Around the world, vital infrastructure is cracking or crumbling as materials weaken with age. However, it’s expensive to replace highway bridges, public buildings and underground pipelines. Henkel’s uniquely broad range of solutions for Infrastructure Protection and Repair (IPR) makes it possible to avoid those costs by fixing damage or preventing problems before they happen. That keeps people safe, while also ensuring a clean environment and unlocking positive progress for sustainability.
Success Story
Innovative technologies enable secure and cost-efficient restorations of aging infrastructure
Challenges
- Important infrastructure is aging
- Wear and tear can put people and the environment at risk
- Replacing infrastructure is expensive, disruptive and resource-intensive
Key to success
- Easy and fast applications of advanced technologies
- Durable, certified and compliant solutions
- Proven long-term reliability, safety and performance
Results
- Cost and time savings
- Eliminated risks for nature and communities
- Energy savings, material savings and a reduced environmental impact
Short on time? Dive into the key sections of your interest:
The relentless march of time never stops. And each passing year and decade brings new challenges for public buildings, traffic infrastructure and pipelines. Cracks, rips, bumps, holes and surface corrosion can lead to disastrous impacts for people and the environment if over-the-hill highway tunnels weaken or time-worn pipes start to leak.
Replacing aging infrastructure brings huge financial costs, while also consuming energy and materials that generate high volumes of CO2 emissions. Effective repairs, maintenance and proactive renovations offer a cost-effective and more sustainable approach. And advanced protection and repair technologies from Henkel make that possible for a wide range of applications.
Get to know some of our market-leading IPR technologies that are cutting costs and ensuring safety for aging infrastructure around the globe…
Customized and compliant composites
Gas leaks, oil spills or escaping sewage present big safety risks for people and the environment. But closing city streets to replace water pipes or digging below the ocean floor to install shiny new oil pipes is a logistical, financial and ecological headache—and must be conducted in line with strict regulations. Until recently, most repairs to existing pipelines involved applying a steel sleeve. That means producing energy-intensive metal parts, using industrial cranes to lift heavy steel and then welding the sleeve at very high temperatures.
Modern inspection equipment is providing more specific insights into defects or potential problems with aging infrastructure—to enable ultra-targeted repairs.
Matt Green, Director of Technical Services for Aging Critical Infrastructure, Henkel Adhesive Technologies
Composite repair systems from Henkel’s CSNRI portfolio are gaining popularity as a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to replacing pipes or adding steel sleeves. These composite materials are suitable for all temperatures, substrates and applications. Technical teams at Henkel design bespoke materials for each customer, then provide training in optimal application. The repair systems are lightweight and ultra-quick to install on pipes of all shapes and sizes. And compliance with relevant local and international regulations is guaranteed.
>1,500
oil or gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are over 30 years old and more than 2,500 platforms in the Asia-Pacific region need decommissioning this decade.
More sustainable than steel and cement
Trust is the world’s most valuable currency—especially when it comes to roads, pipelines or hospitals. For many years, steel and cement have proven their strength and reliability in these forms of infrastructure. But today, restoring or repairing these materials is often more cost-effective and resource-efficient than replacing them. That’s why solutions for protection and repair are gaining popularity.
LOCTITE GeoSpray geopolymer, for example, is a geopolymer material made of recycled post-industrial waste. Tests have confirmed its strength and durability when applied to the inside of aging large-size pipes. The product is resistant against sewer gases, acid corrosion and abrasion. Contractors simply take a bag of this cement-like solution and mix it with water before applying it as a spray to create a new structural pipe within a pipe.
Henkel’s range of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites from its Fyfe brand are another cost-effective and highly reliable option. These innovations also eliminate the need to produce and install steel or concrete when strengthening the seismic durability of aging buildings or road infrastructure. They minimize disruption by curing within just one day, while they are also fully tested and certified in line with the highest international standards. FRP solutions from Henkel protect patients at the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute in Los Angeles, as well as drivers on the Makaha bridge in Hawaii and train passengers on the bridge across Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho.
Our specialists provide expert training and certification for contractors and other customers to ensure safe, secure and sustainable applications.
Joe Royer, Direct of Product Development for Infrastructure Protection and Repair (IPR), Henkel Adhesive Technologies
Easy to use and proven to protect
While pipes and infrastructure are showing their age, fresh perspectives are now transforming this market. Rising openness to future-facing technologies is unlocking attractive opportunities to enhance safety while minimizing costs and maximizing sustainability. Typical materials and methods are on the way out in favor of revolutionary new technologies.
STOPAQ Wrappingband products are corrosion-preventative wrap materials, which adhere extremely well to steel and factory or field-applied pipeline coatings
StopAq is one of those increasingly popular solutions. It creates a powerful barrier to oxygen and moisture that ensures excellent corrosion protection, even on submerged pipes. The coating is proven to hold up for 30 years and is easy to use: Contractors simply remove loose rust or coatings from the intended surface with a wire brush and apply StopAq as a wrap, almost like wallpapering.
20 %
cost savings are possible with StopAq coatings compared to traditional liquid coatings (based on studies completed by Shell and Equinor).
Products from this portfolio also contribute to sustainability in multiple ways. Compared to traditional liquid coatings over a 25-year period, they shrink carbon emissions by 95 percent and reduce hazardous waste per square meter by 90 percent. In addition, there’s no bucket, no brushes and no waste involved in the application—which saves resources.
It’s simple and speedy to apply our trustworthy innovations for repairing pipelines and other critical infrastructure.
Dinko Cudic, Business Line Director at Seal For Life Industries: StopAq, Henkel Adhesive Technologies
Saving time, money and resources
Science has achieved incredible progress in recent decades—but it can’t stop time. That’s why organizations worldwide are seeking trustworthy technologies for repairing time-worn infrastructure. Advanced coatings from Henkel enable those organizations to extend the usable service life of pipelines, transport networks and public buildings without expensive or disruptive maintenance activities. And they support progress toward sustainability by saving energy, reducing resource consumption and protecting the environment.
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