The North Sea Canal, the international airport in Hong Kong and the Palm islands at Dubai all share one thing in common: They were brought into being with the help of dredgers. In the course of dredging, dredging boats pump out through pipes a mixture of sand, mud and water from the sea bed. The water is separated out on board the boat, while the solid components are reused for land reclamation. However, the pumping operation causes serious wear in the pipes, meaning they require reliable protection.
Our customer has specialised in the use of dredgers for land reclamation. The company operates the largest fleet of dredging ships in the world and implements projects right around the globe. The dredging procedure employs pipes on a vessel which are more than one metre in diameter. Salt water, mud, sand and stones are all sucked through these pipes. The coarse and fast-moving materials cause a corres ponding amount of wear on the pipes due to abrasion and impact. So far, a variety of systems have been used to protect the pipes from wear. However, neither rubber lining, thick-walled tubes, nor cast iron inlays have been able to guarantee protection.
The customer had some very specific requirements: The wear protection should not only ensure longer life but also reduce the weight of the piping system. Our solution: KALOCER. The hard ceramic protection material stands up to extremes of abrasive wear. lt has an impressively smooth surface and is thin. For this lining we precisely adapted ceramic plates 25 to 50 millimetres in thickness to the circular geometry of the pipes. This meant that the internal diameter still remained in excess of one metre. Installation used a ton gue-and-groove system which, in conjunction with suitable adhesive, ensured secure fitting.
Via our representatives, we delivered the complete solution for the whole piping system, including lined steel pipes with matching flanges, bend/elbow segments, T-joints and Y-junctions. The dredgers themselves rapidly returned to service. Furthermore, the customer has proved to be highly satisfied with the excellent quality of the protection.
