THOROUGH CLEANING FORMER INDUSTRIAL SITE

Forges de Clabecq is a former industrial site where coke (coal) was produced until 1986. After closure, the plant was dismantled, but the site remained unused for a long time. Later came plans to redevelop the site as with water-related industry, Forges de Clabecq being located on the Zenne River and the Zeekanaal. But to make those plans possible, the "dirty" legacy of years of industrial activity first had to be dealt with.

MORE THAN 125,000 TONS OF SOIL AND WASTE REMOVED

We found several contaminants in the soil and groundwater: PAHs, oil, aromatics and cyanides. Pure layers of tar were also found. There were several contaminated areas on the 11-hectare site. Part of the soil remediation consisted of the selective excavation and disposal of, among other things, tar fractions (2,000 tons), as well as 25,000 tons of ash and coal contaminated with cyanides. In total, we removed over 125,000 tons of soil and waste by road and water. Excavation also included the lowering and purification of groundwater.

REMEDIATION OF SOIL CONTAMINATION AND DEBRIS

We addressed the contamination in several ways. For example, we cleaned 25,000 tons of debris on site in a debris washing plant. The cleaned debris was reused when reconstructing the site. We cleaned the contaminated soil that we removed using various techniques. About 100,000 tons of soil was thermally cleaned and another 10,000 tons of contaminated soil was physicochemically cleaned. To combat odor nuisance, we installed a fixed misting system along the boundary of the site.

Om het bemalingswater te reinigen, hebben we een grondwaterzuiveringsinstallatie geplaatst met verschillende stappen: allereerst ph-regeling, daarna zandfiltratie, luchtstripping en reiniging van het grondwater via koolfiltratie en een ionenwisselaar. De kracht van Mourik is dat we al dit soort werkzaamheden, inclusief onderzoek en engineering, laboratoriumwerk, ondergrondse sloopwerkzaamheden, bodem- en grondwatersanering en afvalmanagement in eigen beheer kunnen uitvoeren. Zo kreeg dit vervuilde stuk industriële geschiedenis een schoon toekomstperspectief.
De werken werden uitgevoerd in TM met Aertssen.

To clean the drainage water, we installed a groundwater treatment plant with several levels: first ph control, then sand filtration, air stripping and cleaning of the groundwater via carbon filtration and an ion exchanger. Mourik's strength is that we can carry out all such work ourselves, including research and engineering, laboratory work, underground demolition work, soil and groundwater remediation and waste management. This gave this polluted piece of industrial history a clean future.
The works were carried out in TM with Aertssen.