Surface preparation specialist Aquablast has introduced two new products at Ship Repair & Conversion 2002 which, during testing, created considerable interest at a number of ship repair facilities. Superstripper is a high speed hand-held blast system which combines pressurised wet abrasive blasting and Ultra High Pressure (UHP) water. On recent trials in Dubai and Rotterdam, Superstripper blasters working alongside conventional dry blasting were averaging over 20 m2 per hour to SA 2.5 compared to 10 m2 per hour with normal dry blasting.
In a marketing and technical support partnership with the Minneapolis based Jet Edge corporation, Aquablast also introduced 55,000 psi (3,800 bar) UHP water blasting, the highest commercial pressure in use today.
The most remarkable features about both systems, as well as their speed and dust-free characteristics, is the remarkably low consumption of water or abrasives. Disposal costs for abrasives and treatment costs for waste water are becoming the dominant environmental issues for the majority of ship repair yards. The new systems offer a choice of water only or enhanced performance by the addition of small quantities of abrasive.
Jet Edge 55,000 psi guns use only eight litres fresh water per minute and can be up to twice as fast as existing UHP guns.
The patent-pending Superstripper system averages only about 15 kgs of garnet abrasive per square metre, compared to an industry average of between 40 and 50 kgs grit consumption per square metre.
Brian Gleeson, Jet Edge’s Mobile Products Manager, said at the Ship Repair Exhibition: “We’re delighted to have formed this alliance with Aquablast. Our pump technologies are complementary in many ways and Aquablast have all the skills to market and service our equipment in Europe and the Middle East.
“In addition, Aquablast’s wet abrasive systems and the new high-speed Superstripper™ concept is an excellent fit for Jet Edge’s product portfolio in the United States. We’re now in the process of introducing them to the US market in conjunction with our own UHP products.”
Aquablast features each of the trailer-mounted blasting systems on its exhibition stand. The Superstripper system was integrated with its own compressor and is able to recycle a large percentage of it’s water usage. A blast vessel with a running time of over five hours, specially designed for ship repair applications, is also on show.
“These new tools dramatically increase the firepower of the shipyard blaster for a comparatively modest investment “ said Donald Blair, Aquablast’s managing director. “But as well as increased productivity, we’ve eliminated the dust; reduced the disposal costs by over 60%; allowed other work to proceed undisturbed and, not the least, made life much more pleasant for the blaster.”
Aquablast claim that nett blasting cost may be up to US$1/m2 less than conventional open dry grit blasting taking into account the savings of grit clean-up and disposal and the increased blasting speed. The best performance of the Superstripper system is achieved using almandite garnet and further savings can be realised by the ability to recycle this very hard, inert mineral. Both systems reduce chlorides to almost negligible proportions and therefore will contribute to extended coatings life.
The company, based in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, with operating bases in Piraeus and Dubai, is shortly to introduce a compact shipyard waste water treatment plant which will take advantage of the considerably reduced water demands of their environmentally friendly technologies.
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