Rowlinson Increases pressure
When Rowlinson Timber moved from Grimsby to Gunness in January last year, it took the opportunity to install a new, state-of-the-art high-pressure treatment facility.
The Compak plant, manufactured by Tweddle Engineering and officially opened in September, has improved efficiency all round. The 2m-diameter vessel, which is 28m long, is side tipping to enhance fluid recovery, and requires only one operator.
"The timber comes out virtually drip dry so requires a shed space of 693m2, or less than half the covered area of the Grimsby plants, which has a business rate cost saving," said managing director Richard Smith.
A fluid recovery system means that any fluid that does drip from the packs is pumped back to the main storage tank. A cross-transfer system also allows trollies to be loaded and unloaded while a charge is running, providing a time saving of about 30 minutes for each charge.
"It negates the need for a second door on the vessel and an additional 33m of shed length if a push-pull system was used," said Mr Smith.
The new facility provides an annual capacity of more than 90,000m3 and uses Impra Wood’s Permawood ACQ 1900 preservative.
The plant is installed entirely above ground so no expensive civil engineering work was required and there are no holes to fill if the plant is relocated. It replaces the 40-year-old equipment Rowlinson had at Grimsby.
WJ Group Increases Capacity
Timber treatment provider WJ Group has moved its Hull facilities to a new site where it has increased treatment capacity and now offers a transport service for customers.
The new purpose-built treatment centre, located just a mile from WJ’s former facility at Alexandra Dock, provides a larger undercover area, which has enabled the company to increase capacity for both high and low pressure treatment.
It is also now better equipped to service dockside timber companies which can load up a trailer for WJ to tow away, treat and return.
"Our new treatment centre remains firmly in the dockside area," said managing director Mark Eggleston. "It’s important that our capacity grows as their requirements do. We’ve been locally transporting timber for International Timber, which has provided extremely beneficial to them and helped their workflow. We can now do this for other timber companies located in the Hull dockside region."
WJ Group can offer BASF-Wolman warranties for high-pressure treated timber and has a second treatment facility close to the docks in Rochester, Kent.
Covers ready for Ied
Covers Timber & Builders Merchants has recently experienced a steady increase in demand for its timber treatment service. At its Chichester site, Covers offers three timber treatments – Arch Timber Protection’s Tanalith and Koppers’ Protim E418 Clear solvent-based and Protim E406 Clear waterbased. The forthcoming Industrial Emissions Directive (IED)provided the opportunity for Covers to make some changes.
"We’ve had a covered storage area for 25 years but we’ve changed the plant around and employed another operative," said timber director Bob Tee.
And to meet the increasing demand for longer lengths, Covers replaced its vessel for Protim E406 Clear treatment, increasing the maximum length of timber from 6m to 7.2m. The maximum length for Protim E418 Clear is 6m, and 12m for Tanalith.
Total annual treatment capacity is 46,500m3. Covers said the new installation halves the labour costs, more than halves the rates costs and reclaims more treatment.
