In a recent breakthrough contract award, a subsidiary of the Saudi-based Amiantit Group – which specialises in the fields of pipe manufacture and pipe technology – has succeeded in getting its Flowtite glass reinforced polyester (GRP) pipes selected in preference to the usual choice of steel for small hydroelectric plants at Contestado and Coronel Araujo, located in the Brazilian state of Santa Caterina.

The contract was awarded to Amitech Brazil by Rischbieter (Gaspar, SC), a company that specialises in civil construction projects such as the treatment of industrial and domestic effluents and small hydroelectric plants.
The Amiantit Flowtite GRP pipe systems are corrosion-resistant, lightweight, easy to install, virtually maintenance free and environment friendly and will serve as penstocks – the name given to pipelines that transport water from reservoirs to the machine house to generate electrical power.
“Compared with steel pipes, the high strength and low roughness of the GRP pipes translates into less load loss, while expansion joints are not needed. A comparison has shown that the cost of GRP pipes are around 35 per cent lower than steel, due mainly to savings on transportation and ease of installation,” says Anderson Gueths, an engineer at Rischbieter, while evaluating the merits of GRP pipes.
Like other Amitech companies around the world, Amitech Brazil manufactures GRP pipes using Flowtite technology licensed from the Saudi Arabian Amiantit Company, which is the exclusive owner of the world rights for the Flowtite manufacturing process.
Meanwhile, in its domestic market, two of the group’s manufacturing facilities in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia recorded 26 contract awards amounting to more than $33 million between them in the last quarter of the year for various projects across the region.
The majority of the orders were for GRE (glass reinforced epoxy) pipes and fittings that are being produced at the company’s manufacturing facility Bondstrand Limited (BSL), while the remaining orders are GRP pipes and fittings that are being manufactured at Amiantit Fiberglass Limited (AFIL).
“It is gratifying to see that most of the orders come from within Saudi Arabia, which is and always has been our core market,” says Fareed Al Khalawi, president and CEO of the Amiantit Group. “Furthermore, since most of these orders are for the Bondstrand plant, it totally justifies the investment that we made in researching and developing GRE pipes specifically for the gas and oil industries.”
While GRE pipes are supplied to countries with oil and gas reserves, the company’s GRP pipes are in demand worldwide for transporting potable water and in sewage systems. Because they are corrosion-resistant, GRP pipes also have industrial uses including transporting highly corrosive seawater for cooling systems.
To meet increasing global demand, Amiantit has GRP manufacturing facilities strategically located in countries as far apart as Germany and India, and South Africa and Brazil.