Protection of PE pipes against rodents

Session 11B
4:50 pm

Nahid Etemad, Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, Iran

Iran is the second largest gas producer in the world. Natural gas reserves of Iran is estimated to 26.7 TCM, 52% of the reserves in the southern region. Polyethylene pipes are widely used in gas industry. In some cases they are attacked by rodents. In this survey the protection of gas pipes against rodents was examined. After identification of the rodents’ species, a risk map was drawn and different methods from the application of physical barriers to using repellents were applied. Application of anti – rodent master batches in the formulation of PE pipes could be a candidate to solve this problem. This natural based masterbatch is added to the PE resins and their repellency of the new pipes was studied. Results show meshes, stones and a couple of different natural based repellents such as capsaicin can reduce the damage.

Etemad, N.
Rezaeezadeh, A.M.
Research Institute of Petroleum Industry

Bahramian, N.
National Iranian Gas Company