Project Aims to Provide Cleaner Air in Baltimore

Industrial & Manufacturing Market

By Gary Smith, Regional Manager

Every morning, travelers on Interstate 95 in central Maryland witness the sunrise behind the silhouette of the Baltimore skyline. One iconic feature of this landscape is the massive exhaust stack featuring a bold-lettered “Baltimore” written down the side. It’s a landmark for residents and commuters alike, and over the past year, the city’s skyline has been looking a little different. The luffing jib of a Cianbro Manitowoc 16K now casts its silhouette next to the “Baltimore Smoke Stack” in the morning light over the city. That machine and the Cianbro team on site are gearing up to perform the last of three major overhauls as part of a larger upgrade project at the WIN Waste Wheelabrator Baltimore facility.

The purpose and goal of the project is to reduce the net air emissions produced by the 64.5MW waste-to-energy incinerator. The project involves demolishing the existing Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs) on each facility’s three incinerator boilers and retrofitting with three new, state-ofthe-art Hitachi Zosen-Inova fabric filter baghouses.

Each unit requires the erection of more than 2,000 tons of structural steel, and each new fabric filter baghouse is modularized to streamline construction. The upgrades include the construction of three new electrical rooms on deep pile foundations to provide power and control for the new fabric filter baghouses. In addition to the modular baghouse compartments for each unit, Cianbro will also construct a new inlet duct, which feeds the boiler exhaust air through the existing scrubbers into the new fabric filter baghouses, and a new outlet duct, which ties the exhaust side of the fabric filter baghouses to the induced draft fans flowing air to the stack. The scope also includes the installation of various mechanical piping, electrical, instrumentation, and monitoring/control systems for each unit.

Another significant project component is the construction and retrofitting of a new Automatic Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (ASNCR) system, in which urea is injected into the furnace to react and reduce the NOx emissions from the boiler. This portion of the project includes the installation of urea distribution skids, boiler injection nozzles and bent tubes, purge water system, and compressed air system to tie into the facility’s existing metering equipment before demolition of the existing SNCR systems on each unit.

Our client’s goal is to provide cleaner air to the community in Baltimore. Cianbro and our trade partners are proud to have had the opportunity to participate in that.

The project is being constructed by unit to maintain facility operations during demolition and construction.

The projected timeline for the WIN Waste Wheelabrator facility in Baltimore includes:

• Unit 3’s demolition began in March 2022 and achieved mechanical completion by the end of June 2022.

• Unit 2’s demolition commenced in August 2022 and achieved mechanical completion at the beginning of November 2022.

• Unit 1’s demolition is scheduled to begin in March 2023, with anticipated project completion by July 2023.

Right in the heart of Baltimore, our team works to upgrade the WIN Waste Wheelabrator facility.

Keeping Maine’s Kennebec Valley

Cianbro Equipment And Logistics

n By Chris Jarvais, Procurement Manager

Last year, The United Way of Kennebec Valley sought to inspire the central Maine community using a massive work of light-up art that reads: “Hopeful.” The piece, which is 25 feet long and 7 feet tall, had to be erected at 339 Water Street in downtown Augusta, before a lighting ceremony on September 20. United Way sponsor Drew Sigfridson, Managing Director of The Boulos Company and a Cianbro board member, knew just who to contact.

“Drew contacted Peter Vigue asking for help, and Pete put us in touch,” said Doug LaCroix, Cianbro’s Equipment Manager.

The challenge the team faced was to erect and install the artwork five stories in the air at a 60-foot radius from a lane closure on a downtown street. Additionally, all eyes were on the crew, as the cameras were rolling and cellphones were snapping photos. The question in the back of our team members’ minds was: “How do we install this safely without breaking even one of the 111 light bulbs?”

“A lot of planning led to the proper execution of the project,” said LaCroix. “We conducted a site visit about a week before to identify anything that might interfere with our plan. We built a wooden frame so we could transport the artwork upright and selected a 30-ton boom truck to make the pick. We had team members on an adjacent roof to perform the rigging and a 125-foot bucket truck for access to perform the mechanical installation. I was confident in the plan, and it went like clockwork.”

The team included Howard Lynds, Andrew Bisol, Ryan Graves, Chad Burgess, Todd Folsom, Mike Bishop, Dave Korb, Bob Meckley, and Von Weese.

“Thank you to everyone who contributed to the successful installation of the ‘Hopeful’ artwork in Augusta,” added LaCroix. “I couldn’t be prouder of our team’s efforts during the planning and execution of this project.”

The United Way of Kennebec Valley’s lighting ceremony went off without a hitch (or broken bulb) on September 20 to kick off their fundraising season themed “Hopeful! United for a Stronger Community.” The “Hopeful” artist Charlie Hewitt attended the event.

“Hopeful is not a passive work—it’s a challenge and a responsibility,” says Hewitt. “To be hopeful requires action, it requires commitment, it requires opening your eyes, it requires being part of something. It requires being passionately in love with your country, passionately in love with your family and passionately in love with everyone in your community.”