Pure Technologies Announces Metallic Pipe Initiative

Pure Technologies has announced that it is significantly investing research and development to improve the state of art for condition assessment of ductile iron, cast iron, and steel pipelines.

The Metallic Pipe Initiative (MPI) includes an aggressive research program to develop inline inspection technologies, improve the state of knowledge on metallic pipe deterioration and to determine best engineering analysis techniques. The MPI is a collaborative effort involving numerous industry partners. Pure Technologies debuted some of these inspection technologies at the ACE11 conference in Washington, D.C., June 12-16.

To better understand the current industry needs for assessing metallic pipe, a two-day roundtable was held in Washington, D.C. in April, where pipeline owners and consultants who are industry leaders in the field of condition assessment and proactive management of water/wastewater mains gathered to develop a concise understanding of the industry needs for metallic pipe tools by gathering industry and product requirements for various inspection technologies. Ultimately, the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) will develop a technical report summarizing industry needs for metallic pipe assessment to ensure that Pure’s research efforts adequately address industry needs. Pure will use the document to guide its research, development and testing of the subject technologies under pilot projects as part of its MPI.

Pure Technologies already has several tools to help utilities and consultants perform condition assessment of metallic mains, including SmartBall and Sahara technologies to detect leaks and pockets of trapped gas. In addition to these tools, Pure is developing four inline non-destructive testing technologies to provide direct information on the condition of the pipe wall (e.g. thinning, pitting, or cracking). All four technologies have passed Pure’s initial tests for providing data on the pipe wall. Under the MPI, Pure is performing low-cost pilot projects to independently confirm the performance of the technologies.