There are many customers in the Oil & Gas market purchasing PVC fabric berms. Yes, they are much less expensive than normal 30oz fabric berms like XR-5 or Cool Guard. However, there is a major trade-off for the cost savings. PVC fabric used in low cost spill containment berms is not recommended by the manufacturers of these fabrics for long-term exposure to hydrocarbons. Temporary applications are fine with very limited exposure to hydrocarbons.
The reason why PVC is not very compatible with hydrocarbons is due to plasticizers. Plasticizers are blended with PVC make soft materials that are flexible and easy to work with. When hydrocarbons come into contact with plasticized PVC, they will extract the plasticizers, causing the PVC to become brittle and crack. XR5 fabric is PVC based, the exception is the plasticizer used with XR5 is called Elvaloy, a DuPont product that allows the XR5 to be flexible, yet when exposed to diesel or jet-fuel it is not compromised.
Another negative regarding PVC fabric is that it is not as durable as XR-5 or Cool Guard fabrics. PVC does have a very good puncture resistance, however, it does not have a very high tear strength.
Please feel free to call our office and speak to Neel Daphtary who has been involved with the Containment Berm industry for over 12 years. Neel has a vast amount of knowledge in spill containment and years of onsite experience with spill containment berms.
You can also check out our range of secondary containment berms over here.