BorPipewww.borouge.com ❏ Issue 18, September 2010

A Borouge newsletter for the pipe industry

MEMBER OF

Biogas collection system from Hi-Tech in Pakistan

Pushp Raj Singhvi with the Indian Minister of Water Resources at Singapore Water Week

PE water supply pipe to feed Shanghai Expo 2010

Extending the life of Kuwait's oil flow lines

BorPipeEditor's Note

Excitement is growing within Borouge, as the start up of Borouge 2, the second phase of the industrial development at Ruwais in Abu Dhabi, draws near.

All the new production units are expected to be operational by November including the two new polypropylene units. This will be the first time PP will be produced at our plant in Ruwais, and this give us the opportunity to provide customers with a number of new pipe products, including the BorECO™ range of PP-B materials ideal for sewage and drainage pipe systems.

Also in June the next phase of the development at Ruwais, Borouge 3, was heralded with the signing of three major Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts. The contracts, valued at approximately US$2.6 billion, are for the construction of two Borstar® enhanced PE, two Borstar enhanced PP and a low density polyethylene (LDPE) unit. The contracts were signed with the joint venture consortium Maire Tecnimont of Italy and Samsung Engineering of South Korea, and with Hyundai Engineering and Construction of South Korea.

These investments will enable us to keep pace with the rapidly growing demand for large diameter PE pipes for utility and industrial pipework in virtually all the regions we serve. In this issue of BorPipe, you will see several examples of large diameter PE pipes being used for sea intakes and outfalls, desalination plants and slurry transportation in the Australian mining industry.

Another anticipated demand for PE is from the oil and gas industry in the Middle East. An increase in corrosion levels, due to the presence of hydrogen sulphide and other corrosive gases, will encourage engineers to line many of the steel oil flow lines in order to protect them from further corrosion, as the Kuwait Oil Company have done in the example given in this issue. This concept of “Swagelining” flow lines, with the use of high toughness BorSafe™ HE3490-LS-H material, can be applied to both new and used flow lines to give them a longer leak-free service life.

The growing demand for utility networks in India and China is also impacting the global pressure fitting market, and there have been a number of new market entrants. Recent trials with BorSafe HE3490-IM in both countries have confirmed the benefits of the material in terms of improved quality and productivity. In China, trials conducted on 160mm electrofusion couplers enabled the injection temperature to be reduced by 10-15°C, which contributed to a cycle time reduction from 420 to 390 seconds, while also improving the surface finish and the ovality of the fittings.

Further trials of the new top coat material, Borcoat™ HE3450-H, fully defined the benefits for the coater and the system owner. Coating a 1,400mm diameter pipe, the new grade gave a higher output rate and superior surface appearance at a lower energy input. Material savings of 4% were also possible because the harder material cooled faster and tended to compress less under the weight of the pipe. The owner benefits from the increased indentation hardness of the material and the higher Vicat softening temperature, which enables the coating to handle higher surface temperatures without softening - ideal for the Middle East and Asia.

At the end of October, we hope to see many of you at our stand at the K’2011 fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, where for the first time Borouge will have a joint stand with Borealis and NOVA Chemicals. The companies will share Stand A43 in Hall 6; please come and join us and learn more about our latest expansion plans and our exciting new products.

David Walton Marketing ManagerBusiness Unit Pipe

Contents 3 Large demand for PE pipes from Australia’s mining sector 4 Profile of Lien Aid – a Borouge Water

for the World™ partner in Vietnam 6 New Borcoat top coat material provides benefits for all • Indian Government

continues to invest in irrigation 7 Borouge moulding grade well received by Zibo Jielin 8 Bänninger driving home

the quality message for PP-R systems 9 Borouge take a prominent role at IndoWater 10 Demonstrating the

benefits of BorSafe HE3490-LS-H in Shanghai 11 GPPA membership grows in third quarter 12 PE fresh water

pipes for Shanghai Expo 2010 13 Polyolefin materials breaking new ground in Dubai 14 Borouge PE100 IM grade

makes progress in the Indian fittings market 15 Radius Systems enters joint agreement in Middle East 16 PE pipes

now irrigate the Garden City of Al Ain 18 Exova presents novel NDT technique for welded PE systems 19 PE100+

Association Advisory meeting breaks all records 20 Large bore PE100 pipes help address Chennai’s water shortage

21 Union Pipes meets the challenge 22 Borouge supports third Singapore International Water Week 24 BorSafe

HE3490-LS-H extending the life of Kuwait’s Oil flow lines 25 Borouge Chairman meets key pipe customer in India

26 APIA Coal Seam Gas Conference at Brisbane, Australia 27 PE100 pipes for greater durability in biogas plants

• Borouge showcases dual approach at Middle East Oil & Gas Conference 28 Middle East Plastic Pipes Conference

endorses quality and the GPPA 29 Another first for the GPPA team 30 Second GPPA Annual Conference to take

place in November 30 New PP processing brochure from Borouge • Calendar of Pipe Events

3

One recent concern to Australia’s mining community is the proposal from the Government to introduce a new mining “super tax”, which will stifle profitability and reduce future growth and investment in the sector. Kingston Bridge Engineering’s Sales Manager Lee Brailsford commented: “While this super tax debate has certainly dented current demand from the mining sector, I am sure that in the longer term a compromise will be reached which will enable the companies to continue to invest in future mines such as Boddington.”

Since the 1840’s when silver and copper deposits were first found, mining has played a very important role in Australia’s economy. Today, mining accounts for some 5.6% of the GDP and minerals make up over 35% of export sales. A number of large international companies operate in this sector and employ the latest technology to extract the minerals, sometimes in fairly inhospitable and remote areas.

Many kilometres of pipe are used in each mine to transport water and slurries to different parts of the site. Of all the commonly used pipeline materials, PE has the highest abrasion resistance, which makes it ideal for transporting ore slurries and other materials. The graph shows the low wall thickness reduction of PE pipe compared to other well known pipe materials in the Darmstadt Test.

In the Darmstadt test, a half section of 1 metre long, 300mm diameter pipe is filled with an abrasive mixture of quartz sand, gravel and water, which is then tilted in a rocking motion back and forth at fixed frequency. The loss in pipe wall thickness can be measured

at regular intervals to produce the characteristics shown in the graph.

A typical example is the Boddington Mine, which is the newest gold mine in Australia, having commenced production in September 2009. The mine, which is located 130 km from Perth in Western Australia, was built on the same site as an earlier mine to process the hard rock for gold after the soft rock ore was depleted. The mines owner, Newmont, has invested US$2.9 billion on the new mine, which has an anticipated production of 1 million ounces of gold per year over an expected life of 20 years.

Borouge’s largest Australian customer, Kingston Bridge Engineering, supplied over US$13 million of PE pipes for various applications. A further US$1 million lining pipe was supplied to line a high pressure steel pipe that will be used for the residue disposal.

Since much of the pipework is laid above ground in a relatively hot climate, the PE100 pipes have an external white PE100 layer to reflect much of the sun’s energy.

Australia’s newest gold mine, Boddington mine near Perth, Western Australia, during construction

Large demand for PE pipes from Australia’s mining sector

PE pipes being installed as part of the raw water system at Boddington gold mine in Western Australia

The loss of wall thickness of different pipe materials in the Darmstadt Test

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Mr. Sahari Ani, CEO of Lien Aid

Lien Aid receives funding from the Lien Foundation and other funders such as corporate, wealthy individuals – can you tell us a little more about your organisation?

Lien Aid was formed in 2006 through the Lien Foundation and the Nanyang Technological University Environmental Endeavour, and it represents the international development arm of the Lien Foundation. Based in Singapore, Lien Aid has a strong presence in Asia with country field offices in Cambodia, Vietnam and China. Our focus is to build a firm foundation for human development by making safe water and sanitation more accessible and affordable to poor communities in Asia. These building blocks of human development go a long way in

enhancing global health and alleviating poverty in these communities.

Our approach begins with assessing the local community’s needs and its current resources. Working closely with water and sanitation stakeholders and communities, we are able to identify gaps in their water and sanitation sectors and propose suitable interventions. We adapt solutions using local resources for sustainability, integrate appropriate ideas and technology, and leverage on the comparative strengths of our partners to create and implement sustainable, suitable solutions.

Borouge has been pleased to partner with you on several projects – can you tell us a little about some of your other partners?

We have strong partners who share our vision. By using the strength of

these partners who come from private corporations, governments, NGOs, and the local communities, we are able to implement projects quickly and cost effectively and this greatly increases the impact of our work.

We have been very pleased to work closely with Borouge in Vietnam and Borouge has been a very valuable partner of Lien Aid in the past few years. We hope to pursue more projects with the company in the future.

Lien Aid is very active in Vietnam and Cambodia – can you tell us where else Lien Aid is active and how these countries were selected?

Since inception, Lien Aid has impacted thousands of lives in Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand through various water treatment, sanitation and community development initiatives.

