Site-remediation/ decontamination

Securing and remediating contaminated sites form significant priorities in PORR Umwelttechnik’s activities. Complex contamination at old sites require intense preparation regarding the assessment of risks, variant studies, rehabilitation planning or the planning of an economically and ecologically feasible measure to treat the contaminated protective goods or, often, a combination of various securing and rehabilitation methods. In this context, we not only offer pre-treatment, removal and disposal but also encapsulation using cut-off walls, immobilisation, waste treatment, ground water treatment, soil vapour extraction as well as in-situ and ex-situ micro-biological treatment.

For a long time, asbestos was in high demand as a construction material. Today, this highly hazardous material is banned throughout Europe. In spite of this, asbestos is still present in countless buildings built before the ban came into effect. Many affected buildings have now reached the end of their life cycle and have to be carefully decontaminated before general refurbishment or demolition works can take place.

Asbestos removal necessitates special protective measures for the team and the environment. This is why PORR deploys only the most highly trained remediation staff. Protective measures such as full body suits and face masks are an indispensable standard.

In addition to asbestos disposal, the PORR Environmental Engineering department also carries out the analysis and decontamination of rooms in which contamination with PAHs or PCBs, mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium and other toxic substances has been identified.

Since 1993, ABW Abbruch, Boden- und Wasserreinigungsges.m.b.H. has operated a stationary soil treatment plant for PORR. It is designed for the physical and chemical treatment of contaminated solids and liquids. The plants works at an annual throughput rate of approximately 125,000 metric tonnes.

But the services provided by ABW are not limited to waste treatment. They also provide advice on legal issues, surveys of suspected areas, transportation of the excavated material to the plant, interim storage, and disposal. All operational procedures are seamlessly documented with computerised methods.

Every year, 350,000 to 400,000 tonnes of construction waste of different origins is processed by the construction material recycling plant in Himberg. The plant is operated by Prajo-Böhm Recycling GmbH, a subsidiary of PORR Umwelttechnik GmbH.

The recycled construction materials produced by the plant are of exceptional quality and are in high demand as raw materials. They are used to build base courses in road construction, back filling in building construction, roadbeds, in the construction of dirt and logging roads, and in many other fields of application.

At the PORR Environmental Engineering department's biological stabilisation plant, hazardous and non-hazardous waste is treated efficiently.

Stabilisation procedures are carried out in compliance with DVO 2008. Solid waste materials are treated with hydraulic or latent hydraulic binders. This permanently decreases the mobilisation of toxins by reducing permeability and porousness. Pourable waste materials are transported from the interim storage facilities to the plant batch mixer via vacuumed and encapsulated conveyor belts. Pulverised waste materials are delivered either in Big Bags or in a waste silo. Predefined quantities of waste materials, aggregates and water are poured into the batch mixer. A chemical reaction (immobilisation) between the binder portions and the mineral toxins creates new, stable phases (e.g. a calcium silicate hydrate matrix). In this form, the waste can be disposed of in a landfill without difficulty.

Another field of application for the waste treatment plant consists of conditioning high calorific waste materials, which can be used in thermal waste treatment systems after treatment.