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Spanish contractor defies the odds with hydrodemolition for cement plant silo

Location: La Robla, Spain
Date: September 2021
Duration: 26 days
Material Demolished: 1,440 meters
Equipment: Aquajet Ergo, Hammelman high-pressure pump

During an annual maintenance shutdown, a cement plant in the village of La Robla, Spain, needed an effective way to repair a 100-meter-tall, 16-meter-diameter concrete silo used to store raw materials. Similar to many silos built in the 20th century, the walls of the concrete vessel were held together with rebar on the outer and inner layers of its concrete. But nothing was there to connect the two, and with age, it resulted in deteriorating and falling concrete.

In 2019, the cement plant hired a company specializing in concrete and structure repair to fix the silo. The hired crew used hand lances to remove the deteriorating concrete and scaled the silo with a scaffolding system to reach higher areas. Unfortunately, the crew was only able to repair the lower portion of the silo with the limited time they had, which put the remainder of the repair on hold.

When the project resumed two years later, Jose Rodriguez was hired to complete the repair. Rodriguez had been involved in the initial stage of repair and had since started another company, Fixen Structural Services, with a focus on structural reinforcements and repair. Fixen’s winning bid proposed using Aquajet’s Ergo Hydrodemolition robot to complete the challenging repair on budget and ahead of schedule.

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