SAPPMA hosted a successful CPD accredited international webinar on Thermoplastic Pipe Systems on Thursday, 21 October 2021. Four industry experts (two local and two international) shared their knowledge on the most important aspects that need to be kept in mind during design and specification stages.

Darren Poynton: Managing Director at GoPoly (Australia)

Darren focused on HDPE pipe data recording in his presentation. "HDPE pipes go through batch testing and quality control to meet the highest quality standards before it is released. Every pipe and injection moulded fitting have quality data sheets available," Darren explained. He discussed the five most common causes for weld failures, including ways to prevent them, before going into details about paper-based recording, its uses and benefits in the digital era.

Prof Alessandro Marangoni: Economist & CEO of Althesys (Italy)

Representing the European Council of Vinyl Manufactures, the leading PVC producers in the EU (ECVM) that was established in 1984, Prof Alessandro focussed the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of PVC pipes and the cost benefits of recycling PVC pipes. "TCO is a ‘customer-centric’ analysis aimed to account for the difference between the purchase price of something and its long-term cost. This is considered the most effective method to provide an analysis of the users' monetary costs throughout the products’ lifetime," he said before explaining the methodology of evaluating the economic performance of materials.

Peter Fischer: Royal HaskoningDHV (Umhlanga, KZN)

Peter's expertise lies in bulk conveyance, focusing on pipelines, outfalls, reservoirs, pump stations, canals and intake structures. His presentation focused on unlocking the benefits of HDPE systems and understanding some of the differences compared to the traditional use of legacy materials. Peter also went into detail about the pros and cons of different jointing systems, highlighting that some designs need more restraining than others and that special consideration needs to be given to above-ground installations.

“All thermoplastic pipes properties are related to the base material characteristics, which influences the differences in properties—for example, high strength with low toughness or high toughness with low strength are typical extremes of the spectrum of properties to be considered when designing with thermoplastics. The nett outcome of the design is a 100-year and more life expectancy. In addition, some thermoplastics have characteristics that make them more suitable for abrasion, weldability and relining”, he explained.

Mike Smart: Sizabantu Piping Systems (Pinetown, KZN)

Focussing on the role and importance of piping systems made from PVC-O pipes, Mike explained why they are an excellent choice for pressure pipes used to supply drinking water, but also well suited for buried, non-potable applications such as irrigation and sewer pumping mains.

“The webinar was well-received and resulted in valuable feedback from the audience members regarding topics they wanted us to address in our future webinars. To this end, SAPPMA’s 9th webinar will take place on Wednesday, 24 November 2021 from 09:00 until 10:30 and will focus on the gelation of extruded PVC pipes. Our guest presenter will be Chris Cheeseman, the Technical Sales Manager at Akdeniz Chemson Additives Limited in the UK, who will be explaining what “gelation” means and why it is important to achieve a successful piping system,” said Ian Venter, SAPPMA Technical Manager.