A FISH-FRIENDLY WATER EXTRACTION FACILITY  

For the past six years, ASSDA Member and Accredited Fabricator AWMA Water Control Solutions have been a proud partner of Rangitata Diversion Race Management Ltd (RDRML) in delivering one of the world's largest fish-friendly water extraction facilities using stainless steel.

The Rangitata Diversion Race (RDR) plays a crucial role in extracting water from the Rangitata River in New Zealand's South Island, serving irrigation, stock water, and hydropower generation needs year-round. However, the environmental impact on native fish populations was a concern for RDRML.

To address this challenge, AWMA was awarded the design and construct

For almost 30 years ASSDA Member AirEng has delivered customised, state-of-the-art stainless steel airflow solutions for a wide range of local and global industries including agriculture, mining, food and beverage and water treatment. 

AirEng continues to be a leading industrial fan specialist, providing businesses with steadfast solutions, employing leading edge technology, practical design, and robust construction. All AirEng products are proudly designed and manufactured locally in Australia at their production facility in Bayswater, Victoria, spanning over a 3.2-acre site. 

Industrial fans are used for various applications and unique industry needs. They are generally broken down into three different fan types,

A mainstay in the processing of sewage water in water recycling applications, stainless steel once again plays a critical part in working towards a sustainable future.

Western Water Treatment Plant (WWTP), south of Werribee in Melbourne’s Western District, is a critical asset responsible for processing around half of the city’s total sewage. The process requires a massive footprint, where a series of large lagoons use anaerobic (without oxygen) and aerobic (with oxygen) bacteria to sequentially break down and clean the feed water of solids and gases. The resultant recycled water is used for multiple non-drinking purposes, including irrigation and firefighting. 

Stainless steel is playing a vital role in delivering effective bulk water intake screens for Melbourne’s water supply.

Designed and manufactured in Brisbane, ASSDA Member Aqseptence Group Australia has recently delivered one of the largest passive intake screens in the Southern Hemisphere. Having produced more than 4,000 screens for the last  50 years, this latest milestone achieved a nomination in the hotly contested Process Industries category of the 2019 ASSDA Fabricator Project of the Year Award. 

In mid-August 2019, Aqseptence Group was engaged by a joint venture of John Holland and KBR to provide design and construct services for a significant capital

Stainless steel provides a cutting edge and environmentally friendly solution for industrial applications.

Dow Chemicals, a global chemicals manufacturer, recently completed a major upgrade of the wastewater treatment system at their Victorian Point Henry coatings plant. The plant manufactures acrylic emulsions which find use in numerous applications including house paints. ASSDA Members Stirlings Performance Steels and Barwon Valley Stainless provided supply and fabrication services for this impressive wastewater treatment facility upgrade. 

Wastewater produced in the production facility is pumped into flocculation tanks for settling and the clear supernatant is sent for further biological treatment. This treated water is recycled back to

Safeguarding Australia’s environmental biosecurity is critical in preventing the introduction and spread of pests and diseases, and the Post Entry Quarantine (PEQ) facility in northern Melbourne is setting the benchmark in international best practice with the use of stainless steel.

The PEQ facility in Mickelham is a state-of-the-art, purpose-built operation constructed to streamline the country’s quarantine services and consolidate five pre-existing Commonwealth PEQ facilities spread across New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Managed by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, the 144ha site includes an administration building, modern laboratories, dog and cat receiving areas, horse facilities

Water authorities tackle water shortages with stainless steel.

Water is a fundamental human need. It is central to our lives, from what we drink, to what we use in washing ourselves, our clothes and a multitude of other uses. Safe, clean and palatable water comes at a price though, and when leaks occur in distribution systems, additional costs are incurred as even more water must be found and treated. Security of water supply is a prerequisite for sustainable growth and dealing with leakage is a universal challenge. To combat the scourge of leaks, a number of water distribution authorities across

Stainless steel is the material of choice for subsea hydraulic and control line applications because of its excellent corrosion resistance, material strength benefits and weldability.

 Subsea production in the oil and gas industry involves offshore, in situ equipment to facilitate the exploration, development, production and transportation of energy reserves from underwater fields. It is a viable form of oil and gas production, providing economic, productivity and environmental benefits.

Perth-based ASSDA Member and Accredited Fabricator Diverse Welding Services (DWS) recently completed detailed design and fabrication works on two major subsea projects operated by multinational oil and gas exploration and production companies.

Coca-Cola Amatil is reducing the carbon footprint of its 600ml PET bottles by 22% with the help of stainless steel.

Innovation in process technology and the successful application of stainless steel has led to efficiency gains and sustainable outcomes for one of the world's most recognised brands in the food and beverage industry.

In 2011, Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA) announced a $450 million investment in PET bottle self-manufacture, or ‘blowfill’ technology at its production facilities across Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

Blow-fill technology is a manufacturing technique that allows companies to produce their own PET (polyethylene terephthalate)

Fabricating equipment for the chemical sector requires solid high quality materials and superior workmanship. In April 2011, ASSDA member and Accredited Fabricator U-Neek Bending Co Pty Ltd put the finishing touches on a radiant helical coil at their factory in Dandenong, Victoria.

The coil, designed as a heater for Titanium Tetrachloride (TiCl4) production, is 11.4 metres long with a diameter of 3.05 metres and required more than 7 tonnes of high grade Inconel Alloy.