The Lien Foundation is a privately funded philanthropic organisation

headquartered in Singapore. Through its operational arm Lien Aid, the

Foundation is working with many partners to improve the quality of lives of

people in poor communities in Asia by making safe water and sanitation more

accessible and affordable for them. Borouge is currently partnering Lien Aid in

Vietnam on hospital projects which benefit from Borouge’s technical support

and expertise.

In this article, Peck Tze Kang of Borouge talks to Mr. Sahari Ani, CEO of Lien Aid,

about their organisation and the challenges they face in their work.

Profile of Lien Aid – a Borouge Water for the World™ partner in Vietnam

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To date, Lien Aid has led more than 36 projects to improve access to clean water sources and proper sanitation by building water treatment plants, water harvesting units and latrines in villages, schools and hospitals. But more work still needs to be done in this region in terms of water and sanitation and we are focussing our efforts on three major countries where Lien Aid has set up country field offices: namely, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. Each one of these countries faces a different situation when it comes to water and sanitation issues, so we aim to assess the local needs, tailor our interventions and continue to further build our capacities in these countries.

There are obviously many deserving causes in Vietnam but what are the factors that lead Lien Aid to decide to work on a specific project?

Our overarching mission, as mentioned earlier, is to build a firm foundation for human development by making safe water and sanitation accessible and affordable to poor communities in Asia. With this in mind, we continually work closely with the local government and local communities in Vietnam to identify the gaps in the water and sanitation sector in the country. Through extensive consultations and interactions, we are able to develop a firm grasp of their needs and challenges.

You have carried out a number of successful projects – do you believe that the situation is improving in Vietnam and that the government will achieve its

target of drinking water for all by 2020?

According to the latest figures in the UN-Water Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) published in 2010, the situation in Vietnam appears to be improving with close to 94% of the people (in both urban and rural communities) having access to improved water sources for drinking. We believe that with the continuous efforts of governments, NGOs such as Lien Aid, philanthropists and members of the community, Vietnam will be on track to achieve its target of clean water supply for all by 2020.

What additional support do you seek and if any of our readers are interested in working with you, who should they contact?

We are looking for partners and supporters who can provide us

financial support and technical expertise as well as organisations which can bring their expertise in the field of water and sanitation in terms of affordable technical solutions, social enterprise or hygiene and sanitation educational programmes.

Partners, corporate sponsors or private donors who would like to join our efforts in building on basics and bringing affordable water and sanitation solutions to underprivileged communities in Cambodia, China and Vietnam, where our efforts are mainly focussed, are welcome to contact us through Flaminia, our Advocacy & Comms Manager based in Singapore at email admin@lienaid.org.

Small boy drinking at water fountain installed by Lien Aid and Borouge in Hanoi Children’s Hospital

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The Government of India recently announced that they will invest a further US$2 billion in supporting farmers to bring another 2.85 million hectares

Indian Government continues to invest in irrigation

Trials to optimise product range of materials for irrigation dripper pipes

of land under micro irrigation. This is in addition to the US$500 million already spent under the scheme which has brought 180,000 hectares under micro irrigation in 18 Indian states.

Farmers who qualify for the scheme will receive a 40% subsidy from the Indian Central Government and 10% from the State Government towards the cost of the system. This investment will certainly go some way to reducing water and fertiliser consumption while increasing crop production, which is essential for India’s longer term prosperity.

To support this acute need for India, Borouge have been conducting a series of plant trials with local irrigation system manufacturers to fine tune their product range. This will provide significant improvements in manufacturing efficiencies, enabling high quality irrigation systems to be produced at a lower cost.

New Borcoat top coat material provides benefits for all!

The new high performance coating material Borcoat HE3450-H from Borouge got its first real application test, being used by Iranian coating company Mashahr Pipe Protection on a 1,400mm diameter pipeline for the National Iranian Gas Company. In total, they coated several kilometres of pipe using the material, making considerable savings in their production cost as well as providing additional benefits for the end user.

For the pipe coater, the new grade gave a higher output rate and superior surface appearance at a lower energy

Coating the 1400mm steel pipeline with Borcoat HE3450-H

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Borouge moulding grade well received by Zibo Jielin

Recent trials of BorSafe HE3490-IM carried out at the pipe and fitting manufacturer Zibo Jielin, based in Shandong, China, showed some extremely positive results. Using a 160mm electrofusion coupler as a test fitting, they were able to reduce the injection temperature by 10-15°C, which enabled them to reduce the overall production cycle time from 420 to 390 seconds. In addition the surface appearance of the fittings was much improved and the ovality reduced from 1.0mm to 0.6mm.

These improvements are possible due to the rheology of the BorSafe HE3490-IM material, which is the only PE100 grade specifically designed for injection moulding. The higher melt flow rate means that the mould can be filled at lower temperatures and pressures, reducing the stresses associated with other PE100 materials. Lower injection temperatures also lead to shorter cooling times before the fitting can be ejected from the machine.

Commenting afterwards on the trials Lu Guangjiong, Chief Engineer of Zibo Jielin, said: “Clearly the improved flow properties of the Borouge PE100 injection moulding material have a very positive influence on both the quality and the productivity of the fitting tested. The ovality and the surface appearance of the fitting were both significantly improved and we can really benefit from the 7% improvement in productivity."

160mm Electrofusion coupler produced by Zibo Jielin

input. At the same set temperature, the output rate increased from 950 kg/hr to nearly 1,000 kg/hr (a 4.2% increase in output rate). At the same time, the motor load was reduced from 657 amps to 634 amps at the same screw speed of 55 rev/min, representing a 3.6% energy saving. We estimate that these savings in terms of electricity cost would be equivalent to about US$6 per hour.

Material savings were also possible as the harder material cooled faster and tended to compress less under the weight of the pipe. Therefore for the same coating thickness profile, the screw rpm could be reduced from 55 to 53 rpm, which is equivalent to a 4%

material reduction or about US$60 per hour in production cost saving.

For the end user, the benefits are also well defined and are twofold. Firstly the higher indentation hardness of the material will greatly reduce the damage to the coating during handling, transportation and installation, which will extend the protection lifetime of the system. Secondly, the higher Vicat softening temperature of Borcoat HE3450-H enables the coating to handle higher surface temperatures of up to 90ºC without softening. This property is particularly important for pipelines operating in the higher ambient temperatures in the Middle East and Asia. Good adhesion peel test result for

Borcoat HE3450-H coating at 23°C

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Bänninger are well known in Europe for their high quality PE and PP pipe systems and they are determined to maintain the same philosophy in their new plant in Dubai. Their Polypropylene Random Copolymer (PP-R) hot and cold water systems will be used in many prestigious and expensive buildings in the Middle East and it is important that future owners can rely on the quality and durability of the systems. Therefore quality and reliability was the main theme of the seminar jointly hosted by Bänninger and Borouge in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi in May.

In all, sixty key stakeholders, including contractors, end users and consultants, attended the

seminar, which was followed by a dinner giving all participants an opportunity to do some serious networking.

Christoph Stamm, General Manager for Bänninger’s operation in the Middle East, opened the seminar with a general overview of his company and the market opportunities for high quality PP-R systems. He explained how plastic materials have been rapidly replacing copper pipes and fittings in domestic plumbing and heating systems throughout the world due to their higher reliability and lower installed costs. Over the past 20 years, one of the most popular plastic plumbing systems is that produced from PP-R materials, which has been particularly strongly adopted by the

plumbing and heating industry in European countries such as Italy and Germany. This type of system is now produced by Bänninger in Dubai and is rapidly being adopted by the local designers and installers in the region due to the benefits provided to all the stakeholders.

Sultan Al Mehairi, Senior Sales Manager for Borouge, then introduced Borouge and in particular the future developments of the company, including the start up of Borouge 2, which will enable Borouge to supply a range of PP pipe materials from the Middle East for the first time instead of bringing the materials from Europe. He also emphasised the importance of the quality of both the material and the ongoing support, which Borouge offers to all its customers. The high level of technical and marketing support in products such as PP-R hot and cold systems is particularly important in new and developing markets and was possible due to the many years of experience of Borouge’s support teams in these products in Europe and other regions.

The important roles played by all the stakeholders in providing a quality system were then described by Peter Hayes of Borouge. Of particular importance were the installers and the quality and depth of their knowledge and training. This had prompted Borouge to initiate the Gulf Plastics Pipe Academy (GPPA) in the region, which was now up and running and providing a technical reference point which could be used by all stakeholders. The GPPA would also issue guidelines and certification for acceptable training courses for installing all types of plastic pipe systems.

Presenters at the PP-R seminar in Al Ain jointly hosted by Bänninger and Borouge

Bänninger driving home the quality message for PP-R systems

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Jarmo Harjuntausta then gave some background and technical details on the range of PP-R materials currently supplied by Borouge. These materials have been used over many years and were embodied in many European and International standards. He stressed the importance of testing and standardisation and gave the audience a clear assurance that the quality of the materials that are to be produced at the Borouge production plant at Ruwais would follow the same stringent quality standards.

