Case Study - Veolia
Maximising asset life with Humidur coating

Veolia was contracted by our client Portland Aluminium to completely repaint their ducting tower 162YC on their Portland site in Victoria. Veolia was tasked with blasting the entire tower with a grit blasting system and applying a 3-coat painting system for corrosion protection.

Our client was faced with strong cost reduction targets and was looking at minimising the budget for this scope of work, as well as the overall timeline to complete the painting.

To deliver on our client’s cost reduction targets and reduce the project’s overall timeline, Veolia proposed Humidur® single coat system (distributed by Matrix) for corrosion protection on Portland Aluminium’s 162YC ducting tower.

Unlike the three-coat painting system that Veolia used to apply in the past, Humidur® is an environmentally-friendly single coat protective coating system. Humidur® can be applied straight onto the substrate after surface preparation, which saves on primers and creates less waste.

In addition, it is surface tolerant, which means that it requires less surface preparation, reducing time spent on tools for coating removal. The Humidur® system is weather-resistant and can cure underwater and in freezing temperatures; this proved to be highly beneficial during the wet and colder months.

Humidur® coating is a relatively known product in Australia and using this type of protective coating requires training. This training is organised by Matrix, the sole Australian distributor of Humidur®, to ensure excellent product performance and optimize cost reduction targets. Our accredited trainer has undertaken 5 weeks of training and has spent numerous hours applying the product.

Before applying Humidur coating, the steel structure surfaces of the ducting tower were prepped for painting. Surface preparation includes removing fouling, dirt and salts with a powerwash followed by surface degreasing. If the desired salt levels are not met, the surface is rewashed.

After the washing process was finalised, our operators whip blasted the surfaces up to a degree of Sa 2.5 to remove any defective coating. The surfaces were finally blown down with compressed air and all relevant quality assurance checks were performed.

Once surface preparation was completed, the blasted areas were stripe coated and masked for paint protection. A single coat of Humidur® FP was applied using a spray method. The coating was touch dry after 3 hours and fully cured within 24 hours. The fully cured surfaces were then demasked by our operators.

By using Humidur® single coat system, Veolia brought the following benefits to our client, supporting them in meeting their targets: