Special Topic: Tubes and Pipes
advanced HEs to reach customers in Europe, Africa and the middle East within eight weeks. The programme involves HEs made of duplex grade 2205, superduplex 2507, 254 and Sanicro ® 35. This last, with its superior strength and corrosion resistance at high temperatures, was applied for the first time in a biogas facility in Texas, in HE tubes that will replace failed 316L tubes.
The facility converts and upgrades biogas into renewable natural gas. The importance of an effective replacement service offering higher-alloy tubes is highlighted by MST’ s decision to offer an eight-week delivery programme for specialized HE tubing.
New-Energy Industries Hydrogen
Of all the types of renewable energy, hydrogen is possibly the one that is growing the fastest, as it is important for both power generation( including energy storage) and transport.
Future growth depends on funding, so projections should be treated with caution, but two recent reports present an optimistic picture: Deloitte projects that hydrogen will grow to become a USD 1.4 trillion market by 2050, while Businesswire projects an annual growth rate of 7.15 % from 2023 to 2040, with the electrolytic process segment boasting a rate of 9.38 %. In 2022 the ammonia production segment accounted for over 50 % of market share. 3 Suppliers committed to the hydrogen industry include Vallourec, Mannesmann, Tubacex, Nippon Yakin Kogyo, and Alleima.
Vallourec, a supplier of pipes for H transport and storage, is developing new industry standards and has carried out tests qualifying the fracture toughness resistance certain steel grades for OCTG pipes, line pipes and pressure vessels exposed to H 2
. It has invented an underground modular storage system called Delphy. Tubacex is collaborating on the H2SALT project, in which hydrogen will be stored in underground salt caverns.
CCUS
Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage is considered an important contribution towards decarbonization. Carbon capture capacity is due to rise sixfold
Tube being extruded at Alleima’ s site in Sandviken, Sweden.
between 2022 and 2030, though the 50 projects announced for this period will not suffice to meet the Net Zero Scenario. 4
In early 2022, Neptune Energy asked Vallourec to test materials for safe injection of CO 2 in depleted wells in the Dutch North Sea. Vallourec is also working with Evonik to develop tubular solutions for the CCUS industry. Tubacex has developed CRA tubular products( OCTG) for CO 2 injection. Nippon Steel is collaborating with Mitsubishi and ExxonMobil on a programme for the Asia Pacific regions. MST is also developing its CCUS business.
Renewable energy
Both solar and geothermal require CRA tubing to function. Geothermal is especially promising as technology is changing quickly as engineers learn to drill ever deeper into the earth to tap the magma that provides the heat to generate electricity. Vallourec has recently developed VAM ® connections qualified for up to 350 ° C under thermal cycles, and Vacuum Insulated Tubing( VIT) for closed-loop geothermal systems which produce heat and power with minimal losses. Butting recently received an order for two types of casing for a new geothermal project in the Salton Sea, California, one made of super-duplex, the other of alloy 625.
Conclusion
Tubes, pipes and fittings made of stainless steel or CRAs are essential in both traditional and new( decarbonization) industries. As time goes on, the market share of the latter will only increase.
Acknowledgements
My thanks to Patrik Schraven, General Manager Marketing and Business Development of MST, for his insights.
References
( 1) www. einnews. com / pr _ news / 644942862 / pipefittingsmarket-forecast-2023-2030-growth-potentialand-outlook.
( 2) www. zionmarketresearch. com / report / stainless-steelpipes-andtubes-market.
( 3) https:// www2. deloitte. com / id / en / pages / about-deloitte / articles / emerging-greenhydrogen-market. html; https:// www. businesswire. com / news / home / 20230911450901 / en / Global-Hydrogen-Market-Set-for-Significant- Expansion-Projected-Value-of-761.3-Billion-by-2040--- ResearchAndMarkets. com
( 4) https:// www. iea. org / energysystem / carboncaptureutilisation-and-storage
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