Christoph Stamm then returned to the podium to speak in greater detail about the product range offered by Bänninger in the Middle East. They were able to provide a full range of technical support including welding and installation training courses for installers. In fact, at the seminar there were welding machines on hand for the audience to try out their skills.

During the closing session, Ahmed Al Mazrouie, Borouge General Sales Manager for the Middle East region, quickly developed an engaging dialogue with many of the local contractors which continued over dinner, where many interesting discussions took place between all attendees. Christoph Stamm summed up the evening in the following way: “We believe it is very important to stress the need for quality in our industry. Only too often, the client is tempted to choose the lowest cost pipe system for the hot & cold water applications, only to find problems occurring in a short space of time. I was very pleased that Borouge was able to support this initiative and we look forward to carrying out similar events in other parts of the UAE.”

Surabaya, a city located at the western end of Java, Indonesia, hosted IndoWater 2010 at the Grand City Expo from 28-30th July. This exhibition and conference focussed on water, wastewater and recycling technologies, and Borouge took a major role at the event by having a stand at the exhibition and presenting two papers during the conference.

While the total number of delegates was small compared to the Singapore International Water Week, which was held in Singapore a few weeks earlier, the Borouge exhibition stand was always busy with a good cross section of visitors from pipe customers, water companies and installers.

At the conference, Borouge’s Peck Tze Kang presented a paper outlining the benefits of the high stress crack resistant BorSafe HE3490-LS-H material in tackling tough installation conditions.

The paper was well received by the delegates and in later discussions with our customers, a number of opportunities were identified in Indonesia where these benefits would be very appropriate. These opportunities will be followed up in the coming months.

Borouge’s Youssef Taha presented the new range of PP materials recently launched by Borouge, which are designed specifically for non-pressure pipe and fitting manufacture. These PP-HM grades have a high stiffness which enables even large diameter sewage and drainage pipes to be easily handled on site, a big advantage over the alternative concrete pipes which require lifting equipment. Engineers and installers were very attracted by these benefits and customers were willing to try these new grades on their production lines.

Borouge stand at IndoWater attracted many visitors

Borouge take a prominent role at IndoWater

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More than 140 participants attended

the inaugural Drinking Water and

Sewage Pipeline Forum at the

Howard Johnson Palm Beach

Resort in Shanghai in late August.

The delegates represented virtually

the complete water pipe value

chain, including nineteen different

water companies and a number

of local design institutes and

construction companies.

Borouge Marketing Manager Robin

Bresser attended the conference,

together with Cindy Wang and

Dongyu Fang of the Borouge China

team.

In the opening session, experts

from the Chinese water industry

and universities described the rapid

urbanisation in China over the past

30 years. During this relatively

short period, the urban population

had grown from 10% to 45% of the

total population, leading to a huge

increase in demand for water and

sewage services. As a result, the water

network had been expanded quickly

by a factor of thirteen from 36,000km

to 480,000km, and the sewage network

by an even greater amount from 19,600

km to over 300,000 km of pipework.

Many of these pipes were already

heavily corroded and leaking – in

Shanghai alone, the water companies

were planning to replace or renovate

over 30% of their network.

A valuable tool in this huge renovation

programme will be the use of No Dig

technology to line some of the old

leaking metallic water mains. This will

provide cost effective renovation while

reducing the amount of disruption in

the cities. Of course, some of these

techniques used can put a high stress

onto the replacement PE pipe but as

Robin explained, any concerns about

possible damage to the PE pipes can be

overcome by using the new high stress

crack resistant BorSafe HE3490-LS-H

material from Borouge. This material

is capable of withstanding the stresses

and surface damage that can occur

during installation without affecting the

lifetime of the system.

Later in the day, a practical

demonstration of insertion by

“swagelining” was carried out using

pipe produced from BorSafe HE3490-

LS-H. In this technique, the PE pipe is

drawn through a die which reduces

its outside diameter by approximately

10%. Once the PE pipe has passed

through the section to be lined it can

be decoupled from the winch and

allowed to reform and make a close

fit with the bore of the host pipe. In

the demonstration project, a 300mm

diameter PE pipe was used to line a

total of 576 metres of an old metallic

water main in two sections. The section

Robin Bresser speaking at the Water & Sewage Forum in Shanghai

The pipe is butt welded together before insertion

Demonstrating the benefits of BorSafe HE3490-LS-H in Shanghai

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The PE insertion pipe entering the old metal water main

of main in between these lined sections

was replaced by a full PE pipe using the

“pipe bursting” technique.

Since the PE lining pipe only had an

8mm wall thickness, particular care

was taken for the butt fusion jointing,

which would have to withstand high

pulling forces during the installation

process. The PE pipe was produced

by the local manufacturer Jiangyin

David Plastics Co. Ltd using BorSafe

HE3490-LS-H PE100 material and

the installation was carried out by

Shanghai Water Special Engineering

Co. Ltd. The installation went very

smoothly and surprisingly quick,

demonstrating the potential value

of the technique and the Borouge

material in helping to solve China’s

water problem.

Rob Lawrence, Managing Director of the Gulf Plastics Pipe

Academy (GPPA), reported a strong surge of new members in the

third quarter of 2010, as the benefits of being part of this dynamic

organisation become more apparent.

Rob explained: “Clearly, it takes a bit of time to set in motion

all the things we wanted to do. But now that people see the

GPPA working actively with end users in the different regions

and providing sound technical data about plastic pipe systems

for engineers on the website, they can see the full value of the

organisation.”

Not only is the organisation valued by the raw material suppliers

and the pipe and fitting producers, other members of the value

chain make up nearly 40% of the membership.

“A good cross section of members is healthy if we are going to

speak on behalf of the entire plastics pipe industry in the Middle

East and I urge more non-producers to join and help us in providing

a sound base for the industry which will benefit us all now and in

the future,” Rob added.

If you are involved in the plastics pipe industry in the Middle East

and you are not yet a member of the GPPA, we strongly recommend

that you investigate what the organisation can offer you by visiting

their website www.gulfplasticspipe.org

GPPA membership grows in third quarter

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Jointing and installing the 630mm diameter PN10 water supply pipe to the Expo site in Shanghai

The construction company display their award from the Expo organizers

PE fresh water pipes for Shanghai Expo 2010

required and they all needed to be

delivered to site “Just in Time” to meet

the exacting construction schedule.

The project was so successful that

the construction company Shanghai

Special Water Engineering Co were

awarded a commemorative plaque

from the exhibition organisers. Loosely

translated, the words on the plaque

say: “Congratulations for meeting all

the needs of your customer on this

very demanding project”, which also

reflected well on all their suppliers,

especially Shanghai Chinaust for

meeting their targets.

If you unable to attend the Shanghai

Expo 2010, you can follow all the news

on this exciting event on the website

http://en.expo2010.cn

Following all the preparation and

planning, the Shanghai Expo 2010

has been up and running and

receiving over 400,000 visitors each

day since May. This large-scale

event will run for a total of 184 days

from May 1st until October 31st,

and is expected to receive a total of

70 million visitors.

Held in the second largest city in the

world, the Shanghai Expo 2010 will

explore the full potential of urban

life in the 21st century under the

theme “Better City, Better Life”.

Daily activities will be staged

in the numerous international

pavilions throughout the massive

5 km2 site along both banks of the

Huangpu River. All the pavilions

and exhibition halls require a good

supply of fresh drinking water, which

is provided by a new PE pipeline

produced by Shanghai Chinaust,

one of Borouge’s most important

customers in China several months

before Shanghai Expo 2010.

Due to the complex nature of the

construction work, including some

No Dig sections underneath roads

and other structures, Pudong Veolia

Water Company insisted that only

high quality PE100 water pipes could

be used. For this purpose, Shanghai

Chinaust secured the contract for the

560mm and 630mm diameter PN10

pipes, which were produced entirely

from BorSafe HE3490-LS. In total,

almost 3.5km of water pipes were

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For many years, Dubai Municipality has continued to use PVC and glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) pipes for their irrigation and pressure sewage systems and has not considered the alternative polyolefin solutions. However, recent concerns has caused them to rethink their policy and when Peter Hayes of Borouge met with the company’s Director of Drainage and Irrigation, it was agreed that Dubai Municipality needed to reassess their options. Subsequently, Borouge visited Dubai Municipality and gave presentations on PE100 for irrigation and pressure sewer applications, followed by a comprehensive look at the opportunities for PP in the gravity sector.

Jarmo Harjuntausta explains some of the basic differences between PE and PP materials

Early in June, a team of senior drainage and irrigation engineers and experts, together with some external consultants, was assembled for a technical seminar on polyolefin pipe solutions. As an initial background, a general overview of the PE pressure and PP non pressure pipe products and markets were presented by Peter Hayes and Jarmo Harjuntausta.

Peter then described the Borouge philosophy of engaging the complete ‘value chain’, which set the scene for defining the benefits and value of PE100 pressure systems to each of the value chain members.

