Scour Prevention Systems Ltd has developed a scour prevention mat based on recycled car tyres, which was trialed on a wind farm off the Norfolk coast and then used in a recent major North Sea project.
The scour prevention mat uses end-of-life tyres fastened together to make matrixes, used in single or multi layers to protect all offshore turbines, platforms, foundations, pipelines and cables.
John Balch, SPSL chairman , said the development team had predicted the issue of scour and corrosion long ago and patented their product. “We have a patented solution for preventing and remediating scour for offshore foundations, turbines, platforms, cables and pipelines and everything that needs protecting on the sea bed.”
“Our first commercial project was in the offshore oil and gas industry, working with partners such as Tampnet, who has embraced our innovative approach.
“The results of our CCUs demonstrate the ease of installation using ROVs, and the advantages of using recycled car tyres as an effective way to protect pipelines/cables for cables crossing over offshore pipelines.”
More than 3,300 recycled car tyres were used in mats, laid in layers to form a ramp either side of the pipeline allowing safe cable installation, with a traditional scour prevention mat laid over the top for extra protection.
The solution protected the cable from unnecessary “free spanning”.
SPSL has also been working with the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult on its pilot support programme. Catapult has worked with the team to help commercialise its product.
Terry Hogg, ORE Catapult commercialisation manager , said: “We’ve been working with the SPSL team through our pilot SME support programme and with promising results.
“We’ve looked at the market requirements and growing need for scour prevention technologies, engaged a number of senior industry players, and using our technical knowledge and experience we have mapped out a route to support and strengthen their market and business development plans. We now look forward to working with the team in implementing those plans.”
SPSL said it is currently in dialogue with a number of offshore operators and developers who are interested in using its solution to mitigate, remediate, and prevent the onset of offshore scour.
Image: SPSL