New Borouge BorSafe™ PE100 HSCR material helps China Eco-city project

Borouge, a leading provider of innovative and value-creating plastics solutions, is providing advanced materials for pipe systems that require easy installation and superior durability. Borouge’s new high stress crack resistant BorSafe™ PE100 material is specifically developed for installation in difficult conditions, which was the situation in constructing China’s new Eco City in Tianjin, where a much needed new water supply pipeline had to pass under a canal.

“By using pipe produced from our new high stress crack resistant PE100 grade, the local water company was confident to install the pipe under the canal using directional drilling, knowing that any surface damage would not reduce the life of the pipe,” says Hu Wei, Borouge’s Vice President for Business Pipe Unit. “Our commitment to working with partners throughout the value chain ensured the ideal materials were being used for the different sections of the pipelines”.

The project was to provide new water supply to an impressive new city which is taking shape in China’s Tianjin Binhai New Area, which is situated 45 kilometres from Tianjin and 150 kilometres from Beijing. It is the Tianjin Eco-City which is being jointly developed by the Chinese and Singaporean Governments. The total area is over 30 square kilometres and the city expects to have 350,000 residents by 2020.

One major challenge for the developers was that the existing water supply did not match the current demand, let alone the future requirements of the city. A new water supply line was commissioned with a total length of 4.5 kilometres, starting at a point 80 metres to the west of Jingshan railway and then following the left bank of the Yongding New River, passing under the Ji Canal, and then to the pumping station which will provide the water to the Eco-City.

Since the pipeline needed to be installed as quickly as possible to prevent the construction work being constrained, the Tianjin TEDA water company was keen to use polyethylene (PE) pipe to increase the speed of installation. However they were very concerned that the section under the Ji Canal which would be installed by directional drilling could sustain considerable surface damage from stones or other hard materials in the soil under the canal bed as the pipe was drawn into position behind the drill head. To allay their concerns pipe manufacturer Cangzhou Mingzhu Plastics, supported by Borouge, was able to offer pipe manufactured from the new PE100 high stress crack resistant material.

BorSafe™ HE3490-LS-H was specified for this section of pipeline as it is extremely tough and will resist the development of cracks and damage that may be caused during the directional drilling operation.

The remainder of the pipeline was manufactured from the standard BorSafe™HE3490-LS Black PE100 compound. All the pipes were manufactured by the well known local pipe producer Cangzhou Mingzhu Plastic Co. Ltd. which is part of the Hebei Cangzhou Dongsu Group and the project was successfully completed on schedule.

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