Andreas Thieme, Dillinger, Germany, focuses on increased safety for natural gas pipelines, through attention to local hard zones on pipes.
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ocal hard zones, also called hard spots, are small areas on the surface of steel plates only a few tenths of a millimeter in thickness. Formed in pipes transporting sour natural gas, they are held responsible for sudden stress corrosion cracking in the through thickness direction. In order to reliably detect and eliminate these local hard zones during plate production, Dillinger, Europe’s leading heavy plate manufacturer, developed a special eddy-current testing system. This method has now been recognised by several oil and gas companies. First projects have begun, using pipes made of D-TECT branded steel tested for local hard zones on a large scale.
Big changes in technology with niches for adapted ‘old’ technologies With what we know about global warming, the world must move energy generation from the old carbon economy towards new technologies that have less environmental impact. But this can’t be done by flipping a switch. It’s a long process, with a slow conversion from old to new, requiring bridge technologies that can secure a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. One of these bridging
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