19-Jul-16 As the global need for improved pipe systems across infrastructure, industry, agriculture and households continues to grow, SABIC is putting increasing efforts into providing its suppliers and customers in the pipe extrusion industry with more cost-effective and sustainable solutions. The establishment of a new business unit dedicated to the pipes industry is part of a transformation program to accelerate implementation of its strategy to become the preferred world leader in the chemical industry by 2025. SABIC is targeting annual growth of its business in the pipes market of over 6% through 2025.
Global investments in infrastructure are expected to grow on average at close to 4% per year between now and 2025. The global demand for plastics pipes will most likely grow at a similar rate, reaching around 40 million tonnes per year. Everywhere, consumers are looking for sustainable products that ensure their health and safety; and specifiers want high performance, reliable solutions with low total cost and extended lifetimes. There are several drivers behind this growth, led by the overall increase in the world’s population and by movements from the countryside into towns and cities. According to a study by the United Nations, today around 54% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By 2050, that figure is likely to have risen to 66%. That means over two billion more people will be living in large towns and cities than today. This trend will be particularly strong in the developing nations of Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Water management to cater for this massive growth is increasingly critical. Today, too much water is being lost on its way to dwellings, factories and fields. New solutions are needed for supplying fresh water and carrying away and treating waste water. Gas distribution networks will need to be extended to supply energy. Agricultural irrigation systems also need to be improved in order to increase productivity from arable land. More smart solutions such as hydroponics and aquaculture are required.
The sustainability of pipe networks needs to be improved. Plastics pipe systems will be an important part of that improvement, as they continue to replace more traditional materials (iron, concrete, clay) that are more expensive to produce and install, and more costly to maintain once in the ground. Energy can be much more efficiently used to make plastics pipes than steel and even concrete pipes. Plastics provide the best combination of resistance to corrosion, chemicals and abrasion, their low weight and high mechanical robustness makes them easier to install, and their smooth inner surfaces enable high flow rates, cutting energy consumption for fluid transmission. In summary, the use plastics piping can add considerable value and increase system reliability.
SABIC is focussing on its customers which are active in the following four main areas in the pipes industry: domestic (water, gas, conduit, ventilation); infrastructure (for transport of clean and waste water and gas, as well as cable conduits); industrial (including large diameter pipe for oil & gas); and agriculture & aquaculture.
Special grades of polyethylene called PE-RT have been introduced (polyethylene with raised temperature resistance) with improved high temperature resistance, which may be excellent candidates for hot and cold water pipes. These materials have a unique crystalline microstructure and stabilization package, which provides excellent long-term hydrostatic strength at high temperatures without the need for cross-linking. Advantages of PE-RT include:
There are two types of PE-RT, Type I and Type II. These will help pipe producers cater for market needs in different regions. The first is an MDPE with properties similar to those of PE80 and the second is an HDPE with properties similar to those of PE100. SABIC is already producing PE-RT I and plans to enter the market with PE-RT II grades before the end of 2016. SABIC is targeting at customers who use its grades for applications in underfloor heating, hot and cold water, and radiator connections. SABIC’s customers typically use PE-RT for underfloor heating, where it accounts for around 90% of the market, the remainder being taken by crosslinked polyethylene, PEX, mostly in Europe. SABIC sees a shift from PEX to PE-RT in Europe, while in other markets, most notably Asia, there is a shift from PE-RT I to PE-RT II.
For hot and cold water pipes, SABIC’s customers consider PP-R as the preferred material, and SABIC has already established an important position with its SABIC® VESTOLEN P grades in this market. SABIC’s customers have been using these grades in hot water installations worldwide for over 35 years—an acknowledgement of the material’s high quality and dependability. SABIC sees PE-RT as a complement to PP-R, for applications where higher impact resistance at low temperatures is required. For radiator connectors, where both steel and various plastics are used, PE-RT II should be able to take share from both steel and also polybutylene on cost grounds. SABIC recently introduced two PE-RT grade for hot and cold water applications.
SABIC is developing special grades of polypropylene random copolymer called PP-RCT, which have modified crystallinity that enables the production of pipes with very high long-term strength (MRS, Minimum Required Strength), especially at elevated temperatures. PP-RCT grades can also be evaluated by SABIC’s customers for the production of pipes with higher pressure resistance than standard PP-R with the same diameter, or thinner pipes with the same pressure resistance. Lower wall thickness in the pipe offer weight-out and cost reductions through lower material consumption. Because the pipes are used in applications where the outside diameters are standardized, PP-RCT pipes have larger inner diameters, so pressure losses along the pipe are reduced. PP-RCT is also likely to process more easily, with processors benefitting from reduced energy consumption and/or higher extruder throughput.
SABIC® HDPE grades are typically used for pipes which should safeguard the distribution of water and energy. SABIC® PP RELY grades are typically being used to offer safe handling for urban sewage and rainwater. To address a diverse set of challenges, SABIC has developed an ‘integral innovation approach’, with the main focus on the overall solution. The introduction of the SABIC® PP RELY family is an example of the success of this approach. This technology enables the production of a special polymer design in PE100 grades with excellent low sag properties which SABIC’s customers typically use for producing the most challenging pipe dimensions and with enhanced resistance to slow crack growth.
An impressive example of the use of SABIC® PE100 on a major scale is the South-to-North Water Diversion Project—China’s largest-ever river diversion project. This involves diverting water from the country's southern rivers to population centers in the drier north. Planned for completion in 2050, it will eventually divert 44.8 billion cubic meters of water annually. One of the key requirements for the project is a reliable piping system which will allow water to be safely transported while preserving clean water resources, Hebei Quan’en High-tech Piping Co., part of JM Eagle, the world's largest manufacturer of plastics piping, is using SABIC® P6006 PE100 for 2.5 km of pipe up to 900 mm in diameter for the project. It meets stringent quality standards required for large diameter pipes used for the project. Compared with ductile iron pipes and reinforced concrete pipes, PE pipe systems are leak-free, have the lowest failure rate of all water pipe systems, and require low maintenance.
A method that SABIC developed for assessing the long-term behavioural properties of plastics recently became a recognised industry standard, ISO 18488. This so-called “strain hardening test” method reduces the time and cost taken to test the slow crack growth (SCG) resistance of high density polyethylene (HDPE), with particular relevance for pressure pipes. The method is easy to implement in laboratories, is used in the development of new grades by researchers, and may also very valuable as a batch release test for resin suppliers. Traditional methods to evaluate environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR) in pressure pipe materials, such as the full notch creep test, can take months or even years to complete, while the new method reduces this to just a few days. Obtaining reliable data on the long-term behaviour of plastics has always been difficult, and this innovation is an important development for the market.
Pipes made from most recent grades of HDPE from SABIC can be produced more energy-efficiently, and, according to SABIC’s customers, they can be laid in more adverse conditions - using trenchless systems, for example, which cause less disruption to above-ground traffic and have less environmental impact, but which require pipes with improved scratch resistance. The matter has achieved increased urgency in recent years, as an increasing number of countries in Europe have begun adopting tougher requirements for pressure pipe. The move comes as a result of the gathering pace of adoption of new trenchless pipe installation methods such as guided boring and horizontal directional drilling. SABIC is the first company to implement this method at its production site. New pipe materials with an enhanced SCG resistance, such as SABIC® VESTOLEN A RELY 5922R were developed specifically for can be used in applications employing the latest pipe laying installation methods. Apart from their good mechanical properties, SABIC® VESTOLEN A RELY 5924R and 5922R have a further convincing advantage: their unique rheological and morphological properties could provide processors with considerable energy savings and help them reduce their carbon footprint.
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