Innovative - 2019 Annual and Sustainable Performance Report

3. Water pipes

Innovative for Urbanization

3. Water pipes

3.WATER PIPES

A BIO-SOURCED COATING AS AN
ALTERNATIVE TO STAINLESS STEEL

Used to protect carbon steel pipes, Rilsan® polyamide 11 powders offer a competitive, bio-sourced solution for transporting water.

For transporting drinking, waste, industrial and sea water, the trend is toward replacing stainless steel with carbon steel, which contains no chrome and costs less to produce. However, the inside of the pipes need protecting with an anti-corrosion coating. Developed by Arkema over more than 50 years for this purpose on the water market, Rilsan® polyamide 11 fine powders – applied to the hot metal to form a film 500 µm thick – is increasingly a preferred solution. “They combine very good chemical, corrosion and abrasion resistance with the major advantage in today’s world of being 100% bio-sourced from ricin oil,” explains Jérôme Porte, Global Market Manager for Specialty Powder Industrial Markets at Arkema.

Free from bisphenol-A

More competitive than stainless steel for large diameters (≥ 300 mm), carbon steel pipes coated with Rilsan® powders offer a problem-free lifetime of more than 20 years. These coatings are also widely used for fittings and valves, for which they benefit from greater impact resistance during assembly than epoxy resins. Unlike the latter, Rilsan® powders are also bisphenol-A (BPA) free, which makes them particularly suitable for drinking water as they meet the highest health and safety standards. They are certified for contact with drinking water. “We are very active in this market, especially in Northern Europe, Japan and the Middle East,” adds Jérôme Porte. Another major application for Rilsan® fine powders is emerging – sea water transportation, a strong growth market due to the increasing number of drinking water plants springing up in dry regions.