The importance of pipe cleaning - Greatly reduced losses!

Cleaning of main gas pipelines

Perform this process:

? Before the gas supply system is put into operation;

? Periodically during operation

The?Gas pipeline must be cleaned so that the transported substances do not change their physical and chemical properties, and the pipeline itself needs a corresponding capacity to work. The purpose of such events is to remove burrs, limescale, accidentally blocked dirt, ice, snow, water and foreign matter from the interior of pipes.

For the cleaning of gas pipelines, pigs are mainly used for cleaning. The technology is suitable for partially buried, above-ground and overground natural gas pipelines. In this case, the pig passes through the portion of the pipeline whose cleaning length is less than the distance between adjacent disconnected pipelines.

Working principle of the gas pipeline cleaning system

This is done in the following way. Introduce the pig into the pipe and push it slightly. Then pressurize the pipe. The pig begins to run in the pipeline until the next receiver, where the pig is received, at which point the lid of the receiver is sealed. To safely remove the pig, you must relieve the pressure in the pipeline. This is done by opening the spark plugs.

Cleaning of oil pipelines

In pipelines that transport crude oil, various impurities are formed - resin, asphalt, paraffin, sand, scale, rust. All of this not only reduces the quality of the crude oil being transported but also causes wear on flange connections, clogged valves and wear on the pipeline itself. But paraffin deposits are the most troublesome. The fact is that they can block the operation of pipelines so badly that the delivery of crude oil is completely stopped.

Scientific research has found that these deposits are unevenly distributed along the pipeline. In the initial section of the pipe, the temperature is higher, therefore, the accumulation of paraffin is negligible. When the temperature of the pipe is lowered due to contact with the soil, paraffin begins to deposit densely on the pipe wall, and then the throughput of the pipe will decrease.

To ensure that the throughput of the pipeline does not drop, precautions should be taken. This will save a lot of money.

Several methods have been developed for this. But mechanical cleaning is the most widely used today, let's look at it in more detail.

This method is based on the use of special pigs. Their cleaning elements are wire brushes and various polyurethane discs. Different designs differ in usage effectiveness, wear resistance, and deposit removal efficiency.

Abrasion resistance is determined by the cleaning length of the oil pipeline. For example, if the oil pipeline is cleaned regularly, the pig can travel 100 kilometers without excessive wear and tear.

In order for the pig to move uninterruptedly in the pipeline, a flow velocity of at least 1.2 m/s and a certain pressure are required.

Suggest! Based on this, an increase in the frequency of cleaning elements should be chosen to minimize cleaning costs and losses due to the overuse of oil pipelines.