Case Study: HERAmbiente Spa di Coriano (RN)

Requirement
The Company HERAmbiente S.p.A. manages, on the national territory, several waste treatment plants, which can be divided into the following types: waste-to-energy plants, landfills, composting plants, sorting and recovery plants and industrial waste treatmentplants.
At the Selection and Recovery of Municipal and Special Non-Hazardous Waste plant located in Coriano (RN), it was necessary to replace and improve the existing pumping unit with an attached water supply storage, which is now obsolete and no longer complies with current regulations for the sector. The Coriano plant, by virtue of the activities carried out and the quantities of combustible materials in storage, is subject to the control of the Fire Brigade and is equipped with a hydrant network for protection against fire risk. The site is classified as medium fire risk and with a risk level of 2 according to the UNI10779 standard.

Pre-existing situation
The fire-fighting system was powered by a pumping unit installed above ground in a dedicated building, located adjacent to the water supply storage. The pump unit was powered by a 36 m3 underground concrete tank, with replenishment from the municipal water network, sized to guarantee the autonomy of 1 hour of operation of the system's hydrant network.
 

Idroelettrica’s Proposal
The need to adapt the existing storage system and pumping unit, while maintaining a small footprint and ensuring ease of management, led to the choice of a combined system of the FIREBLOCK type (pumping unit with attached horizontal tank) to be installed entirely above ground, an extremely compact solution that provides easy access to the parts subject to maintenance and periodic checks provided for by the standard.
The sizing criteria adopted are derived from the rules of best practice, in accordance with the provisions of UNI10779.

The result
Thanks to the choices made and the synergy between the technical offices of the company HERAmbiente S.p.A. and Idroelettrica S.p.A., it was possible to identify the optimal solution in terms of overall dimensions and positioning, completely recovering the existing delivery pipes and with a minimum loss of the surfaces destined for parking areas, thus making the pumping station and the water supply storage at the service of the system safe and compliant with current legislation.