Case Study – Soil decontamination in Spremberg, Germany

Schwarze Pumpe industrial site in Eastern Germany hosted in the 1980’s the largest lignite refinery in the world, with as much as 15,200 employees in 1989. The site is now decommissioned, and 430,000 tons of polluted soil must be decontaminated.

About 2,000 tons of PU 22 sheet piles are used to create temporary enclosures, where the soil is progressively extracted for treatment. The decontaminated soil is then put back in place and the sheet piles are extracted and reused for the next section to be treaded.

The steel sheet piles are re-used several times, allowing major savings in materials, time and resources and a lower environmental impact.

Read the full case study (in German) here.