Underground Construction - September 2020 - 10

NEWSLINE LATEST INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS
The funding is part of the Advanced Research
Projects Agency-Energy's (ARPA-E) Rapid
Encapsulation of Pipelines Avoiding Intensive
Replacement (REPAIR) program.
REPAIR teams will develop natural gas
transmission pipeline retrofitting technology to
rehabilitate existing cast iron and bare steel pipes
by creating new, robust pipes inside of old ones.
"Natural gas is a crucial energy source for
75 million American households and businesses,"
said ARPA-E Director Lane Genatowski. "REPAIR
teams will develop technology that enables gas
utilities to update their distribution systems at low
cost and continue to reliably service commercial
and residential gas delivery needs nationwide."
The selected REPAIR teams are developing
smart coatings, robotic systems to line the inside of
pipes, inspection tools to verify the integrity of the
pipes, and mapping tools to enable 3D renderings
of pipes and adjacent underground infrastructure.
Legacy pipes make up only about 3 percent
of distribution pipes in use but account for a
disproportionate number of leaks.

SEPTEMBER 2020 | UCONonline.com

Denver Facility to Use
Wastewater Pipes to
Generate Energy

Thousands in Brazil
Evacuate Homes After
Water Pipe Ruptures

Officials say sewer pipes carrying wastewater
from a Colorado meeting complex will be used
to generate clean power as part of the largest
sewer heat recovery system in North America.
Officials overseeing the redevelopment of
the National Western Center campus estimate
the system will prevent the emission of
2,600 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere yearly by not burning fossil fuels,
The Denver Post reported.
The project will use a pair of 72-inch
(183-centimeter) sewer pipes carrying
wastewater and human byproducts to a
treatment facility north of downtown. The
closed-loop system isolates the soiled, sewerpipe water while using a heat pump to transfer
the warmth to pipes filled with fresh water. The
heated, clean water powers heating and cooling
machinery in campus buildings, officials said.

About 2,000 people in northeastern Brazil were
evacuated from their homes in August after a pipe
in a water diversion project ruptured, damaging
a dam and flooding the project's power plant,
authorities said.
Rogério Marinho, minister of regional
development, said the residents were told to leave
as a precaution after the concrete conduit broke
open in the city of Jati, in Ceara state.
He said water shooting from the ruptured
conduit damaged about 130 feet of a 460-foot wall
of the dam holding the reservoir fed by the pipeline.
Workers needed less than five hours to contain the
spill, he said.
"The situation of the dam is absolutely fine
and we have already started work to restore the
structure's wall," Marinho said by telephone from
the accident site. The evacuated residents were able
to return home within 72 hours, he said. *

http://www.wyoben.com http://www.UCONonline.com

Underground Construction - September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - September 2020