Plasson USA | 6020 Osborn Street Houston, TX 77033 | 800-241-4175 | www.PlassonUSA.com

HDPE SOLUTIONS FOR THE LUGGAGE POINT ADVANCED WATER TREATMENT PLANT

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Continuing drought conditions throughout Australia have prompted government officials to consider a broad set of solutions. Since 1990, rainfall totals have declined while temperatures have peaked. A rainfall map published by the Australian Meteorological Service for 1995 through 2005 shows the lack of moisture in the western regions of Australia. From the end of 2012 through the beginning of 2014, the conditions across Queensland and the Upper Western District of New South Wales worsened. Moisture deficiencies for those areas range from the lowest 10% to 5% of records.

For Queensland, the drought conditions, combined with population growth, contributed significant water shortages between 2002 and 2005. Although Australia has considered a variety of solutions—such as desalination—to combat the impact of the drought, the Queensland government opted for the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project or WCRW. With a service area that includes the cities of Brisbane and Ipswich, the project includes three new Advanced Water Treatment Plants (AWTP), six pre-existing water treatment plants, and more than 125 miles of pipeline. As a whole, the WCRW forms the largest recycled water project in the Southern hemisphere. The WCRW piping system allows the transfer of water normally discharged into the Brisbane River to the AWTPs. From there, the Advanced Water Treatment Plants purify the recycled water for use by the Swanbank, Tarong, and Tarong North power stations, to ease pressure on reservoirs, and to supply agricultural and industrial users. Other water treatment plants process the recycled water into drinkable water.

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LUGGAGE POINT

The Luggage Point Advanced Water Treatment Plant began performance testing during 2008 and entered full operations in 2011. To produce 18.5 million gallons of purified water daily, the Luggage Point uses a multi-barrier treatment method consisting of chemical precipitation, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet disinfection/advanced oxidation. Given this level of production, the Luggage Point AWTP has a primary role in complementing the potable water taken from Lake Wivenhoe and providing clean recycled water for the Queensland region and cities of Brisbane and Ipswich. In recognition of the technological advances and overall production, the Luggage Point Advanced Water Treatment Plant received recognition with the 2011 International Award from the WateReuse Association.

THE HDPE PIPING SYSTEM

Along with cost, the need for resisting organic growth poses a challenge when selecting the pipe for a wastewater system. Although stainless steel resists organic growth, the large-scale use of stainless steel pipe in a system presents prohibitive costs. The vendor alliance involved with the Luggage Point AWTP selected high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe because of resistance to organic growth and its lower cost, but most importantly, because HDPE pipe remains chemically inert when exposed to the caustic chemicals used for the treatment of wastewater.

Filtration systems such as those used at the Luggage Point AWTP require pipe systems that have tight tolerances and precise fabrication. One of the primary vendors in the Luggage Point coalition—Corrosion Products and Equipment (CPE) recommended the HDPE solution provided by Plasson USA. Plasson USA utilizes processes that control the thermodynamic effect of HDPE Pipe and Fittings. Along with those processes, Plasson USA’s use of new fusion protocols and customized tooling met and surpassed the tolerances required for filtration module systems like those at Luggage Point AWTP.

PLASSON USA – A TRUSTED MANUFACTURER AND ADVISOR Plasson USA serves as the largest single HDPE Manufacturer in the United States and stands as the first manufacturer, then known as IPF, to establish HDPE pipe and fittings as viable components for the Micro-Filtration Market Place. Even with this status and experience, Plasson USA recognizes that not all installations go smoothly. In the case of the Luggage Point AWTP, obstacles existed. In particular, installers at Luggage Point reported leaks at the HDPE connecting points between the filtration modules’ manifold or “header-to-header” end segments and “header-to-end cap” close off. Specifically, the installers claimed that minute longitudinal gouges and scratches and/or “knit lines,” which are die marks from the pipe extrusion process, created leak paths at the gasket sealing surface where Gruvlock® style Gripper Couplers were used to join the header module components together.

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Employees from Plasson USA and Corrosion Products and Equipment collaborated to find a solution for the leaks encountered at Luggage Point. The solution involved the use of an Electrofusion Scraper that circumferentially peels approximately .007 inches off an HDPE pipe’s outside diameter surface while traveling along the pipe’s longitudinal axis. In effect, the scraping tool winds around the pipe much like an apple peeler. After tests conducted at the Plasson USA Houston facility showed the viability of the solution, representatives of Plasson USA and CPE demonstrated the solution for the Filtration Design Team and received approval. A technician from Plasson USA traveled to the Luggage Point AWTP to inspect the installation and use the Electrofusion Scraper to remove the tiny gouges observed by the installers. The technician discovered that the primary reason for the leaking connections was that the GruvLock® clamping system employed was not assembled completely or rather correctly onto at the header modules connecting points. The incorrect installation of the GruvLock® components prevented the gasket from sealing properly because the two halves of the clamp’s flange bolting points surfaces were not properly in contact with each other as per manufacturer’s installation guide. Although each side of the clamp has internal serrations to grip the pipe and a recess to accept the gasket, the lack of contact between the clamp halves at the clamp’s flange bolting points prevented full support for the gasket and allowed the connection to leak.

After addressing the clamping issue, the Plasson USA technician successfully demonstrated that in the instance of minute “knit lines,” the proper installation of the GruvLock® clamps mitigated all of the previously observed leaks. On more severe scratches or gouges, the Electrofusion Scraper was used to remove the damage observed on the HDPE pipe end segments. Several days of conducting 24-hour proof tests on multiple pieces with 100% success proved the viability of both solutions for Luggage Point AWTP installation and engineering teams. The Plasson USA technician completed the repairs for the entire system within twelve hours without any impact on the installation schedule. Due to the inherent features of HDPE and cooperative efforts of Corrosion Products and Equipment and Plasson USA, the HDPE filter modules have operated for nearly nine years with no other faults.

ABOUT PLASSON USA

Plasson USA manufactures the proprietary Spirolite and other pure HDPE pipe fittings. The company offers the most complete line of HDPE pipe fittings in the western hemisphere with pipe, flanges, heavy branch saddles, and reducers that range from two-inches to 120-inches in inside diameter. All pipe and fittings by Plasson USA are manufactured to highest quality standard and compliant pending application to one or more of the following standards including but not limited to: AWWA C906, ASTM F2206, ASTM D3261, ASTM D3350, ASTM F894, Factory Mutual (CL150, CL200, CL267) and others. Contact Plasson USA representative for more details: 1+800-123-4567.

6020 Osborn Street Houston, TX 77033

800.241.4175 | www.PlassonUSA.com

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6020 Osborn Street Houston, TX 77033

800.241.4175 | www.PlassonUSA.com