Page 52: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Dec/Jan 2013)

51 53

Advanced epoxy coating can be used for coating all subsea equipment, including

All images: Bredero Shaw jumpers. various custom fabricated parts of subsea

Flowlines production systems, such as bends and spools, pipelines and termina- tions (PLETs), jumpers, goosenecks, etc.

Any new product for high-temperature insulation must not only perform at the desired temperature ranges, but also easily assimilate into the contractors’ technology and process. This includes application processes, installation pro- cedures, and cycle times to properly ft the work fow, which adds a high level of diffculty to the product development process.

Challenges of existing solutions for custom coating and feld joints

The existing solutions for custom coating and feld joints include polyurethane (PU), injection-molded polypropylene (IMPP), and syntactic epoxy-based, silicone-based, among others. PU and

IMPP are widely used for insulating subsea production structures and feld joints. PU-based systems are best suited to low-temperature applications (<80°C) and generally have problems with hydro- lysis at higher temperatures. IMPP-based systems have been used in harsh envi- ronments with operating temperatures

Subsea custom coatings up to 150°C, but prove to be expensive for mid-range temperature (80-120°C)

By Suresh Choudhary, applications. Adam Jackson, Paul Kleinen

Although a very popular insulation ue to the increased technical material for subsea structures, PU is not

Bredero Shaw discusses requirements within new well suitable at higher temperatures due to the various factors and

D development, the proportion hydrolysis, poor adhesion to polypropyl- of subsea products requiring insulation ene and other thermoplastics, and high challenges behind suited to high-temperature operating dependence on mix ratio. Existing sys- high-temperature conditions is increasing. It is required tems face other challenges such as long to thermally insulate not only the feld demold times, high exothermic energy subsea custom coating. joint area of offshore pipelines, but also release, and cracking under casting.

Custom coatings Custom coatings 2 2 1

Blasting Surface Induction / FBE 1 inspection oven heating application 1. Fusion bonded epoxy/primer 1. Fusion bonded epoxy/primer 2. NEMO 2.1 2. NEMO 1.1

Fit Fit mould Surface endseals inspection

Field joints

Field joints 2 2 1 1

Inject DemouldTrim Surface inspection

Fig. 1: Fig. 2: Fig. 3:

Cross section of The NEMO system coating application

Cross section of

NEMO 1.1 — operating process.

NEMO 2.1 — operating temperatures of up to 95°C.

temperatures of up to 120°C.

December 2013 | OE oedigital.com 54 054_OE1213_Pipelines3_Bredero_v2.indd 54 11/22/13 7:19 PM