Want not waste not
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Posted Date: 16/06/2008
Issue: Airside International June 2008
Publication: Airside International
The presence of anti-icing and de-icing chemicals on runways is problematic because they can contaminate the water system. Other hazardous waste, such as oil and kerosene, are the result of fuel spillages or leaks and pose a serious fire risk.
At Luton Airport, the 500-strong operations team keeps hazardous waste to a minimum by using environmentally friendly products for runway cleaning and maintenance. Andrew Judge, Luton Airport’s Operations Director, says: “[De-icing liquid] is not a problem unless it’s used a lot and because its glycol based, it dilutes very quickly.”
Spillages at Luton airport are rare so the clean-up operation is relatively small. It uses pads and granules to soak up the oil and fuel and for any spillages that go into the system, interceptors are used to pump out the contamination. For large spills, it would use a large sweeper vehicle and get a local contractor that specialises in the removal of hazardous waste to dispose of the contaminated sludge.
“We have always handled the removal of waste as responsibly and as quickly as we can,” says Judge. “Whatever spillage we have we report it to the Environment Agency. For example, if there is a fuel spillage that has gone into the grass we have to alert the agency because it means the fuel has also leaked into the ground and therefore we have to remove the contaminated soil.”
Removing water waste
Hauraton, a family-owned company in Rastatt, Germany, provides a range of organisations from small, private businesses right through to heavy industry, with drainage products to collect surface water. It offers an advanced system of infiltration, which is starting to be used at airports, whereby water is treated and then put back into the cycle rather than the sewage systems.
Hauraton was set up in 1956, originally to serve the agricultural sector; however from 1965 it began developing a new range of products and it now has 19 subsidiary offices and provides services in roughly 50 different countries, including Italy, Russia, Egypt, the Emirates, Dubai, New Zealand and Australia. It launched its RECYFIX drainage product in 1995, which was exported to many central and eastern European countries. It is made from 100% recycled thermoplastic materials – high density polyethylene and polypropylene - which are light, durable and easy to transport and install.
Rüdiger Simonis, Hauraton’s Export Manager, says: “Our RECYFIX products have extremely high capacity. The recycled polypropelyne and polypropelyne material is strong enough to cope with oil and other different materials or substances. That’s why it’s possible to use it for some of the greatest hazardous wastes. Customers are beginning to look for products that have 100% recycled material and that was one of the requirements for our project at Heathrow.”
One of the benefits of using a product made from recycled material is the ease of disposing of it after it has come to the end of its life, whereas a system that uses products made from heavier, non-recycled material, would require the use of big, heavy machines.
“This is expensive and not environmentally sound,” says Simonis. “A point of campaign for our work is the fact that its disposal is environmentally friendly and cheaper as it only requires one man to remove it and one man to install it.”
Mea Polymer Beton in Zelhem, the Netherlands, is the drainage division of the German MEA Group, which has been developing and producing products for the construction industry for more than 100 years. MEA is one of the largest European manufacturers of drainage channels with worldwide operations. Its line drainage channel operates much faster than point drainage and it has a system calculated by engineers to ensure that liquids do not overflow.
Robert Hazeleger, Export Manager at MEA, says the absence of drainage at some airports may well have contributed to a number of accidents.
“We are very active in India at the moment,” he says. “They have a huge challenge there with the weather conditions and therefore they have to use line drainage. Line drainage ensures that even with heavy rainfall the system is still effective, otherwise runways and aprons may be forced to close. Rainwater also washes away oil and kerosene on airport surfaces so the system is used to clean the rainwater before it goes into the ecological system.” Besides the drainage of rainwater, line drainage is also essential for preventing fuel from running further over the apron in case of a fuelling accident, he says.
MEA uses polymer concrete to produce its line drainage products that have a self-locking system to allow the drains to be safely and quickly opened up for cleaning and then locked immediately afterwards to promote greater safety on the runway.
“Our channels can be opened for cleaning with minimal obstruction of the runway, and the self-locking system ensures a proper locking after maintenance,” says Hazeleger. “The beauty of polymer concrete is that it combines the qualities of plastic and concrete, being much lighter than concrete but impermeable like plastic. Plus, it’s long life because it will last for over 20 years.”
The company is actively developing a market for its products in countries such as China, India and Russia. “These countries are the fastest developing yet they are doing this with infrastructure that’s outdated,” says Hazeleger. “That could be the bottleneck for future growth.”
Birco, another family enterprise, is based in Baden-Baden in Germany. It was founded in 1927 as a coal and building materials supplier and it produced the first concrete drainage channels for agricultural use in the 50s. It markets its products on its environmental credentials through the company’s sales agencies in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and it has been supplying drainage systems to airports since the 80s. The basic materials it uses are concrete, polyethelyne and cast iron gratings to cover the drains.
“Polymer and plastics are used by other companies but the best system in terms of stability and durability is concrete and it’s natural because it’s just sand and water,” says Johann Groult, Birco’s export manager.
It uses a non-aggressive substance in the concrete, which Groult classes as “top secret”. But he says this has been the crucial ingredient in getting the Netherlands – a country renowned for its kindness to nature – to endorse its products. “We managed to get our product approved in the Netherlands because the special additive stops aggressive substances getting through the channel to penetrate ground water.”
The company is currently innovating its product to create an outlet unit that will be able to separate de-icing liquid from water so that the water can be recycled. “It will have a channel with a polyethelyne outlet that has a protective barrier and makes the piping waterproof,” he says.
Decision time
So drainage companies are faced with some rich challenges in the future. Airports are making increasing demands: they need products that are environmentally friendly, that are quick and easy to install and that have an efficient hydraulic capacity. So what would make an airport choose one system over another? Judge says: “It comes down to price and performance. There are always improvements that could be made to products but it’s got to be done in a way that is cost effective and shows a direct improvement in what we are doing now and must not negate our investment.”
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