Brownfields

Remediation of the site 'La Floridienne' on Kluizendok in Ghent (Belgium)

The site 'La Floridienne' is located in the port of Ghent, along the Ghent-Terneuzen canal at the entrance to Kluizendok. The chemical company of the same name used to produce metallic salts and ferrous cyanides.
The City of Ghent purchased the factory premises and was thus confronted with severe contamination on the site, where 75,000 tonnes of cyanide-containing waste and 60,000 tonnes of arsenic-containing waste was found.

DEC was awarded the assignment to clean up the site. All waste was immobilised and disposed with the excavated extremely contaminated soil on site in an engineered cell.

Primary activities of the remediation:

• Construction and design of a groundwater purification plant (30 m³/h) for the treatment of the groundwater in the proximity of the industrial terrain as well as within an engineered cell.
• Further configuration of the isolated site, formed by the newly built quay wall and a cement-bentonite wall.
• On-site immobilisation of all waste (135,000 tonnes) and storage within an engineered cell.
• Excavation of all severely contaminated soil (50,000 m³) in the proximity and storage within an engineered cell.
• Profiling the concealed material and providing the site with a final seal (HDPE film – drainage mat – 1.5 m covering layer).

Techniques used: installation of a cement-bentonite wall, immobilations of the waste materials, excavation of a large volume of soil, construction and dimensioning of a water-purification system, profiling and sealing off the concealed material.