TPI April 2011

news business & market Sailing the Atlantic pipe dream If you think that polyethylene pipes are suitable only for water or gas transportation, think again. A crew of four are sailing across the Atlantic Ocean on a raft made of plastic pipes. On 30 January, Anthony Smith, David Hildred, Andrew Bainbridge and John Russell set out to fulfil the pipe dream of their lifetime to make a 3,000 mile voyage across the Atlantic in about 70 days. Captained by 84-year-old Mr Smith, who is a former presenter of BBC television’s science and technology programme Tomorrow's World and made the first balloon crossing of the Alps, the crew departed from La Gomera in the Canary Islands towards Eleuthera in the Bahamas, all on a raft made from PE pipes. Four large blue pipes, each approximately 39ft long, form the basis of the raft. These are 710mm diameter Excel (PE100) pipes, designed to operate at a pressure of 8 bar. Sealed at both ends, they act as buoyancy chambers, whilst their thickness will ensure the raft’s ability to survive, whatever it meets during the Atlantic voyage. Fourteen smaller 315mm cross pipes serve as the support for the deck. Positioned at either end of the raft are yellow gas pipes, sealed with air. Seven blue pipes in the middle are filled with 2,000 litres of fresh water for the journey. Polyethylene was chosen due to its strength, resistance to cracking and low density (951kg/m 3 compared Insituform expands India operation Insituform Technologies, Inc has announced that its Indian joint venture, Insituform Pipeline Rehabilitation Private Limited (Insituform-India), has been awarded a contract valued at US$5.6mn to rehabilitate 16,000ft of medium diameter sewer pipelines for the Indian

with 1,000kg/m 3 for water). This density makes PE pipes so buoyant that they will float even if full of water. GPS PE Pipe Systems’ technical team assisted the rafters throughout the design process to ensure optimal PE products for this unusual application. One of the many design solutions was to use electrofusion tapping tees fittings to fusion-weld stanchion supports onto the deck pipes. Trials of a smaller raft were made at Melbourne, Australia. After this, pipes were extruded at the GPS factory in Huntingdon, UK, and all the equipment andmaterials for the raft were assembled and loaded into a 40ft container, and shipped to the Canary Islands in November.

are eager to show that advanced years do not forbid adventures for those who embark on them. They also aim to raise funds for WaterAid and help draw attention to the work they do in providing the world’s poorest communities with access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. To see how the voyage is progressing or to sponsor the team, visit www.an-tiki.com GPS PE Pipe Systems specialises in the design, development, manufacture and marketing of polyethylene pipe systems for the gas, water, sewerage and industrial markets.

WaterAid www.wateraid.org/uk

GPS PE Pipe Systems – UK www.gpsuk.com

The crew of four have a combined experience of some 258 years and all

The raft is made from plastic water pipes

water utility Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam, located in Northern India.

confident in our unique capabilities as a global leader in pipeline protection to meet the demands of this project.” Insituform-Indiawas expected tobegin the project in February, installing Insituform ® CIPP (cured-in-place pipe) product and iPlus ® Composite, with the work to be completed in approximately 15 months. Insituform-India is a joint venture formed in 2007 between Insituform Technologies and SPML Infra Limited.

The contract strengthens Insituform- India’s position in the Indian market with the expansion into Uttar Pradesh. The project marks the first contract for Insituform-India outside Delhi, where it has been awarded approximately $42mn in work to date. Daniel E Cowan, Insituform’s vice president for the Asia-Pacific area, said: “We are proud to partner with M/s IVRCL, the project’s general contractor, and are

Insituform Technologies Inc – USA www.insituform.com

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