Effective bund lining materials are essential for ensuring that the secondary containment spill bunds on a site or location are robust enough to protect people and the environment from pollution if a tank fails and there is a leak or spill. These specialist resin based protective coating systems are designed to withstand attack from the liquids stored within the bund walls and floor – they can range from standard epoxy systems reinforced with broadcasted aggregate or grit for added strength through to advanced polyurea and polyurethane solutions.

The choice of which system to use will depend on how the chemical resistant bund lining will be used. It may be that the lining needs to resist a specific chemical or multiple chemicals depending on how they are stored. For example, a concrete bund containing tanks of hydrochloric acid will need to be lined with a system that can withstand the rapid corrosion of the acid to avoid structural damage.

Choosing Wisely: Exploring Effective Bund Lining Materials for Containment

It is also important that the bund lining material has a good level of flexibility to allow it to cope with movement stresses without cracking. This is why a polyurethane or polyurea solution is often the best option as they provide excellent flexibility and can be upgraded with other materials to offer greater resistance to more aggressive chemicals.

Ferrous Protection was recently engaged by one of the UK’s leading fuel storage and management specialists to repair and re-line 3no bunds providing secondary containment to diesel tanks at a data centre. These bunds were in a poor state of disrepair with concrete being soaked through and allowing algae and moss to form. The re-lining work involved spraying the bunds with a polyurea system that combined the strengths of elasticity and chemical resistance.