Rubber polyurethane line

Abstract

A liner includes a rubber liner portion, and a polyurethane liner portion disposed on a surface of the rubber liner portion. The rubber polyurethane liner can be applied to cover surfaces of process support elements used to transport or handle process material such as tar sand slurry. The rubber polyurethane liner increases the effectiveness and operating lifetimes of such process support elements.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 548,003, entitled “RUBBER POLYURETHANE LINER”, filed Feb. 26, 2004, which is incorporated by reference herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to liners, and particularly but not by way of limitation, to liners with a rubber layer and a polyurethane layer. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] There has been a persistent need to transport slurry materials through pipelines. Plain steel pipes were once commonly used for this purpose, but breakdown due to abrasion from the slurry material severely limited the functional lifetime of such a steel pipe. A breakthrough came with the introduction of a rubber liner in the steel pipe, which raised the functional lifetime of a steel pipe by around 500%. Rubber-lined steel became commonly used for pipelines in mining and energy development applications around the world. [0004] However, rubber lin...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Plain steel pipes were once commonly used for this purpose, but breakdown due to abrasion from the slurry material severely limited the functional lifetime of such a steel pipe.

However, rubber liners continue to involve persistent challenges, including expensive and problematic procedures to apply a rubber liner to a steel pipe, and significant deterioration over time of the rubber liner due to exposure to heat, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter.

However, polyurethane liners also had significant performance drawbacks, including significant deterioration over time due to high levels of heat, and permeability to slurry transport fluid which often leads to blistering and disbondment of the liner from the pipe, a failure mode known as “cold wall effect”.

While no ideal pipeline liner solution has been available, the applications for liners have become ever more demanding, owing to the constant effort to develop new and often more challenging options in materials and energy resource extraction.

However, extraction of energy resources from tar sands imposes harsh demands on equipment.

However, under such extreme conditions, these liners quickly break down due to hydrocarbons, heat, abrasion by the particulate matter, and cold wall effect.

CCO liners are extremely expensive and still have only marginal resistance to abrasion by the particulate matter.

Images