In response to questions regarding the price of PE pipe compared to pipes

Polyolefin materials breaking new ground in Dubai

made from other materials, Peter explained the Borouge “Whole Life Costing” concept. Savings in installation due to narrow trenching and the use of No Dig techniques immediately appealed to the engineers, who could readily understand the large savings possible by installing a flexible, welded system – savings well above the cost differences in the basic pipe and fittings.

Jarmo then explained how the structure of PP-HM materials provided a higher stiffness for a lower weight per metre than other plastic materials. This made the material ideal for the manufacture of twin-walled underground gravity sewage and drainage systems. He also explained why PP-HM materials were superior to the PE blow moulding grades, particularly with regards to long term durability. The audience warmed to the benefits of a stiffer product, which was light weight and easy to handle on site without the need for heavy lifting equipment. A number of European examples were presented, along with an impromptu along with an impromptu polymer science class (as shown in the photograph).

In the discussion, Borouge was keen to encourage Dubai Municipality to identify some real projects involving both pressure and non-pressure systems, where polyolefin pipe systems could be fully evaluated against their current materials. Dubai Municipality gave a commitment to discuss some specific opportunities within the next few weeks and invited Borouge to stay in touch for any assistance required in terms of selecting the materials and suppliers.

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Producing high quality pressure fittings from PE100 materials is a challenge irrespective of the fitting type and size or the process used – due to the poor flow properties of most PE100 grades. BorSafe HE3490-IM was introduced by Borealis to overcome this problem and now the same material is available from Borouge. In this article, Prashant Nikhade of Borouge India reviews the results of recent trials on the different types of pressure fittings produced in India.

The Indian PE pressure fittings market is growing rapidly due to the increasing demand for gas and water distribution networks and the need to turn to more micro-irrigation systems in the agricultural sector. This has led to some of the major international fittings manufacturers such as Georg Fisher and Glynwed Pipe Systems setting up manufacturing plants in India

alongside established local players like Kimplas Piping Systems and Al Aziz.

Injection moulded spigot fittings were tested at Sangir Plastics using BorSafe HE3490-IM material with excellent results. The overall quality of the fittings was much improved with a higher surface gloss and improved dimensional control. Commenting on the trials, Sushil Mandhana of Sangir stated that “BorSafe HE3490-IM is a very good material for injection moulding, producing a uniform finish with no flow marks observed on the products, and also the shrinkage is quite low compared to other PE100 materials”. He further added that with this grade he does not have to develop separate moulds for PP and PE fittings, providing him with considerable cost savings.

A full range of electrofusion fittings are produced by well known local fitting manufacturer Kimplas Piping Systems.

Borouge PE100 IM grade makes progress in the Indian fittings market

A number of their standard tapping saddles and couplers were trialled together with some of their more innovative products such as PE/steel transition fittings. Following trials with BorSafe HE3490-IM, Kimplas Executive Director Anirudh Khanna commented: “The availability of the IM grade from Borouge will help a lot, considering the logistics advantages.”

Large diameter inline fittings such as flange adaptors and reducers are often produced in India using the two step process of injection-flow moulding followed by machining. Both Visakha Poly Pipes at Visakhapattanam and ITS Technodue at Vijaywada produce this type of fitting and reported excellent results in this process using BorSafe HE3490-IM. The Borouge team is now continuing to work with these companies to fine-tune the process to the material to further improve fitting quality and productivity.

Injection moulded spigot tee from Sangir Plastics

An electrofusion PE/steel transition fitting from Kimplas Piping Systems

Large range of PE100 flanges produced by ITS Technodue from BorSafe grades

15

In sprinkler irrigation systems, moulded quick-fit couplers are usually friction welded to the pipes. In the past, most manufacturers have used PE63 material to produce a range of injection moulded couplers from 50mm to 160mm in diameter but because of the complicated profile of the fitting and the poor flow characteristics of these materials, most fittings had a poor appearance and inferior dimensional accuracy.

Trials using BorSafe HE3490-IM were carried out at irrigation system manufacturers Rama Plastics and Nimbus Industries with very good results. Since the pipes are regularly moved from place to place, the impact strength of the fitting and the welded joint of the socket to the pipe need to be high. In tests with couplers manufactured from BorSafe HE3490-IM, all the failures were in the pipe rather than the fitting confirming the high performance of the products. The leading high pressure sprinkler systems manufacturer for tea gardens, Hall Mark Aqua, also trialled a BorSafe HE3490-IM grade and reported that on 110mm and 160mm couplers there were no flow marks and the outer surface was smooth and shiny. The improved outer surface also gave greater definition and clarity to the embossed printing, showing the brand name and technical data of the products.

On the success of the trials, Prashant concluded: “In the trials our customers have immediately seen an improvement in product quality without making any major changes in process conditions when they use BorSafe HE3490-IM material. Compared to other PE100 and PE80 materials, both the surface finish and the dimensional stability are considerably better. Of course where sprinkler irrigation fitting manufacturers have been using PE63 materials, they can also make considerable weight savings.”

Market leading infrastructure plastic pipe systems manufacturer Radius Systems has struck a joint venture agreement with the highly respected Abu Dhabi-based Senaat Group. The Emirates Conversion Industry LLC (Senaat) partnership is one of the emerging investment companies in Abu Dhabi. It has investments in various sectors including metals, marine, infrastructure and petrochemical downstream developments. The agreement will bring Radius Systems' manufacturing expertise to the United Arab Emirates and will lead to full-scale manufacturing in Abu Dhabi. It is part of a planned global expansion programme by UK-based Radius Systems, which went through a management buyout in 2008 from previous parent company Uponor of Finland. Initially, Radius Systems will introduce high-performance plastic pipes and fittings systems for potable and non-potable water, gas and telecommunications to this key growth area. By providing products -- and subsequently full production processes -- Radius Systems will bring the benefits of world-class products and expertise to companies operating in the Gulf region. Senaat's investment objective is to develop industrial downstream projects, which will contribute significantly to the achievement of the Abu Dhabi government's Economic Vision 2030. Radius Systems CEO Stuart Godfrey said: "We were looking for a professional partnership to expand our international operations. The fit with Senaat was perfect, with our respective backgrounds in oil and gas derivatives." Andre van Uffelt, CEO of Senaat, commented: "We are proud to have a partner like Radius Systems investing and delivering a commitment into our region. Based on the Economic Vision 2030 we aim to set up industries offering long-term, sustainable solutions for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. With Radius Systems we have a partner offering technology, processing and application expertise. Furthermore, with their product portfolio, we are in a position to enhance and improve piping systems for oil and gas applications. It is becoming increasingly important to offer high quality systems for sewage and drinking water."

Radius Systems enters joint agreement in Middle East

BorPipe

16

Diyaa El Deem

Al Ain is an important city in Abu Dhabi for agriculture – can you give us some of the reasons why irrigation is so important to the city?

Al Ain is the biggest green city in the

UAE and agriculture is one of the main

sources of income for its citizens.

Historically, it is famed for its date

palms and other exotic agricultural

produce.

Al Ain has been inhabited continuously

for four thousand years and it’s

the irrigation systems from the

underground streams that have

distributed water to the plants, and

today irrigation systems are just as

important.

PE pipes now irrigate the Garden City of Al Ain

Al Ain (literally translated “The Spring”), which is also known as the Garden

City due to its greenery, is the fourth largest city in the United Arab Emirates.

With a population of 374,000, it is located approximately 160km east of the

capital Abu Dhabi and about 120km south of Dubai. The area's numerous

underground water springs explain its attractiveness for settlement. The

ancient “falaj” system of irrigation is still in use in some areas; this system

distributes underground water by a network of tunnels, which emerge

eventually into open channels whose flow can be directed and regulated.

Modern irrigation systems of course rely on pipes and Diyaa El Deem is an

engineering consultant with Corel Door Engineering based in Al Ain. Reliable

irrigation is extremely important to the whole community and in this article,

he talks to Jarmo Harjuntausta of Borouge about some of the problems he

has experienced with irrigation systems that have led him to recommend PE

pipe for future projects.

The Al Ain Oasis

17

Can you give us some background to the design of the existing irrigation pipe network that you have in Al Ain?

Most of the irrigation systems operate at a maximum pressure of 10 bar and the

pipes can range in diameter from 32mm to 500mm depending upon the water

demand for each specific location.

Installing new PE irrigation system in Al Ain

You have used ductile iron (DI) and galvanised iron (GI) pipes – can you give us some examples of the problems that you have experienced with these materials?

High product costs coupled with

high maintenance cost have been

the main problems encountered

with the DI and GI systems. For

example, on a recent project for

100-400mm pipes, the initial cost

of the DI pipes was twice the

cost of the equivalent PE system.

Much of the maintenance is due

to the corrosion that occurs in

the metallic systems, which leads

to leakage and eventually to the

replacement of the system.

If I compare the different

elements of the total project and

operating costs for the different

pipe materials then the results

would be as shown in Table 1.

I understand that you have tried welding PE100 pipes in the network – what has been your experience and will you recommend PE in the future?

