De-risking creep in composite pipes for energy-transition applications

Enoflex manufactures cost-effective composite-material pipes for the energy transition industry. They are a cost-effective product for piping liquified gases: -- Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) import. A cleaner alternative to coal for power generation.

-- Liquid CO2 for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS). To store emissions from heavy industries such as cement and steel and base-load gas-fired power generation.

-- Superconducting power transmission cooled with Liquid Nitrogen. An efficient way to transmit electricity from remote renewables and to share power between neighbouring countries via interconnectors.

Enoflex pipes are light-weight with good cryogenic performance and are cost-competitive compared to traditional metal approaches. They are made from plastic polymers and are simple to recycle at the end of life.

The project enables us to investigate long-term degradation risks to the material from "creep": a phenomenon where the polymer molecules distort over long timescales of years. In an extreme case, creep can cause a design to fail prematurely. Enoflex will work with experts at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) to develop novel creep measurement methods.

NPL has considerable experience and expertise in the development of measurement techniques and standards for engineering and scientific problems.

Better knowledge of creep effects will allow Enoflex to make design mitigations to manage the creep risk, remove the risk of failure in our pipes, and justify their use to safety regulators. This will lead to increased sales and manufacturing job creation in our Southampton factory. Ultimately, the consumer and society will benefit since Enoflex pipes will play an important role in build-out of cost-effective infrastructure for the energy-transition.