the australian polyethylene pipe market is one of the most technically developed markets in the world.
with a large and arid land mass, australia has a real need for advanced piping solutions for water distribution, as well as for gas, mining and irrigation. this large and sophisticated market demands that australia’s pipe extruders and installation engineers constantly strive for new and improved solutions.
qenos is continually developing its range of high performance polyethylene pipe resins. the flagship grade, alkadyne hdf193b, is now the preferred choice for large engineering projects in australia. the success of alkadyne has expanded beyond australia, with south african polymer producer safripol now manufacturing alkadyne pipe resin under licence.
the pe100 technology developed by qenos has been well received by the growing south african pipe market despite strong competition from other world class producers of pipe resin such as borouge and sabic.
market acceptance has been so enthusiastic that safripol recently extended its licence and doubled production capacity, a task that required significant reactor and compounding reconfiguration at the safripol manufacturing plant in sasolburg.
qenos personnel assisted with the development of new reactor recipes and standard operating conditions, as well as with product evaluation. the technical exchange delivered in-specification product on the safripol reactors at the first attempt. the broad operating window of qenos pe100 manufacturing technology enabled safripol to complete the transition and double production capacity in record time.
engaging with the broader pipe community including designers and specifiers and the operators of pipe assets such as water and gas companies was key for safripol.
in september, qenos representatives brian egan, product technology manager and predrag micic, product development executive travelled to south africa as keynote speakers for a large industry event organised by safripol, at which the pe100 capacity expansion was launched to safripol’s customers.
the benefits of polyethylene pipe systems as well as the importance of quality and certification were discussed, supporting the event’s objective of growing the south african polyethylene pipe market.
qenos was also invited to present "polyethylene pipeline systems – a quality approach" at the sappma (southern african plastic pipes manufacturer's association) conference in johannesburg. an audience of more than 200 design engineers and pipe line asset operators attended, gathering information to assist in the design and installation of cost effective pipelines using pe100 pipes.
following the sappma conference the qenos team participated in a number of customer visits with safripol. the objective was to share detailed knowledge around pe100 quality and performance including insight on polyethylene applications, markets and growth trends from around the world.
this level of expertise is only occasionally available to the south african market and underpins the value that safripol is delivering to its customers through the use of qenos manufacturing technology.