In line with current trends: Saudi-Arabian Processor

Large-diameter polyolefin pipes are particularly well suited for the transport of potable water. Almost anywhere in the world, but especially in Saudi-Arabia, the construction and maintenance of the water supply network is a vital necessity. So the Riyadh company Saudi Preinsulated Pipes Industries, LLC (SPPI), has recently invested in the purchase of two new turnkey extrusion lines from Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik GmbH, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, to manufacture HDPE pipes.

SPPI is a medium-sized company that has already been engaged in pipe production for long. Besides steel pipe sheathing and coating, the company also produces HDPE pipes. It is a member of the Amnest Group of Companies and processes about 7,000 tons of plastic annually. SPPI, as a leading manufacturer of preinsulated pipes in Saudi Arabia since 1981, also exports its quality products in the GCC, Middle East, Europe and the Far East.

Turnkey production systems from one source

In order to diversify into the growing market segment of large-diameter plastic pipes for potable water transport, SPPI decided to purchase two complete extrusion lines for manufacturing HDPE pipes. Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik played the part of the system supplier. Complete production lines planned, manufactured and installed by a single supplier are one of the German machine manufacturer’s special strengths. „We are more than satisfied with the counseling, support and installation of the machinery supplied by Battenfeld,“ says Engr. Saleh Alnamlah, SPPI’ s General Manager. „We are so impressed with this company’s excellent cooperation that we have already entered into negotiations with Battenfeld about some further investment projects.“

Battenfeld has delivered two complete pipe extrusion lines: one standard system for producing all standard types of plastic pipes with diameters ranging from 90 to 400 mm, and another system specially designed for manufacturing large pipes with diameters between 500 and 1,200 mm. Depending on the material processed, the two pipe extrusion lines are laid out for a maximum output of 600 kg/h and 1,000 kg/h respectively, which corresponds to a total production capacity of approximately 12,000 tons per year.

The installation of these two new extrusion lines also marks an overall expansion of the company: 14 new employees have been added to its workforce, and its production floor has been extended by 2.000 m2 as well.

Flexibility is a must

The plastication unit in the large-diameter pipe extrusion line is a BEX 1-120-30 B single-screw extruder. This compact extruder with a screw diameter of 120 mm and an effective length of 30 D is equipped with grooved feed bushing combined with a barrier screw. Especially in polyolefin processing this type of processing unit is well established. It ensures a high throughput as well as homogeneous plastication of the melt at low melt temperatures. The lattice basket die incorporated into this line is also production-proven in polyolefin processing. Battenfeld lattice basket dies are extremely sturdy, reliable and insensitive to viscosity fluctuations. They are suitable for processing a great number of thermoplastic materials and offer processors maximum flexibility. This property is also particularly important for the Saudi-Arabian company. To cover the complete diameter range, it decided to purchase two dies for the line: A type PO 800/1000 SI lattice basket die to produce pipes with exterior diameters from 500 to 800 mm, and a PO 1200/1200 SI die for pipes in the 800 to 1,200 mm range. Both dies have been delivered with a number of different inserts to allow for the production of pipes with different wall thicknesses. Moreover, each die comes with co-extrusion equipment to produce pipes with up to eight color stripes. Thanks to these extras, SPPI has the capacity to manufacture an enormous variety of different pipes and is capable of quick response to customer demand. This includes the variety of polymers that can be processed on the line. Although SPPI manufactures main