Zeebrugge LNG terminal: construction of 5th tank

Construction work on the fifth tank at Fluxys’ LNG terminal in Zeebrugge began this summer as planned. At the height of the works, up to 300 people are to be active on the site to ensure that the new 180 000 m³ tank – and the accompanying battery of compressors – is operational by the end of 2018.

The work officially began in June with the preparation of the working area and the creation of a new separate entrance to this area. Construction work will see the digging of a big hole in which the new tank will be housed.

The new tank will be half-buried in order to comply with the legal height limits. The surrounding earth will be retained by a diaphragm wall built in a circle 102 m across. The wall will comprise 48 panels that are 36 m tall, 7 m wide and 1.2 m thick. So far, 28 of these panels have been concreted and installed.

A special excavator will be used to dig individual holes for the panels and the excavated part is gradually filled with bentonite in order to prevent the ground from subsiding. Once the excavation work for a panel is finished, the rebar cages are placed in the bentonite before the concreting work begins. Since concrete is heavier than bentonite, the latter gradually rises to the surface where it is pumped out and then recovered for the following panels.

This first stage in the construction of the diaphragm wall should end in late October, and will be followed by the tank excavation phase, which will involve removing nearly 200 000 m³ of sand. After the excavation phase, the so-called conventional construction of the tank will continue with the deployment of the external concrete tank and then the internal tank made of 9% nickel steel.

Edited from press release by Angharad Lock

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/28092015/zeebrugge-lng-terminal-construction-of-5-tank-1503/