Qenos is Australia’s only manufacturer of world-class polyethylene, and has developed a new PE100 grade with exceptional melt-strength performance, ideal for the production of large diameter thick-walled pipe for water and mining applications.
Developed by Qenos in close partnership with Univation Technologies, utilising state-of-the-art bimodal catalyst technology, Alkadyne㢠HDF145B combines the excellent physical properties of its standard PE100 grade with a new level of extrusion performance for manufacturers and
end users.
Hunter Water case study
The installation of a large diameter polyethylene pipe by directional drilling near Newcastle in New South Wales is a prime example of the Alkadyne HDF145B pipe in action. The project played an important role in ensuring water supply security to the Shortland region.
After 85 years of operation, Hunter Water decided to replace 7.4 km of above ground 900 mm metal pipeline that had been prone to flood damage and regularly required shutdowns for maintenance. The major challenge involved finding an underground solution that would enable the removal of the old pipe bridge across the river. The solution was a 280 m long section of 1,000 mm SDR11 polyethylene pipe installed using horizontal direction drilling (HDD) under the river. This solution improved recreational access and greatly enhanced the aesthetics of the wetland area.
Pipe made from PE100 was chosen for this section as it was the only material offering the flexibility and abuse resistance to withstand the demanding HDD installation. The speed, safety and greatly reduced disruption to the local environment made the HDD with PE100 pipe option the obvious solution in this case.
The 280 m pipe string was joined on-site by butt welding 12 m sections. High quality welds were facilitated by the supply of pipe which had low-ovality, excellent wall thickness consistency and little toe-in.
The unique requirements of this job, including the sensitive environment and installation challenges, were met with the combination of using HDD and the installation efficiency of thick walled polyethylene pipe made using Alkadyne HDF145B. 972827.png
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