Both Nick and Steve have been accepted to present at the UKSTT No-Dig Roadshow in Glasgow on 29th April.
As committee chairman for standard BS – EN 805, Nick Preston will present a paper on Pressure-testing PE Pipelines Properly.
In keeping with the low carbon theme of the seminar programme, Steve Brogden’s presentation is on the Environmental benefits of thin wall lining by design.
We are all too familiar with some of the negative effects of plastics on the future of our planet. However it must be remembered that these materials can also have a very positive influence. Plastic pipes produced from polymers help conserve precious resources, whilst keeping people warm and healthy. They deliver safe clean drinking water and help remove wastewater. They also transport natural gas and potentially hydrogen in the near future to heat our homes. The very properties of plastics, such as their stability, that cause environmental issues in our oceans make this possible.
Plastics pipes use premium grade polymers which enable extremely long lifetimes of over 100 years and almost certainly well beyond. Appreciation of the long term degradation of these materials is not always understood by pipeline design engineers, often more familiar with metallic materials. Over-design of plastic pipes wastes precious resources and does not provide the optimum solution. Consideration of the loads placed on a thin polymer liner show that rehabilitation of existing decaying pipeline infrastructure can be undertaken using a small fraction of the resources required using alternatives.
We have to move away from the costly environmental impact of laying a new pipeline when such an alternative exists. A thin wall plastic liner really is the lowest carbon lifetime solution when considering replacement or rehabilitation of a decaying or leaking pipeline.
For more information on this event please go to https://www.ukstt.org.uk/glasgow-nodig-roadshow/
