the design and development of InField Liners™ (IFL™) was
instigated.
A goal united
Robert Walters describes the conception of the IFL idea:
“It happened during a round table discussion, high up
in Petronas Towers, on the topic of the severity of the
corrosion being caused by sulfate reducing bacteria to the
internals of carbon steel subsea hydrocarbon pipelines.
The conversation revolved around the development of
the means of eliminating this corrosion, from which it was
determined that what was needed was the means with
which to put a corrosion resistant barrier between the
bacteria and the steel substrate.
“It’s achievable onshore in relatively straight and
short pipeline lengths but the technology didn’t exist at
that time to enable its application over long distances
or around short radius bends. It was therefore agreed
that this would be resolved by means of a research and
development collaborative agreement, led by APS and at
that point a simple concept became a realisable goal.”
The development of IFL
The project began in April of 2011 and operating under
the joint management of Petronas and Anticorrosion
Protective Systems, who are globally recognised pipeline
rehabilitation specialist engineers and contractors, it
has been possible for the project team to deliver a
substantially market-ready product within a three year
time-frame.
The IFL research and development project was aimed
at realising the primary objective of developing the
materials and technologies necessary to successfully
implement the installation of plastic liners into existing
and new subsea carbon steel pipelines being operated by
PCSB and other Petronas Companies, for the conveyance
of a highly corrosive hydrocarbon media. The IFL liner
will protect the internal pipe bore from corrosion of any
kind and will also offer an additional form of secondary
containment capability in the event of a rupture or
damage to the outer steel pipeline.
The project start point was the testing and
qualification of an existing nominal 8 in. Kevlar reinforced
plastic liner product, which is produced and manufactured
for the utility market by a German company, Raedlinger.
This material was selected as a viable starting point for
the project development work as it was recognised that –
although it had not been previously used for the purpose
of lining subsea pipelines – the general liner matrix
demonstrates many of the physical attributes that were
perceived as being necessary to contribute toward the
likely requirements for success, such as:
)
)
High tensile and good physical properties.
)
)
Moderate chemical resistance.
)
)
A high degree of flexibility.
Figure 2.
IFL liner matrix.
Figure 3.
IFL manufacturing.
Figure 4.
Liner launch from vessels.
60
World Pipelines
/
JUNE 2015