The results have been excellent

so far and all the systems are

still in daily operation. With this

good experience I will continue

to recommend PE systems in the

future.

Description DI GI PE

Project cost High Medium Low

Maintenance cost Medium High Very low

Installation time High High Low

Project solutions Limited Limited High

Corrosion problems Yes Yes No

Operational life Medium Low High

Table 1

BorPipe

18

Fig. 1: Micowave image from a good butt fusion joint - note strong purple line at the centre of the screen

In July Exova organised a seminar

to present the results of some of

the research work that they had

carried out funded by the UK

“Pipeline Innovation Research

Club”. The meeting was hosted

by Nick Preston of United Utilities

Water Company at their premises

in Warrington. The research work

of the Club is primarily funded by

the UK Water Industry and many

representatives from the UK water

and gas industry were present

together with a number of pipe and

fitting suppliers and engineering

consultants.

A major focus area for this member

of the Exova group has been the

quality of fusion joints and as well

as laboratory testing, they also

offer field testing of electrofusion

and butt welds. Where problems

are detected they can also follow

up with on-site training and

supervision. An extension of the

joint testing programme is the

development of a Non Destructive

Test for welded PE systems. This could

be particularly useful in large diameter

pipelines and in industrial projects

where engineers are used to having the

support of non destructive testing of

welded steel joints.

One of Exova’s research engineers,

Ken Murphy, presented the results

of his studies using microwave

imaging to evaluate butt fusion and

electrofusion joints. It was expected

that this technology would be capable

of picking up some of the defects that

could not be detected using ultrasonic

techniques such as “cold welds” and

the contamination of joints with very

fine particles and this indeed proved to

be the case.

Microwave imaging is a low power

and intrinsically safe system and

works by detecting changes in the

dielectric constant of the material.

The changes in dielectric constant are

shown visually as colour changes on

the computer screen and deviations

from a standard “good” picture can

Exova presents novel NDT technique for welded PE systems

be easily spotted. It takes about 15

minutes to check a 355mm joint

and he demonstrated both butt and

electrofusion joint inspection during

his presentation. At the moment it

requires a degree of expertise to

analyse the results although longer

term he believes technicians could

be trained to carry out the complete

operation in the trench.

Currently Ken was 90% confident that

he could pick up defects in a butt fusion

joint but only 75-80% confident of

picking up defects in an electrofusion

joint. For butt fusion joints the joint

itself shows up as a distinct line due to

the change of dielectric constant (see

blue – purple line at the middle of the

scan shown in Fig. 1). Any deviation

in quality causes the distortion of this

line and the correlation between the

defects detected and the tensile test

data was remarkably good and the

system worked well.

For electrofusion joints interpretation

is made more complex by the external

geometry of the electrofusion fitting

and the presence of the heating wires.

Only if he used phased array ultrasonic

equipment as well was he able to fully

understand the nature of the problem.

Exova, formally part of the Bodycote

group of companies, provide

laboratory services through a network

of laboratories around the world.

They offer expertise in a wide range of

products and services and have some

laboratories that specialise in testing

plastic pipes. For more details go to

www.exova.com

19

PE100+ Association Advisory meeting breaks all records

Members of the PE100+ Association Advisory Committee in the Radisson Hotel in Brussels

The PE100+ Association Advisory Committee meeting this year broke all previous records, with more than 40 delegates meeting at the Radisson Hotel in central Brussels, Belgium. This annual meeting of members from the complete value chain acts as a sounding board for the Association to monitor their activities and to suggest new topics of joint interest.

Ulrich Schulte, the current President of the Association, reviewed their activities over the last year, which included successful seminars in Turkey and Romania. The Asian sub group also held a number of important events in the region including the Plastic Pipes “spin- off” Conferences in Beijing and Dubai. Over the next few months, the Association has also planned seminars in Morocco and India and two papers would be presented at the forthcoming Plastics Pipes XV Conference in Vancouver.

The progress on the Association’s Butt Fusion Project was reviewed by Steve Beech. He stated that most of the short term testing had now been completed for each of the welding procedures given in the ISO specification. The longer term tests were ongoing but should be completed by September when the results will be reported during the Plastics Pipes XV Conference in Vancouver.

David Lowe and Ken Murphy of the UK Test Laboratory Exova presented the results of Microwave Imaging tests on butt welded and electrofusion welded joints. The butt fusion results correlated well with the tensile test data and they were also able to pick out contaminated sections in the weld, which showed brittle behaviour in the tensile test. This could be a valuable non-destructive test tool for industrial installations where engineers are used to examining welds in steel pipes. On

electrofusion joints, the results were more difficult to interpret and would probably need analytical back up from ultrasonic testing.

Dietmar Hoelting, a senior engineer from the German water company Gelsenwasser, presented their experience with PE100 water pipes. Introduced at the end of 2000 to replace ductile iron in sizes up to 200mm, they have witnessed a significant reduction in the number of mains failures. Currently in the PE100 part of the network, the failure rate is only 0.020 failures/km/year compared to the overall level of 0.095 failures/km/year. For directional drilling and pipe bursting projects, they now use a multilayer pipe with a PP protection layer over a high stress crack resistant pipe to give added protection.

Tony Radoszewski, the President of the Plastic Pipes Institute in the USA, stated that the US water industry loses 2.5 billion gallons of water per day and there are over 700 pipe failures each day in the network. It is estimated that the total cost to replace the defective water network would be US$40 billion. Recently the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have started to get tough with the water industry and threatened to fine the Atlanta City Council US$1 million per day unless they fixed their water and sewage system, which prompted them to embark on a US$4 billion, 10-year replacement programme.

In the final round of the meeting, it was clear that the delegates found the day’s discussion interesting and there were a number of suggestions for future topics for investigation. At the top of the list was an investigation of the performance of large diameter electrofusion couplers and further work on non-destructive test techniques.

BorPipe

20

Fitting concrete ballast blocks to the large diameter PE inlet and outlet pipelines

India’s population of 1.2 billion

people is growing fast and by

2050, India is expected to overtake

China to become the world’s

most populous nation. Water will

be a major issue as even today,

it is estimated that up to 12% of

the population lack safe drinking

water. Balancing the water needs of

agriculture, industry and the people

will be extremely demanding and

require considerable investment.

While India has a good average level

of rainfall of 1100mm per year, there

are many regions which fall well

below this average. One of these

is the state of Tamil Nadu in the

southernmost part of the country,

where the people have to rely on

the erratic monsoon rains to refill the

lakes and reservoirs. Even when fully

filled, the current storage capacity cannot

supply all the needs of the area and other

sources have to be considered.

One source will be the state’s first

desalination plant, which has recently

been completed at Minjur, 35km north

of the state capital, Chennai. This

new US$128 million investment will

draw water from the Bay of Bengal,

process it using reverse osmosis

technology, and supply 100 million

litres of purified water each day to

the Chennai Metropolitan Water

Supply and Sewerage Board at a

fixed price for the next 25 years. The

plant was constructed by Chennai

Water Desalination Limited (CWDL),

which is a joint venture company

formed by BEFESA (Spain) and IVRCL

Infrastructure and Projects Ltd of

Chennai, to build and operate the plant.

In the desalination process a large

volume of water is drawn through a

large diameter intake pipe to the plant.

In the plant, a proportion of this water

is processed through the filters to

generate the fresh water outlet stream,

while the remainder of the now highly

saline water is discharged through

another large diameter pipe some

distance from the plant.

The international consultants and

the technical team of Chennai Metro

Water preferred PE as the choice of

construction material for these sea

water pipelines. If these pipes were

metallic, then corrosion would pose

a serious problem but PE pipes can

transport strong saline solutions

without any risk of corrosion.

In total over 1.6km of 1600mm

diameter SDR 28 PE100 pipe were

required to construct the intake and

outlet pipes for the Chennai plant,

which were produced by Pipelife

in Norway from pre-compounded

BorSafe HE3490-LS PE100 material.

PE was chosen not just for its high

resistance to corrosion but it is

relatively light weight compared to

concrete or steel alternatives which

make it much easier to handle and

manoeuvre into position.

The far end of the intake pipe is

connected to a pre-cast concrete

intake well of about 5.4m in diameter

and weighing about 85 tonnes, which

houses the primary filter, which

prevents large fish entering into the

pipeline. The end of the discharge pipe

is connected to six 315mm diffuser

Large bore PE100 pipes help address Chennai’s water shortage

21

UPI’s Production Manager S. M. Moorthy proudly shows off the 1400mm SDR17 pipe

The fabrication team cut and extrusion weld a 1600mm pipe to act as a 1400mm start-up pipe

When Union Pipes (UPI) in Abu Dhabi received a request for 700 metres of 1400mm diameter SDR17 pipe, it presented a significant challenge for the company.

When UPI learned that they were required to deliver the pipes in ten weeks, they really needed to develop an innovative solution. Although they had the extruder for the job, this was a new pipe size for UPI and they initially had no tooling available. The lead time for tooling from Europe was four to six months, and UPI also faced the situation where they had no “start-up” pipes available to lead the new pipe through the cooling baths and the haul off.

