PPG Protective & Marine Coatings – a reliable partner in the Oil & Gas industry

With a heritage of outstanding expertise in coatings technology, and decades of international investments in research and development for the protective coatings market, no company is better placed than PPG Protective & Marine Coatings to meet the fast-changing global challenges of this technically demanding sector.

Exceptional conditions demand technically superior coatings, and PPG Protective & Marine Coatings pipeline range offers protective coating solutions that have been proven in the most extreme situations. The systems provide maximum internal and external corrosion protection with excellent temperature resistance whether pipes are thermally insulated, buried or submerged, and whether the project is new construction or maintenance. Each coating has been developed to deliver value through versatility, long service life, ease of application and consistent quality.

Liquid, solvent-free polyurethanes are available in coal tar grades and tar-free grades in a typical mixing ratio (by volume) of 4:1. These coatings are always applied with hot plural component equipment because of short pot lives and related fast-cure properties. Use of the liquid polyurethane joint coating in the field proves to be very successful: up to 200 joints can be coated in one day. Full thickness of the coating (1-2 mm) can be obtained in one coat, minimizing the time the film is exposed to blowing sand. Typical time for hand spray application of one joint is 3 to 5 minutes. Depending on the ambient temperature, the coating is dry to touch in 1 or 2 hours.

Factors that play an important role with pipeline construction are costs, health and safety considerations and higher pipeline operating temperatures, on occasion up to 150-160°C.  Today, external protective coatings are considered more in terms of their impact upon the total life cycle cost of pipelines rather than as individual cost items. Health and safety regulations result in a reduction of solvent emissions and a decline of coal tar systems.

Looking ahead, the upward trend in pipeline operating temperatures will continue. This demands a new generation of coatings, based on phenolic epoxies, which can meet these tough and harsh environments.

Solvent-free, phenolic epoxy-based coatings are proven to perform in those areas where conventional coatings such as fusion-bonded epoxy, liquid epoxy, polyurethanes and polyolefin-based coatings do not. Results from an extended test program prove that phenolic epoxy-based coatings resist temperatures up to 160°C for exterior buried or sub-sea pipelines and show excellent cathodic disbondment resistance at high temperature - even in wet, saline conditions. PPG Protective & Marine Coatings produces two dedicated pipe coatings for this application: the specific coating type selection depends on the speed of cure required by the client or applicator. The faster-set version SigmaLine 2500 is a one-coat system with proven results in the toughest conditions and offers high resistance to a wide range of chemicals and solvents. The system is designed especially for pipe mill applications where speed of cure is key and is dry to handle in 10 minutes, which equates to around 20 field joint-coating applications an hour. SigmaLine 2500 can be applied by airless spray to rotating pipes at a substrate temperature over 100°C while achieving a dry-film thickness of 600 micrometers. SigmaLine 2000 is an extremely tough and durable one-coat system, suitable for demanding work like bell holing, offering long-term external protection of pipelines operating at temperatures above 60°C. The system can be applied by standard single-feed airless equipment making it the ideal choice for pipeline rehabilitation and can even be used on hot substrates up to 90°C.

PPG Protective & Marine Coatings also provides world-beating tank linings that are used for all types of cargoes and stored products. The range includes pure epoxy and zinc silicate tank coatings offering long-term, anticorrosive performance as well as solvent-based and solvent-free coatings for areas such as oil and gas and chemical tanks, drinking water and specialist situations like raw sewage storage and boiler systems. PPG Protective & Marine Coatings highly specialized coatings not only meet the operational needs of today's cargo and storage industries but also the demands of constantly evolving legislation.

For economic reasons multi-coat, solvent-borne epoxy coatings are used in storage tanks.

There are many risks with the use of these coatings when applied at high dry-film thicknesses:

Solvent retention resulting in possible cargo contamination.

Shrinkage of the film during curing process.

Build up of residual stress levels.

Possibility of osmotic blistering due to solvent entrapment.

Solvent-containing phenolic epoxies are recognized as possessing outstanding chemical resistance to a broad range of cargoes. However, such coatings have high-solvent content and therefore require great care in application - particularly in an enclosed space. Solvent retention can also substantially reduce performance and, with the growing concern over the release into the atmosphere of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), buyers have been looking for low-solvent or solvent-free alternatives that offer equivalent performance. For instance, a 65-meter diameter storage tank coated for 1.5 meters up the sidewalls results in an emission of 500-liter solvent for a medium-solid coating, whereas for NovaGuard 840 and NovaGuard 890 this is zero!

The latest technology made available to the market provides an exciting step in the development of solvent-free technology. NovaGuard 840 and NovaGuard 890 represent this new generation of solvent-free phenolic epoxy coatings. They are both designed for application by standard airless spray equipment and are ideally suited for the lining of new tankage, major refurbishment and the reclassification of old tanks. Although the chemical resistance is slightly more restricted than that of their solvent-containing counterparts, they posses much-improved chemical resistance over both solvent containing and solvent-free coatings. These new coatings eliminate the risks of lining failure caused by solvent retention and will cut health and safety hazards from VOC's and are is therefore becoming the preferred option.

A typical application for land storage tanks might comprise a single 400-micron coat. Solvent-borne phenolic epoxies are typically applied in multiple coats. The benefit of PPG Protective & Marine Coatings solvent-free epoxy technology means that lining systems can be applied in a single coat, offering the protection required while minimizing application time, thus reducing down time for storage tanks. As a result the risk of lining failure due to solvent retention is eliminated. Health and safety implications in confined spaces are also dramatically improved using our solvent-free systems because no solvents are present.

This new phenolic epoxy technology from PPG Protective & Marine Coatings provides a more effective yet still cost-efficient option, combining a broad range of chemical resistance encompassing all common chemicals together with other aggressive products, as well as a solvent free formulation and the ability to be built up easily to high film thicknesses. NovaGuard 840 and NovaGuard 890 are available in light colors enabling easier application and inspection under poor lighting conditions in storage tanks.

From phenolic epoxy coatings in pipelines and tanks that withstand higher temperatures and high chemical resistance to a specialist solution that enhances efficient gas flow in a pipeline, PPG Protective & Marine Coatings offers outstanding protective coating solutions.

This new solvent-free phenolic epoxy technology from PPG Protective & Marine Coatings provides a more effective and cost-efficient option. It combines a broad range of chemical resistance, encompassing all common chemicals together with other aggressive products, as well as the ability to be built up easily to high film thicknesses. NovaGuard 840 and NovaGuard 890 are available in light colors, enabling easier application and inspection under poor lighting conditions in storage tanks.

PPG Protective & Marine Coatings offers outstanding protective coating solutions on a global scale. These range from phenolic epoxy coatings in pipelines and tanks that withstand higher temperatures and high chemical resistance, to a specialist solution that enhances efficient gas flow in a pipeline.  It's this world-class expertise that enables to deliver unrivalled reliability, performance and protection for the Oil & Gas industry.

Wim Van Leeuwen

Marketing Manager EMEA

For inquiries: PCRussia@ppg.com