BOLINA DEBRIS BOOMS AT KAIN LOCK IN BELGIUM

Bolina Permanent Debris Booms installed at Kain Lock in Belgium to keep power station operational.

In 2018, the lock at Kain, on the river Scheldt near Tournai in Belgium, was completely renovated. Two new dams were built for the automatic level control of the Scheldt, where flows above 100 m³/s are no exception. The difference in height was also exploited by installing 3 hydropower stations with Archimedean screws from Vandezande.

The Archimedean screws are protected at the inflow by a metal grate or croos fence. However, the amounts of floating dirt were so large that manual cleaning of these grids was not an option. Large pieces of floating debris such as branches and even whole trees, combined with small branches, leaves and, of course, plastics completely clogged the grids, causing insufficient flow to the hydropower jacks. Shutting them down and removing all the floating debris with a truck crane was the only option.

Because the inflow from the power stations was via a separate inlet channel, it was impossible to remove the floating debris via the existing valve weirs. Thanks to Bolina’s PDB600 floating debris boom at the entrance to this inlet channel, it was possible to remove the floating debris automatically in the direction of the valve weirs. Black floats were chosen so that the visual impact was minimal. In view of the existing retaining piles, there was no visual need towards the skippers.

For this, the Bolina permanent debris booms naturally had to be placed at an angle. However, in view of the straight concrete inflow to the power stations, the 45m long screen was placed from the 2nd retaining post to the inlet to the valve weirs. Of course, the 2 openings between the lock and the other bollards were closed with screens of 13m and 8m respectively. As the main flow always flows to the power stations – or to the damper weirs at higher flow rates – the floating debris is from now on automatically removed and the power stations can run optimally.

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For more information, please contact us via: www.bolinabooms.com/contact.

Bolina is now an Ecocoast company. www.ecocoast.com