UHP Water Cutter
An Opportunity
Road burning
Resealing
Water cutting
Fulton Hogan was aware that traditional methods of treating flushed bitumen were far from environmentally acceptable. Traditional methods consist of either resealing over the problem areas or burning off the excess bitumen. Both sealing and burning have large operational and environmental costs.
Road burning generates emissions of volatile organics (essentially burnt bitumen) and other greenhouse depleting gases at very high levels.Resealing techniques are highly resource intensive and wasteful for the treatment of flushings that are relatively isolated.
Environmental Comparison of Alternative Techniques (pdf)
Fulton Hogan's Environmental Policy
Feedback from Regional Councils' consultation processes identified the unacceptability of road burning. The smoke smells bad and was found to cause damage to crops. Road burning was also considered wasteful of resources. Regional Councils now require road burning to have resource consent or have prohibited it.
Following the restrictions on road burning, Fulton Hogan consulted stakeholders such as Regional Councils and Transit New Zealand, regarding the use of Water Cutting technology. It was generally agreed that discharging water and bitumen onto the roadside was also unacceptable.
The idea of a UHP Water Cutter operating without environmental impact caused by smoke, excess use of resources, and discharging waste product, and so without the need for resource consent, met with enthusiastic support from Regional Councils.
A team of Fulton Hogan staff led by Richard Shaw a mechanical engineer, developed the original idea for the Water Cutter after seeing similar equipment being used for paint removal. UHP Water Cutters had been developed overseas to replace environmentally unfriendly sandblasting paint removal techniques. Steve Grave, Fulton Hogan Canterbury Regional Manager, Garry Wells, Fulton Hogan Canterbury Specialist Plant Manager, and Gary Casey, Fulton Hogan Canterbury Surfacing Manager, contributed to the development of each of the three Water Cutters Fulton Hogan currently operates. Each Water Cutter is an improvement on the one before. Innovations are made and trialled and proven concepts are funded allowing further innovation.
