Koole Terminals

Koole Terminals is a leading independent storage company in North-West Europe headquartered in Zaandam, Netherlands. Their port location in Rotterdam (Pernis) is the base for clients from around the world. The terminal is in operation 24/7 and has a storage capacity of 625,000 m³.

Koole Terminals started with construction of new 30 meter high oil storage tanks with an individual capacity of 30,000 m³. This raised the terminal’s total capacity to 1,300,000 m³ after completion in 2017. Each storage tank was installed on FOAMGLAS® insulation.

FOAMGLAS® High Load Bearing (HLB) insulation offers superior insulating properties with a stable and a non-deteriorating insulation efficiency which helps ensure a constant thermal performance over time. This was an important requirement as energy control was a significant criterion for this project. The engineering departments did the economic calculations and calculated an average payback period of twelve to eighteen months.

Calculations were completed to determine the necessary insulation thickness to reach maximum efficiency. A single layer system consisting of 100 mm FOAMGLAS® HLB 1600 insulation blocks was selected.

FOAMGLAS® HLB 1600 insulation has a compressive strength of 1.6 MPa (232 lb/in²), five times more than the pressure load required for this system. This compressive strength serves as a safety benefit when working with FOAMGLAS® HLB insulation in tank base applications.

All blocks were fully adhered to the concrete substrate with PC® 500 one-component adhesive, then covered with an oil-sand mix as a levelling and pressure distribution layer.