A novel internal pipe coating that extends useful life of steel pipes was developed that significantly increases useful life of steel pipes used for tailings transport. This coating has been used for more than 6 years in oil sands tailings lines at Canadian oil sands mines in Alberta. With this coating, useful life can often be extended up to 10-fold. This product is based on more than 15 years of experience in manufacturing of high performance polyurethane elastomer products. A novel, modular design of high performance elastomer manufacturing plants allows setting up such plants in close proximity to the mines requiring such product. Currently, manufacturing plants are located in Lingen, Germany and Calgary, Canada. The most recent maintenance cost reducing invention is an intelligent interior pipe coating. So-called “Instrumentation Spools” containing intelligent RoCoat~(TM) internal pipe coating are in service in Canada since April 2015. Sensors integrated into the coating layer measure coating wear. Sensor data are transmitted to the outside of the steel pipe without need for a hole through the pipe wall. More exact maintenance scheduling (pipe rotation or pipe replacement) based on these sensor data can save up to 25 % or even more of maintenance cost according to operators.
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