Italian specialist in the manufacture of inflatables, Socap – which has recently completed a project of casting in-situ drainage lines using Socap Pneumatic Forms in Europe – foresees a large market for the technology in the region.

The company promoted the system at the Big 5 show held in Dubai late last year.
A leading Italian contractor had recently selected Socap Pneumatic Forms to cast in-situ drainage lines during the construction of a highway in Italy, which involved a unique challenge.
“This particular stage of the entire project required the construction of about 30 km of slotted drains and ancillary sewer lines with the most rapid and economic system.
Slotted drains had to be present on both sides of the road surface and, in some cases, also between the two carriageways,” says a company spokesman.
Elaborating on the project, he says: “A total of six pneumatic forms of different sizes and sections (600 mm, 1000 mm, 1500 mm diameter and an egg-section of 300 by 500 mm) each of 25 m length have been used for the whole job. Teams of three workers each were used to complete a 25-m long cast per day. By using four teams the contractor achieved a total cast of 100 m per day and therefore a monthly yield of about 2,000 m of drainage lines has been attained.
“The challenge of the job was that it was necessary to design two superimposed water lines, with a lower 600 mm diameter line collecting water coming from the upper slotted drain having a conduit section of 300 by 500 mm.
“The pneumatic forms also made it possible for the contractor to cast in-situ slightly curved conduits. Each pneumatic form has been used about 200 times and in some cases more as punctures and surface scratches have been easily repaired on the spot using the supplied repair kit,” he adds.
To prevent the pneumatic form getting stuck to the concrete, it was soaked in water immediately prior to starting concrete cast, he points out. “An RCK 25 concrete mixture was used for the whole job with a Portland 425 cement which allowed a quick setting and therefore each cast was completed in approximately 12 hours,” he says.
Established in 1956, Socap specialises in the manufacture and export of pneumatic inflatables. Apart from pneumatic tubular forms that include pneumatic mini moulds, the company manufactures a range of products that include pneumatic stoppers, bags (parachute lifting bags and cylindrical balloons for lifting underwater loads), foldable tanks and gasometers, among other products.
Socap has supplied its products to several top-of-the-line clients in the region including Aramco, Saudi Arabia; Arab Petroleum Pipelines (Sumed) in Alexandria, Egypt; Kala Naft Refinery, Tehran, Iran; Oil Pipelines Company, Dora, Iraq, Kuwait National Petroleum Company, Kuwait; a power station in Zouk, Lebanon; Nodco, Qatar Petroleum and Qatar General Petroleum Company (QGPC) all in Doha, Qatar; and Scot, Banias, Syria.
Outside the oil and gas sector, the company has supplied its products to Amiantit Oman, Muscat, Oman.