The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) said it has begun manufacturing thermoplastic grades at its affiliates in Jubail and Yanbu and in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, which could revolutionize the domestic pipelines sector with environmentally responsible applications ranging from transporting potable water to gas and sewage.

The company is currently engaged with the local authorities, seeking to encourage them to construct pipelines for potable water distribution systems using these plastic grades to enhance service standards for the community.

The plastic resins go by the technical name of Bimodal High Density Polyethylene (HDPE).

The Sabic-branded HDPE pipe demonstrates the company’s sustainability efforts by allowing clean transportation of drinking water, avoiding soil contamination from sewage, besides several other advantages such as providing viable solutions for future challenges of conveying energy and gas, clean drinking water, and waste water.

Explaining the product quality, Khaled Al-Mana, the executive VP of Sabic Polymers Strategic Business Unit, said that plastic pipes were safe, cost-effective and earthquake-resistant with good tensile strength.

"The specially-designed pipe grade is light-weight and as a result, requires much less energy to produce and transport. “These are benefits that eventually flow down to the community in keeping with our commitment to develop products and applications that respond to societal needs,” he said.

Sami Al-Osaimi, the general manager, Global HDPE Business Unit, Sabic said, "Our HDPE range offers exceptional value and is superior in many ways to similar imported products. They deliver exceptional low sag performance for large-diameter pipes and pressure pipes with a low standard dimension ratio."

Sabic, he said, has a history of responsibly manufacturing products, supported by 18 global technology and innovation centers that provide significant and measureable advantages to customers, end users and the community.-TradeArabia News Service

Sabic is among the world’s market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.

The company's businesses are grouped into chemicals, polymers, performance chemicals, fertilizers, metals and innovative plastics. It has significant research resources with 18 dedicated technology & innovation facilities in Saudi Arabia, the US, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, India, China and South Korea.-TradeArabia News Service