PIPELINES Advantages of pipelines

PIPELINES

Advantages of pipelines

1. Liquid and gaseous goods like liquefied natural gas and petroleum are transported over long distances from the place of production to the refineries, and from there, to the consumers in their homes via pipelines because this is the safest and most economical method to transfer such hazardous (inflammable) materials in bulk. Goods in bulk like wheat are also transferred via pipelines from the silos (places of storage) at the ports into special bulk carriers. Maintenance costs are low because very little labour is needed and fuel costs are lower than that required if vehicles were used to transport these goods.

2. Loss due to pilfering and evaporation is minimized.

3. It is not affected by weather conditions.

4. There is less pollution of the environment compared to vehicles.

 

Disadvantages

1 High initial capital cost is involved in installing the whole system, which is normally laid underground.

2 It is rather limited in use. Once built, these pipelines can only be used the particular type of product for which it was originally installed. Long-term use must be guaranteed to make the laying of the pipelines a viable project.