Formadrain: Extreme Technology to Handle the Most Challenging Lining Applications – Like This One

When crude oil comes out of the ground, it must be processed to convert it to useful forms of fuel oils and lubricants. This complex processing is conducted at oil refineries, most of which are enormous compounds of stacks, tanks, pumps, compressors, vessels, fired heaters, instrumentation, and drains. Lots of drains.

One such refinery had an oily sewer line that ran the entire width of the plant. When the refinery’s management detected deterioration in the sewers that threatened exfiltration of oil into the ground, they quickly did the responsible thing and contracted to have their entire sewer system relined.

Each of the refinery’s thirteen 115-foot sections of the sewer system inclined 45 degrees on the downstream to the next manhole. This was done to keep the sewer downstream end under water to act as a fire barrier. Ordinarily, a conventional 45-degree turn in a pipe will have a radius, it will curve. This system was different, however. The 45-degree bends had been welded in-house at a perfect 45-degree sharp angle. 

Those sharp angles presented an insurmountable obstacle to the use of other types of relining systems that cannot negotiate sharp bends. Formadrain liners, unlike other systems, easily conforms to the shape and configuration of the host pipe including transitions, offset pipes, and bends of up to 90o. 

Another of the concerns was that the liner had to be able to withstand the effluent carried in the sewer lines. This concern was effectively addressed with the use of Formadrain’s proprietary Formapox 301, a unique industrial strength epoxy resin that has been specifically engineered for industrial applications and extreme conditions such as high temperatures, petroleum products, acids, caustic solutions, detergents and other chemicals.

Formapox 301 is used for full-length pipe rehabilitation as well as spot repairs. The liner has the same bi-directional weave fiberglass as the Formapox 101 liner but is designed for used with Formapox 301.

During the steam curing of the liner, a high level of cross-linking of the Formapox 301 resin occurs, producing a chemically stronger liner which can be used at elevated temperatures up to 250°F /120°C.

Like Formadrain’s other resins, Formapox 101 and Durapox, Formapox 301 is environmentally friendly with zero VOCs.

This project was completed to a flawless finish using the peerless Formadrain system of relining.

To learn more about Formadrain products, contact Bruce Stevenson, Business Development Manager, at 1-888-450-3986 or email Bruce@formadrain.com.