Corrosion Protective Coating Technology for Transit Pipelines in Europe

In the last 50 years large oil- and gas-pipeline-networks have been installed with diverse coating systems. Corrosion protective systems - e.g tapes, shrink sleeves and liquid coatings (polyurethane and epoxy) have been used on all types and sizes of buried pipelines. Results thus obtained are as versatile as the available range of products and systems. The quality of a suitable corrosion protective coating system is an important criterion of the life expectancy of a pipeline and its secure operation. In Europe, for USA and all major countries where pipelines are laid, there are numerous standards and guidelines specifing the properties and functions of these protective coatings e.g. DIN EN 12068 [1]. For choice of a suitable corrosion protective coating system items like project size, intended and/or feasible method of pipe cleaning as well as special pipeline operating conditions have to be considered and are necessarily strongly related to each other. This paper will focus onto the experiences made with so called 3-ply plastic tapes. Due to their self- amalgamating butyl rubber layers they have proven their excellent performance for field coatings for 30 years now.