Case Studies

Here are a few examples of how we've helped some of our customers in the past:

Client: Pulp & Paper Mill
Location: United States
Insituform® Rebuilds Paper Mill's Pipe in Less than 48 Hours

Challenge: A 36-inch-diameter (900 mm) effluent line buried 18 feet (5.5 m) beneath a paper mill was seriously cracked, threatening the plant's ability to operate.

Solution: Insituform® inspected the pipe during a scheduled maintenance shutdown . The inspection revealed the damaged pipe was full of gravel, which was removed during cleaning. Insituform® then rehabilitated the 768-foot (235 m) pipe, sealing cracks and eliminating infiltration - all within the 48-hour time limit of a holiday shutdown.

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Client: Pulp & Paper Mill
Location: France
Abrasion Problem Solved in French Pulp Mill Pipelines

Challenge: Abrasive effluents had damaged a lengthy section of an effluent pipe, causing it to leak into the surrounding soil and threaten environmental damage at a French pulp mill.

Solution: To avoid the lengthy shutdown associated with replacing the deteriorated pipe, plant management selected Insituform® to rehabilitate it instead . Working from a single manhole, Insituform® restored structural integrity to 722 feet (220 m) of effluent pipe during a routine maintenance shutdown.

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Client: Chemical Plant
Location: United States
Insituform® Rehabilitates Difficult-to-Access Cooling Tower Pipeline

Challenge: A 24-inch-diameter (600 mm) cooling tower pipeline was leaking beneath the ground at a chemical plant. Because buried power lines crossed above it, excavating and replacing the leaking pipe would have been dangerous and expensive.

Solution: Insituform® rehabilitated the 300-foot-long (90 m) pipe using a custom-engineered solution which eliminates leakage and prevents internal corrosion in pressure pipe. Working over a span of three days, Insituform® crews completed the installation and hydrotested the difficult-to-access line with minimal disruption to the facility.

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Client: Food Processor
Location: England
Insituform® Meets Tight Deadline at U.K. Food Processing Plant

Challenge: Cracks in a 15-inch-diameter (375 mm) storm water drain and an 18-inch (450 mm) effluent pipeline raised concerns that food plant effluent could potentially seep into the storm drain and be fed into a local brook.

Solution: After conducting a detailed inspection of the two adjacent pipelines, Insituform® rehabilitated more than 450 feet (140 m) of the storm drain during regular working hours. Soon after, the effluent pipe was rehabilitated during a normal weekend shutdown, eliminating the contamination threat without affecting production.

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Client: Pharmaceutical Manufacturer
Location: England
Shutdown Avoided at British Pharmaceutical Plant

Challenge: Leaks in a drainage pipeline located under a key fermentation facility needed to be repaired without disrupting a pharmaceutical plant's operation.

Solution: Despite very restricted access, engineers from Insituform® rehabilitated a total of 1,050 feet (320 m) of pipe with diameters ranging from six to 15 inches (150 to 375 mm). Production in the fermentation plant was not interrupted at any time.

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Client: Nuclear Power Plant
Location: United States
Insituform® Develops New Product For Challenging Pressure Application

Challenge: An aging service water return system, with diameters ranging from 6 to 54 inches (150-1375 mm), had to be rehabilitated in the early stages of a refueling outage.

Solution: Insituform® developed a reinforced pressure product specially for this project and worked with a supplier to develop a new end seal design. A year of planning, development and coordination went into the successful rehabilitation of 2884 feet (880 m) of pressure pipe within the required 17-day window.

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Client: Nuclear Power Plant
Location: United States
Insituform® Rehabilitates Service Water System at Nuclear Power Plant

Challenge: Robotic camera inspections showed that the concrete lining of a service water system deeply entrenched under buildings and other structures at a nuclear power plant had deteriorated and could potentially cause leakage.

Solution: Before contracting Insituform® to rehabilitate the pipe, the nuclear plant first developed a program to qualify the Insituform® process for use in service water lines at nuclear power plants. After three years of evaluation and testing, it determined the Insituform® process was a viable way to rehabilitate the plant's difficult-to-access pipes and could extend the life of the pipe considerably. The actual rehabilitation process took less than 48 hours, despite difficult bends in the pipe structure.

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Client: Hydroelectric Plant
Location: Norway
Insituform® Increases Power at Norwegian Hydroelectric Plant

Challenge: Serious leaks in an inlet pipe caused frequent shutdowns and kept a 2.5-megawatt hydroelectric power station from operating at full capacity.

Solution: The Insituform® process provided the safest solution to the power plant's problem. Despite the many challenges associated with working in challenging river conditions, Insituform® rehabilitated the pipe and stopped the leaks, enabling the plant to operate at full capacity for the first time.

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Client: Electric Power Plant
Location: Japan
Insituform® Reconstructs Pipeline in Japanese National Park

Challenge: Underground pipes carrying heated water from an electric power plant down a mountain to nearby communities were corroding and discoloring the water.

Solution: The plant, which obtained geothermal energy from decaying volcanic rock several miles beneath the surface, was located in a national forest . Working during the brief summer season, Insituform® rehabilitated and provided corrosion protection to the 2.5-mile (4 km) pipeline without disruption to this environmentally sensitive area.

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Client: Petrochemical Plant
Location: United States
Insituform® Reconstructs Process Sewers at U.S. Petrochemical Plant

Challenge: Difficult-to-access, aging process sewers at a petrochemical plant were experiencing leaks and occasional collapses, threatening the integrity of the plant's oily water sewer system.

Solution: Insituform®'s internal pipe inspection helped locate the piping in need of repair. Then, without disrupting operations, the company reconstructed nearly 3,600 feet (1,100 m) of clay and concrete pipe, ranging in diameter from 12 to 36 inches (300 to 900 mm) in a matter of weeks.

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Client: Oil Refinery
Location: Australia
Insituform® Stops Product Loss at Australian Oil Refinery

Challenge: Leaks in the gravity sewer system had allowed oily water and hydrocarbon waste to contaminate the soil and underground water systems, causing an oil table to develop beneath the refinery site.

Solution: After evaluating several alternatives, refinery officials contracted Insituform® to conduct a four-stage program to reconstruct nearly 4,500 feet (1,375 m) of pipe. The rehabilitation, which consisted of 14 separate Insituform® inversions, was completed in eight weeks.