​​​​​​​How Can Long Distance Mine Tailings Pipeline Benefit from Uhmwpe Material Pipes?

For long-distance mine tailings pipelines, the use of UHMWPE (Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) pipes can offer a range of significant benefits, especially given the demanding and often harsh conditions involved in transporting tailings over extended distances.

 

 

For long-distance mine tailings pipelines, the use of UHMWPE (Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene) pipes can offer a range of significant benefits, especially given the demanding and often harsh conditions involved in transporting tailings over extended distances. Here’s how UHMWPE material can specifically enhance long-distance tailings pipeline systems:

 

1. Uhmwpe pipe or uhmwpe liner can help reduce wear and tear from abrasive materials

 

Tailings often contain abrasive particles (formation of abrasive particles, mining processes, particularly crushing and milling, break town ore into very fine particles. These particles, while small, can still be angular and hard, making them abrasive). UHMWPE has exceptional abrasive wear resistance, which reduces the wear and tear on pipes. This is especially critical over long distance tailings pipeline, where friction and abrasion can cause conventional pipes (like steel or concrete) to deteriorate quickly. Theoretical testing data shown that UHMWPE performs two times anti abrasive wear than HDPE under the same abrasive slurry conditions.

 

Because of the excellent abrasive wear resistance, UHMWPE pipe or uhmwpe liner can longer—lasting pipelines that require less maintenance and fewer replacement, ultimately lowering operational costs.

 

2. Uhmwpe pipe or uhmwpe liner can help lower friction losses and pumping costs

 

UHMWPE pipe or uhmwpe liner, have a very low coefficient of friction, Dragon UHMWPE’s third party test to UHMWPE plate against steel regarding kinetic coefficient of friction according to ISO8295:1995 can reach to 0.032, this property leading to smoother internal surfaces, surface roughness of Dragon UHMWPE pipe can reach to 0.05~0.1μm according to ISO21920-2:2021. This means less resistance when pumping tailings through the pipeline. 

 

The property of smoother internal surface and very small friction losses, is extremely helpful for reduce energy consumption for pumping tailings over long distances. Compared to rubber liner steel or HDPE lined steel pipes, this property makes UHMWPE lined steel pipe more friendly to slurry pumps. This translates to cost savings on energy and potentially smaller, less expensive pumps or pumping stations, improving the overall efficiency of the pipeline.

 

3. Uhmwpe pipe or uhmwpe liner with high chemical resistance

 

Mine tailings often contain a variety of chemicals, including acids, salts, and other reactive substances. Among all the tailings pipeline materials, rubber lined, HDPE lined pipe, Polyurethane Lined pipe, UHMWPE pipe or liner is highly resistant to a more wide range of chemicals, ensuring that the material of the pipes won’t degrade over time when exposed to these substances. This help decrease the breakdown of long distance tailings pipeline due to its corrosive wear. Increase lifespan of the pipeline in chemically aggressive environments, reducing the need for frequrent maintenance and replacements to liner pipes, and lowering the risk of leaks or pipeline failures.

 

4. Uhmwpe pipe or UHMWPE liner high resistance to freezing

 

About uhmwpe materials’ high resistance to lower temperature, there is little studys. An authoritative description comes from Ticona’s product brochure about wear resistance. It goes:

 

The excellent wear resistance of GUR is retained at extremely low temperatures. Gaskets, sleeves and packings produced from GUR have performed so satisfactorily in piston pumps for liquid hydrogen (-253℃),that in a large European nuclear research center the high-alloy CrNi steel pistons (which at this operating tempeature had previously showed severe wear and fall-off in efficiency) were sheathed with GUR. After the pumps had run for a year at -253℃, it was noted that no decline in performance was apparent. Up on dismantling the pumps, it was evident that GUR, even at these very low temperatures, possesses excellent sliding and abrasion properties. The wear was so slight that it was possible to refit the same pistons.

 

Based on Dragon UHMWPE pipes real application, For actual application in cold area, Dragon UHMWPE lined pipe has been installed at China Mohe (the northern part of China, with Latitude 52°N，at Duobaoshan Copper mine, belongs to Zijin Mining). In this case, the mining company has heating supply inside its workshop, so the mining activity is running all year around, including Winter time. The slurry temp. at 17~20℃，when they are pumped into uhmwpe lined steel pipeline, there is no freezing that block the pipeline, because of two reasons: 1. Even there is freezing happened due to lower ambient temp, the self-lubrication performance of uhmwpe makes there is no adhere of freezing onto pipe inner wall. The slurry is at a flow status, the flow will push away the freezing, it will not get scaling and block the pipeline. 2. Compared to steel pipe, uhmwpe material has a very low thermal conductivity (0.41 w/mk at 23℃, this is a data from GUR technical datasheet.), the thermal release to ambient, and cold conductivity from cold ambient area to the inside of pipe is very slow.

 

UHMWPE pipes or liners have low thermal conductivity and can perform well even in extreme temperatures. In colder climates, these pipes are less prone to freezing or becoming brittle in freezing conditions, which can be a problem with some other materials such as rubber liner, HDPE liner, or Polyurethane liner.

 

Due to this advantage, UHMWPE pipe or uhmwpe liner performs better than other pipeline materials for cold area mining tailings transport.

 

5. Uhmwpe pipe high resistance to solar UV

 

Modified UHMWPE pipes, with UV stabilizer and antioxidants during manufacturing can make UHMWPE pipes performs much better anti-UV than HDPE pipes. This can greatly attribute to UHMWPE’s application at higher latitudes areas with strong solar UV.

 

6. Flexibility and adaptability in Complex Terrain

 

UHMWPE pipes are highly flexible, allowing them to better navigate difficult terrain, including hilly or rocky areas. This flexibility is particularly useful in long-distance pipelines that pass through varied and often challenging landscapes.

 

This will do good to easier installation and a more resilient system, as the pipes are less likely to suffer from mechanical failure due to ground shifting or uneven landscapes.

 

For long-distance mine tailings pipelines, UHMWPE pipes or uhmwpe liner offer a range of advantages including enhanced durability, reduced operational costs, improved efficiency, and environmental safety. Their combination of abrasion resistance, chemical resistance, low friction, and impact resistance makes them ideal for long-lasting, cost-efficient, and safe tailings transport over challenging distances and terrains.