longevity of service Pig laucher and receiver for gas pipline
cleaning
Description:
Pigging has been used for many years to clean larger diameter
pipelines in the oil industry. Today, however, the use of smaller
diameter pigging systems is now increasing in many continuous and
batch process plants as plant operators search for increased
efficiencies.
Pigging can be used for almost any section of the transfer process
between, for example, blending, storage or filling systems. Pigging
systems are already installed in industries handling products as
diverse as lubricating oils, paints, chemicals, toiletries, and
foodstuffs.
Pigs are used in lube oil or painting blending: they are used to
clean the pipes to avoid cross-contamination, and to empty the
pipes into the product tanks (or sometimes to send a component back
to its tank). Usually pigging is done at the beginning and at the
end of each batch, but sometimes it is done in the midst of a
batch, e.g. when producing a premix that will be used as an
intermediate component.
Pigs are also used in oil and gas pipelines: they are used to clean
the pipes but also there are "smart pigs" used to measure things
like pipe thickness along the pipeline. They usually do not
interrupt production, though some product can be lost when the pig
is extracted. They can also be used to separate different products
in a multi-product pipeline.
