Types of industries that use stainless steel piping

 

Types of industries that use stainless steel piping

Now that we've learned about the different types of steel pipe offered, let's look at the industries in which they are used.

 

Mining and Minerals

Mining is the process of extracting materials from the earth. The materials covered are usually in the form of common and precious metals, something that has been done for thousands of years to obtain beneficial resources. Mining is the industry where stainless steel makes it easier and more profitable to carry out large operations. Whether it is used in the actual mine itself where workers and machines dig underground, or in the bunk beds and canteens where staff sleep, it is used in a variety of different applications to provide safety and reliability.

 

Oil and Gas

Technology plays an extremely important role in the oil and gas industry. Over the past few years, the need for corrosion resistant pipelines has increased as we have deepened our oil exploration and put more and more pressure on the duplex and super duplex stainless steel pipelines we use. These harsh environments can be incredibly corrosive and if not checked for damage, the pipelines can easily burst and cannot be used at greater depths. This is why it is important to have robust piping in the oil and gas industry and how it plays such a huge role in the industry's success.

 

Liquefied Natural Gas

LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) is a gas that is temporarily converted into liquid form for the purpose of transportation. It is significantly smaller in volume, making it easier and cheaper to transport. In some cases, transporting natural gas by pipeline is not possible or cheap enough to be worth the cost, which is why it is transported in liquid form in cryogenic marine vessels and road tankers. Therefore, it is important to have the right pipelines to provide safe and economical LNG transportation to hard-to-reach parts of the country or the world.

 

Nuclear Power

Obtaining usable energy from atomic nuclei is no easy task. All of the nuclear reactors we use today heat water to produce steam, which is then used to spin turbines that provide us with energy, and most of them are placed near the coast because of the cooling requirements. As a result, much of the water drawn to cool these reactors comes from the ocean and needs to be able to resist the corrosive nature of seawater. Stainless steel pipe is perfectly qualified to resist seawater corrosion, hence its importance in the nuclear power industry.

 

Desalination

Desalination is the removal of salt and other minerals from the water source. This is done in order to convert the water into fresh water suitable for human use or possibly irrigation. In most cases, salt is a by-product and many submarines and ships use desalination. Today, desalination is often talked about when trying to bring fresh drinking water to hard to reach areas of the world. Salt water and metals usually do not mix well, so it is important in the desalination industry to install pipes that can withstand the natural corrosiveness of salt water.