Trenchless Technology Game Changers: Progressive Pipeline Management
Proving and Improving Pipeline Technology for Twenty Years
Progressive Pipeline Management, Wenonah, New Jersey
Owner: David Wickersham
Founded: 2002
Employees: 250
Service Area: National with offices
Mid-Atlantic & Northeast.
Website: www.progressivepipe.com
Since 2002, Progressive Pipeline Management has been renewing natural gas pipelines from 12 “ to 42” along highways, bridges, railroad lines and urban environments. The Starline® Cured-in-Place-Lining (CIPL) trenchless technology is becoming part of the long term strategy for utilities to extend the life of pipelines.
Aging Gas Mains R&D & Industry Validation
The Starline® liner was developed specifically for lining high-pressure gas pipes. PPM started in 2002 when we secured the license for North America for Starline® from the inventor and patent holder, Karl Weiss of Berlin, Germany. Our core team spent hundreds of hours understanding the capabilities, the limitations, opportunities and use cases for utilities.
In the last fifteen years, the natural gas industry invested over $15 million in testing of the Starline liner and its capabilities at Cornell University, Battelle Labs with research partners including the Gas Technology Institute, NYSEARCH and PHMSA. CIPL has a confirmed service life of 100-plus years and is capable of installation applications at a maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) of 99 PSI, 180 PSI and 350 PSI. It meets ASTM Standards for lining gas mains and services, F2207-02 and F2207-06.
Double World Records
The industry endorsement opened up lining projects for large diameter. PPM secured the first world record lining project of a 36-inch cast iron gas main in 2017 with Public Service Electric & Gas in South Orange, New Jersey. Then in 2019, again with Public Service Electric & Gas, we crushed our own world record for the largest size natural gas pipe to be rehabilitated with Starline liner. The 42-inch diameter cast iron gas main is in a highly congested area with multiple freeways, underpasses and a hospital.
Reducing Methane Emissions
The PHMSA Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety PIPES Act of 2020 means tighter regulations on leaking pipes. Rehabilitating a cast-iron gas pipeline minimizes or eliminates greenhouse gas emissions while fixing leaks. Pipeline operators today are coming to PPM to address leaks and releases of gas as well as replacement or remediation of lines known to leak. Lining is a more cost effective method to fix leaks and includes a hundred year capitalization that goes onto the books as assets.
Testing Hydrogen Blend to Natural Gas Pipelines
Testing and R&D is underway to look at the effects of transporting natural gas and hydrogen blends in the same pipeline. AGA and DOT have work groups sponsored by PHMSA that include testing lining as a solution for hydrogen blend and transportation.to address if a lined pipe has more resistance to leaking hydrogen than a normal pipe, and the level of hydrogen/gas blend the liner can withstand.
From Quick Fix to Long Term Strategy
Gas companies today are looking at lining as part of their long-term strategy to manage leaking infrastructure and save the millions of dollars and disruption of open cut construction. Most of the big leaks and gas needs are in inner cities in the Northeast and metropolitan areas such as Chicago with limited resources. We are streaming rehabilitation of pipelines as a Turn-Key partner with PPM engineering, a contractor partner for the excavation and pipework, and PPM lining as an all in package.
Constant Innovation
Today we have lined more than one million feet of pipeline– around 200 miles – of gas pipelines in 18 different states. We challenge ourselves every day to find ways to line faster, safer and more cost effectively. As the industry continues to embrace CIPL for long term strategy and leak detection, we see continued growth and innovation for a safe and efficient pipeline infrastructure.
#PPMSTRONG
