michael magerstaedt, rosen swiss - wear protection – redefining the design life of slurry pipes

Michael Magerstädt

3rd Annual Slurry Pipeline Conference · Perth · 14-Nov-2013

WEAR PROTECTION – REDEFINING THE

DESIGN LIFE OF SLURRY PIPES

Slide 2

Michael Magerstädt

ROSEN Swiss AG

Obere Spichermatt 14

6370 Stans

Switzerland

Gunther Blitz, Thorsten Räth, Florian Backherms

ROPLAST GmbH

Am Seitenkanal 8

49811 Lingen

Germany

Please send correspondence relating to this presentation to:

mmagerstaedt@rosen-group.com

AUTHORS

Slide 3

1. Erosion Protection of Steel Pipes

2. Recap: High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers

3. Most Significant Test Data

4. Field Joining

5. Design Life - - Experience in the Field

6. Outlook and Further Applications

CONTENT

Slide 4

Wear depends on:

• Slurry particle size distribution

• Particle hardness and shape

• Particle concentration

• Velocity

• Doubling velocity increases wear-rate 4-6 times

• Settling slurries, bed loads

• Impingement angle

• Excessive wear on elbows, reducers, etc.

• Other factors:

• Lifetime?

• Maintenance effort?

• Downtime?

• Others?

--- do I need to tell this audience? --

EROSION PROTECTION OF STEEL PIPES

Slide 5

Wear depends on:

• Others?

• Contact surface

• Surface material type

• Surface structure

• Surface properties

• Chemical environment

• Potential for erosion-corrosion (e.g., high or low pH)?

EROSION PROTECTION OF STEEL PIPES

Slide 6

• 2 wear reducing philosophies

• A) “The harder the solids in the slurry and the harder the internal pipe

surface, the less the wear.”

• Material alloying, e.g. by increasing C- and Mn-content

• Steel hardening, e.g. induction heating

• Wear tiles, e.g. cemented carbides

• Double wall pipes

• Bimetallic pipes, e.g. weld overlays

• B) “The harder the solids in the slurry and the more elastic the

internal pipe surface, the less the wear.”

• PE liners

• Rubber liners

• Polyurethane liners

• High-Performance Elastomer Liners

EROSION PROTECTION OF STEEL PIPES

Slide 7

• Both philosophies are justified, depending on the conditions of the

application.

A) Metallic Solutions:

1. High to very high cost

2. Lifetime increase in comparison to mild steel:

• Material alloying, e.g. AR200 piping 1.5 to 2 times

• Induction heating, 3 to 8 times

• Wear tiles, 5 to 10 times

• Weld overlays, 6 to 20 times

B) Polymer Liner Solutions:

1. Moderate cost

2. Lifetime increase 5 to 20 times

EROSION PROTECTION OF STEEL PIPES

Slide 8

B) Polymer Liner Solutions:

HDPE liners are used in some long-distance slurry pipelines where abrasion

is less of an issue („rounded“ particles after first few km)

Advantages:

• Low cost material

• Relatively easy installation, no pipe preparation required

Disadvantages:

• If components of the stream can penetrate the liner (e.g., dissolved

gases), these will accumulate between liner and steel pipe wall.

• back pressure can result in liner collapse

• if these components are corrosive, steel wall corrosion can occur

• HDPE is not very abrasion resistant

• HDPE liners are not chemically bound to the pipe wall liner thickness is

dependent on pipe diameter to provide mechanical stability

EROSION PROTECTION OF STEEL PIPES

Slide 9

B) Polymer Liner Solutions:

Rubber or Polyurethane (PUR) liners (technically: coatings) are applied

where high wear occurs, e.g., station piping, tailings, high turbulence areas.

Advantages:

• Material is chemically bound to the pipe wall, no danger of liner collapse

• High abrasion resistance

• High degree of freedom with respect to geometry; almost every pipe

component can be coated

• In lower wear applications, a much lower material thickness can be used

than with HDPE liner which evens out the higher material price

Disadvantages:

• More expensive per kg than HDPE liners

• Field joining often requires flanges or re-coating of weld areas

• Factory applied

• In case of standard PUR: sometimes insufficient adhesion to steel

EROSION PROTECTION OF STEEL PIPES

Slide 10

1. Erosion Protection of Steel Pipes

2. Recap: High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers

3. Most Significant Test Data

4. Field Joining

5. Design Life - - Experience in the Field

6. Outlook and Further Applications

CONTENT

Slide 11

HIGH PERFORMANCE POLYURETHANE ELASTOMERS

A „construction kit“ system, adjustable to the application.

Millions of possible permutations ( = product properties).

Polyol Isocyanate Crosslinkers

R N C

O

H

O R´

Polyurethane

+ + Chain Extenders,

Catalysts,

other ingredients

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HIGH PERFORMANCE POLYURETHANE ELASTOMERS

High Performance PUR Elastomers

- Selected grades and typical applications -

Slide 13

HIGH PERFORMANCE POLYURETHANE ELASTOMERS

Wear protection applications:

•Oil sands hydrotransport

•Ore mining (phosphate, copper, iron, etc.)

•Dredging of rivers, harbors, etc.

