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Coating Polymers Repair Dutch Power Plant Pipes
01 Sep 2002
Last month the second phase of a project began to repair and coat the fuel feed pipes of a coal fire power station in Holland. The contract, valued in excess of £250,000, was won by Roodhart Emission Control, the Dutch distributor of Thistlebond engineering repair and maintenance coating compounds.
The fuel feed pipes carry pulverised coal dust in air heated to 90ºC at around 2 bar pressure. When new, the wall thickness of the steel pipes is 22mm but coal dust is very abrasive. Extreme wear, especially on the pipe elbows, meant that the pipework had to be replaced over a two-year working life cycle at great expense.
The aim of the project was to carry out a comprehensive and cost effective repair in the minimum time and with least disruption.
The pipes have an inside diameter of 470mm and were taken out in sections that were between two and four metres in length. The inside surfaces of the pipes were grit blasted and abraded.
After degreasing, Thistlebond TR200 ceramic carbide wearing compound was applied to the damaged areas. In some places the layer was as thick as 8mm, and ceramic tiles were placed on the worst areas. The final step was to apply two coats of TR205 abrasion resistant ceramic carbide fluid to the inside surface.
Where extreme wear had occurred, ceramic tiles were sandwiched with layers of TR240 heavy duty ceramic carbide.
The ceramic repair and protective coatings are expected to give many years of service with minimum operational repair being required.
Tel. 01609 780170
