Our site uses cookies necessary for its proper functioning. To improve your experience, other cookies may be used: you can choose to disable them. This can be changed at any time via the Cookies link at the bottom of the page.


Increasing energy efficiency of pipe extrusion processes through advanced polymer design

 

Papers

Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2012 Barcelona

Ralph Handstanger, Rainer Kloth

Most process improvement efforts in the pipe extrusion industry were traditionally aimed at increasing the throughput and/or enhancing the product quality. In recent years an additional aspect has been steadily gaining relevance : Energy efficiency. This has been driven by rising energy costs as well as by increased environmental awareness. In an era of tight public budgets for investments in infrastructure and intense inter-company competition any gains in production efficiency can be a decisive competitive factor. At the same time public and regulatory attention is turned more and more to aspects related to the eco-profile of plastic products, such as water and carbon footprint, impact on depletion of non-renewable resources etc. So any improvement in energy efficiency of the pipe production process will have a twofold benefit, impacting both the bottom line as well as the eco-balance of the products. From the perspective of the raw material producer, this paper investigates the various possibilities to influence the energy consumption during pipe extrusion. The impact of extrusion parameters and polymer characteristics as key influencing variables will be discussed, as well as limiting factors. Then the performance of various High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) products will be examined in this respect. Results of laboratory investigations as well as practical field tests will be presented to illustrate the achievable improvements as a function of the particular processing situation. Finally an effort will be made to put the efficiency gains in a wider context to show the respective benefits of advanced HDPE materials. Keywords : Pipe extrusion process; energy efficiency, High Density Polyethylene, polymer design.

Please note that the whole article content is available on PPCA website only :

Related papers

2021 Amsterdam : A NEW GENERATION OF HIGH PERFORMANCE BIAXIALLY ORIENTED POLYETHYLENE AND POLYPROPYLENE PRESSURE PIPES

Author(s) : A. Taraiya, P. Degenhart, M. Soliman, M. Boerakker, R. Handstanger, R. Kleppinger

Since the introduction of polyolefins for pressure pipes, continuous improvements have been made to meet ever-higher demands on their performance and to expand their application window beyond their original scope, mostly based on new resin formulations. Today, we also continue to push the limit to provide better...

2021 Amsterdam : THE ADVANTAGES OF PE 100 GLOBAL CASE STUDIES

Author(s) : Youssef Taha, Rainer Kloth

In the early fifties, the first Polyethylene for the use in pipes was produced. Since then, the use of Polyethylene piping systems has spread rapidly around the globe to serve in various applications. In order to demonstrate the versatility and benefits of PE100, several companies founded in 1999 an association...

2016 Berlin : Terahertz measurement technology for pipe extrusion

Author(s) : Jan H. Petermann, Ralph Klose, Marius Thiel

This paper gives an introduction into the Terahertz measurement technique and shows the technology transfer from lab to pipe industry. The technical basics are explained how to measure pipes` wall thickness by THz pulse runtime differences. The measurability of common plastics like HDPE, PP, PVC and PA6 are...

Members of the Association

BOREALISBOROUGEFormosa Plastics CorporationHanwha TotalEnergiesINEOS O&PIRPCKorea Petrochemical IND. Co., LTD (KPIC)LyondellBasellORLEN UnipetrolPetroChina Dushanzi Petrochemical CompanyPRIME POLYMERSABICSCG Chemicals & Thai PolyethyleneSinopecTASNEE