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PVC4Pipes conference highlights sustainable pipe innovations
If anyone doubted the sustainability credentials of PVC for water and gas pipes, the PVC4Pipes conference that took place last month in Italy should have put them at rest.
Organised by the PVC4Pipes value chain platform within the European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM), the PVC4Pipes conference brought around 100 participants to Bologna, Italy, last month to learn about the latest PVC pipe sustainability innovations.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of PVC pipes and the cost benefits of recycling were examined by Althesys Strategic Consultants. Alessandro Marangoni said that in drinking water and sewerage networks, PVC pipes show a considerably better TCO than alternatives; for drinking water pipes, for example, ductile iron can be 28.2% more expensive, while for sewer pipes, clay is around 28% more expensive.
Results from a study completed earlier this year also confirm the advantages of recycling over landfill and incineration, even as energy prices surge.
One open issue for the recycling of PVC pipes concerns legacy additives. Stéphane Content, Senior Technical Advocacy Manager at VinylPlus®
(the
European PVC industry’s commitment to sustainable development and an important force in the growth of PVC recycling) looked at upcoming changes to European legislation on lead in PVC.
The European Commission recently made some changes to its proposals, including a 10-year 1.5% derogation for rigid PVC and additional requirements on labelling. “VinylPlus®
believes that the proposal
should be adopted as it will close the chapter on a very politicised file, bring
Stéphane Content, Senior Technical Advocacy Manager at VinylPlus®
spoke
about upcoming changes to European legislation on lead in PVC
certainty to operators, and contribute to the objectives of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan,” Content said.
European standards relating to the use of post- and pre-consumer recycled material are currently undergoing revision, standardisation expert Roland Dewitt told delegates. He urged the sector to grasp the opportunity to put forward the advantageous properties of the material regarding recycling into high quality products.
Turning to gas pipes, René Hermkens, Senior Project Manager at Kiwa Technology, considered the situation in The Netherlands, where the process of converting from natural gas to hydrogen is beginning. PVC pipes form two thirds of the country’s existing gas distribution network.
A study completed in 2018 showed permeation and leak rates for PVC pipes
would be within allowed limits when H2 substitutes natural gas. More recently completed work has shown that fittings perform satisfactorily after H2
Joaquín Lahoz, Plastic Pipes Specialist at CEIS, discussed a testing programme set up to draw a correlation between the gel onset temperature of PVC and the internal pressure resistance of PVC-U 250 pipes manufactured with Ca/Zn recipes. Although recent revisions of several European standards allow a reduction of temperature requirement from 185°C to 180°C, it was recommended to maintain the temperature at 185°C to keep the pipe classification after 100 years service life.
Agustin Garzón, Quality Manager at Molecor, a leader in PVC-O pipe technology, presented the company’s latest PVC-O fittings for all types of PVC infrastructure pipes.
ageing, too.
Marco Secchiari, Technical Manager at downstream equipment specialist Sica, said its swarf-free systems for cutting and chamfering PVC pipes can produce large savings, as can its fully electric belling machines. Annual material savings using the innovative chamfering system can amount to tens of thousands of euros.
For more information visit
https://pvc4pipes.com/ or contact Vincent Stone, PVC4Pipes Project Leader
vincent.stone@
plasticseurope.org
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