Quito Metro- Line 1

The Line 1 of the Quito metro will consist of a 22.6km tunnel and 13 new stations, in addition to the two already constructed. The Tunnel Boring Machine EPB 'La Guaragua', excavating 1,131m in 30 consecutive days, set a new world record for the mechanized tunnelling excavation. The potential of this project considering: admixtures for pre-cast concrete segments, two-component system, foam and polymers for soil conditioning and greases was near to 10 M€, for a total of 19 km excavation. Mapei UTT is giving technical assistance during the excavation and is supplying foams, polymers together and greases: POLYFOAMER FP/CC: foaming agent based on anionic surfactants with a natural lubricating polymer able to generate a stable foam compatible with every type of soil; MAPEDRILL M1: synthetic liquid polymer soluble in water, used to homogenise the soil and make it cohesive and impermeable; MAPEBLOX/T: tail seal grease that, owing to its consistency, is easily pumpable; The particular formulation of the product, confers to MAPEBLOX/T excellent adhesive properties to all substrate types, rendering it therefore resistant to leaching, even in salt water;MAPEQUICK CBS SYSTEM 1: Liquid retarding admixture with plasticizing effect for injections of cementitious mixes used in back-fill grouting behind the concrete lining in tunnels excavated by means of TBM MAPEQUICK CBS SYSTEM 3: Liquid activator admixture for the injection of cementitious mixes used in back-fill grouting behind the precast concrete segments in tunnels excavated by means of TBM MAPEBENT CBS 4: sodic bentonite for the mix to be used for back-filling in order to fill the gap between segments liner and soil in excavation with TBM and for the mix to be used in tunnelling with Slurry TBMs;