Due to the safety regulations and protocols, refineries are particularly dependent of functional fire water mains. Primus Line® has already demonstrated its special capabilities twice for a large, globally active oil company.
The oil company operates a pipeline from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea that runs through three countries. In a refinery situated directly on the Caspian Sea, Primus Line® was used to rehabilitate 160 metres of DN 400 fire water mains made of PVC. Since fittings and hydrants had to be reintegrated, this required four rehabilitation sections with only five construction pits. The folding of the liner in U-shape reduced the tensile forces during insertion to a minimum. Therefore, the 90° bends on the course could be passed without any problems. The rehabilitation work on the fire water mains in the refinery was completed after five working days, and as a result, there was almost no impact on the refinery’s operation.
For the same oil company, a total of 1,300 metres of fire water mains are to be rehabilitated in a pumping station in Turkey over the next few years. The first rehabilitation section had a length of 530 metres. The host pipes consist of glass-fibre reinforced epoxy resin (GRE) DN 160 and have an operating pressure of twelve bar. The pumping station is located at an altitude of 1,600 metres in an area characterised by heavy snowfall and low temperatures in winter. This was the reason why the activity could only be carried out in the period from April to September.
During installation, the assembly team demonstrated its flexibility in coping with unforeseen events on several occasions:
- There was a lack of space in the valve shafts. In order to close possible gaps between the flat-cut host pipe and the Primus Line® connector and connection plate, a specially developed fitting piece with variable length was finally installed.
- The joints of the originally laid out GRE pipe were made of epoxy resin. Its excessive use, however, significant epoxy resin edges had remained in the pipe itself. These were removed with the aid of steel scrapers and a special milling robot before pulling in the Primus Liner.
- The existing construction drawings did not correspond to the actual isometrics of the fire water system. The drawings were updated almost in real time during installation.
- Contrary to the as-built drawings, a construction pit could not be opened at the originally planned location: A crude oil pipeline ran underneath. At the new position, the liner had then to pass two horizontal and two vertical 90° bends with r = 1.5 x D. Instead of using the conventional air pressure of one bar, in this case the installation team brought the liner into its circular shape with five bar of water pressure.
Despite the additional tasks, the assembly team completed the rehabilitation activities with Primus Liner® for this section after a net working time of two days.