Concept Environmental Services estimates that the installation of its unique Concept Tanks over the years has prevented more than 86-million-tonnes of earthworks in Australia.
The innovative Brisbane-based company offers the world’s first true large-scale modular tanks, up to a gargantuan 100 megalitres, that are both relocatable and reusable.
Founded in 2009 by Kieron Jeffries and Shaun Barry, Concept Environmental Services set out to provide a superior solution to the traditional fluid storage methods typically used within the resources sector.
Following an in-depth research and development program, Concept designed and engineered a fluid storage system that offered greater protection to the environment and provided significant cost savings for customers.
The company has been so successful that since that time it has gone on to install 320 tanks, containing a total 2430 million litres, while 1940 million litres have been safely transferred.
These days Concept Tanks can be found on resource projects all over the country, from the Surat Basin to the Pilbara, providing critical and secure storage for a vast range of liquids.
Many resource companies are finding the Concept Tank to be the most economical and environmentally-sustainable fluid storage solution available, with tanks in operation for major players like Santos, BHP, Origin, and Senex.
Environmental benefits have been a driving force in Concept’s success story, with the company’s ‘simplifying a sustainable future’ tagline ringing true, offering up to 50% less CO2 emissions when compared to traditional in-situ options.
The relocation capability of the Concept Tank further reduces the company’s carbon footprint, as it allows for re-use across sites – preventing the need for ‘new’ tanks to be manufactured and minimising waste.
The Australian Mining Review recently spoke to Concept’s Business Development Manager, Nick Jeffries, about why the Concept Tanks are so popular within the mining and oil and gas sectors.
“We have had a strong background with the oil and gas industry and we are now picking up momentum in the mining space, storing different fluids within the industry,” Nick said.
“Many of the benefits our tanks were providing in the CSG industry also transferred quite naturally into the mining sector, predominantly iron ore.”
At the FMG & Roy Hill project in Western Australia, Concept’s tanks have been storing water for truck refills for dust suppression activities, with the company enjoying the equipment’s adaptability and the ease with which the tanks can be relocated.
Modular in design, the Concept Tank is relocatable, re-usable and can be built to store capacities of up to 100 megalitres, with Concept Provides World-First Large-Scale Modular Tank Option Over the years Concept Tanks has prevented more than 86-million-tonnes of earthworks in Australia. It has gone on to install 320 tanks, containing a total 2430 million litres, while 1940 million litres have been safely transferred. deployment time of around a month.
Notably, Concept Tanks do not require concrete footings, just an earthen pad, significantly reducing any civil and remediation requirements. For companies like FMG, the fact that the tanks are located above ground also means reduced pumping requirements.
“Over the years people have come to know them as the most innovative, time[1]efficient, cost-effective and obviously environmentally-friendly storage systems,” Nick said.
Concept has worked, and continues to work, with a number of resource companies providing storage options for liquids ranging from produced water to nickel tailings and PFAS contaminated water.
The tanks can be erected in a matter of weeks, in a range of custom sizes, meaning that companies can find a storage answer without having to shut down and redirect fluids, like tailings, away from dams.
The tanks also have up to a 100-year design life, so they’re built to last and that provides companies with confidence that their fluids won’t negatively impact the environment.
“In part due to Concept’s multi-layer liners and leak detection system, the Concept Tank has proven over many years to be the safest bulk water storage method available.”
Another significant advantage is that the specially lined tanks are easy to clean after use, again reducing environmental risks.
Recently, Concept supplied a number of tanks for BHP’s Nickel West refinery in Western Australia, to provide tailings storage for BHP during a planned plant shutdown.
“We were able to erect those tanks very quickly and provide a solution while also meeting BHP’s stringent environmental objectives for the project.”
Basically, the Concept Tank – in terms of whether you’re looking at a permanent or temporary solution – can be erected in half the time of an in-situ tank or dam while providing the added benefit of being relocatable, as well as significant environmental and rehabilitation benefits.
One of the significant uses of the Concept Tanks is the storage of contaminated or hazardous fluids. The tanks can be designed with multiple layers of liner material to provide significant leak protection redundancy, while Concept is also able to monitor remotely for any potential breaches in the primary layer.
Adhering to stringent safety standards, Concept has supplied and installed storage for clients in metropolitan, regional and remote locations, as well as relocating numerous tanks. Concept’s dynamic modular, pre-fabricated tank design allows clients a tailored solution built to their requirements, anywhere, anytime.
Benefits of using Concept Tanks include: Concept Rentals The Concept Rental solution offers modular and relocatable tanks, requiring as little as one trailer for transport, allowing for significant short and long-term savings thanks to minimal site remediation.
Concept’s pre-engineered modular rental tanks range from 0.6 to 9.2 Megalitres with flexible rental terms starting from as little as three months. The best part is, Concept Rentals can be constructed in as little as just one day – for all urgent and interim fluid management needs.
The Concept Tank The value of embankment dams as a secure water storage solution has been called into question in recent years and Concept is finding that more and more customers are seeking a better alternative for their water storage challenges. Historically, embankment dams have been used to store large quantities of water and other produced fluids, but recent concerns about liquefaction, and other failure mechanisms as well as the difficulty of identifying and capturing leaks, have meant that customers are no longer seeing them as a secure, environmentally-friendly solution.
This has led to the development of the Concept Tank, a pre-engineered storage solution that is designed to store between 30ML and 100ML, with a footprint a third the size of a comparable embankment dam.
Concept Tanks are the scalable alternative, allowing you to increase storage when you need it, spreading capital expenditure over the life of a project rather than spending a lot for a storage solution that may sit half-empty for the majority of the time.
Safe, Sustainable, Secure Solution The pre-stressed concrete nature of the tank itself allows for a more secure solution that is not susceptible to erosion or liquefaction and can be managed through simple, yet effective fluid monitoring systems, negating the need for laborious and costly ground bores.
In addition, the Concept Dam is easy to remove at the end of a project’s life, leaving behind a simple compacted earthen pad, allowing for simple remediation. The Concept Tank can then be reused, reducing waste and supporting customers’ sustainability goals.