Cleaning Pigs

Many types of pigs have been designed to  increase the flow by removing specific types of pollution from the pipeline wall. The type of contamination, sediment or scale to be removed depends on the life stage (pre-commissioning, operations or decommissioning) and the product flowing through the pipeline. During the construction phase, the amount of contamination to be expected is low and often consists of sand, sharps, building materials and possibly light rust formation. Pipes that are in production carry a lot more contamination with them. Some examples of pollution are:

Water pipelines: mud, lime scale, sediments, etc.
Oil pipelines: cokes, sand, wax / paraffin, rust, etc.
Gas pipelines: rust, black dust, etc.
Product pipelines: chemical residue, rust, etc.

TECCURO always has the best cleaning options available for your pipeline.Some types of cleaning pigs that are commonly used are: foam pigs, brush pigs, magnetic pigs and gel pigs.We often see these types of pigs are combined in order to shorten the lead time of your project.

“CLEAN, CLEANER, CLEANEST“

Foam pigs

Polyurethane (PU) foam pigs can be used to remove light contamination from a pipeline. In addition to cleaning the pipelines, these foam pigs are used for displacement purposes. Because the foam is available in different qualities, the hardness and the cleaning properties of the pig vary. Foam pigs are compressible, which makes them able to pass through multi diameter pipelines that have pipe reductions up to 65%. The limitation is that these pigs cannot remove large quantities of fouling and contaminations that are sharp or sticky.

Brush pigs

If hard contaminations are stuck to the pipe wall, brush pigs are a good cleaning option. This pig is equipped with hard steel or plastic brushes that sheep the pipe wall by sending the pig along the pipeline. This way, the contamination is released from the pipe wall and can be removed with the process flow. Wire brush pigs could be used for light to medium pollution. These are foam pigs that are covered with brushes and wear-resistant polyurethane elastomer.

If the contamination on the pipeline wall is heavier, TECCURO recommends using a mandrel pig with brushes. A mandrel pig consists of a hard core (body) on which different disk types can be placed. In addition to any cleaning properties, the disks primarily provide the seal on the pipe wall. This way the pig can be moved with the gas or liquid flow. Various tools such as spring-loaded brushes can be placed on the body of these pigs. In contrast to the wire brush pigs, these springs press the brushes firmly against the pipe wall, which improves the cleaning effect. Due to the hard core body, this type of pig has a limitation in diameter.

Magnetic pigs

These mandrel cleaning pigs are equipped with super strong neodymium magnets that are usually placed on the body of the pig. This is because most cores are made of steel and this limits the magnetic field. By placing the magnets on the outside, the magnet pig can achieve maximum performance in removing ferrous material from the pipeline.

Special pigs

As mentioned before, there are many different pigs that can be used to clean your pipeline. If you have special challenges, TECCURO is ready to support you with our knowledge. Some special projects could be:

Gel pigs

Some pipelines cannot be cleaned with conventional pigs. A reason why these pipelines cannot be cleaned could be: because there are butterfly valves present inside the pipeline, because there are no connection options to launch a pig (unpiggable pipelines) and in case there is a lot of pollution to be expected that can block the pipeline. TECCURO can offer a solution with gel pigs. By adjusting the viscosity, it is possible to pump the gel pig through a small diameter pipe and retain sufficient properties to pick up and keep the pollution moving.

Cleaning of oxygen lines

Cleaning oxygen pipelines deserves special attention, because poor cleaning can have major consequences. Instead of chemical cleaning options it is also possible to use special cleaning pigs that will ensure that your oxygen pipeline is delivered according to your specification.

Removal of black dust

In gas pipes black dust (or black powder) can cause various problems to the instrumentation and valves. Pigging the pipeline regularly prevents the material from accumulating and eventually clogging the pipe. Not only the fine dust, but also the dryness of the gas pipelines can pose extra challenges.   TECCURO can deliver the right pigs for this job, with disks that have a high wear resistance.

Dewaxing of pipelines

In gas and oil producing pipelines, impurities in the product can start to deposit on the pipeline walls due to temperature changes. As a result a wax layer is created that will increasingly limit the internal diameter and the laminar flow and thus the efficiency of your pipeline. To avoid this, TECCURO developed a maintenance program that will keep your pipeline flowing.