protected with a deluge sprinkler. If a fire occurs in the heap of waste, in the bunker, the operator of the crane can move the waste into the funnel to the oven as quickly as possible to control the fire. To prevent the cabin from becoming too hot, it is equipped with a cooling system.
Installations that we have designed and installed
+ Two clean water tanks with a combined capacity of 2.5 million liters of water.
+ Pump room with three large diesel-driven fire pumps, in total they pump 18,500 liters per minute with a pressure of 12 bar.
+ Underground pipes for the extinguishing water.
+ Low pressure water mist systems for three turbine housings and oil cellars.
+ Sprinkler and sprinkler foam systems for technical rooms under the turbines.
+ Sprinkler systems for three step-up transformers.
+ Dry and deluge systems with 2000 sprinkler heads in the waste bunker.
+ 60 extinguishing gas cylinders (80 liters per cylinder) and 3 km aspiration detection pipe for the protection of many electrical rooms.
+ Fire alarm, control and sprinkler alarm panels are interconnected with fiberglass so all data can be collected and analyzed in the (central) control room.
In addition, we maintain the delivered installations for the coming 5 years in order to guarantee optimum availability.
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Assembly
The challenge was to perform all assembly work during the normal processes of AEB, without disturbing them. Planning, communication and good cooperation with all parties were crucial in this. At the start of the project, we made good working agreements, and planned regular andstructured consultations.
< Watch the video to get an impression of the AEB process.
Collaboration
The approach was also geared to close collaboration with FM Global. All designs have been submitted to the insurer and finalized in accordance with the FM data sheets. We have searched together for suitable solutions for all parties. FM Global regularly checked during the installation process to ensure that it meets all requirements.
Training sessions
Training sessions were organized to inform the AEB employees about the operation of the fire protection installations. Both theoretically and in practice to get acquainted with the operation and to be able to respond correctly in emergency situations.
AEB has made a training on video so that new employees can also be independently trained in the future. For a first introduction, AEB has made a short instructional film, watch it here.
With this project Saval has shown its expertise in the realization of complex projects in a challenging environment. This is partly due to the translation of the FM Global requirements into suitable fire safety solutions in the processes of AEB.
