Liberty Industrial undertakes demolition at PKCT
NATIONAL deconstruction and remediation services provider Liberty Industrial has completed the first stage of a coal reclaimer and a coal stacker demolition at Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT).
Liberty Industrial were commissioned to complete the demolition of the reclaimer and stacker on site to make way for new plant as part of PKCT’s broader restoration project.
Prior to moving the reclaimer, Liberty Industrial disconnected and extracted the impact table from underneath the structure while it was still in the stockyard, without damage to the conveyor belt.
Once disconnected from all its services, the 1250 tonne structure was pulled over purpose-built extension rails to a temporary position where the machine underwent all preparatory works required for its transport using Self-Propelled Modular Trailers (SPMT).
To pick-up and secure the reclaimer in position during transport, a special-purpose 40t steel “transport frame” was fabricated and mounted on the bed of the SPMT trailers.
Once lowered to the ground and secured, the structure was pre-weakened to facilitate its demolition with explosive cutting charges.
The charges were placed at strategic locations and the structure pre-weakened as per recommendations from Liberty Industrial’s consulting structural engineer.
After the structure was safely collapsed to ground level, a combination of 70t and 36t excavators fitted with shear attachments processed the steel structure for removal and recycling off site.
In the next few months, Liberty Industrial will begin part two of the project: the demolition of the coal stacker.
The coal stacker to be removed is currently straddling an operating conveyor line, which means the demolition methodology will involve dismantling the structure into smaller components using heavy crane lifts, with minimal impact on the terminal’s operations.
To achieve this, Liberty Industrial will utilise a 600t crawler crane located within one of the coal stockyards.
After completion of the lifts, the lowered sections of the structure will be downsized at ground level, lifted onto trucks and transported to the main demolition area for processing by excavators with shear attachments.
The products of demolition will then be transported off site for recycling.
In addition, Liberty Industrial will also salvage a various range of items (drive units, electrical and PLC cabinets, cable reelers, transformers etc.) which will be retained by Port Kembla Coal Terminal as spare parts for the machines still in operation inside the terminal.
The salvage must happen before the demolition works can occur in order to minimise potential damage to the items – this principally involves the use of mobile cranes to lower the items down to the ground.