CASE STUDY

Oil Sands Mine Case Study

Oil sands are loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay and water, saturated with bitumen — all very abrasive materials.

Scope

The customer had a rupture on a 350mm water line. The mine was subject to frigid conditions of -26°C.

Solution

The customer shut down the pipe line, then used a Herman Nelson heater and sock placed right at the patch location to maintain a moderate temperature. They cleaned and roughened the damaged area, stemmed the leak with Rapp-it Steel Putty, and applied Rapp-it Pipe Repair Bandages (100mm x 3.6m) over the top. The line was up and running at full capacity 30 minutes after application.

“Temperatures are testing out here — Rapp-it stands up to the test.”

Maintenance Manager, Canada

Technical Details

Pipe Substrate
Steel

Pipe Contents
Water

Internal Pressure
87 psi / 600 kPa

Temperature
Ambient (-26°C site conditions)

Pipe Diameter
350mm