On the tooling side, the UPI production team proposed to modify some existing tooling to reduce the start-up time. This proposal was fully endorsed by UPI’s senior management, so the team went ahead and designed the modified tooling based on calculations and practical processing experience. The drawings and specifications were then supplied to a local specialist machining company who were able to produce the tools in less than two weeks.

To produce a 1,400mm diameter “start-up” pipe, the UPI team decided to modify an old 1,600mm pipe. From this pipe they cut out a section of the circumference extrusion welding a seam to form a pipe of reduced diameter to act as a “start up” pipe.

Using BorSafe HE3490-LS PE100 material from Borouge, the processing of this thick walled pipe did not present any problem and the UPI team was ultimately able to meet their supply deadline.

Union Pipes meets the challenge

ports which are spaced about 10m

apart to efficiently disperse the

highly saline water. These ports are

positioned at a water depth of 9m

and located about 600m from the

intake to avoid any recirculation.

The PE100 pipelines themselves

were assembled into 750 metre

strings some distance from the

plant in the protected harbour at

Ennore Port. During bad weather

the pipe strings were further

protected by sinking the assemblies

to the sea bed. The pipelines were

then refloated and then towed to

the installation site where they were

fitted with 7-tonne concrete anchor

blocks at 4 metre spacing to hold the

pipeline in position at the bottom of

the ocean.

After installation the pipelines were

successfully pressure tested and

approved for commercial operation.

Girish Samudra, Managing Director

of the Indian construction company

Flowlines System Pvt Ltd who were

responsible for all the onshore and

offshore assembly and installation,

said: “This project is the first of

its kind in India and we are proud

to be partners in installing this

1,600mm diameter PE100 sea

water intake and outfall pipeline.

This was a landmark engineering

accomplishment in the Indian

context because the execution has

been carried out completely by

Indian engineers.”

BorPipe

22

David Walton and Youssef Taha of Borouge talk to Anders Berntell, Executive Director of the Stockholm Int. Water Institute on the Borouge stand

During late June, the third

Singapore International Water

Week drew over 5,000 visitors to

the Suntec Centre in Singapore.

The conference and exhibition

areas were extremely busy over the

event’s three days and many useful

contacts were made or renewed.

The Borouge stand was well set up

and displayed many of the Water

for the World activities that Borouge

and Borealis had been involved in

around the world. Particular emphasis

was given to the recent work in India

and Vietnam, which are key countries

of focus for Borouge.

Cindy Wang from Borouge presented a

poster at the conference describing the

work carried out in collaboration with

the Shanghai Waterworks Fengxian

to create a whole life costing model to

compare the complete costs of using

PE to other pipeline materials.

Borouge supports third Singapore International Water Week

As more than 400 of the delegates at

the conference were from China, the

China Business Forum was very well

attended. The opening presentation

was by Li Guoying of the Yellow River

Conservancy Commission (YRCC),

who was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew

Water Prize for his contribution to

water management at this year’s

event. He described the Chinese

Government’s policy for water saving,

water resource management, water

23

Pushp Raj Singhvi of Borouge India with Vincent H Pala, Minister of Water Resources, Government of India

treatment and environmental

protection in a presentation entitled

“Water resources outlook in China.”

Chen Tie, Chief engineer of Beijing

Water Authority, then described

some of the challenges that he

faced in supplying water to the

growing population of Beijing. In his

presentation entitled “Situation &

Business Opportunities in Beijing”,

he detailed some of the planned

construction projects that will be

carried out over the next 3-5 years.

There are plans to reduce water

losses by renovating nearly 2,000km

of water mains in the city at an

expected cost of US$350 million,

and to introduce a number of water

recycling initiatives in the face of

diminishing sources of fresh water.

The India Business Forum was

equally busy and was opened by

Vincent H. Pala, the Minister of

Water Resources. While he admitted

that India still had a long way to go

to meet this target, considerably

progress had already been made

and as the global economy grows

further large investments will be

made to satisfy its growing thirst.

One example presented was the city

of New Delhi, where the population

grows by half a million people

each year. The current water losses

exceed 30% and the target is to

reduce these to 15% by replacing

or renovating 70km of water mains

each year.

In Maharashtra state, home to some

100 million people, a water freedom

project has been launched, funded

by the World Bank. In many of its

major cities, efforts are being made to

reduce water leakage. For example,

in Ambernath city, GIS mapping and

leakage detection has been carried

out with the assistance of PUB

water engineers from Singapore. By

replacing the leaking pipes and broken

water meters, water losses were

reduced from 34% to 20.5%.

Australia is another continent of

extremes with long periods of drought

in the East and floods in the West.

At the Australia Business Forum,

some of the major issues such as

population growth and climate change

were discussed together with plans

to combat these future potential

problems. In Melbourne, for example,

the amount of water inflow to the

existing storage reservoirs in the past

13 years has reduced by 30% and

with a population which is forecast

to grow from four to seven million

by 2050, some major developments

will be required to ensure continued

prosperity for the region. The

multifaceted plan presented by

Rob Skinner, Managing Director of

Melbourne Water, included a new

desalination plant to be completed

by 2012, additional pipelines to

bring more water from the northern

part of the state, and various water

recycling initiatives.

As in previous years, Singapore

Water Week provided a great

opportunity to meet many of the

key stakeholders in the water

industry and to learn more about

the challenges and developments

that exist in virtually every region

around the world – the event also

clearly showed a healthy future for

plastic pipe systems for many years

to come.

BorPipe

24

“Swagelining” the corroded oil flow line with high stress crack resistant PE100 pipe

Some of KOC’s existing oil flow lines

Internal corrosion of steel oil and gas flow lines is a major problem for many oil companies in the Middle East, especially as the wells become older and the levels of hydrogen sulphide and other corrosive gases increase.

The environmental cost of oil spillage is high and to avoid this, many pipelines are regularly replaced. One alternative is to use close-fit internal lining using PE pipes, which will significantly extend the life of the pipeline. This is equally true for new flow lines, which could be internally protected prior to operation in the same way to increase their service life.

Recently the Kuwaiti Oil Company (KOC) has begun to suffer from an increasingly ‘sour’ supply due to presence of hydrogen sulphide. These concerns have encouraged their engineers to

try and seek a solution to internal corrosion. Discussions first began back in 2009, between the Operations Technical Services Division of the Kuwait Oil Corporation (KOC), Anti-corrosion Protection Systems (APS), pipe producer Kuwait International Advanced Industries (KAI) and Borouge. The concept was to “swageline” the corroded steel pipelines and to provide additional protection, a lining pipe produced from the new high toughness BorSafe HE3490-LS-H was proposed and a number of technical documents were prepared to support this proposal.

The new BorSafe HE3490-LS-H material provides a much higher resistance to crack growth than standard PE100 materials. In the ISO notched pipe test, the performance is an order of magnitude greater than the 500 hour required by the PE100 specification. Therefore, any defects or scores that occur during installation

BorSafe HE3490-LS-H extending the life of Kuwait’s Oil flow lines

will not develop into cracks, reducing the risk of premature failure. It was agreed with KOC that a pilot project would be undertaken to test the concept.

The project commenced in early July 2010, when a section of the existing steel flow line was decommissioned and removed from the pipeline and cleaned to remove the considerable amount of sludge. The PE100 pipe was delivered to site and the pipe lengths butt welded together by APS and pressure tested prior to insertion.

After pressure testing, the pipe was inserted into the steel pipe using the well known swage-lining close fit insertion technique. In this method the pipe is drawn through a die by a winch, reducing the pipe diameter by about 10%. This reduced diameter pipe is then drawn through the host pipe by the winch. When the winch is uncoupled the PE pipe tries to reform

25

to its initial diameter and forms a close fit with the bore of the steel pipe. The lined section of pipe was then put back into service so that the performance can be monitored compared to the unlined sections.

KOC monitored each stage of the work and were particularly interested in the high speed of installation. The project was completed in the third quarter in 2010 and the evidence of the improved performance of the rehabilitated pipeline is now eagerly awaited.

While this project is relatively small, the future potential of this type of protection is very high as several hundreds of kilometres are likely to require attention during the next few years throughout the Middle East region, as the effects of corrosion are felt on these pipelines.

Close fit PE lining could also be applied to new pipes for corrosion protection or for pipes, which have already been used in service and are already corroded, in order to give them an extension to their useful life. Borouge estimates, following discussion with a number of end users, that this type of material could more than double the life of the steel pipeline when used as an internal corrosion protection lining.

This project report was co-written by Fuad Ghamlush, Business Development Manager at KAI, and Peter Hayes of Borouge; the report was presented at the recently held Plastics Pipes XV Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

The Asian Petrochemical Industry Conference held in Mumbai, India, in May, attracted chief executives of the chemical and plastics industry from all around the world.

