Pipe grade PP from chemicals producer Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) was specified for a recently completed upgrade and enlargement of a sewerage network for bordering municipalities Ivancice and Oslavany in the Czech Republic. The project involved the replacement of 26 km of ageing concrete pipes and an extension of the waste water network to connect an additional 15% of households.

The network owners chose a PP pipe from leading Czech pipe producer, Elmo-Plast (Urcice; www.elmoplast.cz). The company’s “Em-Line” PP SN16 solid wall pipe in 315mm - 600mm diameters was selected for the main sewer lines and 150mm - 200mm for the connections. The pipe material was based on “BorECO” BA2000 PP, which offers toughness, flexibility and durability.

Borealis said the material allows pipe producers to manufacture heavy-duty pipes without mineral fillers and without additional investments in new production equipment, exceeding currently available stiffness. As a high molecular weight, low melt flow block copolymer, it runs very easily on existing pipe extrusion equipment. Borealis claims it is the only available material without mineral modifiers that achieves an e-modulus of 2000MPa while maintaining a good impact resistance.