Saudi Pultrusion Industry (SPI) – a manufacturer of high-technology fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) products for industrial and recreational use – claims the distinction of having set up the first pultrusion plant in the Middle East.

The plant, which went on stream early last year with a production capacity of 700 tonnes per year, is located in Al Khobar and uses the continuous, semi-automated pultrusion process for manufacturing composite materials.
The company’s product portfolio includes pultruded profiles and fibreglass grating, moulded fibreglass grating, ladders, handrail, cooling towers structure profiles and fibreglass cable support systems.
Part of the Abdullatif M Al Arfaj and Brothers Holding Company, SPI manufactures FRP under a technical licence of Pacific Composites, a pioneer in pultrusion in Australia which traces its origins back to 1960s. Pacific Composites is also owner of Fiberforce Composites, the largest pultruder company in the UK.
“FRP materials are increasingly being recognised as the materials of the future, offering exciting new opportunities and a combination of benefits not available with traditional materials such as metal and timber,” says chairman Abdullatif Al Arfaj.
“FRP structural materials provide solutions to many of the limitations in other metals product, offering benefits such as high strength-to-weight ratios, maintenance free, easy handling and installation and significant safety,” he adds.
Through the proper selection of resin and reinforcement, pultruded products offer the designer a combination of performance properties, which include: lasting performance, exceptional chemical and corrosion resistance to acid, salt, alkali and electrochemical environment, light weight with high strength, die-electric properties, heat resistance, dimensional stability, excellent cost performance with low installation cost, long service life and minimal maintenance, and excellent creep and fatigue performance.
SPI focuses on continuously keeping abreast of latest developments to ensure its business growth in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region. The response to its products has been such that the company is already looking at plans for expansion.
“Our products have received the approval of Saudi Aramco, the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu to be useed in factories in their industrial areas as well as by the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), Marafiq,” says Al Arfaj.
Also the FRP products has been approved by Takreer and Adnoc in Abu Dhabi.
Pultruded ladders, handrails and gratings are widely used by Bahrain Hidd desalination plant.
In Oman, the waste water treatment plant (Alansab-Muscat) has approved the SPI pultruded ladders, handrails and grating in replacement of aluminium and stainless steel items, due to the durability and long-lasting properties of the FRP-pultruded profiles in such harsh site conditions.

Pultrusion process
Elaborating on the pultrusion process, Mohammed Hamdan, general manager of SPI, says: “Pultrusion is a continuous, semi-automated process for manufacturing composite materials where continuous fibres or fabrics made of glass or carbon fibres are impregnated with a resin in the impregnation bath. The material is then drawn through a heated die, by a pulling system located near the end of the pultruder. The composite is then cut into lengths with a cut-off saw.
“High pressure and temperatures densify the composite, further impregnating the fibres and eliminating voids. This process offers a higher glass-to-resin ratio (approximately 65 per cent glass to 35 per cent resin by weight), which translates directly into its superior strength characteristics.
 “Fibreglass pultrusion can be used to produce practically any constant cross-sectional profile as well as seamless round rods. As pultrusion is a continuous process, the product can be manufactured to any length and the limit is only dictated by the ability to transport it.
“The pultrusion process is a continual process like extrusion which makes plastic pipes or aluminium window frames, the difference being that extrusion pushes the material through a hardened steel die while pultrusion, as its name implies, pulls the continuous fibre reinforcement in roving or mat/roving form through a resin bath where each fibre is coated with a specially formulated resin matrix.
“The fully ‘wet-out’ fibres are then drawn into a heated steel die. The thermoset resin cure is initiated by the heat from the die that acts on the catalyst in the resin formulation, with the rate of the chemical reaction being controlled by heating and cooling zones along the length of the die. The high-strength pultrusion profile thus produced is ready to use, as it exits the pultrusion machine.”
“Pultruded composites are ideal for infrastructure applications, as the composites are produced with a constant cross-section,” he says.
“This makes them directly comparable with metal products, as composite channels and I-beams, as well as other standard sections. Structures made from composites can be light, strong and have no corrosion problems.”
These products can be used in host of applications including water and sewage treatment areas, cooling towers, oil and gas industries, refineries and petrochemical plants and dairy and food processing industries. The company’s pultrusions have several advantages as a replacement for extruded aluminium, vinyl, wood or steel, says Hamdan.
According to the spokesman, pultruded products are an ideal replacement material for metals in applications where maintenance of metal would prove expensive and in critical areas where access is limited.
Comparing FRP products to aluminium and steel, he says: “Pultruded products offer superior insulation qualities, being 600 to 800 times more thermally insulative; they are dimensionally stable with one-third the expansion and contraction; are stronger with 50 per cent more tensile strength; and lighter, weighing 20 to 30 per cent less.
“Compared to steel, pultruded products are corrosion resistant, as pultrusions do not oxidise or corrode; are much lighter, weighing 75 per cent less; have better insulation qualities, being 150 to 200 times more thermally insulative; and are stronger, with up to 30 per cent more tensile strength than mild steel.”
Established in 1980 in Al Khobar, the Al Arfaj Group began operations initially with the operation and maintenance of Saudi-Qatar border and then diversified into heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) projects within Saudi Arabia.
The group has since evolved into a leading service-oriented organisation and has diversified business interests. It has introduced many new quality products, as well as innovative services and advanced technologies to the country. Today, its activities include operation and maintenance, engineering and construction, as well as distribution and service.
The group’s companies include Saudi Aircon, Saudi Pultrusion, Saudi Technic, Specialised Welding Services, Ecowash Mobile Middle East (a joint venture with Ecowash Mobile International of Australia) and MTData Middle East For vehicle tracking systems (a joint venture with MTData of Australia).
It also operates Battery Doctor service centres (for reconditioning batteries) and a Power Generation division.