The emission challenge

Controlling dust emissions was identified early by Aurecon as a significant challenge. Qatar’s environment is naturally dusty and dust storms are common. In addition, the project was being set up to use water to control dust. Aurecon considered that the combination of high levels of ambient dust and extreme temperatures mean that the use of precious desalinated is not the optimal way to manage dust emissions in Qatar.

However, with Berths 2 and 3 throughput almost doubling, dust mitigation was seen as critical to project success, both from environmental as well as operation and maintenance perspectives.

The system of conveyors transporting the gabbro from ship to stockyard removes 2,000 to 2,500 truck movements daily, without any increase to the number of berths or unloading cranes. Not only does this reduces dust and vehicular emissions, it also improves road safety and traffic congestion in the area.

The design team identified that every 0.1 per cent of dust content in the aggregate cargo equates to 30,000 t of additional dust in the air or 1,200 trucks. With minimum cargo dust contents at 3 per cent, control of dust emissions became critical to the project. In short, all dust inloaded from a ship must be collected through the system and delivered to the stockpiles for truck outloading to leave the terminal.

Key dust control measures implemented include the following:

Orientation of the stockyard rows with the prevailing wind direction to minimise dust emissions off the stockpiles
Installation of 20 m high screens to reduce wind perpendicular to the stockpiles
Stockyard planning with finer grades of gabbro stored in centre of the yard with less dusty material exposed to the prevailing winds
Fully enclosing 75 per cent of the 22 km of conveyors
Pulse type dust collectors at all transfers with dust collections fed back on to the conveyors
Real time dust monitoring system measuring ambient and dust emissions
Luffing stacker boom to reduce dust emissions during stacking

At the inauguration ceremony on 8 December 2016, dignitaries were impressed with the lack of dust emissions when stacking the materials, especially the finer grades (0-5 mm). Aurecon’s mitigation measures reduced dust emissions by 78 per cent, ensuring environmental approvals were achieved on time and setting the national benchmark for Qatar, thereby measurably improved air quality for port workers and residents of nearby Mesaieed Industrial City.

“A key contributor to our success was our commitment to the client’s success,” says Project Director Glen Hallahan. “By showing them other possible options to their plan that were in their best interest, we built a relationship based on mutual trust and respect. We are proud to play a key role in the development of QPMC and ultimately, Qatar.”

Award-winning

Following its official inauguration on 8 December 2016, the project has been lauded with multiple awards from various industry groups worldwide, including:

Winner: Global Ports Forum 2017 – Bulk Commodities Port/Terminal of the Year
Winner: Global Ports Forum 2017 – Port/Terminal of the Year – Middle East
Winner: Global Ports Forum 2017 – Port/Terminal Software/Operating System of the Year

Winner: Construction Innovation Awards Qatar 2017 – Infrastructure Project of the Year
Winner: International Bulk Journal Awards 2017 – Environment Protection Award (Cargo Handling)

Unfortunately, you are using a web browser that Aurecon does not support.