Despite their very busy schedules Rashid Saud Al Shamsi, Chairman of Borouge Pte and Anil Jain, Vice Chairman and M.D. of Jain Irrigation Systems took time out to discuss future business opportunities in the India plastics pipe market.

Jain Irrigation Systems is Borouge’s largest customer for PE pipe materials in India and the second largest processor of drip lateral in the world. They were therefore very interested to hear the latest news on the expansion of the Borouge production plant in Abu Dhabi.The start up of Borouge 2 in November will provide more PE pipe material for all our customers and as one of Borouge's key customers, Mr. Anil Jain was assured that his company would certainly benefit from this additional volume.

Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd. started up modestly in 1962 to serve the agricultural industry and in the following 38 years, they have continuously developed and expanded to become a major force in the market. Their success has been in large part due to their innovative and integrated system approach, manufacturing a full range of products and components coupled with complete services supported by an applied research, demonstration and training farm. In addition to supplying all types of Micro Irrigation systems, Jain also undertake turnkey projects for total agricultural development. With 300 agri-scientists, technologists and technicians, Jain is well equipped to render consultancy services for project planning and implementation.

Clearly Jain Irrigation matches well with Borouge, in its ambitious growth and investment plans, making for an ideal partnership.

Borouge Chairman meets key pipe customer in India

Borouge Pte Chairman, Rashed Saud Al Shamsi takes time out of the APIC meeting for discussions with Anil Jain

BorPipe

26

Installing coal seam gas pipes in Queensland, Australia

The Australian Pipeline Industry

Association (APIA) Conference,

held at the Sofitel Hotel in Brisbane,

was attended by over 100 pipeline

engineers and consultants

interested in the potential of the

coal seam gas business in Eastern

Australia. Borouge together with

many of the Australian plastic

pipe suppliers attended the

conference in order to gain a better

understanding of the challenges

facing this expanding business. In

the evening, there was also a well

attended reception and dinner that

was enjoyed by all the delegates

and guests.

In the opening presentation, APIA

President Peter Cox stated that

Australia currently exported 44% of the

gas they recover from all the existing

sites and this was due to increase

by 12% in 2011. Currently, this gas

is from the offshore and onshore

gas fields in Western, Northern and

Southern Australia, as the coal seam

gas fields in Eastern Australia have yet

to make a significant contribution. In

addition there was a growing domestic

demand for gas as described by Van

Byak of APA Energy – the majority

of Australia’s energy is currently

produced from coal fired power

stations but he expected gas to replace

APIA Coal Seam Gas Conference at Brisbane, Australia

much of this over the coming years due

to the lower CO2 emissions from gas.

Paul Balfe of ACIL Tasman gave

an overview of the Australian Coal

Seam Gas Industry and said that the

estimate of the reserves continued

to rise. He expected each gas field to

have a service life of about 10 years

and each field would also produce

significant quantities of water over

the first 3-5 years. Currently there

were four major proposals from gas

companies to exploit the coal seam

gas in Queensland, complete with the

construction of liquefaction facilities to

produce LNG to export to the Far East.

He believed that only one or two of

the existing proposals would come to

fruition in their complete form and the

first to complete would probably be the

most successful.

Hugh Luckhurst-Smith, the Chairman

of the coal seam gas gathering Code of

Practice (COP) committee, presented

the progress that his group had made

on preparing the documents. He

expected to have a first draft of the COP

available in the third quarter of 2010

and a final agreed document by mid

2011. The documents would cover the

gathering of both coal seam gas and

water using PE pipes, which was the

only practical solution in these remote

areas of the state. The group were

having some difficulties in defining

the precise operating conditions for

the gas gathering pipelines but he

expected these issues to be resolved

shortly.

27

Biogas is a very useful and renewable source of energy. It is produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. The gas produced can be used as a low-cost fuel for heating or cooking or it can be compressed and much like natural gas used to power motor vehicles and generate electricity.

In Pakistan, sugar cane is being used to generate biogas and pipes are used to collect the gas inside the digestion tanks. In the past, solvent welded PVC pipes had been used but these had a relatively short life in a tough chemical environment at temperatures up to 50°C. The PVC pipes were usually replaced after each season, as they were badly cracked and the joints were leaking.

Now PE100 pipes produced from BorSafe HE3490-LS were being used to gather the biogas and carry it to the collection tanks. The new PE pipe systems are fully welded and produced by Borouge customer Hi Tech Pipe & Engineering Industries based in Kotri, Pakistan. PE pipe systems have already successfully completed two seasons of operation and are well into their third, proving the durability of PE pipes in tough conditions. This increase in service lifetime will provide a large financial benefit to the biogas producer and underlines the value of PE in helping to improve environmental conditions around the world.

PE100 pipes for greater durability in biogas plants

Biogas collection system produced from PE100 pipes

Borouge marked the 10th anniversary meeting of the Middle East Oil & Gas Conference in Abu Dhabi by making two important presentations.

Chanchal Dasgupta presented his paper outlining some of the recent important developments on 3 layer PE and PP coatings for oil and gas pipelines. This included the new high performance HDPE topcoat material Borcoat HE3450-H, which is specifically designed to operate in the higher ambient temperatures of the Middle East and Asia.

Khalfan Al Muhairi showed how PE100 pipes were used for lining corroded utility pipes to give them another lease of life, and explained that this same technique could be used to renovate pipes in the oil and gas industry. This is particularly relevant now as many of the wells in the region are getting older, the oil and gas are becoming more corrosive – the lining of existing flow lines with PE100 pipes will provide a very cost effective solution.

The two presentations were very well received and both Chanchal and Khalfan made appointments for a number of follow-up meetings with companies in the region.

Borouge showcases dual approach at Middle East Oil & Gas Conference

Khalfan Al Muhairi presenting his paper at the ME Oil & Gas Conference

BorPipe

28

Middle East Plastic Pipes Conference endorses quality and the GPPA

The keynote address was given by

John Nash, Head of Strategic Research

for AMI, who addressed growth and

segmentation in the Middle East plastic

pipe market. He stressed the need for

everyone in the value chain to consider

the costs for the whole of the project

rather than just the cost of the plastic

pipe and fittings, which is often used

as a point against plastic systems.

It was important to remember that

the pipe and fittings cost was usually

only 10-15% of the total project cost,

whereas the savings in installation

cost from using plastics can be many

times greater. Also, the durability of

corrosion resistant plastics was far

higher than that of alternative systems,

which also reduces the operating costs

of the system and creates confidence

among the system operators.

Peter Hayes, Value Chain Manager

for Borouge based in Abu Dhabi,

presented a paper entitled “Tough

PE100 Material for Tough Installation

Conditions”. This focussed on the

development of the new high stress

crack resistant BorSafe HE3490-LS-H

material, which is particularly valuable

for producing pipes for trenchless

technology applications.

He cited a number of examples where

pipes manufactured from this material

had been used for directional drilling

or pipeline renovation using close

fit insertion and pipe bursting. Even

in these circumstances, where the

external surface of the pipe has been

severely scored, these notches will

not develop into cracks and reduce the

service life of the pipe, thus enabling

The importance of product

quality and value to pipe systems

operators was a common thread

running through many of the

papers at the AMI Middle East

Plastics Pipe Conference, held

in Dubai during May 2010. Many

presenters, in fact, endorsed the

value of the Gulf Plastics Pipe

Academy (GPPA) in disseminating

knowledge about plastic pipe systems

and strongly supporting installation

training and supervision. We trust

that this strong showing of vocal

support will lead to active support

from members, enabling the GPPA to

develop and thrive to the benefit of

everyone in the region.

Peter Hayes presenting his paper to the ME Plastic Pipes Conference

29

installation costs to be saved while

providing reassurance to the system

operators.

An overview of the Iranian market

was given by Omid Koushki, who

is well connected to the local

standards bodies. In his paper, he

also emphasised the importance

of specifying good quality raw

materials in order to avoid some of

the failures that he had seen in the

field.

Jeremy Bowman, a member of

the GPPA Board and Technical

Consultant for Radius Systems, gave

a presentation on the additional

value offered by multilayer pipes,

and how in particular PE pipes with

an outer PP coating layer can reduce

installation time and improve the

quality of the joint. Radius Systems

are currently setting up their

operation in Abu Dhabi in a joint

venture with the local investment

company Senaat (also reported in

this edition).

In conclusion, Peter commented:

“Congratulations should go to

AMI, who, through their active

promotion of this event, attracted

well over 100 delegates. The

opening paper set the scene for the

importance of quality and value and

the momentum was maintained

throughout the entire event.

We were able to network with

companies from South America,

India, Europe, Far East and the US

as well as the Middle East in a truly

international event.”

Mona Omar Abu El Khair, Project Coordinator for the Gulf Plastics Pipe

Academy (GPPA) in Abu Dhabi, has become the first Arab Woman

to receive the International Plastic Welder License from the German

SKZ (Süddeutsches Kunststoff Zentrum) Institute, after successfully

passing the theoretical and practical examination.

