Fast response to AffaldPlus after a fire

When part of an incineration plant at AffaldPlus in Slagelse burst into flames, DI-Teknik quickly assisted with manpower, so the plant was in operation again after only 28 days.

Time was of the utmost essence when AffaldPlus had a partial burned out incineration plant after a fire on December 1, 2018. The fire caused a full stop of the facility in Slagelse: Waste could not be burned and thus neither heat nor electricity could be produced. As a result, AffaldPlus lost a very important source of income. It was urgent to find a solution, so the facility could return to normal operation again…

Already two days after the fire, DI-Teknik was on site with the first employees, and as soon as the Danish Fire Department and the insurance company had given the go-ahead, DI-Teknik could start the task. The first vision that met DI-Teknik’s employees was a jumble of burnt down and melted down installations. The fire had ravaged areas where there were many measuring instruments, all of which were destroyed during the fire. Now the task was to form an overview of the extent of the damage and make a work plan to restore boards, cables, measuring instruments, control boxes, routes, and all the other installations. »When you arrive at the scene of the fire it may seem very chaotic, and the physical working environment and safety precautions are often a big challenge at first. We have experiences from similar tasks where large plants have been affected by fire, so we know how important it is from the beginning to form an overview and make a good work plan. At the same time, we had to coordinate with the other suppliers who had to solve other tasks at the plant. So, it requires that you both have control of your own tasks, but also can collaborate and coordinate so that we do not get in the way of each other but get the tasks solved in the right order. All suppliers have a common goal, which is that the plant will be operational again as soon as possible, and we all had the same deadline,” says Phillip Kaaber, who was foreman of the DI-Teknik project.

Long-term cooperation

The cooperation between AffaldPlus and DI-Teknik goes back approximately eight years.
»We have a long-standing cooperation with DI-Teknik on the installations that are the basis for the entire control of the incineration plant. It is the panel boards that make sure we get all the necessary signals for our SRO systems and which among other things ensures that we can remotely control the plant in Slagelse from our control room in Næstved, “says Peter Valsøe, team leader and technical controller at AffaldPlus.

a friend in need is a friend indeed.

»DI-Teknik quickly placed the necessary manpower to solve the job at our disposal. We needed to start the incineration plant as quickly as possible since we lose money every hour the facility does not burn waste and produce power and heat. Having such an urgent situation, it is very important to have collaborators who take their job seriously and give 100 % to solve the task for us, at DI-Teknik did just that – even though it meant making use of long evenings, nights and weekends to be successful on the scheduled time, « says Peter Valsøe.

Three weeks deadline

DI-Teknik and the other collaborators who helped reestablish the plant, had approximately three weeks to perform their jobs before AffaldPlus had planned to start up the production again.

» Fortunately, we have been able to meet all the wishes that AffaldPlus had for solving the task, all while taking the necessary safety for employees and machinery into account as well. As a rule, we never compromise with safety, and fortunately, everything succeeded satisfactorily though we were met with many unknown factors as the work progressed. We have experienced great confidence from AffaldPlus that we could solve the job and with a high degree of independence, but of course in close coordination with other suppliers on the task. We are quite proud to have solved such a large and complex task in less than three weeks,” says Hans Frederiksen, project engineer at DI-Teknik. »DI-Teknik is very competent. There are not many suppliers to choose from when it comes to industrial installations at facilities like ours. Therefore, it is important to have a partner who has the necessary knowledge, expertise, and experience, and DI-Teknik has it all. The way they subsequently approached the work, was right by the book. They began surveying the damages and then they scheduled the tasks, so the problems were solved in the right sequence and were completed to the agreed deadline, « says Peter Valsøe.

Upgrading to a contemporary standard

The solution DI-Teknik has delivered is not just a one-to-one solution reestablished as it were before the fire. AffaldPlus very quickly decided to upgrade the automation of the incineration plant so it could be up to date.

» We have a plant from 1991 with many of the original installations, so even though it worked until the fire, we must also recognize that much of the equipment does not meet modern, contemporary standards, so we could reap a number of gains by making some new solutions,” says Peter Valsøe.

Therefore, DI-Teknik has installed new control panels, cables, and conduits. In this regard, the length of the cables and conduits have been significantly reduced, so that there is now less risk of errors. A board which previously was mounted in the basement is now divided between two I/O panels, which are placed at the plant, so it is much faster for employees to get to the boards, where all process and measuring instruments are connected. With this new solution, any replacements of the I/O cards will be much cheaper so that operating costs are reduced.

Previously, when an error occurred, one could not immediately identify the component. There could be 32 options that one should take from one end. Today, with the new technology, one can instantly identify the faulty component, so that the troubleshooting process has been substantially optimized.

» Daily we monitor the plant in Slagelse from our control room in Næstved, so it is very important that we have really good touch with the plant and can react quickly if something unexpected happens. With the new solutions, we get far better visualization and thus a better overview of the plant in Slagelse. We have got a modern and up-to-date solution with enough capacity.

So, in all, we achieved greater security, better troubleshooting, increased capacity, and cheaper operation,” says Peter Valsøe

New technical documentation

But AffaldPlus has gained yet another great benefit because of the fire. previously, the documentation of the technical installations has been scarce, outdated or absent. Today, we have far better, and above all, electronic documentation for our construction components.

DI-Teknik has helped AffaldPlus prepare a template so that there is now a standard for all the necessary technical documentation from suppliers to the incineration plant.

» For the first time we now have a template for our suppliers to use, so we now have the required documentation in digital form, so necessary data are easy to find and edit if necessary. It will be a huge advantage going forward because we get a fully updated technical documentation for all our plants. Previously, much documentation has been dependent on the knowledge of certain employees, but it is not an optimal solution. With the new technical template for documentation, we have been future-proofed in a much better way,” says Peter Valsøe.

Solutions from DI-Teknik to AffaldPlus

Emergency response to incineration plant affected by the fire
Planning and dismantling of fire-damaged plants
Establishment of new boards, control boxes, cables, and conduits
Built new boards in DI-Tekniks own board workshop
Inserting necessary personnel to solve the task as soon as possible
Delivery at the agreed time for the start-up of waste incineration
Subsequent upgrade of the security system
Supplied electrical documentation at the AffaldPlus standard
High security without accidents or unintentional events during the execution of the task