FirstEnergy commissioned the construction of a 24,000sf dewatering treatment facility for its coal-burning Bruce Mansfield Power Plant in Shippingport, PA. The facility takes waste slurry, left over from the coal-burning process, and dehydrates it. The result is a dry material that can be safely shipped to an approved disposal site.

The project was a challenge for two reasons: first, because it must be completed within 12 months to meet a state-mandated deadline, and second, because the facility was the first of its kind in the U.S. As a new process for both FirstEnergy and Bruce & Merrilees, the two companies came up with a strategy that called for multiple daily meetings and the complete dedication of the field supervisors and crew. The strategy paid off, and the Bruce & Merrilees team stayed ahead of schedule throughout the project.

One of the biggest challenges the Bruce & Merrilees team faced was to build FirstEnergy’s one-of-a-kind stacker/reclaimer machine called the Bedeschi. The Bedeschi was designed and manufactured in Italy and arrived in Monaca disassembled, contained within many crates. It was up to the B&M team to reassemble the massive machine, an essential part of the dewatering process.