Envirologics Engineering Inc. of Bracebridge, Ont. has made a name for itself with a potable water pipe cleaning system that uses a dry abrasive to scour pipes, leaving a dry, clean surface ready to be lined.
The Tomahawk system’s first demonstration project outside North America was conducted in London, England last July on a Victorian-era water pipe for city utility Thames Water.
The demonstration project was carried out by Envirologics personnel in partnership with Tomahawk licensee Panton McLeod, which now represents the technology in the U.K. and Ireland.
“Thames Water selected two lengths of watermain, each 100 metres long and four inches in diameter, that dated back to 1889,” says Brian Thorogood, program manager with Envirologics. “They don’t want to dig up those old, old streets. It was also our first attempt at cleaning a four-inch main. In North America four-inch is a throwaway, something you might be more inclined to replace than rehabilitate, but it’s found everywhere in Europe.”
The mains were significantly tuberculated and were reduced to about 75 per cent flow capacity. Thames Water would have typically used other methods, including rack feed boring or drag scraping, to clean the pipe. However, these processes don’t leave the pipe ready for immediate relining.
Thames Water designated a sprayed-in-place pipe (SIPP) liner to rehabilitate the demonstration water pipes. The Tomahawk technology employed the same access pits that would be used by the SIPP lining contractor.
Panton McLeod had already searched out a local supplier of properly graded rock to feed into the pipe as a vacuum truck drew the abrasives through it.
“Vac trucks are big, and the one we used really filled up the small London street used for the demonstration,” says Kevin Lillie, field operations manager with Envirologics. “But the European vac truck worked perfectly with the Tomahawk system straight off.”
The two pipe segments were cleaned on two separate days. Each segment was cleaned in two to three hours, including a follow-up camera inspection.
“Thames Water was very happy with the cleanliness of the pipe,” says Lillie. “The SIPP lining contractor said they had never seen a pipe that clean.”
It was as much a learning experience for the people who witnessed the demonstration as it was for Envirologics to ship the Tomahawk system to the U.K.
“We were surprised that it was not only faster, but cheaper to ship the system components by plane,” says Thorogood. “However, we’re accustomed to the big cube vans and wide, generous roads of North America. The European service vehicles are much smaller, so it was a tight fit.”
Following the demonstration, Envirologics redesigned the system to fit a smaller footprint. Some components were integrated and those originally designed to cross the width of the truck were turned 90 degrees, so they could be located along the inside walls. Even in a truck six-and-a-half-feet wide, a centre aisle still provides operator access. The redesign has worked so well that all equipment is now shipped in the same format, even for the North American market.
“It’s plug and play,” says Thorogood. “Just fasten it to the floor of the cube van and it’s ready to go all over the world.”
He notes that the Tomahawk system is generating significant interest in countries including Hungary, Poland, Israel, Australia, Singapore, China and Japan.
The company’s next development, due in 2018, is a compatible blown-in liner that can be delivered by the same equipment immediately following abrasive cleaning by Tomahawk.
“With this system, we could clean a potable water pipe in two to three hours, then line it in another two to three hours,” says Thorogood. “We could turn the water back on within 24 hours.”
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