In 2020 the team at DIALOG Fitzroy in Brisbane received a phone call from a major South Australian potato farmer asking if we could fabricate and install a new waste water clarifier which was designed in China and the free issued materials supplied from there. This turned out to be an interesting and challenging project where we had to apply some “outside the box” thinking to complete it as required.
At 12 meters diameter and over 10.5 meter tall we had to come up with ways to carry out the works in a safe manner, and ultimately decided to build the clarifier in two parts – the bottom coned section and the top tank. This kept the working at heights far easier to manage with the use of client supplied scissor lift for access and JCB for lifting items.
DIALOG Fitzroy Solution
What we didn’t know was that the free issue materials would be supplied in a raw state, the plate was only 1.5m wide and none of the plate was cut to shape or rolled. This meant that there was over 150m of weld to make up the full development, once that was done the development was then cut into 10 pieces of pie and then pressed to the required radius. All the cone segments where then shop assembled with flat bars on each joint so we could bolt up onsite and commence welding.
Once fabrication was complete the clarifier was painted by our subcontractor using the Nanoprime primer which we specified. This product does not necessitate sand blasting the steel and only water was required to achieve the profile for the paint to adhere to. This further helped reduce cost and environmental impact for our client.
Our team spent 12 weeks at Lameroo, 3 hours inland from Adelaide in some trying conditions to get this job fully fabricated and assembled and the result is an excellent outcome and one very happy potato grower.
