Customer Success Story: Structural Composite Repair of Chemical Hoppers
Location: New Jersey water treatment plant.
Pain Point:
Severe metal deterioration on two chemical hoppers created structural risks and safety concerns for plant operations and personnel.
Plant’s Challenge:
The plant needed a safe, cost-effective repair to extend hopper service life without full shutdown or hazardous surface prep.
The Challenge’s Impact On Day-to-Day Operation:
The deteriorated hoppers posed a serious safety risk to workers and threatened to disrupt chemical dosing operations essential to water treatment. With full replacement delayed, the plant faced potential downtime, compliance issues, and costly workarounds. A temporary yet reliable repair was urgently needed to maintain uninterrupted service, ensure structural safety, and buy time for long-term replacement—all without compromising operational integrity.
The BIG Solution: Cold-applied composites restored strength with minimal downtime and risk
A New Jersey water and wastewater treatment plant faced a critical issue with two potassium permanganate hoppers suffering from advanced metal deterioration. The damage compromised structural integrity and posed safety risks. With the next scheduled shutdown nearly a year away, the plant needed a reliable way to keep the equipment in service. Banks Industrial Group (BIG) was called in to provide a cold-applied composite repair to restore strength and extend service life until replacement equipment could be installed.
Because of the hazardous nature of potassium permanganate, hot work and grit blasting were prohibited. Surface prep was limited to SSPC-SP2 hand tools, a safety-first approach mutually agreed upon with the client. Over four days, BIG technicians bonded steel striker plates at impact zones, and wrapped the hoppers in Belzona SuperWrap II—a high-strength carbon fiber composite system designed for structural reinforcement of weakened assets. To absorb mechanical shock and resist abrasion, the bonded plates were overcoated with Belzona 2111 elastomer. While the repair was executed on a “best effort” basis due to surface prep constraints, the high-performance Belzona system provided reliable, load-bearing reinforcement to the areas of weakened hopper metal. Other than replacement, there was no other way to fix the hoppers.
BIG also committed to ongoing visual inspections and was prepared to perform touch-up repairs as needed, ensuring the hoppers remained operational through the target date. This approach gave the utility a safe, economical solution without extended downtime or hot work—restoring asset strength under strict chemical safety and operational limitations.
The result: a critical piece of infrastructure was stabilized with minimal disruption, giving the plant valuable time to enact its next steps. Belzona’s cold-applied composite system proved ideal for extending service life while protecting both personnel and process reliability.
Potassium permanganate hoppers at the water treatment plant showing signs of age and deterioration, with BIG field technicians preparing for repair.
Looking to extend the life of critical equipment without costly shutdowns?
Banks Industrial Group is a trusted provider of Belzona composite wrap repair services for industrial environments. Please contact us today via email or call 856-687-2227 to learn how our repairs can extend equipment service life, and improve uptime at your facility.