GF Piping Systems’ product portfolio
GF Piping Systems develops solutions reflecting its belief that "everything is connected". Its cutting-edge products and systems combine leading design efficiencies with digital innovations and strict environmental standards.
Strategy and solutions
As the leading flow solutions provider for the safe and sustainable transport of fluids, GF Piping Systems develops solutions reflecting its belief that "everything is connected". The division creates advanced flow solutions that ensure the safe and sustainable transport of water, gas and chemicals. Its cutting-edge products and systems combine leading design efficiencies with digital innovations and strict environmental standards.
To create "connections for life", the division works to:
- ensure its customers benefit from a consistent flow of fluids without safety issues, leakages or any other environmental concerns;
- support its customers' decarbonization goals by lowering their energy consumption and GHG emissions; and
- reduce each solution's environmental impact by incorporating more sustainable materials and increasing system efficiencies during installation and operation.
The Sustainability Framework 2025 is the foundation of GF Piping Systems' sustainability performance. As part of the framework's targets, the division is committed to ensuring each innovative product delivers environmental and social benefits. To achieve this, the division uses sustainability assessment tools and life cycle assessment (LCA) along the entire innovation process, from idea to product launch.
This tool guides and educates the innovation teams, directing their ideas, R&D efforts and innovation processes towards the framework's targets. This tool also offers the innovation teams ideas on areas where sustainability can be improved and guides them in terms of implementation. It also gives guidance on how different aspects of the circular economy principle can be integrated into an innovation project.
Additionally, in 2022, the division accelerated the development and publication of life cycle assessments (LCAs) in partnership with external consultants. The aim is to understand and reduce the environmental impacts of new and existing products, especially key products such as the Butterfly Valve 565 and COOL-FIT.
Due to the growing need for LCAs and environmental product declarations (EPDs), GF Piping Systems continues to verify and document the impact of its solutions throughout all phases of its life cycle – from production use phases to end-of-life. In this context, GF has created and published LCAs and EPDs for the Butterfly Valve 565, the COOL-FIT 2.0/4.0 Systems, and MULTI-JOINT couplers. When a new LCA is available, the division's sales staff receive support via internal training sessions to ensure customers receive clear and accurate information about the environmental performance of a product or system within their current installed base or future installations.
GF Piping Systems' innovative products and solutions address a variety of challenges. These include:
- reducing waterborne Legionnaires' disease and ensuring drinking water installations meet the highest hygiene standards;
- helping to mitigate global drinking water losses due to leakages in aging infrastructure;
- creating energy-efficient solutions for the cooling process of the increasing number of data centers;
- contributing to the development of sustainable city infrastructure and the expanding green building sector;
- developing lighter, longer-lasting solutions that enable the marine industry to reduce GHG emissions and fuel consumption while increasing load capacity; and
- enabling the efficient use of water in industrial processes with reliable and innovative process automation solutions.
Key innovations in 2022
GF Piping Systems is helping make the marine industry more environmentally friendly thanks to its lightweight, corrosion-free solutions. The weight reduction the solutions provide makes it possible to reduce fuel consumption and increase load capacity. With a design lifetime of at least 25 years, these solutions are persistently efficient. They are helping lower vessels' maintenance and overall lifetime costs – and reduce downtime as much as possible.
In 2022, the division developed and brought to market the world's first fire-retardant pipe jacket solution to use lightweight, corrosion-free plastic piping systems in essential applications on ships and offshore locations. The unique HEAT-FIT pipe jacket system meets the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) stringent fire resistance regulations, making thermoplastic piping systems resistant to temperatures around 1’000°C for at least 30 minutes under pressure. The HEAT-FIT jackets are made of durable and flexible materials to withstand the demanding conditions of the marine industry.
Another key innovation is the Ball Valve 543 Pro, which has many enhanced features compared with its predecessor, while retaining its original quality features. For example, a reinforced security break point in the stem interface prevents leaks from excessive wear or force, and two integrated sealing rings in the stem interface provide double safety. Additionally, the Ball Valve 543 Pro features a manual spring return unit ("dead man's lever"), a unique safety feature that enables customers to safely operate valves by automatically resetting the valve into closed position, which keeps the chemicals safely in the piping system and avoids unintended flow. This reliable, compact and cost-effective solution ensures end-to-end process safety and easily eliminates potentially far-reaching risks. The Ball Valve 543 Pro offers complete reliability and is expandable using optional accessories.
Today, generating hot water for a building often requires more energy than heating a well-insulated building. To address this problem, GF Piping Systems, together with scientists from the Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, has developed an online calculator to easily and quickly determine the amount of energy needed to provide hot water in buildings. It can also simulate potential savings and financial payback periods, depending on the technical optimization measures selected by the user.
The newly introduced IR PVC-U system is a groundbreaking solution for water treatment applications and the chemical processing sector. It combines two areas of expertise at GF Piping Systems: the heritage of the PVC-U piping system and its market-leading infrared welding machines. This eliminates cementing and improves workplace safety by avoiding hazardous fumes that would otherwise require ventilation. This change improves process reliability and security by using a machine-controlled process that limits the risk of human error and saves the parameters for each weld. With welding obstacles eliminated, it is possible to increase chemical resistance and use PVC-U with media like sulfuric acid at 98%.
With its COOL-FIT 2.0 Systems, GF Piping Systems provides several advantages to building owners and industrial leaders, changing how they plan, install and operate cooling applications across their enterprise. The newly introduced COOL-FIT 2.0 Push System is an addition to the existing system and bridges the gap with additional dimensions covering the final meter between the main pipeline and the HVAC unit, improving energy efficiency and ensuring maintenance-free operation for 25 years thanks to unique material properties and safe jointing technology. The heat pump market is one of the fastest-growing markets in both building technology and industry applications. COOL-FIT is already used in these applications; the next step is therefore to evaluate the perfect product fit. A pre-insulated solution will help to provide highest energy efficiency.
To enable data center owners and operators to compare the carbon footprint of plastic pipes to metal pipes within their planned construction or existing enterprise, GF Piping Systems introduced a carbon calculator. This calculator evaluates the energy required to produce the raw materials and the energy needed during the production of the pipes. The core data used to generate this comparison is openly published data available in environmental databases. The results are calculated in kilograms of CO2e per meter of pipe. The low weight per meter of plastic pipe compared to metal results in a far lower carbon footprint for plastic pipes compared to metal pipes.