U-Neek’s Business Development Manager, John Lovell, said the client chose to have this material shipped from America.
“At around US$1000 a metre, Inconel Alloy is a

A worrying trend among Australia's major resource companies is the increasing amount of engineering, detailing and fabrication work being sent offshore - a move that has had significant impact on local fabrication. But there are some positive signs in the food and beverage sector that local fabricators are more than capable of meeting design and fabrication expectations.

When ASSDA member and Accredited Fabricator, A&G Engineering, put in a bid to build 10 x 100 hectolitre beer fermenters for Casella Estate - a company best known for their Yellowtail wine label - they had to compete against companies as far

A pilot magnesium processing plant is currently under production in Gladstone, using unique technology developed in Australia and incorporating a significant stainless steel component.

The Australian Magnesium (AM) process (now owned by the Australian Magnesium Corporation - Brisbane, Qld) was jointly developed by Queensland Metals Corporation (QMC - Brisbane, Qld) and CSIRO to process the type of magnesite ore discovered by QMC near Rockhampton into highly pure magnesium metal.

The process incorporates a number of patented features which will be demonstrated and refined at the pilot plant in Gladstone on its completion in mid-1998. The AM process involves the use

When the United States Navy required 35 lightweight transportable recompression chambers in the late 1980s, Cowan Manufacturing took up the challenge of developing the units. 

Cowan Manufacturing developed a prototype out of a virtually unknown material. It was duplex 2205 (UNS 31803) stainless steel.

No other manufacturer in the world was producing chambers out of 2205 and, after six years of negotiations, Cowan was sourced as the sole supplier of the chambers.

Cowan chose 2205 for its high strength, light weight and corrosion resistant properties. This enabled them to meet the Navy's requirements without the weight and corrosion problems of

15 million dollars worth of stainless steel has been used to construct the largest rotary fermentation area in Australia.

The facility at Southcorp's Karadoc Winery in Victoria comprises 88 stainless steel red grade processing tanks, pipes and tubes, brine jackets and rotary fermenters.

Southcorp Wines Engineering Manager (Eastern Region) Geoff Leighton said stainless steel was preferred by the wine industry because it is "corrosion resistant, provides a stable environment for the wine, is easy to clean and maintain and has a long service life."

Grade 304 stainless steel was used for the tanks, with a thickness range of 2mm -

75 tonnes of stainless steel has been used to replace the floor in an enormous tank at QNI Limited's Yabulu Refinery near Townsville in North Queensland.

The tank is one of a series of seven thickener tanks, each of which is 50 metres in diameter. The purpose of the tanks is to form a counter current decant wash circuit for leached ore. Solid tailings are separated from liquor streams in the tanks which act as large settling devices, separating leached ore from a leached solution for the recovery of nickel and cobalt.

When the floor plate of one of the

1,200 tonnes of stainless steel plate and coil and over 47,000 metres of stainless steel pipe and tube has been used in the construction of a new $400 million unbleached pulp and paper mill in Tumut, New South Wales. 

The Visy Pulp and Paper Mill will produce 240,000 tonnes of unbleached kraft pulp and packaging paper annually, to be supplied to domestic and overseas markets.

Raw materials for the plant will come from local plantation timber sawmill residues and pulp materials from softwood plantations, and supplemented by domestic and commercially derived waste paper. The plant is being built using the

The Workhorse of Hydrometallurgy

Posted 17 May 200

Stainless steel has earned a reputation as the material of choice for the mining and hydrometallurgical industries. This article discusses suitable grades and applications and the emerging opportunities for stainless steel in these industries.

Hydrometallurgy involves the extraction and refining of metals in aqueous solutions. It encompasses a range of processes such as leaching, solvent extraction, ion exchange, electrorefining, electrowinning, precipitation and solid/liquid separation for numerous metals including copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, uranium, gold, silver, aluminium and rare earths. As stainless steel is the 'workhorse' material for many of these processes, especially

Two 2205 duplex stainless steel elution columns over 12 metres long have been installed in a replacement project at Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines in Western Australia. 

Elution columns are used in the mettalurgical process of extracting gold from carbon.

Carbon impregnated with gold is hot washed with caustic cyanide in the elution columns to dissolve the gold out of the carbon. The gold solution is pumped away while the barren carbon remains in the columns and then is removed for reuse.

The columns hold temperatures of 140°C and operate under pressures of 550 kilopascals (KPa).

he previous columns, constructed from

A combination of grades 304 and 316L stainless steel has been utilised for all contact surfaces in Murray Goulburn's milk processing plant in Rochester, Victoria, which was upgraded in 2000.

The plant comprises an evaporator to concentrate cow's milk and spray dryer to produce various milk powders. Approximately 100 000 litres of milk is processed per hour, with the majority of product for export to over 100 countries. The evaporator and dryer represent more than half of the total project, a capital investment of around A$50 million.

The stainless surfaces and components carry milk feed, evaporated vapour, milk concentrate, milk

A new technique for manufacturing high pressure cavity plate for heat exchange applications developed by the Australian stainless steel industry increases the options available to the food processing and manufacturing sectors. 

'Laser welded cavity plate' has been developed by ASSDA member J Furphy & Sons, a Shepparton fabricator of stainless steel tanks and processing equipment, as an alternative to resistance or plug welded dimple plate used for the heating or cooling jackets on stainless steel tanks, vessels and silos.

A wide range of industries stands to benefit from the new cavity plate, from dairy, brewing, food, wine, pulp and