Hydrotec provides a clever drainage solution for the Herford brewery
The Herford Brewery is sending a strong signal for the future: with an investment of 20 million euros, the company is modernising its bottling plant and returnable glassware area. A key element of the new infrastructure is HYDROTEC’s innovative drainage technology. The HYDROblock® DN-300 system made of ductile cast iron is being used – a monolithic, low-maintenance solution that can withstand even the high stresses in the logistics area.
Background: At this long-established brewery in East Westphalia, various beers and mixed drinks are produced, bottled, packaged and dispatched. Reliable drainage is particularly important on the premises, which cover an area roughly the size of 21 football pitches. This is particularly true in areas such as the empty container yard, where industrial trucks move large quantities of pallets every day.
Since 1878, the Herford Brewery has developed into East Westphalia’s most significant brewery, employing just over 100 staff. Whilst in its founding year just 9,000 hectolitres left the premises by horse-drawn carriage, more than 500,000 hectolitres of various types of beer, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, are now brewed here annually. Up to 30 fully loaded lorries leave the premises every day.
Modernisation of the outdoor area
The brewery has invested 20 million euros in the Herford site. A new bottling plant handles up to 70 different container sizes (0.2–0.5 litres) and produces 50,000 bottles and 265 kegs per hour. 118,000 hectolitres of beer are matured in modern tanks. A blending plant also enables the production of beer-based mixed drinks and tonic water.
New empties yard with suitable drainage channels
Modernisation is also underway in the outdoor area. On the 150,000 m² site, a new returnable container yard for 10,000 pallets has recently been built on an area of around 5,000 m², enabling more efficient workflows. Employees move up to 3,500 pallets here every day using electric forklift trucks. This makes reliable drainage of the asphalted area all the more important, using the robust HYDROblock DN 300 drainage channels, which are suitable for heavy-duty traffic.
In logistics areas covering several thousand square metres, it is essential to ensure that the surfaces traversed by industrial vehicles are absolutely level. A drainage system must reliably divert surface water and, in the event of an accident, any liquids from containers.
Large-area drainage with specific requirements
“For forklift traffic, a traffic surface that is as level as possible is desirable. By connecting the asphalt directly to the HYDROblock, a transition with only minimal height differences can be achieved, so that vibrations from the forklift are also minimised when driving over them. It is also important that the channels remain durable in the long term under high loads. Removable grates were deemed unsuitable based on experience with other channels on the premises,” explains planner Christian Fischer from SM Ingenieurplan GmbH in Bielefeld.
The drainage concept developed provides for the drainage of the area in use, covering approximately 5,000 m², via five channel runs (HYDROblock DN 300 drainage channels) with a total length of approximately 220 m. The surface water collected is channelled via connection pipes (DN 200) into a concrete sewer (DN 400). The water passes through a rainwater retention basin into the existing drainage network on the site and is discharged at a controlled rate into a watercourse.
HYDROblock – heavy-duty channel made of ductile cast iron
The designers opted for the robust HYDROblock DN 300 drainage channel with an inlet cross-section of 1,191 cm²/m. Thanks to the use of EN-GJS-500 (ductile cast iron), the drainage channel offers significant advantages in terms of material fatigue, particularly in heavy-duty applications. The monolithic construction – and thus the absence of loose parts – makes it ideally suited to high loads, even when vehicles drive over it. Matching inspection elements allow for easy maintenance and cleaning.
The drainage channel can be joined like a pipe using spigots and sockets, ensuring full compatibility with standard KG pipes. The integrated NBR socket seal at the channel joint ensures the watertightness of the drainage system. The HYDROblock can be paved over, set in concrete or asphalted directly, regardless of the load class.
Source: www.hydrotec.com