•Water injection for Enhanced Oil Recovery

•Concrete mixing

•Fracking runoff from shale gas recovery

•Tailings from the above

Slide 14

1. Erosion Protection of Steel Pipes

2. Recap: High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers

3. Most Significant Test Data

4. Field Joining

5. Design Life - - Experience in the Field

6. Outlook and Further Applications

CONTENT

Slide 15

MOST SIGNIFICANT TEST DATA

Abrasion resistance acc. to. DIN EN 598

Slide 16

MOST SIGNIFICANT TEST DATA

Slide 17

MOST SIGNIFICANT TEST DATA

Cold wall effect; Atlas Cell test

Tinternal (coating) = 50°C

Texternal (Stahl) = -20°C ΔT = 70°C, 17 Weeks

Results: no disbondment, cracks,

holes etc.

Slide 18

1. Erosion Protection of Steel Pipes

2. Recap: High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers

3. Most Significant Test Data

4. Field Joining

5. Design Life - - Experience in the Field

6. Outlook and Further Applications

CONTENT

Slide 19

FIELD JOINING

Welded Joints: Single-weld syetem

Features

Just one weld per pipe joint to be performed in field

No in-field backfilling, no filling holes

Factory-prepared one-sided weld

No cutback

Firmly installed Insulating layer under weld

Patent pending

Slide 20

FIELD JOINING

•The welding process complies with ASME

Sec. IX.

•The field joints in field tests now in

Canada comply with ASME B31.11

•Pressure tested up to 250 bar (3‘000 PSI)

Slide 21

1. Erosion Protection of Steel Pipes

2. Recap: High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers

3. Most Significant Test Data

4. Field Joining

5. Design Life - - Experience in the Field

6. Outlook and Further Applications

CONTENT

Slide 22

DESIGN LIFE - - EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD

From field trial experience with 1” coating thickness and an i.d. of 30” in oil

sands tailings for over 3 years, it can be concluded that life time of steel pipes

coated with High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers exceeds that of carbon

steel by a factor of approx. 8-10. This translates into approx. 20’000 to 25’000

hours of operation without rotation in a tailings line where carbon steel pipes

need to be rotated every 2’500 to 3’000 hours.

High Performance Polyurethane Elastomer Coatings are now commercially

applied in a number of oil sands tailings and hydrotransport lines; predominantly

in the coating thickness range of 1” up to 2” on pipes of nominal inner diameter

in the 28” to 36” range.

Oil Sands Hydrotransport

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DESIGN LIFE - - EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD

Phosphate Slurry

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DESIGN LIFE - - EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD

Water Injection Lines for Enhanced Oil Recovery

In a trial for water injection for

EOR, a 5 mm coating was applied

due to the smaller (12”) pipe

diameter. The pipes in question

usually contain chromium carbide

overlays (CCO) for abrasion

protection.

In the trial, High Performance

Polyurethane Elastomer coating

lasted as long as the overlay; an

end point has not yet been

determined.

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DESIGN LIFE - - EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD

Erosion-Corrosion in Oil Sands Tailings

In an oil sands tailings line, a high

turbulence area was chosen for a field test

of High Performance PUR Elastomer

coating. In this location, steel pipe with

CCO pipe needs to be rotated every 2’500

to 3’000 hours of operation

Although in tests ASTM G75 and ASTM B

611, CCO shows a significantly lower wear

than High Performance PUR Elastomers,

in this field trial, the Elastomer has reached

4’000 hours of operation without rotation at

the time of this presentation. The most

likely explanation is erosion-corrosion of

the CCO. Further investigation is under

way.

The effect of erosion-corrosion

often is stronger than the sum of

both effects taken separately.

Microscopic erosive damage of the

steel surface can provide an attack

point promoting fast corrosion.

The test spool after 1500 hours of operation

in this high turbulence area

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DESIGN LIFE - - EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD

The manufacturing process

Slide 27

1. Erosion Protection of Steel Pipes

2. Recap: High Performance Polyurethane Elastomers

3. Most Significant Test Data

4. Field Joining

5. Design Life - - Experience in the Field

6. Outlook and Further Applications

CONTENT

Slide 28

OUTLOOK AND FURTHER APPLICATIONS

Low-erosion slurry lines / erosion-corrosion conditions

As mentioned under 1., for conditions of mild wear and / or potential of

erosion-corrosion, often HDPE liners are used. E.g., for long-distance

slurry transport.

• For an 18“ steel pipe ID, minimum structural thickness of an HDPE liner

has to be 13 mm.

• For the same pipe ID, a High Performance PUR Elastomer coating thickness of

3 mm is sufficient.

Material cost similar or lower than with HDPE liner

Installation cost lower due to field welding process

Higher safety against penetration of erosive components

Higher wear resistance – longer design life

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OUTLOOK AND FURTHER APPLICATIONS

High Performance PUR Elastomer Wear Protection in Mining

Ball mill lifters in copper mines

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OUTLOOK AND FURTHER APPLICATIONS

High Performance PUR Elastomer Wear Protection in Mining

Intelligent ball mill lifters in copper mines

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OUTLOOK AND FURTHER APPLICATIONS

High Performance PUR Elastomer Wear Protection in Mining

Hydrocyclone Apex, Slurry Pump Liner, Chute Wear Plates, Tailings Channel Cladding

Slide 32

OUTLOOK AND FURTHER APPLICATIONS

Selected References Mining

www.rosen-group.com

THANK YOU FOR JOINING

THIS PRESENTATION.