BorECO™ polypropylene is an economic solution that meets the future needs of non-pressure pipe applications

Borealis is at the forefront of polypropylene (PP) material advances. Its long-established relationships with many stakeholders in the pipe industry have enabled Borealis to convert market needs into BorECO™ PP solutions that benefit all members of the value chain: Converters, installers, end-user utilities and communities.

BorECO PP delivers an optimum balance of stiffness and impact properties and good processing characteristics for both extrusion and injection moulding, thereby offering the possibility of a ‘one material’ solution for complete systems in these applications. The performance profile of BorECO PP includes resistance to chemicals, compatibility with all conventional jointing techniques and a potential service life stretching beyond the current industry standards.

This allows simplified logistics through the purchasing, handling and processing of a single material, together with greater cost savings resulting from decreased pipe weight and reduced material consumption, ease of installation and savings in system transportation.

Furthermore, the long-term performance reliability of BorECO PP enables the production of high quality systems that require little or no maintenance or repair over their service life. The total savings generated by BorECO PP-based systems help to reduce waste water disposal fees to commercial and community end users.

Industry leadership

In the late 1990s, Borealis confirmed its industry leadership by bringing to the market the first PP block copolymers with superior stiffness for non-pressure pipe applications, BorECO BA212E. Borealis and its customers have shown an increasing number of community officials, planners and decision makers the benefits of light weight and durable plastics solutions for underground drainage and sewerage systems.

The introduction of BorECO PP allowed an amendment to the standard for ‘Plastics piping systems for non-pressure underground drainage and sewerage – polypropylene’, EN1852-1/A. This related to PP materials with a modulus of elasticity of 1700 MPa or higher (PP-HM), for pipe systems of stiffness class SN8. This new standard made it possible to manufacture thinner walled PP pipes with the same ring stiffness as polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene or conventional PP. Consequently, pipes with an even lower weight per metre could be produced based on the BorECO PP materials.

A new grade, BorECO BA222E with an E-modulus of >1900 MPa and excellent impact strength has been introduced. This new material has been specifically designed for solid wall heavy-duty pipes with increased ring stiffness requirements at reduced weight per metre.

‘One material’, low-weight solution

BorECO PP, BA212E and BA222E grades for solid wall systems offer the lowest pipe weight per metre of commercially available materials for drainage and sewerage.

This translates to a reduction in weight per metre pipe of approximately:

• 15% compared to conventional PP-B (900 kg/m3)

• 27% compared with PVC-U (1530 kg/m3)

• 27% compared with PE (950 kg/m3)

Besides its application in solid wall piping, BorECO PP also brings specific benefits in the production of twin-wall corrugated pipes, ribbed constructions, multilayer and spiral-wound pipes, as well as foamed solutions, injection moulded fittings and inspection chambers. In these applications BorECO PP opens a wider window for more design freedom than is economically achievable with alternative materials.

Increasing benefits

Mainly dominated by concrete, clay and ductile iron, the underground piping sector has over recent years seen the increased acceptance of PP. Growth in the use of PP for gravity-flow pipes has been partly due to the progressively high failure rate of old generation, non-plastic systems.

Common issues centre on brittle failure due to overloading and the lack of flexibility – elimination of this problem is a major advantage of plastics solutions. Furthermore old generation piping material frequently exhibits surface or joint damages, and leakages resulting from

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