Piggable pipelines

In piggable pipelines, the contents of the pipe are completely emptied using a fitted body (pig). Pigging reduces product mixing to a minimum. The advantage is that different products or batches can be conveyed through the same transfer line. In addition, the flushing cost is reduced and the production yield increases.

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What is pigging and what is it used for?

Pigging is a process that engineers discovered about 50 years ago. This is how the principle works: A pig, a body that fits the pipe perfectly, pushes the contents of the pipe out with the help of a propellant. The process is suitable for a number of areas of application, is cost-efficient and environmentally friendly. Due to its simplicity and versatility, it is now used in almost every branch of industry. Existing systems can also be made piggable at a later date.

What are piggable pipes?

Piggable pipes are special pipes into which a pig can be inserted. These pipes have to meet special requirements, which is why they often have extra thick walls, smooth surfaces and are often made of special materials. Individual customer requests such as multiple bends that can be pigged can be taken into account during construction of the system. Pigs allow companies to get the most out of their pipes and reduce their costs.

What is the main advantage of pigging?

Pigging reduces the mixing of different substances to a minimum. This makes it possible to transport different products or batches through the same line. If lines are to be completely emptied or a product should not come into contact with the outside air, pigging is the method of choice. The product yield can be noticeably increased by piggable pipelines; at the same time, flushing costs are significantly reduced.

Pipeline pigging: Benefits

• The products can be used completely without mixing
• No or minimal flushing is required when changing products
• Improved availability of the production plant
• Wastewater volumes and disposal costs are significantly reduced

What are pigs?

Hose pig, powder pig, exchangeable lip pig or special mould construction models - the selection of pigs is huge. Pigs are used to clean pipelines and are used in all kinds of conveying systems. A pigging system can promote the transport of individual product batches within the pipeline, completely remove media of different consistencies from pipelines or cleanly separate viscous product batches of different strengths from one another. Pigs are also used to inspect pipelines.

Which pig systems are there?

It is possible to pig pipelines in almost all conveying and filling systems. A distinction is made between one, two and multiple pigging systems as well as open and closed systems. In the closed system, the pigs remain inside the pipes for many months, so they do not have to be changed regularly. With the open system, on the other hand, the pigs are fed in and out as required. The open system is based on the one-way principle, which makes it particularly suitable for pipelines and ship systems. There are cleaning pigs, leak detection pigs, special pigs for the food industry and many others. The 2-pig system is the most commonly used.

What is a pig station?

A pig station makes the handling of several pigs much easier. The optimally assembled system components in a pigging station help to reduce costs and environmental pollution and make the production plant more efficient.

What is a pig sluice?

The pig sluice is at the beginning and at the end of every pig system. In the initial lock, the pigs are brought into the correct position with a pneumatic feed cylinder and then propelled through the pipeline using a propellant. After the end of the passage, the final sluice receives the pigs including the leftovers that have been carried along.

Which fittings are piggable?

Only fittings that can fully open the line cross-section can be used in piggable pipelines. Only gate valves and ball valves are suitable for this. Pig cock fittings were specially developed for pigging pipelines.