Case Study
Project Overview
Biomass fired boilers suffer from high levels of build ups on the outside surface of the tubes. The boilers require frequent cleaning that is labour, time and resource intensive. Rope access personnel have historically been utilised to perform the cleaning tasks. The boiler at Drax required 36 operators in total working day and night shifts for 23 days to clean the build ups using hand tools.
Solution
Altrad utilised 6x Torus tank cleaning heads, to remove the build ups using high pressure waterjetting techniques.
Benefits
This reduced the confined space and rope access activities to only positioning the tank cleaning heads. It provided increased productivity due to continuous operations and improved cleaning standards were achieved. The operators required were reduced to 22 , working for only 11 days (day and night shifts). 2x tank cleaning heads were placed in the “rear pass” and 4 in the furnace all operating at the same time utilising 3 high pressure water pumps.
Highlights
>50% reduction in time
25% reduction in manpower
Reduction in overall job cost
Published
July 7, 2026
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