Large demolition work with significantly improved working environment

H c orstedsverket

The situation

H.C. Ørstedsværket in Denmark was built between 1916 to 1920 and became Copenhagen‘s first high-voltage AC power plant. The power plant supplemented the three AC power stations in Copenhagen municipality and served for many years as a power plant for Copenhagen and large parts of Zealand.

Over the years energy production has switched from coal, gas and oil to more environmentally friendly forms of energy and many traditional power plants no longer have the same role that they were originally built for. Some of these old power plants have been converted to other forms of energy production and some to entirely new purposes.

H.C. Ørstedsværket is a building of architural significance and was in 2007 designated as a national industrial monument by the Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces. The buildings are to be used for new energy production, but before this can happen, existing boilers and other equipment must be removed.

Kingo Karlsen, a leading Danish demolition company with over 60 years of experience in the industry, has been given the task of getting the buildings ready for their new role.

During the process of removing the four, 28 meter high boilers, a lot of environmentally harmful materials must be handled, and the demolition process will create dust and smoke, which cannot be spread outside the building. There is also asbestos in the insulation, which is dangerous for humans to inhale. It is therefore very important to use the right equipment so that both employees and the surrounding environment are protected according to legislation.

THE SOLUTION

To ensure that the required negative pressure is maintained in the buildings and to filter the hazardous dust, Kingo chose to use Camfil‘s mobile environmental and modular collectors during the demolition process. The modular environment collector is built into a 20‘ container with a capacity of 2 x 10,000 m³/h, and several modular dust collectors, each with a capacity of 4,000 m³/h, were placed in strategic places around the demolition site.

Both types of collectors are flexible and can be utilised as needed. Camfil‘s mobile environmental collectors are built with self-cleaning cartridge filters that filter the majority of the dust and discharges it from the collector via a rotary valve to a big bag. Built-in HEPA filters are placed after the cartridge filters to ensure a sufficiently effective filtration. If there are gases such as PCBs in the building, an active carbon filter can be connected to the HEPA filter.

Unlike environmental collectors used previously, Camfil‘s environmental collectors can maintain their capacity throughout the task. The self-cleaning cartridge filters ensure maximum suction. At the same time, the HEPA filters are protected against high dust loads and therefore have a very long life time.

Camfil's environmental collectors only require connection to a power supply to operate, so it is simple to achieve a good working environment. 

Kingo has had 16 dedicated men working on the project at H.C. Ørstedsværket for two years, where boilers and other steel parts are cut into pieces with flame cutters, and insulation and building parts are broken down. In total, 6,500 tones of material have been removed over the two years.

According to Kingo Karlsen‘s contract manager, Bent Kjeldsen, there has been a significant improvement in the working environment for this type of job after their investment in the collectors. Today Kingo Karlsen owns several environmental and modular collectors from Camfil.


Publicerad den 27 november 2018