Corrosion Monitoring

The term monitoring includes any technique for evaluating the progress or rate of corrosion. Corrosion monitoring has become an important aspect of the design and operation of modern industrial plants because it enables plant engineering and management personnel to be aware of the damage caused by corrosion and the rate of the deterioration. Our corrosion management systems deliver unmatched level of capability.

Probes are monitored continuously online, providing metal loss and corrosion rate graphs. Corrosion coupon data can also be input and stored on a technically smart programmed software, along with any other corrosion related data such as chemical injection rates and ultrasonic probe readings. This asset management ensures the timely maintenance of filed equipment, delivering maximum performance and service life at minimal cost.

Saving time and avoiding expensive equipment failures are key benefits.

IRICO methodology is classified on nine parts:

1. Selecting a Corrosion-Monitoring Method: In the selection of a corrosion-monitoring method, a variety of factors should be considered. First, the purpose of the test should be understood by everyone concerned with the corrosion-monitoring program. The cost and applicability of the methods under consideration should be known, and it is important to consider the reliability of the method selected. In many cases, it will be desirable to include more than one method in order to provide more confidence in the information generated. However, in view of the growing number of methods available, IRICO is well known for high proficiency in the selection of corrosion-monitoring methods.
2. Direct Testing of Coupons: Although they are not intended to replace laboratory tests completely, plant tests are specifically designed to monitor the life of existing equipment, to evaluate alternative materials of construction, and to determine the effects of process conditions that cannot be reproduced in the laboratory.
3. Monitoring of Inhibitor Programs;
4. Ultrasonic Thickness Measurements: Ultrasonic thickness measurements can be used to monitor corrosion rates in situ.
5. Polarization Resistance Measurement: The technique of polarization resistance provides an estimate of the corrosion rate. This method is based on the Stearn-Geary equation It is necessary in a plant situation to use a probe that enters the vessel in the area where the corrosion rate is desired. Polarization resistance yields an instantaneous estimate of corrosion rate.
6. Measurement of Corrosion Potentials: The use of corrosion potential measurements for in-service corrosion monitoring can be valuable in some cases, particularly where an alloy could show both active and passive corrosion behavior in a given process stream.
7. Alternating Current Impedance Measurements: the ac impedance approach permits the separation and independent analysis of the resistive and capacitive elements of the electrochemical corrosion reactions.
8. Analysis of Process Streams: One of the most useful in-service corrosion monitoring techniques is analysis of the process streams for the presence of corrosion products. This straight-forward approach usually does not require the installation of specialized equipment.
9. Side-Stream (Bypass) Loops: This provides the advantage of an in-service corrosion test with product streams, yet permits evaluation of the effects of additives, inhibitors, and other changes in the environment without affecting the main process stream.
Corrosion monitoring in the refinery is intended to provide quantitative information that will enable the service life of the process equipment to be predicted. IRICO engineers offer a corrosion test program that is soundly designed, conducted, and evaluated. By corrosion monitoring IRICO can provide the tools and expertise to help you get the most for your maintenance costs and preserve your assets safely, reliably and dependably. For this purpose we have fully trained specialists for “Remaining Life Assessments”, “Fitness For Service (FFS)”, “Probability of Exceedance”, “Risk Base Inspection (RBI)”, “Data Integration”, “Defect Assessment”, and etc. Strategies include:
– Monitoring Locations and Redundancy
– Interpretation and Reporting

IRICO services can be offered as per clients request or following international procedures:
• Risk assessment, H2S risk and CO2 risk;
NACE MR 0175; Top of line corrosion risk; Erosion corrosion risk; Bacterial risk; Oxygen risk
• Prevention policy;
• Summary of corrosion prevention & monitoring by units;
Quantity of H2S and CO2; Temperature; Flow velocity; Flow regime; Water/oil ratio;
Material characteristics; Pipe profile; Water chemistry;
• Inhibitors performance
• Plant cathodic protection

Cathodic Protection System Monitoring

The costs associated with a natural gas or a water pipeline that is out of service for a few days, a one day halt in the electricity production of a thermal power plant, product loss due to leakage of a storage tank at a petroleum or gas station, the leakage of a pipeline due to corrosion alongside the loss of prestige due to such interruptions as well as environmental pollution and fire hazard are considered as corrosion damage.

The army of corrosion control techniques is deployed in IRICO to mitigate corrosion, by proper materials selection, improved design, environmental process control, utilization of corrosion inhibitors, application of coatings and paints and cathodic protection services.

Cathodic Protection can be used for all types of corrosion and may, in some situations, completely stop corrosion. These techniques, which are recognized as one of the most effective methods to prevent corrosion, are widely applied for metallic structures such as underground pipelines, ports, piers, ships, petroleum storage tanks, water storage tanks, etc. that are embedded in electrolytes such as water, soil, concrete, etc. IRICO offers the highest technical inspections based on international standards.

Inspection and monitoring of the CP system shall be carried out at regular intervals to confirm that the protection criteria are fulfilled and to detect any deficiencies. A further objective can be to collect data for optimization of future CP designs. IRICO analyses the measurements and findings of the monitoring and inspection activities to:

· review the adequacy of the corrosion management,

· identify possible deficiencies and improvements,

· indicate the necessity for a more detailed assessment of the pipeline condition,

· pre-commissioning and commissioning CP inspections.

IRICO also considers the following factors when determining the inspection frequencies and need for special investigations:

· type of protection,

· corrosive nature of the soil,

· susceptibility of pipeline to mechanical damage,

· AC or DC interface currents,

· susceptibility of the CP installations and coating to damage by lightning or mechanical means,

· coating quality,

· safety and environmental concerns,

· age and history of the pipeline.

Coating and Painting of pipes are also inspected for assurance of sufficient protection of the structure. Considering factors in this regard are:

· Surface preparation control (degree of cleanliness, roughness, profile & contamination detection)

· Weather conditions (dew point, temperature, moisture, wind velocity)

· Painting device inspection

· Paint coating design criteria (coating systems, coverage, paint calculations)

· Paint application supervision

· Wet film defects (brush mark, blooming, cissing, hazing, sagging)

· Curing process check

· Paint film testing (cross cut, X-cut, pull off, DFT, Holyday/pinhole, Salt spray, hardness, and etc.)

We can also provide you with monitoring plan for the CP system including at least:

· description of the measurements to be taken,

· locations where these measurements are to be conducted,

· monitoring equipment required to conduct such surveys,

· measurement technique to be used,

· frequency with which each type of measurement shall be performed.

IRICO cathodic protection survey includes:

1. Routing monitoring: Availability survey, Protection level survey, Anode performance survey, Functional inspection, Monitoring of Special features,

2. Specialized surveys: On/Off potential measurements, CIP, Coating (Pearson, AC attenuation, Current mapper, DCVG),