TPI July 2013

business & market news

IPP open for business in Brazil Brazil is fast becoming one of the most important markets in the worldwide oil and gas industries. To take advantage of upcoming projects and continuing to explore the opportunities in the Brazilian market, IPP Group (International Piping Products) has opened a new office in Rio de Janeiro. us to be closer to our customers and give a faster response to their needs. The office has already had a great reception in Brazil thanks to our vast supply options for special alloys and our reliability.”

has already enjoyed in Australasia, Europe, the Middle East and SEA regions as a supplier of premium- quality pipes, tubes, fittings, flanges and specialist forgings for the gas, petrochemical, oil and nuclear industries.

The Rio de Janeiro office is the first step towards IPP’s aim to make it the market leader in South America and achieve the same success it

IPP Group – UK sales@ippgrp.com www.ippgrp.com

Jorge Laurenco, IPP South America sales manager, explained, “It will allow

Close-fit rehabilitation at Lake Attersee

major impact on the heavy daily traffic. Taking into account the criteria – time frame, condition of the existing pipe, construction site surroundings, nominal width and length of the rehabilitation section – the Close-Fit method was selected. Breaks and cracks would normally require preliminary sealing. With the Close-Fit liner, depending on the flow level, this step is not necessary, and installation of the liner can be started without delay. With the help of a traction-limited winch and using a normal manhole, a four-man team from the Rabmer construction company, a subsidiary of SPR Europe, installed the pre-shaped PE pipe in the 150m length of sewer in two days. The deformation reduces the diameter of the new pipe by 25-30 per cent, making it

The close-fit method has existed for 20 years as an alternative to other trenchless pipe rehabilitation technologies, such as CIPP or spiral-wound pipelining. With the pipe-in-pipe method, pressure pipes as well as gravity pipes of various diameters and lengths can be quickly rehabilitated, extending the service life of the pipes by at least 50 years. In September 2012, quick rehabilitation was needed for 150m of sewage pipe with diameters of 300mm, on the shores of Lake Attersee, a popular holiday destination in Austria. SPR Europe used its Close-Fit liner to provide the solution. The sewer was showing signs of breaks and cracks in the brickwork after a pipe inspection. Trenchless renovation was the economical and technical best solution for rehabilitating the sewer in the specified narrow time frame and without

withstand even higher pressures in combination with the host pipe. In the following two days, rehabilitation was performed manually on the manholes as well as the connections to the manholes, where pressure was applied to eliminate the annular gap between the liner and the host pipe. SPR Europe has three key technologies for trenchless rehabilitation of water, sewage and gas networks: spiral- wound and cured-in-place pipe lining methods, as well as the Close-Fit lining. The products are distributed by the sales company SPR TEC Europe and manufactured at plants in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Sekisui SPR Europe GmbH – Germany info@sekisuispr.com www.sekisuispr.com Wound onto drums, the Close-Fit liner is installed through a normal access shaft by a winch

easier to pull into the damaged pipe. With the help of hot steam and pressure, the Close-Fit liner was brought back into its original circular shape and pressed against the host pipe, without an annular gap. The new structurally self-supporting pipe within the pipe can withstand operating pressures of up to 12 bar, and can

For the installation of the Close-Fit liner, a cutting device is used to taper off the tip of the liner

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Tube Products International July 2013

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