EXHIBITIONS


3 Continuous casting plant III. photo: Messe Düsseldorf


not only by political developments (particularly in the last few years), but also by environmental aspects. Recently, for instance, the oil pipeline Keystone XL from the Canadian province of Alberta to the state of Texas (nearly 2000 km) was refused permission by US President Barack Obama. The reason he gave was climate protection. The oil is apparently extracted from tar sands, which are hazardous to the climate. At the same time, however, the United States no longer has as much of a need for Canadian oil, as the intensive use of fracking has given the US a sizeable additional source recently.


Pipe manufacturers won’t miss out


3


pipe. “Their purpose is to optimise the fl ow even further within the pipe.” Interior thicknesses vary depending on the medium that is transported. “In a gas pipe the coat is usually made of solvent-free epoxy resin and has a thickness of 50 to 100 micrometres,” says the Institute. Moreover, diff erent wall thicknesses are required, depending on the pressure within the pipeline.


Demagnetised large-diameter pipes


The welding seams, too, are subject to inhospitable environments. One way to boost the quality of the seam and to prevent it from becoming a vulnerability is to demagnetise the pipes. “Magnetisation can occur on steel sheets during rolling, milling, forming and plasma-cutting, but it can also be caused during any submerged arc welding of coiled or longitudinal seam pipes,” says Dietmar Rieser, CEO of Schuler ATIS. When welding together the ends of pipes in a fi eld, the arc is apparently defl ected if the residual magnetism is too high, and the


34 IMT September 2016


result is a negative impact on the quality of the seam. “This does not happen if the large-diameter pipe has been demagnetised.” Furthermore, says Schuler ATIS, the latest research indicates that demagnetised pipes have higher levels of corrosion.


The durability of a pipeline very much depends on the operational stability of the material and its joints. The fl at steel manufacturers Salzgitter Flachstahl therefore emphasise that “zero defects” are a must for welding seams. Acid gas resistance is becoming increasingly important. “It happens more and more frequently,” says the company, “that oil and gas sources are connected and exploited which have a high level of hydrogen sulphide.” Moreover, such media are apparently highly corrosive, even though this cannot be discerned with the naked eye, as it occurs at the nuclear level. The properties and chemical compositions of steels for large- diameter pipes, says Salzgitter Flachstahl, have been described in a variety of standards, such as EN 10028, EN 10208 and API


5L. Standards are therefore of immense importance in the pipeline business.


Shattered pipe dreams Even though a lot of things are happening in the pipeline sector, not every dream of a major project has come true in recent years. The Nabucco Project, for instance, was discontinued three years ago – a pipeline which was to take gas from Azerbaijan to Central Europe. Another axed project was the South Stream which was to take gas through the Black Sea to South-Eastern and Southern Europe. It was stopped at the end of 2014 when political developments had caught up with the South Stream. And of course, from Russia’s perspective, it will be a political decision whether the Turkish Stream will be built as a replacement of the South Stream. Also, a discussion is currently in progress whether a North Stream 2 should be built through the Baltic Sea – another controversial project in Europe.


The realisation of pipeline projects is increasingly decided


www.internationalmetaltube.com


Plans for oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska have also been axed. After its test drillings Shell came to the conclusion that the potential yield would be lower than hoped and that it would be too expensive. The oil group therefore cancelled the project, whereupon environmentalists were extremely pleased, as they had warned against its impact on nature. Moreover, there is a rumour among experts that the loud protests may well have infl uenced the decision. Although quite a few pipe dreams have been shattered, plans are still in progress to set up further pipelines, for instance for the major markets in the Asian region, and numerous ideas are currently on the shelves of planning offi ces. This means that effi cient pipe manufacturers won’t miss out on developments any more than they have done.


Innovations from the pipe industry will be presented at Tube Düsseldorf from 16 to 20 April 2018.


Press contacts for Tube 2018: Petra Hartmann-Bresgen, M.A. Ulrike Osahon Tel.: +49 (0)211 4560-541 Fax: +49 (0)211 4560 87 541 Email: HartmannP@messe- duesseldorf.de


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40