Ammonia in Groundwater: Impact on Concrete?

[Tankie]

Greetings,

Have an ongoing project in the Middle East at a petrochem facility, we're installing slurry-displacement concrete piles for an ammonia tank foundation. This new tank is at the exact location of an old ammonia tank that was removed prior to us mobilizing on site.

We've found out that the groundwater is contaminated with ammonia (concentration = 63000 mg per liter) and have been asked by the Owner as a first step to comment on the likely structural impact/effect of this NH3 on the concrete piles.

I'm in uncharted territory here, and don't have any first-hand experience or technical references to rely upon to address this issue. A quick search of the internet yielded the following semi-useful link

http://www.cca.org.nz/mat_prop/durability.htm

but I'm still in need of something more specific.

Any experience, references, sources, etc that you might be able to share with me to address this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[SlideRuleEra]

Google on "ammonia attack concrete" to get links to excerpts from several books indicating that ammonia can be a problem under certain conditions.

http://www.SlideRuleEra.net

http://www.VacuumTubeEra.net