The City of New York Selects PPC for $6 Billion Water Tunnel Project

 

September 2005 – New York City, NY - When the city of New York and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) needed polyurethane foam spraying equipment for their $6 Billion Water Tunnel project, they called Polymer Processing Company for the solution.

New York City’s application and use of polyurethane foam and spray application equipment is truly “groundbreaking” and unique. Spray polyurethane foam is most commonly used for commercial roofing and residential insulation, due to its light weight, superior insulation, structural and sealing characteristics. The city of New York and the DEP are now employing these same characteristics to retain and insulate loose soil along the Manhattan Water Tunnel’s excavated perimeter. Foaming of the Manhattan leg of Water Tunnel No. 3 started on September 22, 2005 at the Hudson Street dig site near the Holland Tunnel in NYC. The Manhattan section originates near 30th street on the West Side of Manhattan and runs downtown near the Holland Tunnel. The tunnel project started in 1970 and is not anticipated for completion until 2020 (a 50 year infrastructure project). They are now concentrating on completion of an 8.5-mile section of Tunnel No. 3 that will deliver water throughout Manhattan by 2011 at a cost of $750 million. PPC delivered multiple Vader Series Spray Foam Machines to the jobsite for the primary application and redundancy back-up program. Frank Bien, PPC’s chief engineer, was on hand during the September start-up to provide training and technical assistance to the multi-shift construction operation. The Vader’s simplicity of operation and design made it possible for Bien and the construction team to set up and cover the necessary training in a very short period of time. Al Ward from AWS, was also on hand for training and additional technical support. Once the equipment was set-up and ready to spray, Ward climbed into the 30 foot diameter hole and led the construction team through the spraying portion of the foam application and training operations. In just a few short minutes, the construction crew was trained and spraying foam on their own. Currenlty, the engineers are utilizing a geothermal excavation technique using liquid nitrogen piped around the perimeter of the hole down to 125 feet. The liquid nitrogen actually freezes the earth and mud, thereby preventing it from falling back into the hole upon excavation. Once the hole has been excavated, the perimeter is wrapped with a wire mesh material and the PPC Vader Series machines spray apply the foam to the mesh. The foam retains the loose dirt and insulates the frozen earth. A city engineer on hand for the training claimed that, “Construction site durability, price point, and the pure spraying performance of the Vader Machine Series made their decision to go with PPC an easy and successful one.” “It is important for the public to understand the significance of what’s taking place in the lower depths of our City as we build new infrastructure for the 21st Century,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “This is the largest public works project the City has ever undertaken and is an engineering feat of gigantic proportion. Though rarely seen by the public, this project will increase our water systems reliability and will instill a sense of security in our City’s ability to provide essential services for future generations.” The combination of PPC’s robust industrial strength equipment, hands-on training, and application experience allowed the NYC construction team to acquire the necessary training and rapidly apply spray foam in this unique application in only one day.