Protecting environmentally sensitive areas against floods and unintentional leaks and spills from industrial and public facilities is looming larger as a corporate risk and OH&S issue as climate change brings more extreme weather to Australia.
It is especially relevant to enterprises and industries handling large amounts of water, wastewater and process and cooling fluids. These include waste storage sites and dams, mining and energy reservoirs (including hydro, green energy, fossil and – possibly in the future, nuclear) municipal waste and water treatment facilities, plus waste processing and recycling facilities, food and beverage processing and primary product manufacturing and processing facilities.
All of these depend on effective and well maintained pipeline systems that can handle both regular flows and exceptional flows as circumstances demand, free from blockages and leaks and with provision to safely stop flows where required and move work crews into secured pipeline sections where repairs are needed, without overloading and shutting down entire networks to fix a localised problem.
"Preparation is the key to preventing leaks, spills and breakdowns, especially where problems and exceptional circumstances may be foreseeable and operators therefore have a duty of care to plan their response," says pneumatic isolation and actuation specialist, Vinh Lam. Measures to anticipate maintenance and exceptional flow issues around sensitive sites include:
- Responses that can be easily installed and quickly deployed in emergencies, such as spills
- Reliability and durability of the methods employed to quickly seal pipelines or temporarily isolate sections for maintenance or repair (particularly bearing in mind that long sections of pipelines may not have or normally need permanent valving to permit finely graduated isolation)
- Proven failsafe performance to protect workers inside and around suspect or failing sections of pipelines to ensure the safety of workers exposed to potentially hazardous work in confined spaces.
"In a context where securing sensitive sites is a top priority, critical infrastructures must meet strict risk prevention and environmental requirements. Protection against intrusions, technical incidents, and natural disasters calls for innovative solutions, says Vinh, who is responsible for the Pronal Elastomer pipe stopper and emergency response ranges distributed nationally by the complete national network of long-established actuation, isolation and suspension specialists, Air Springs Supply.
Air Springs Supply has been a leader in its field for more than 50 years, operating to global standards of safety and quality. Pronal is a leading, long-established (since 1961) supplier of elastomer products, including lifters and stoppers supplied to some of the world's most safety and quality conscious groups, such as military forces and civil and industrial emergency response teams.
"Pronal's inflatable security solutions stand out as essential tools for environmental and workplace safety," says Vinh. Their versatility, efficiency, and ease of deployment make them the ideal choice for securing sensitive infrastructures.
Easily transported and reusable Pronal stoppers are engineered to top European and global standards by Pronal, which was the company that produced the enormously strong inflatable bags used to lift sections of the liner Titanic from nearly four kilometres deep in the Atlantic.
The multi-sized stoppers – in a range spanning pipes from 45-2115+mm diameter in stock sizes and up to 3000mm for customised types - are typically used to carry out sealing tests and maintenance work on pipeline systems.
They are also applied to prevent accidental pollution such as spilling of toxic product, thus preventing the flow of toxic fluids into drainage networks or the surrounding environment.
"The tremendous expansion of infrastructure projects in recent years – including pipeline, water, wastewater and desalination plants – has led to expanding demand for stoppers from industrial and State enterprise markets. Now, with the arrival of less predictable and more extreme weather patterns, pipeline operators need to ensure their reticulation systems are in optimum condition to ensure resilience, prevent leakages, waste, pollution and optimise performance.
Pronal ranges – some of which also feature bypasses to maintain services during pipeline work – enable inspections and work to be carried out without major lengthy shutdowns
The versatility of the material used, and the production method (customised dilatability) means Pronal inflatable stoppers are suitable for all types of pipelines including concrete, cast iron, steel, stainless steel and PVC," says Vinh Lam. They are extremely strong and durable in service, being hot vulcanized in a mould and Kevlar reinforced, giving outstanding service life.
"Naturally (as with any rubber-based product) direct or prolonged exposure to petroleum-based products is not recommended, but the plugs are widely used in water and wastewater, resource, utility and heavy industrial situations for testing and emergency applications.
"Inflated at the specified pressure and with a back-pressure of up to 1 bar for standard types (10m water column), each stopper can be used within a range of pipe diameters. For example, a range of just four stoppers is needed to span the 100-1200mm diameter pipe sizes
Stopper types include:
- Vari plugs 45-1500mm with blank stopper, bypass for watertightness tests, and rod for mini pipes
- Uni-Plug collapsible pipe stoppers from 20-3000mm that compactly fit around obstacles, corners and into previously inaccessible areas of surface, underground and underwater pipelines.
- Pollu-Plug and anti-pollution stoppers permanently fitted in stormwater and sewerage lines ready for rapid inflation by remote triggering as soon as an emergency arises in industrial, civil and municipal applications. Available in stock sizes to seal pipe diameters from 805-2115mm – with larger sizes custom fabricated – the deflated stopper is designed to allow normal non-polluted effluents or water to pass through the pipe when the stopper is uninflated.
Vinh Lam says the Pronal stopper range for which Air Springs is exclusive national distributor is one of the most extensive ranges available nationally and internationally. In addition to standard products, Pronal customised products include low and high pressure resistance models (according to the needs of particular applications). Custom-build models also come in a variety of shapes - cylindrical, egg-shaped, square – and up to 3,000mm diameter. Special models can be manufactured to meet particular specifications.
About us:
About Pronal
Founded in 1961 and headquartered near Lille in the north of France, PRONAL builds standard and customised flexible products from fabrics coated with elastomer and/or plastomer. In addition to extensive industrial expertise, Pronal also works in the defence, aerospace, civil emergency, and maritime/harbour sectors.
Pronal's Australian distributor, Air Springs Supply, is Australia's leading supplier of air springs and associated pneumatic technology for the industrial and transport sectors. Air Springs Supply has more than 50 years' experience in actuation, isolation, and suspension, with a national distribution and technical service network.
