The new facility, at Terneuzen, replaces Imperial’s smaller operational site at Axel. It has three separate cleaning bays: two for standard chemical products (operating at 100-200 bar pressure and with 5-6 cleaning heads), and a third cleaning line with a re-circulation cleaning system for heavy-duty cleaning of substances such as latex or synthetic resins.
IBC (Intermediate Bulk Containers) cleaning can also be performed at the new station, while the extended steam facilities allow tank heating out of hours and at weekends. A significant upgrade is provided by an on-site tank container depot for storage of empty and uncleaned units, which increases the flexibility of the cleaning services.
State-of-the-art tank cleaning
Robert Libbers, Imperial’s site manager in Terneuzen, said: “Our new, state-of-the-art tank cleaning station accommodates the increasing demand for third party cleaning and storage facilities, provides even higher standards of quality, and enhances worker safety as the need for entry into tanks can now be virtually eradicated.
“Furthermore, we are now more closely aligned with our group´s sustainability objectives, having minimized water consumption through the sophisticated re-circulation system. Existing and new customers will greatly benefit from our newly-expanded cleaning and storage services.”
Raising safety to the highest level
René van de Ven, managing director at Imperial in the Netherlands, adds: “The investment in the new cleaning station at Terneuzen supports our policy to continuously increase our services and raise safety to the highest level – in line with our other tank cleaning sites, at Krems (Austria) and Salzgitter (Germany).”
The facility is certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and is SQAS assessed. It is also a member of ATCN (the Dutch association of tank-cleaning specialists, which sets quality standards for its members).