Chapter 6
I Construction During The Settlement Years
II The Use Of Timber As A Structural Material
III Structural Steel
IV Concrete Technology
V Housing
VI Industrialised Pre-cast Concrete Housing
VII Ports And Harbours
VIII Roads
IX Heavy Foundations
X Bridges
XI Sewerage
i Hydrogen Sulphide (HS) Attack
ii Property Services
iii Sewerage Reticulation
XII Water Engineering
XIII Railways
XIV Major Buildings
XV Airports
XVI Thermal Power Stations
XVII Materials Handling
XVIII Oil Industry
XIX The Snowy Mountains Scheme
XX The Sydney Opera House
XXI The Sydney Harbour Bridge
XXII Hamersley Iron
XXIII North West Shelf
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Hydrogen Sulphide (HS) Attack
The presence of hydrogen sulphide in sewerage systems can lead to severe concrete corrosion, odour problems and toxic sewer atmospheres. Hydrogen sulphide generated in sewerage by bacterial action under anaerobic (absence of oxygen) conditions is converted to sulphuric acid by aerobic bacteria growing on wet sewer walls. This acid reacts with the lime in the concrete, causing breakdown of the concrete matrix. Sulphide corrosion has been a major problem in Australian sewerage systems since early this century and in 1951 the major sewerage authorities brought about major changes in the design, construction and operational concepts for sewers and pumping stations. A technique developed principally in Perth has been to inject oxygen into pressure mains to prevent anaerobic conditions from arising.The use of concrete with high strength and low permeability helps to minimise the effects of sulphuric acid. The development in Australia of the Humespun process, which uses centrifugal force to compact concrete has revolutionised concrete pipe manufacture. Humes Ltd also developed Plastiline in the early 1960s. Plastiline is a black plasticised PVC sheet specially designed to be embedded in concrete as a surface protection.
Organisations in Australian Science at Work - Humes Ltd
People in Bright Sparcs - Robertson, A. G.
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition page 362, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/363.html