Basell addresses the demanding needs of the pipe coating customers

Oil and gas exploration and production companies face significant technical challenges to protect carbon steel pipelines from both corrosion, as well as meeting increasing insulation requirements as lines are installed at greater depths on the seabed. Pipeline engineers consider ever-more advanced materials manufacture applications that can address their corrosion and insulation concerns.

Basell’s broad product portfolio includes materials that are elected and used by customers and final users to protect and insulate oil and gas pipelines in both land and offshore applications. Depending on the operational and environmental requirements, a variety of products have been selected and employed by customers to construct systems with three to five layers, including foamed and syntactic layers for improved insulation and creep properties in deepwater. Also, a number of resins that have been used by customers to manufacture field joints, bends, shrink sleeves and repair applications are available.

To increase productivity, anti-corrosion materials must take the heat . . . and the cold.

On-shore oil and gas transportation lines require adequate protection against corrosion to ensure reliable service over a long period of time. However, many of today’s lines are increasingly operated at higher temperatures due to the increasing pressures required for faster transportations of goods to their final destination. In addition, more lines are now laid in areas with harsh environments. As a consequence, anti-corrosion coating requirements are becoming much more stringent. To address such requirements, customers can consider Basell’s ever-more expanding portfolio of polyethylene and polypropylene.

The Basell product range includes special Lucalen polyethylene and Hifax polypropylene-based adhesives that have been selected and used by customers for pipe coating to address the stringent requirements of their applications such as ambient temperatures as low as –40 °C, along with peak short-term operating temperatures up to 150 °C.

In addition to the Lucalen A2910M and A3110M grades for standard temperature requirements, Lucalen G3510H is a new generation of maleic-anhydride grafted adhesive that customers have reported to have used for superior adhesion even at high operating temperatures (up to 85 °C). For pipelines transporting hot fluids (up to 120 °C), polypropylene-based adhesive Hifax EP2 015/60 has been used by customers since the mid-1980s. For very high operating temperatures of up to 150 °C, customers have typically considered Hifax EPR/60 Bianco.

In steel pipe top-coat applications, Basell’s customers have selected from polyethylene based Lupolen grades -- LDPE, Lupolen 2452D SW00413; MDPE, Lupolen 3652D SW00413, and HDPE, Lupolen 4552D SW00413 -- or polypropylene-based Moplen Coat product lines.
Within the Lupolen product range, Lupolen 4552D SW00413 is a new multi-modal HDPE product combining outstanding resistance to environmental stress cracking (ESCR), superior high and low temperature impact performance, indentation and excellent processability. Lupolen 4552D SW00413 is also being applied at increased coating speeds.

Deep sea pipeline installations use new and innovative Basell multi-layer polyolefin anti-corrosion materials

Modern three-layer polyolefin systems, originally introduced in Europe in the early ´80s, have been updated and applied by pipeline manufacturers to address the stringent demands of today’s deep-sea installations. These systems consist of an epoxy primer, a thermoplastic adhesive and a polyethylene or polypropylene topcoat. This “sandwich” structure combines the beneficial properties of the thermosetting primer, which has very good adhesion to steel and offers high resistance to cathodic disbonding. In addition, the thermoplastic polyethylene or polypropylene offers ductility, impact resistance, long-term performance, good dielectric properties and low permeability. Today, well-engineered processes for applying three-layer coating systems, even for extreme deepwater applications, are readily available in the market.

Basell’s customers have selected and employed certain Hifax and Moplen Coat polypropylene grades for their top-coat applications involving high operating temperatures and weighted and thermally insulating coatings for offshore deepwater applications. In these applications, the final coatings on the steel pipes are produced through multiple layers of solid and foamed polypropylene (using blowing agents) for application in rigid or flexible flow lines and risers.

One of the world’s most challenging pipeline installations, the Blue Stream Project linking Russia and Turkey across the Black Sea, was completed in 2002.The pipeline has been designed to carry 16 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually from the gas field in Russia to Ankara. At an average depth of over 2000 metres, Blue Stream, along the 437 km sub-sea route, is the deepest pipeline ever installed using a J-lay pipe laying technique. Basell´s customers involved in the project selected an inner layer epoxy resin to provide maximum adhesion to the pipe sections, an outer layer of tough Moplen Coat EP/60 Bianco and an intermediate adhesive layer of Hifax EP2 015/60 to bind the epoxy resin to the polypropylene.

The coating solution used in Blue Stream had to provide resistance to high compression and shear stresses that the pipe sections were subjected to during laying operations. A collar of Hifax CA 197 J White was injected around the weld joints both on the lay barge and on the side where the quadruple joints were prepared. The joints in the shallow water sections were coated through the Cigarette Wrap method using extruded Hifax EP5 10/60 polypropylene sheets. Basell’s material was also used in high-temperature shrink sleeves applied to the joints that were not submerged in the Black Sea.

Off-shore pipelines are also presenting new and more demanding operating requirements as more pipes are laid more and more in deep water environments. For example, deep water lines are exposed to extreme pressures and low temperatures on the outside of the line while oil temperatures inside the line of may exceed temperatures of 130° C. Therefore, coating systems must ensure not only anti-corrosion protection, but also must demonstrate sufficient insulation properties.

Plant investment and cooperative developments offer a roadmap to success.

Basell is eager to increase its participation in this demanding market. As one example of commitment to the pipeline industry, Basell successfully started up its new state-of-the-art HDPE plant in Wesseling, Germany in 2005.

The world-scale, 320 KT, low-pressure slurry process plant, based on Basell’s latest generation Hostalen Advanced Cascade Process (ACP) technology, is now producing high-performance multimodal grades for customers in both the pipe, pipe coating and blow molding markets. The pipe coating grades are sold under the Lupolen trademark.

“The start-up of the plant represents a very important step for our polyethylene business,” says Werner Breuers, president of Basell Polyolefins Europe. “It allows Basell to play an expanded role in the pipe-coating market, which is of strategic importance to us.”

In addition, new materials and new technologies are available which could potentially offer significant productivity and efficiency enhancements for pipe coating production. Basell believes this potential could be realized more quickly if pipe producers or pipe coating applicators would be willing to test the newly developed technologies and materials of polyolefin producers in their own research centers. This could very well be done with the support of the Institutes responsible for product certification, so that new standards are set-up in line with the development of the new production techniques.

Basell has invested in new production facilities, new technologies and is definitely interested in supporting customers in their development efforts. As a corporation, it believes strongly in its commitment to the pipe coating industry, as well as the value of its contribution.