MechChem Africa March 2019

⎪ Products and industry news ⎪

Watertight concrete with crack-healing properties

With municipal services under strain in most South African cities, companies must now provide their own water and pumping facilities in case of fire. However, keeping the diesel powered ‘fire pumps’ in working order needs regular and expert maintenance. “New buildings increasingly require their own water storage tanks to draw from in the event of a fire,” says Andrew Yorke, director, Reef Fuel Injection Ser­ vices, “They also need their own booster pumps to generate the required pressure to fight a fire at height.” Yorke highlights that the standalone diesel engines driving these pumps gener- ally do not run regularly. Apart from not being good for most engines, this also raises the risk that they may not start or perform optimally when a fire incident occurs. Brouard says this test has been fre- quently used in South Africa to evaluate the effectiveness of crystalline permea- bility-reducing admixtures. He cautions that it shouldbenoted that theseproducts do not waterproof concrete, but rather reduce the concrete’s level of permeability andwater tightness to the internationally accepted levels; some penetration of the to potable water” and a 30 mm depth as being impermeable with respect to wa- ter containing aggressive substances. In some parts of theworld, the 30mmdepth applied to water containing aggressive substances is lowered to 20 mm.

An entire concrete structure canbe trans- formed into an internationally accepted watertight barrier with the use of the crystalline permeability-reducing admix- ture CHRYSO CWA 10, from CHRYSO Southern Africa. This is according to Brenton Brouard, technical manager: concrete, CHRYSO Southern Africa, who says that interna- tionally accepted penetration depths are used todescribe thedegree ofwatertight- ness or impermeability of concrete. “The test method described in the European standard EN 12390-8 for test- ing hardened concrete is arguably the most practical test method available in South Africa,” he says. The standard stipulates the depth of penetration of water under pressure, to evaluate thewatertightnessof concrete to liquid. A 50mm penetration depth is clas- sified as being “impermeablewith respect

liquid under pressure is possible. On the other hand, waterproofing of concrete eliminates any penetration of water into the concrete. This is effected using various 100% waterproof mem- branes, which are applied in the form of surface coatings of various thicknesses. Whether it is positive or negative per- meability that needs to be reduced, this versatile admixture is ideal for concrete exposed to harsh conditions. By reducing the permeability of concrete, CHRYSO CWA 10 protects it against chemicals, chlorides, sea water and corrosive ground water. http://za.chryso.com “As an organic fluid, diesel does not stay fresh forever and this can, in particu- lar, affect the ability of the fuel injection system to operate properly,” he says. “It is therefore imperative to service the injection system regularly, so that the fire-fighting capacity in any building is not compromised.” The servicing that is required tends to focus on checking and flushing the fuel pump and injectors, testing the calibra- tion and repairing components. He notes that, apart from the danger of the engine not starting when a fire is detected, there is also a danger of damaging an engine by running it when the fuel injection system is faulty. “This can even lead to catastrophic engine failure,” he says. “At best, this will cost a company dearly if it is just conduct- ing a test run on the engine after years of dormancy. At worst, the engine could fail during a fire, with the consequent loss of property and even life.” Unlike a vehicle, water pumps and gen- erator sets are designed to accelerate to operating speed immediately on start-up. Any faults in the system therefore mani- fest quickly and could cause extensive damage. www.reeffuel.co.za

Diesel pumps ready to fight fires

Construction chemicals specialist CHRYSO Southern Africa supplied its CHRYSO ® CWA 10 integral permeability reducing admixture to the Temba Waterworks project.

New SKF solution delivers monitoring benefits SKF has further expanded its offering in condition monitoring with a compact, competitively priced system that is flexible enough to be used across a broad spectrum of applications and industries. The SKFMultilog IMx-16Plus will helpmore users of rotating equipment to reduce unplanned machine downtime, improve asset availability and optimise machinery operation.

Freddy Hernández, product line manager: surveillance sys- tems, SKF comments: “Higher asset availability is critical to ef- ficient production. The SKFMultilog IMx‑16Plus helps endusers achieve this by providing early warning of potential problems.” Condition monitoring has historically been restricted to the most critical assets. However, the SKF Multilog IMx-16Plus, which is based on the proven SKF Multilog IMx-8, allows condition-based maintenance to be integrated in applications that would previously have been too costly to consider. With the ability to monitor everything from a single machine to an entire plant froma central location, the SKFMultilog IMx-16Plus integrates seamlessly with other devices (such as the IMx-8) to allowmore extensive deployment. www.skf.com

Reef Fuel Injection Services operates a world class fuel injection service facility.

36 ¦ MechChem Africa • March 2019