Revolutionizing equipment recycling through robotics
To address decontamination and sustainable development needs, DI Environnement, relying on experience from its various business lines and its R&D department, has designed a robotic industrial dismantling process.
At Chalindrey (Haute‑Marne) and Saintes (Charente‑Maritime), DI Environnement built two one‑of‑a‑kind dismantling and decontamination plants. These facilities feature robotic blasting systems specifically designed to decontaminate and remove asbestos from industrial and railway equipment without human intervention.
Wide-ranging treatment capabilities for end‑of‑life equipment
Railway
Military
Industrial
Metal structures
By using recyclable abrasives to treat highly polluting materials like asbestos or lead, the robots deliver high‑quality cleaning and finishing, enabling equipment reuse and thus feeding into the circular economy.
Industrialized, controlled dismantling
> Over 15 work zones grouped into 4 modules – unloading, green stripping, red stripping, demolition
> 9 dedicated zones in the Asbestos Removal workshop
> 1000 m of railway tracks per production line
Robotics at the heart of the process
Robot‑blasting enables unique stripping quality, enhances safety, and reduces operator strain. This eco‑friendly and reliable method uses a recyclable abrasive system: blasted media is reused until it wears into fine particles that are captured by cabin air filters.
The robot moves on an independent 8‑axis structure, capable of simultaneous translational and rotational motion. The abrasive is projected at speeds up to 800 km/h, with a robotic arm reaching every surface of the equipment. Abrasives are reused through multiple cycles.
High-performance air filtration and renewal systems
To meet strict standards for hazardous materials (especially asbestos), the decontamination area is equipped with an industrial double‑filtration and air‑renewal system.
Volumes processed by the system include double‑filtered airflows (hundreds of thousands of m³/hour), accommodating very large equipment within height, width, and weight limits.
Robust industrial lifting equipment
The DI Environnement Chalindrey plant is equipped with efficient industrial lifting equipment tailored to the demands of its operations. Among these are a container handler and forklifts with capacities of 7 tons and 3.5 tons, enabling effective handling of heavy or bulky loads while ensuring safety and smooth logistics flow. This equipment directly contributes to the site’s operational performance and the safety of its operators.
After launching the Chalindrey plant in 2020, DI Environnement continued to invest in industrial dismantling expertise across France. In the South‑West, a new innovative centre within SNCF’s Saintes Technicentre processes hundreds of railway units industrially for SNCF Voyageurs.
