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COMPANY PROFILE: Compositech provides high-tech mats ideal for use in Alaska DURA-BASE® composite mats provide the needed infrastructure while protecting the environment and saving money Alan Bailey Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
A new type of matting for temporary roads and work sites is proving that you can both protect the environment and save costs. DURA-BASE® mats, introduced in Alaska just a couple of years ago, are enabling people to rethink how to operate on the tundra and in sensitive wetlands. The mats are finding an ever-increasing number of uses in the state.
The story of DURA-BASE® mats goes back to the 1990s, when Soloco LLC, based in Lafayette, La., researched alternatives to the traditional hardwood mats that the company had been marketing for a number of years. The company had recognized that hardwood was becoming more scarce and expensive.
After four and a half years of research the company came up with a high-density polyethylene product that could actually surpass the qualities of the wooden mats, Keith Pearson, vice president of marketing and sales for Soloco, told Petroleum News.
DURA-BASE® mats started rolling off the production line in 1998. Advantages over wood Dennis Swarthout, chief executive officer of Compositech LLC, Alaska distributor for Soloco's mats, feels particularly enthusiastic about the advantages of the product. The plastic mats flex and bend under load, so that they fit snugly against the underlying ground, he said. After release from the load, the mats will recover their original shape, maintaining their strength.
“A wooden mat doesn’t have the same flexibility that composites do. When it bends past a certain point, it’s going to break. And the composite mats weigh only half of what wood weighs — so transporting them is much cheaper,” Swarthout said.
Add to that the fact that plastic doesn't rot like wood and you find a versatile and durable system that opens up a wealth of new opportunities for operating on delicate or environmentally sensitive land.
The mats are proving an environmental winner, both because of their construction and because of the applications that people find for them. Construction from polyethylene eliminates the need to fell precious hardwood lumber, while use of the mats for temporary roads and pads eliminates the need to spread gravel on the tundra or other delicate ground. Extensive tests have also proven that the mats can withstand the thermal effects of permafrost in cold environments.
“You can lay it out all across the tundra and build yourself a road and pick up your road weeks or months later and (the tundra's) just fine,” Swarthout said. ‘And the mats will withstand at least 20 years of heavy-duty use and re-use,’ he said. Alaska projects The first major application for DURA-BASE® mats in Alaska has been the construction of temporary access roads for projects along the trans-Alaska pipeline right of way — Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. conducted a successful pilot project last year, Swarthout said.
“Sometimes these roads would be only four or five hundred feet long, but they would have to lay out gravel on the tundra and put foam board under that. Then they'd have to remove the gravel after they're done with the project,” Swarthout said.
By eliminating the cost of laying and removing the gravel, the mats pay for themselves within a single project, Swarthout said, and people can re-use the mats over and over again in other projects.
The initial use of the mats on the pipeline right of way has proved so successful that the projects have been nominated for an environmental new technology award, Swarthout said.
Other oil industry applications are under way. For example, ConocoPhillips is about to install mats on a pad that becomes soft during the summer, according to Swarthout.
“We're putting down about 350 mats there so they can get in and out of the pad in an easy fashion ... with their service trucks,” Swarthout said.
Anadarko Petroleum has purchased mats for use in its North Slope exploration program, most recently as support for its Hot Ice project.
On Russia's Sakhalin Island the mats have already proved their worth — there are more than 1,000 mats in use over there, Swarthout said. Last year Crowley Marine bought about 800 mats for an access road to a project on Sakhalin Island.
“They couldn't have done it without the mats — there's no gravel within 150 miles to build roads and it's constant tidal flooding coming in,” Swarthout said.
Back in Alaska, the Division of Natural Resources has specified DURA-BASE® mats for work on the Healy electrical intertie. The mats will prevent damage to wetlands when vehicles turn around at work sites, Swarthout said. Rural Alaska Swarthout sees a wealth of applications for DURA-BASE® mats in rural Alaska, especially in the wetlands of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, where the mats could provide a highly effective surface for aircraft landing pads and other infrastructure.
“The DURA-BASE® matting system is a tool that holds much promise for rural infrastructure and transportation. It’s easy to move and assemble, it won’t deteriorate over time and supports incredible loads over super soft soils.” Swarthout said. New smaller mats Soloco has recently launched a new, lighter-duty, four-foot square composite mat. Whereas the standard mats measure 14 feet by eight feet and require a forklift truck for carrying and positioning, people can hand carry and install the smaller mats. So the small mats become especially valuable in situations where a forklift truck isn't available or can't access the work site.
“In remote areas, for foundations, camp floors and shop floors the product works marvelously,” Swarthout said. “If you have a temporary construction camp ... you go in and put a floor in, or build a walkway, sometimes in just a couple of hours.”
Although the small mats can't bear quite such heavy loads as the larger mats, they can still handle most of the requirements for many applications.
“They can support anything from foot traffic to heavy traffic like conventional trucks, semis and heavier equipment,” Swarthout said. Rethinking projects The many advantages of the DURA-BASE® mats cause engineers to rethink how to do projects, Swarthout said. For example, a traditional gravel road requires excavators, transportation of fill materials and permitting to obtain the gravel.
“There are substantial indirect costs that add up and increase overall project cost,” Swarthout said. “(With the DURA-BASE® system) all you need to do is ship in our mats, ship in a forklift and a couple of people and we're deploying immediately. Operators lay mats while working on a matted surface — that way they can get out to really soft locations that a truck or forklift couldn’t reach without getting stuck.”
“Add the environmental benefits and it's not surprising that mat usage is burgeoning in Alaska. Business has increased tenfold in the last year and calls about mats come in every day,” Swarthout said.
“The DURA-BASE® system is a tool. It's an investment with long-lived benefits for a company.” Swarthout said. “If, say, you had a mile of this product, you can build a road, work pad or airstrip, pick it up and use it over and over again. So the amortized savings are huge compared to just building a conventional road or work site.”
Editor's note: Alan Bailey owns Badger Productions in Anchorage, Alaska.
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