plastics - The customer magazine from BASF 2/2007

Markets and products
Endless sandy beaches and
turquoise blue water before
the backdrop of some of the
most extravagant architecture in the
world: the Abu Dhabi Emirate is visibly
funneling its oil riches into futuristic
projects. Right in the middle of
the hot desert, the Isoplus company
is laying new pipelines for the black
gold and is padding the pipes with
expansion cushions made of Neopolen
® E (EPE) from BASF’s PlasticsPlus
product line.
Abu Dhabi 50 years ago: hardly a thing in
sight except for a small hamlet where most
of the locals lived in simple houses. There
was no trace of the luxury that we now associate
with this metropolis. But luck was
on the side of the island inhabitants and
neighbors on Saadiyat Island (“Island of
Happiness”) – in 1958, they struck oil. Since
then, revenues have been gushing out of
the ground and changes have occurred at a
breakneck pace. Today, numerous futuristic
high-rises, most of them with glass façades,
dominate the skyline of the city of Abu
Dhabi. Oil governs the fate of this country,
so an efficient infrastructure to transport it
is of paramount importance. This is where
the Isoplus company comes in: this market
leader in Germany in the realm of pipe
systems is currently building a 234 kilometer-long
pipeline. This company, whose
customers include large energy corporations
like E.On as well as numerous municipal
utility companies in Germany, has been
developing and producing pipe systems for
more than 30 years. Such systems serve to
transport, among other things, hot liquids
such as oil and water or even chemicals. The
heat inside the pipes causes the pipeline to
expand, which calls for some leeway so that
the pipes can shift. This is also the case in
Abu Dhabi: the oil is heated up so as to flow
through the pipelines faster – in its normal
state, the oil would be too viscous and slow.
The heat generated by the hot oil, however,
causes the pipeline to expand and that is
why foam cushions have to pad it. Isoplus
manufactures such cushions with BASF’s
Neopolen E panels. Contour cutting machines
are employed to cut the panels into
shaped sections that are then used in this
function without any further treatment. However,
in order to prevent heat accumulation
in the crown of the pipes, they are not completely
enclosed by the cushions. The panels
are glued to the outer circumference only at
the 3-o’clock and 9-o’clock positions. As is
normally done with such partial jacketing, the
lines – together with the expansion cushions
– are wrapped with laminate. This prevents
sand from penetrating between the lines and
the cushions. Altogether, the project in Abu
Dhabi required 21,381 meters of Neopolen E
expansion cushions, which were transported
in 30 shipping containers.
Neopolen E and
PUR in action
Neopolen E panels consist of a closed-cell,
physically cross-linked particle-foam made
of polyethylene. Particularly in view of the
physical cross-linking, this material has
several properties that make it the material
of choice for expansion cushions. For instance,
Neopolen E has excellent resilience
since this polyethylene foam deforms under
load, giving the pipe with the necessary
leeway to expand. When the load is eliminated,
the material returns to its original
state and can deform again the next time a
load is exerted. Expansion cushions made
of Neopolen E help to prevent damage to
the pipelines. Neopolen E also stands out
for having high temperature resistance,
for being highly and permanently elastic
as well as for being rot-proof. It does not
pose a burden to the environment since it
is rated in water-hazard class 0 and does
not contain any water-soluble substances.
It is free of chlorofluorocarbons, halogenated
chlorofluorocarbons and compounds
containing lead, cadmium, mercury or
chromium. BASF is also to be found in
oil pipelines, where the pipes are made
of steel with a plastic jacket consisting of
a layer of polyurethane (PUR) and a layer
of poly-ethylene (PE) on top of it, hence
the designation plastic-jacketed pipe. The
steel pipe itself serves to actually transport
the oil. The special PUR foam Elastopor ®
H made by BASF subsidiary Elastogran is
applied as thermal insulation onto the steel
for many pipes made by Isoplus. Thanks to
its outstanding insulating properties, it holds
the heat inside the pipe and keeps the oil
flowing smoothly. For exterior protection,
the PUR foam is wrapped in a PE sheathing
that not only absorbs mechanical stresses
but also provides protection against the elements
while the pipeline is being laid.
Further information:
www.neopolen.de
www.elastogran.com
www.isoplus.de
Background
Neopolen ® E
Material:
EPE - foam consisting of cross-linked
polyethylene
Application examples:
packaging, expansion cushions
Properties:
high resilience, high energy absorption,
flexibility, chemical resistance
Laying oil pipelines using expansion cushions made of Neopolen E.
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