Meet us in Kuala Lumpur next month ...

You know what exhibitionists we are, so you won't be surprised to learn that we are at it again ... this time in one of our favourite places ...KL!

Hall 10, Booth 10013 ... see you there!

The 15th Asian Oil, Gas & Petrochemical Engineering Exhibition will be held from 2 - 4 June, 2015 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. It is the biggest and most comprehensive event in the Asian region, with oil and gas industry exhibitors from around the world.

We hope that everyone in the area will come and see us ... you can find us on Booth 10013 in Hall 10. If you have any specific requests or questions about attending the event, please contact Sean Ong ... he would be glad to help in any way he can.

BREAKING NEW GROUND

Getting a new product into the market can be harder than it should be ...

Once upon a time in a land down under, as part of the Australian Corrosion Association's annual conference, our Perth manager gave a talk on introducing new technologies. 

Enviropeel was relatively new, and the paper focussed on the various different ways that a new genre of product, such as corrosion-inhibiting sprayable thermoplastics, could win the trust of notoriously sceptical corrosion and coating engineers. Ten years later, there are still people who do not understand how Enviropeel works ... they may have heard of it ... but some still don't get it.

At least, with an epoxy like Alocit, engineers can recognise a coating when they see one. Why anyone would need to apply underwater may be a mystery to the uninitiated ... but a coating that is applied in a traditional way using traditional methodologies is part of their known universe. And, of course, Alocit can be tested for hardness, abrasion resistance, adhesion and all the other tests engineers know and love ... not so with Enviropeel.

The only meaningful test that Alocit and Enviropeel have in common is the test of time ... but you won't find this in the ASTM catalogue, despite the fact that it is the only test that has any real importance.

Back in Australia, the talk came to the conclusion that the best way to convince the sceptics was to show them, through a combination of case studies, trials and appropriate testing ... a lot of which is summarised on our website. The case for effectiveness has been more than adequately demonstrated but, as part of the process, it has also been necessary to develop testing methodologies that reflect the unusual properties and strengths of Enviropeel. 

Last year, after years of gathering data, another A&E manager was in Beijing delivering a paper to NACE in China about Enviropeel on this very subject. More recently, I was discussing some of the data with a colleague and he suggested we make the paper available to our readers. Obviously, this was a good idea ... so here is a link to view it.

Sorry it has taken me so long to share it with you!

HANDS ON - AND LOVING IT

They say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing ... and every so often a customer, new to Enviropeel or Alocit, will read something or hear something out of context and come to impossible conclusions about what we can or can't do. 

It would be great if we could ...

Sometimes it's our fault. Even though both products protect against corrosion, they have very different properties so, when we are at a show for example, a casual visitor will see a picture or video of Alocit being applied underwater, read about Enviropeel ... and then ask us how we spray Enviropeel underwater. Which, unfortunately, is against the laws of physics ... but it would be great if we could. Nevertheless, the most outlandish suggestions may contain a kernel of sense. OK, so we still can't apply Enviropeel underwater but, until recently, we also would tell people that Enviropeel was unsuitable for immersive service ... now we have a system that allows us to protect using Enviropeel underwater.

Testing the wrap system
on the back lot pipe rack

And the reason for this is that, when a suggestion is made, we don't dismiss it out of hand. If there is a good reason to do something, just because we can't do it today doesn't mean it will be impossible tomorrow. The potential to be able to do new things is part of what motivated the original development of Enviropeel and it continues to drive us every day.

Yes, you can ...

This can just be a day-to-day thing like the pipe rack which is set up on the back lot of our HQ. Here, simple suggestions are tried out ... 'can you paint Enviropeel?' Well, it turns out, yes you can but, at this point in time, we are not sure why you would want to.

'What happens when Enviropeel has water pouring over it for long periods of time?' You've seen the answer to that question (Blog 3-12-14) or, if you haven't, you should check it out. In a nutshell, the answer is nothing, it doesn't matter how much water pours over Enviropeel ... it just keeps on working.

Anyway, you get the point, some things are easy to test and having a permanent test bed is really useful ... but not every suggestion is quite so easy to assess.


Test facilities

There are certified labs all over the world with the ability to test products against almost anything. Usually this will be against a specific standard set by organisations such as ASTM or ISO in order to test a specific quality such as resistance to UV. In most cases this would involve a small test plate and a relatively short accelerated test for extrapolation into real-world predictions.

The hot salt fog cabinet at Group HQ is
capable of accepting large and complex test pieces

Different wrap techniques
were assessed to maximise
strength and flexibility

Nothing wrong with that but, if you are dealing with complex structures and complicated ideas, it can be very hard to set the correct parameters ... and paying for long-term testing just to see if something works can be an expensive business. So, as you may be aware, we have installed equipment at our HQ more suited to a test lab than a work shop but it allows us to just make things up and see what happens in real time. It's the best possible way to try things out.

Riser Clamp

I mentioned the Riser Clamp in our last post, but is an interesting insight into our approach to see how we arrived at a solution. When approached by Maersk, we had already completed testing of a range of wrapping materials as part of our development of a submersible Enviropeel system. Working together with our colleagues at Enviropeel USA, as a result of early trials for offshore wind generators in the UK, we arrived at a great solution that gave us just what we needed.

Large complete test pieces could
be tested in the salt cabinet

With this in mind, our Technical Director ... a real 'hands on' engineer who enjoys making things ... decided to have 1/3rd scale models of the clamps created to test different ways of protecting them. The fact that we had a very large salt-spray cabinet in which the models could be tested made a huge difference. Monitored in real time, it soon became apparent what was working ... and what was not.

Several methodologies were tested, different wraps, wrap patterns and top coats as well as adapting spray techniques to meet the requirements of the outer layer - all manufactured and tested without leaving the HQ building.

Any questions?

So, if you need to know whether or not we can make Enviropeel glow in the dark (actually, we can) or apply Alocit  with a toothbrush (probably not a good idea), then let us know ... we may not have a solution ... but we will enjoy trying to find one.

Click this link for more information on A&E testing facilities