Rubber coating protects platform riser

The arrow points to a rubber-coated riser on a platform jacket bound for the southern North Sea (Fig. 1 [50,249 bytes]). The rubber coating is being applied to pipe in a KCH facility in Siershahn, Germany (Fig. 2 [29,028 bytes]). Externally rubber-coated steel pipe provides a new option for protecting offshore platform risers from seawater corrosion. In one example, Keramchemie GmbH (KCH) installed a rubber coating to a gas pipeline riser on a Shell Expro platform for the southern North Sea

Dec. 7, 1998

Externally rubber-coated steel pipe provides a new option for protecting offshore platform risers from seawater corrosion.

In one example, Keramchemie GmbH (KCH) installed a rubber coating to a gas pipeline riser on a Shell Expro platform for the southern North Sea basin (Fig. 1). Heerema Havenbedriejf, Vlissingen, Netherlands built the platform jacket.

KCH says the material is placed on the pipe manually up to a 12 mm thickness and then vulcanized in an autoclave. KCH tests the surface with a high-voltage spark detector to ensure impermeability of the rubber layer.