One area of the pipeline construction industry that has used older technologies is the buoyancy control mitigation sector. On new pipeline construction projects, the buoyancy control mitigation sector relies most often on large weights that are placed on buried pipelines to keep the pipe down in areas of high water tables, flood plains, marsh/tidal areas, and in rivers and lakes.

Buoyancy control for pipelines is important because pipelines are almost always evacuated of product (oil/gas/water etc) at some point in their life cycle. This product evacuation makes the pipelines extremely buoyant, and weights are required to keep the asset safely in place. In the case of natural gas pipelines and other gaseous product lines, buoyancy control is required for all normal day-to-day operations to be successful.

Previously, the most common weights used on pipeline projects have been concrete set-on weights, with sizes ranging for pipe from 4 inches to over 42 inches in diameter. This weight, while having an almost perfect shape to fit the pipe, is constructed of concrete, steel re-bar, welded wire mesh, and steel lifting hooks. Fabric pipe protection surrounds the areas that contact the pipe to protect the steel pipe coating from the abrasive concrete. In many cases, these weights are constructed remotely and transported to site at great cost.

Cost-effective, safe, environmental pipeline weighting

An alternative technology to the concrete set-on weight is the Geotextile Pipeline Weight (GPW). The GPW is constructed of polypropylene fabric and local gravel or rock. The product is custom-built to fit all pipe sizes. This proven design and ease of handling makes the GPW a modern solution to several draw backs of the past. Consider these three here:

  • ECO-cost (cost-effectiveness): In most cases the filled GPW is less expensive than the concrete version due to the cost of the materials used in the final product. As the GPW is made of gravel and fabric, there is no need for extra energy used for the mixing/manufacturing of concrete, hauling of steel and manipulating of finished weights. The GPW is simply filled and ready to install on the pipeline.
  • ECO-Safe: The GPW product is safer to manufacture, handle and install on pipeline construction sites.
  • ECO-responsible (environmentally responsible): The GPW is an environmentally safe solution. The fill gravel/rock is most often used from local sources and therefore has minimal effect on introducing non-indigenous materials to the construction site. This means that potential leaching or run-off from the GPW is more environmentally friendly than those transported from other sites. Also, polypropylene fabric is considered inert when buried, and has close to zero leaching effects.

The GPW provides a good solution to reducing the problem of introducing too many foreign materials into the environment. In this way, the product helps to reduce the carbon footprint of a pipeline project.

To date, many thousands of GPWs have been installed worldwide. An extensively used GPW product is the ECOBAG – GPW, which meets or exceeds the principles as set forth in this article.