JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #65 - May/June 2011 - 14

water filtration

Composites play critical role in 1.2 million-cubic metre water plant
A new water filtration plant under construction in the Bronx is the centrepiece of the largest single construction project in the history of New York City. The filtration plant is designed to ensure that water from the Croton System watershed is aesthetically pleasing and meets or exceeds all drinking water quality standards.
each tank designed to hold sodium hypochlorite added a 2.95-millimetre-thick corrosion allowance for extending the equipment life. Structural laminates were manufactured with Vipel K022 bisphenol-A epoxy vinyl ester. The high-performance resin meets project specifications for high strength, excellent chemical resistance and, with the addition of synergists, Class I fireretardant properties in compliance with ASTM E84 standards. “The Vipel resins were selected for their ability to meet critical end-use performance specifications,” said Rob Merrill, An-Cor (Vice President-Operations). The corrosion barriers of the cylinders were made using the hand lay-up method utilizing glass-fibre taped goods. Depending upon the diameter of the tank, the structural portion of the cylinders were built using mechanical applications of chop strand mat, woven roving, and/or winding glass. The top and bottom heads of the 3- and 3.7-metre tanks were resin-infused using Vipel K022EBB resin. Balsa wood cores were encapsulated into the glass-fibre-reinforced laminate to achieve higher stiffness. The heads of the smaller tanks were made by hand lay-up of glass fibre and resin. All tanks were post-cured in a convection oven prior to shipment.

Double-certified
The tanks that An-Cor delivered to the Croton Project were backed by certification from two prestigious industry associations – ASME and FRPI. An-Cor is the first composite manufacturer to be certified by both organizations. FRPI is a non-profit membership organization that audits and tests laminates of corrosion-resistant equipment on a job-by-job basis. “The versatility of FRP composites allows corrosion-resistant equipment to be custom-designed to meet specific project needs,” said Gary Arthur, Executive Director and President of FRPI. “FRPI certification tells specifiers and buyers that the FRP equipment materials for their project meet their specification,” Arthur said. “This provides confidence that the equipment will meet objectives for quality, consistency, reliability and performance.” In addition to meeting manufacturing standards, tanks, subassemblies and components that come into contact with stored products or the process stream meet FRPI food-grade standards. n
More information: www.corrosionresins.com www.an-cor.com www.frpi.org

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jec composites magazine / No65 May –June 2011

hen completed in 2012, the plant will provide roughly 10% of New York City’s 5.3 million cubic metres (1.4 billion gallons) average daily demand for water. During drought or other conditions affecting other watersheds servicing New York City, the new plant can deliver up to 30% of in-city water needs. To achieve a design capacity of 1.2 million cubic metres (320 million gallons) per day, each link in the filtration process chain has been engineered for the optimum in reliability and

performance. That is why AnCor Industrial Plastics made 38 glass-fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite tanks for the filtration plant to standards set by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Fiberglass Reinforced Plastics Institute (FRPI).

To achieve performance requirements, An-Cor used Vipel® vinyl ester resins from AOC. The inner corrosion barriers of each vessel were made with Vipel F010 bisphenol-A epoxy vinyl ester because of its excellent corrosion resistance and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) compliant properties. The barrier liners were formed using hand lay-up of the resin with veils and glass fibre mats. In An-Cor tanks are certified to standards of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and addition to the the Fibreglass Reinforced Plastics Institute standard barrier,

How the tanks were made

http://www.corrosionresins.com http://www.an-cor.com http://www.frpi.org

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #65 - May/June 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #65 - May/June 2011