Ice Pigging at the LCA Autumn Conference

It’s a valuable opportunity to share knowledge, challenge assumptions and engage with the sector’s latest thinking, and Nivalis’s very own Director of Engineering, Dr Martin Herbet will be presenting at both days with a talk on “Physical Biofilm Removal: The Role of Ice Pigging in Water System Remediation".

Martin explains why it’s important for Nivalis to be at this event: 

“It wasn't a difficult decision when I was asked if I’d attend LCA and give a talk - Ice Pigging is still relatively unknown in the water-hygiene world, and the LCA audience is exactly the group that deals day to day with the problem it addresses: pipework carrying years of accumulated biofilm and sediment that flushing doesn't properly shift. It's a technically strong audience, and they'll ask the right questions, which is what a technology like this needs.” 

In simple terms, Ice Pigging is the process of a soft, deformable ice slurry plug being pushed through a pipeline so that it scours the pipe wall clean and carries the loosened material out with it. 

This pipe cleaning process is low risk, saves money, time and water, and can be adapted to a range of applications. 

Martin outlines how his presentation and Ice Pigging fits in with the overall theme of the LCA conference: 

“I’m focusing my presentation on being a plain-English introduction to Ice Pigging: where it came from, the problem it was invented to solve, and why a pumpable ice slurry behaves so differently from water as it moves through a pipe. 

I'll show real before-and-after samples from recent work, be clear about where Ice Pigging fits and where it doesn't, and make one central point: physical removal is not disinfection, but a physically cleaner pipe is a much easier pipe to disinfect. 

I'm also opening with a live Slido poll, so anyone attending should have their phone ready! 

In London I'm presenting between two disinfection talks – one on targeted treatment with silver hydrogen peroxide, and one on sustainable, on-demand biocide solutions – and I'm looking forward to both. They approach the same problem from the chemistry side, and my talk picks up the question of what's left on the pipe wall, so the three sit together well. 

The conference theme asks whether new, more sustainable approaches could compromise public health. A great deal of effort rightly goes into monitoring, temperature control and dosing, but if the surfaces inside the pipe are carrying years of accumulated material, those controls are working against a handicap. 

Ice Pigging physically removes that material, which gives the established hygiene regime a clean surface to work with. It isn't a replacement for disinfection or Legionella control, and I'll be careful not to present it as one; it's a complement to them, and that's a conversation worth having with this audience. 

For Nivalis, being in the room with the people who manage these systems is the best way to have that conversation properly.” 

If you have any questions for Martin, or would like to arrange a meeting with him while at the conference please get in touch.