Over the 15 years, the demand for large diameter PE extruders has dramatically increased. In this article, Udo Spilker, Sales & Marketing Manger Far East for Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik, the leading supplier of large diameter extruders, gives us an insight into this market and some of the reasons for this trend.

In the mid 1990's several pipe producers installed extrusion lines, covering size ranges of 1,600mm and 2,000mm outer diameter PE pipes were used in traditional applications, such as water transportation and waste water disposal, but also opened up new areas for PE pipes in fish farms, desalination plants, mining and other industrial operations.

The graph shows the number of extrusion lines, either completely or partly, supplied by Battenfeld Extrusionstechnik between 1980 and 2008. We estimate that we sold about 80% of the total number of extrusion lines worldwide in the range of 800 – 2,000mm in this period. Half of these machines were sold in Asia and the Middle East , demonstrating a strong trend to large diameter pipe production in these regions.

We at Battenfeld noticed that especially in the last few years, more and more manufacturers of large plastic pipes are “plying it safe”, and thus tend to buy such large PE extrusion lines from a capable and experienced single source, instead of trying to match different machines (extruders, downstream equipment, etc.) from different suppliers themselves.

The reasons behind this worldwide capacity increase and the more frequent use of large PE pipes are:

1.  PE pipe became more competitive in price when looking at a complete project.

2.  Pipe lengths of up to 300 – 500 meters (theoretical endless) are produced “in one piece” not using one single fitting/connection.

3.  Pipe connections are easily done onsite, safe and long lasting.

4.  Overall handling of large PE pipes is easy compared to other pipes (metal, GRP, etc.).

5  When using PE pipes, operating failures are reduced compared to pipes made of other materials.

6  By enabling wall thickness reduction, PE 100 gives PE pipes higher hydraulic capacity and makes them more cost effective.

7  About 10 years ago, a new generation of PE 100 raw material tailored specifically to large PE pipe (wall thicknesses of up to 120mm), e.g. BorSafe HE3490. LS were introduced to the market, making the production of such pipes easier.

Due to the current crises in the world economy, there might be temporary market slowdown over the next 1 – 2 years, but we strongly believe that there will be much more demand for such large PE pipes medium to longer term. Besides, we are confident to see even larger PE pipes with outer diameters of 2,500mm or 3,000mm or more in the next couple of years. For this success to continue, however, quality is of great importance. A high quality pipe at highest line speed requires an optimum fit between the ready made, compounded (black or colored) raw material and the extruder and auxiliary equipment