Hazardous Bulk Materials
Geometrica designs geodesic domes for storing coal, urea and other combustible or corrosive bulk materials. Coal, wood chips, urea, sulfur and other materials present special special storage challenges: they may attack the structure's metallic components or, because of their combustibility, present a risk of explosion.
Combustible Materials Storage
Coal, for example, is susceptible to spontaneous combustion due to heating during natural oxidation of new coal surfaces. Coal dust is highly combustible and an explosion hazard. If a coal dust cloud is generated inside an enclosed space, and an ignition source is present, an explosion can ensue. Dust clouds may generate wherever loose coal dust accumulates, such as on structural ledges, if there is a nearby impact or vibration due to wind, earthquake, or even maintenance operations.
Corrosion Resistant Covers
As for corrosion resistance, urea is an extremely challenging raw material. When exposed to humidity, it attacks both aluminum and galvanized steel. Geometrica's Freedome® technology defies corrosion internally and externally. We have built storage domes along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and in other countries to protect fertilizer stockpiles from the most corrosive atmospheres imaginable.
Keeping coal clean: Fertlizer manufacturing facility in Indonesia spanning 81m
Controlling the Hazards
Geometrica offers options that help control the hazards presented by these material, including corrosion resistant materials, tubular structural members, and the possibility of placing the dome's cladding internal to the structure.
Urea dome, 122m x 54m, Veracruz, Mexico
Geometrica offers tubular structures and internal cladding solutions to meet all the relevant recommendations by the National Fire Protection Association and other international organizations. A dome protects the pile from rain and wind (which would otherwise foster spontaneous combustion in open-air piles, and cause air and runoff pollution). Tubular structural elements and/or internal cladding prevent dust accumulation on the structure.
Freedome Technology in Action
With its tubular structural system, Geometrica has built many domes for coal, urea and other combustible and corrosive materials in every stockpile shape, such as ring, conical, longitudinal and free-form. And Geometrica's internal cladding is available with special coatings for enclosing highly corrosive materials, or may even be made of fiberglass or plastics.