Rust-Removal with High-Pressure Water

High-Pressure Pumps in Employment in a Dry Dock

Dry docks must undergo regular paint and rust removal procedures and their protective coatings must be reapplied. The prerequisite for the reliable adhesion of new primer and protective paint coating is a surface free from rust, oil, grease and other contamination. To achieve this, high-pressure pump systems are employed to provide water for blasting with 2,000 bar and maximum-pressure water jets with 2,200 bar.

At a dry dock in the northern Italian location of La Spezia on the Mediterranean, KAMAT high-pressure systems were used for rust-removal. So that the new application of the protective coating could offer long-term security, a WJ-2 surface quality was required after the high-pressure shot-blasting. This was achieved using two high-pressure guns in combination with KAMAT pumps of Type K 9018 A. With a performance of 25 liters per minute, the pumps generate a pressure of 1,200 bar. Work was carried out using KSP 1200 guns and attached KAMAT rotating nozzles of Type 1500. This combination made it possible to remove the rust from the dry dock, to the required surface finish, at a rate of 30 to 40 square meters per hour.