After the presentation of the certificate, Mona said: “Despite the fact

that I will probably never have to weld a pipe on a construction site,

it is important for me, as a project coordinator, to understand the

welding techniques. In my opinion, it is essential for all engineers,

both male and female, to be aware of the quality control required to

achieve high quality joints.”

SKZ Germany is the world leading institute for testing, training and

certification of plastics technology. After opening the first SKZ Training

Centre with its local partner BMC Gulf LLC in June 2008, SKZ has

certified over 200 plastic welders according to the German DVGW

standard. Designed for engineers and consultants who are involved

in the design, specification and supervision of HDPE gas and water

piping projects, as well as for the pipe welders performing the welding

and installation on-site, the theoretical and practical courses are

unique to the whole Middle East region.

Another first for the GPPA team

GPPA Project Coordinator Mona Omar Abu Khair during her practical training

BorPipe

30

The Gulf Plastics Pipe Academy

(GPPA) announced that their

second Annual Conference will

be held on 24th November at the

Fairmont Hotel in Dubai, United

Arab Emirates.

The theme of the conference will

be “Large Diameter Plastic Pipes

for Onshore, Offshore and Oil &

Gas Applications”. GPPA members

were invited to submit papers on

subjects in line with the overall theme.

The response has been overwhelming,

and a very attractive and well balanced

programme has been prepared

with speakers addressing the full

range of large diameter plastic pipe

applications from PVC well casings to

PE sea intakes and outfalls.

In addition to the technical papers,

GPPA Managing Director Rob

Lawrence will present his annual

report on the progress made by the

GPPA in forging a strong base for the

development for the plastic pipes

industry in the Middle East.

Since spaces at this event are limited

you are encouraged to book early.

To reserve your place or find out more

about the event, please visit

http://www.gulfplasticspipe.org/

new_site/AC2010/index.asp or

contact Ms. Mona Abu El Khair by

Tel: +971 26070604, Fax: +971 26070670

Second GPPA Annual Conference to take place in November

Delegates at the first GPPA Conference in Dubai in November 2009

31

Calendar of Pipe Events Event

World Water Week, Stockholm, Sweden

Indian Oil & Gas Review Symposium, Mumbai, India

APIA , 2010 Convention, Darwin, Australia

Kenya Bureau Standards Conf., Nairobi, Kenya

IWA World Water Congress, Montreal, Canada

Plastics Pipes XV, Vancouver, Canada

Water New Zealand Conf., Christchurch, NZ

CORCON 2010, Goa, India

Iraq 2010 – Future Energy, Istanbul, Turkey

PE100+ Assoc. Conference, Delhi, India

Kuwait Pipetech, Kuwait

K 2010, Dusseldorf, Germany

28th No Dig International Conference, Singapore

GPPA Middle East Conference, Dubai

Iraq Utilities 2010, Istanbul, Turkey

Date

5 – 11 September 2010

9 – 10 September 2010

11-14 September 2010

15-16 September 2010

19 – 22 September 2010

20 – 22 September 2010

22-24 September 2010

23 – 26 September 2010

27- 28 September 2010

28 September 2010

6 – 7 October 2010

27 October – 3 November 2010

8 – 10 November 2010

24 November 2010

13-14 December 2010

More information

www.siwi.org

www.oilasia.com

www.apia.net

www.kebs.org

www.iwa2010montreal.org

www.ppxv.org

www.waternz.org.nz

www.corcon.org

www.theenergyexchange.co.uk

www.pe100plus.com

www.kuwaitpipetech.com

www.k-online.de

www.nodigsingapore.com

www.yourppa.org

www.meed.com

In a new brochure from Borouge, processing expert Jarmo Harjuntausta provides some tips on producing sewage and drainage pipe systems from PP-HM materials. This guide will help you enter this exciting new business in your region with a trusted and well proven product.

These high modulus PP-HM materials have become popular in the non-pressure pipe market in Europe because of the high stiffness to weight ratio, which reduces the weight per metre and thereby the cost of the pipe, while providing high integrity and durability systems. For twin walled pipes they offer the same ease of processing as HDPE blow moulding grades but with a much higher stiffness (lower cost) and a vastly improved durability.

Nor is the business restricted to small sizes, as using modern spiral winding manufacturing equipment the size range can extend to 4 metres in diameter. Future copies of BorPipe will feature many projects showcasing large diameter non-pressure PP-HM pipes in utility and industrial market sectors.

For your copy of the brochure, ask your local Borouge Sales Manager or contact us at info@borouge.com

New PP processing brochure from Borouge

Disclaimer The information contained herein is to our knowledge accurate and reliable as of the date of publication. Borouge extends no warranties and makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein, and assumes no responsibility regarding the consequences of its use or for any printing errors.

Our products are intended for sale to industrial and commercial customers. It is the customer's responsibility to inspect and test our products in order to satisfy himself as to the suitability of the products for the customer's particular purpose. The customer is also responsible for the appropriate, safe and legal use, processing and handling of our products. Nothing herein shall constitute any warranty (express or implied, of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, compliance with performance indicators, conformity to samples or models, non-infringement or otherwise), nor is protection from any

law or patent to be inferred. No statement herein shall be construed as an endorsement of any product or process. No one is authorised to make representations or give warranties or assume any other liabilities on behalf of Borouge except if in writing and signed by a duly authorised Borouge employee.

Insofar as products supplied by Borouge are used in conjunction with third party materials, it is the responsibility of the customer to obtain all necessary information relating to the third party materials and ensure that Borouge products when used together with these materials are suitable for the customer's particular purpose. No liability can be accepted in respect of the use of Borouge products in conjunction with other materials. The information contained herein relates exclusively to our products when not used in conjunction with any third party materials.

Borstar® is Borealis' proprietary technology supporting differentiated polyethylene and polypropylene products and is a registered trademark of Borealis. Borcoat™ is a trademark of Borealis A/S.

BorPipe

SALES & MARKETING Singapore (Head Office)Borouge Pte Ltd 1 George Street #18-01 Singapore 049145Tel: +65 6275 4100 Fax: +65 6377 1233 Email: info@borouge.com

For more information contact: infopipe@borouge.com or visit www.borouge.com or call: +65 6275 4100

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Our List of Pipe Agents and Distributors

Egypt

THE UNITED INTERNATIONAL TRADE CO126 El Nil StreetAgouza, Cairo, Egypt.Tel: 20-2-3760-5599Fax: 20-2-3349-2129Email: Fouad.hassib@hassib-group.comContact: Fouad Hassib, Managing Director

Kenya

DESBRO KENYA LIMITED“Desbro House” Kampala RoadIndustrial Area, PO Box 42469 0100Nairobi, Kenya.Tel: 254-20-537-273, 254-20-537-275254-20-557-600 / 557-613 / 557-616 / 557-469Fax: 254-20-557-446 / 555-956Email: sennik@desbrokenya.comContact: Suman Sennik, Managing Director

Korea

BMC LTDEunsung B/D 3Fl466-10, Jangan-DongDongdaemun-Ku, Seoul, Korea.Tel: 82-2-2245-6910Fax: 82-2-2245-6913Email: jhwansim@chol.comContact: J. H. Sim, President

Nepal

LUCKY INTERNATIONAL PVT LTDG.P.O. Box 5009, SwayambhuKathmandu, Nepal.Tel: 977-1-4272-509, 977-1-4279-791, 977-98-1022-837Fax: 977-1-4279-877Email: luckyintl@info.com.npContact: Kiran Raghubanshi, Managing Director

Pakistan

ARFEEN INTERNATIONAL PVT LTDThe World Trade CentreTower “A”, 3rd FloorKhayaban – e – RoomiClifton, Block No. 5Karachi 75600, Pakistan.Tel: 92-21-587 2783-4 / 587 2161-3 / 587 2714Fax: 92-21-587 2165Email: info@arfeengroup.comContact: Emran Khan, Managing Director

Taiwan

SCHEMPLAR COMPANY LTD11/F, 150 Fu Shing North RoadTaipei, Republic of China, Taiwan.Tel: 886-2-2713-7533Fax: 886-2-2712-2423Email: edwin.hsu@schemplar.com.twContact: Edwin Hsu, Managing Director

Thailand

PLASCHEM INTERNATIONAL CO LTD1000/68-69, Soi Pradu 1Ratchadaphisek RoadBangkhlo BangkholaemBangkok 10120, Thailand.Tel: 66-2-2843131Fax: 66-2-2843619-20Email: info@plaschem.co.thContact: Sittichai TanalarpipatDecha KhunanukornkuiVichai Viwatthanasittiphong

Vietnam

HAN HUY TRADING CO LTD(Singapore Office)Blk 10, Ubi Crescent#07-21 Ubi TechnoparkSingapore 408564Tel: (65) 6749-4494Fax: (65) 6742-4494Contact: Tay Eng Lok

(HCMC Office)478 Minh Phung St. Ward 9District 11, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.Tel: 848-858-7866Fax: 848-963-3841Email: vnhanhuy@singnet.com.sgContact: Phung Viet Sieu, Managing Director