Customer
CURIUM was asked to manage a historical waste, stored for more than 20 years on a bankrupt chemical production site in Northern Macedonia. Within the framework of the Project for the Disposal of Chemical Substances from OHIS production sites and plants in Skopje, a Macedonian company entrusted CURIUM with the transfer of 14 tonnes of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) from an old tank car to ADR-approved packaging.
VCM is toxic and extremely flammable and is gaseous at room temperature and pressure. It was stored in a tank car that could not be moved because of its advanced state of corrosion. CURIUM transferred the VCM from the old tank to an ADR-compliant road tank for transport to the disposal facility in Germany.
The transfer of the VCM consisted in three stages: the transfer of the liquid phase, followed by the transfer of the gaseous phase, and finally the complete inerting of the old tank car with nitrogen in order to eliminate all residues. Prior to the operation, CURIUM carried out a hazards study and determined specific protection and prevention means given the proximity of dwellings (the site is located in the Skopje agglomeration). In addition, continuous monitoring of the atmosphere was carried out to detect possible leaks. No harmful gases were released into the environment during the transfer. At the end of the operation, the manhole of the old tank car was opened. The scrapping was then carried out by the Macedonian company.
