Lanes proves it has the power to support energy industry

 

Drainage engineers from Lanes Group are proving they have the power to support one of the UK’s fastest growing industrial sectors – renewable energy.

The company’s vacuumation and water jetting technology is ideally-suited to cleaning pipes and tanks in a range of different renewable energy plants.

Lanes drainage expertise has been used to support companies developing and running sustainable energy plants in Plymouth, Newcastle, Glasgow, Sheffield and North Wales.

The Lanes Plymouth depot provides industry pipe cleaning services for MVV Environment Devonport Ltd, which operates one of the most advanced energy-from-waste plants in the UK.

The combined heat and power plant, at North Yard, Devonport, burns 254,000 tonnes of residual household, commercial and industrial waste a year.

Lanes’ electro-mechanical pipe cleaning equipment has proved ideal for cleaning inert filtration media that builds up in pipework during the incineration process.

The Plymouth depot is also regularly commissioned by industrial cleaning specialists New Wave Marine to use its jetting and vacuumation technology to clean pipes and tanks at a growing number of anaerobic digestion plants.

These units use micro-organisms to break down organic waste, including food and agricultural waste, generating bio-methane, which is very similar to natural gas, and carbon dioxide which can be used in industrial processes.

Lanes jet vac tankers and van pack units, which have water jetting systems, are used to carry out the pipe and tank cleaning work.
The company’s CCTV drainage survey camera systems are also used to inspect pipework in energy plants to confirm cleaning has been thorough and the equipment is in good repair.

Lanes Plymouth Depot Area Development Manager Grant Cooper said: “The capabilities of our technology transfer very well from the water industry to renewable energy.

“Also, our growing number of energy clients value the experience we already have of working in a regulated industry, and the very high priority we place on occupational health and safety.”

In recent months, Lanes drainage engineers have carried out work at biomass energy plants in Glasgow and Sheffield. Services delivered have included cleaning and patch lining of pipes.

Patch lining is a no-dig technique that involves repairing cracked pipes or faulty pipe joints by inserting a resin-impregnated sleeve inside the pipe to create tough new pipe within a pipe.

Grant Cooper said: “Energy production, like wastewater management, is very often a continuous process. So remote surveying and repair systems, like the ones developed by Lanes, are essential to ensure maintenance work can be done quickly and safely, while causing least disruption to the energy generation process.”