Project Brief

Covanta Hempstead in Westbury, New York is a waste-to-energy plant, and in 2019 it set out to add a second source of fire water: a new diesel fire pump rated 2,000 GPM at 100 psi, delivered by the manufacturer as a complete packaged pump house roughly 24 by 12 by 10 feet. The new pump adds to the plant's existing fire protection system rather than replacing it. KeRi provided the mechanical and fire protection design of the installation.

The first layout set the pump house at grade, fed by a new 12 inch line from the 16 inch city main across the route the waste trucks use to leave the site, with long heat-traced runs of 10 inch pipe back to the plant's fire water system. After a site visit with the owner, KeRi's scope grew to the sprinkler piping from the new pump house into the existing system, two options for reworking the piping around the existing fire pump house, new hose stations on the tipping floor, a connection for future cooling tower sprinklers, and integration of the new pump's controls with the plant control room. In 2020 the pump house moved to a rooftop location, and KeRi redesigned the installation around it.

KeRi was also involved in the upgrade of the plant's condenser water system, the circulating water loop that carries heat rejected by the plant's steam cycle out to its cooling tower. The two systems share the same ground: an underground survey of the site marked the cooling tower's circulating water pipes alongside the city water mains, so the new fire water routing was laid out around them, and the fire protection design left a connection for future sprinkler piping at the cooling tower.

MEP Engineering Scope

What We Engineered

Mechanical and fire protection design for the new fire pump:

• Mechanical design of the connections for a new 2,000 GPM, 100 psi packaged diesel fire pump house
• Fire water piping from the new pump house into the plant's existing fire protection system
• Two options for reworking the piping at the existing fire pump house, with the selected option designed
• Sprinkler piping to two new hose stations on the tipping floor
• Provision for future cooling tower sprinkler piping
• Integration of the new pump's controls with the existing plant control room
• Freeze protection with heat tracing and insulation on exposed piping
• Redesign of the installation for a rooftop pump house location
• Upgrade of the plant's condenser water system serving the cooling tower

The Challenge

The plant runs continuously, and its fire protection had to stay in service while a new fire water source was tied in. The first route crossed the waste trucks' exit, the piping around the existing pump house had to be reworked, and partway through design the pump house moved to a roof.

Our Solution

KeRi developed the tie-ins with the owner on site, offered two options for the existing piping and designed the one selected, extended protection to the tipping floor and the cooling tower, brought the pump's controls into the plant control room, and redesigned the installation when the pump house moved to the roof.