Welcome to the early April edition of the Corrosionpedia News Roundup. In this edition, we highlight the CORROSION 2020 conference again, but this time because of delays caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus. We also talk about corrosion in both oil & gas lines and sewage lines, a new coating developed by Indian researchers that repels water, and corrosion repairs to a major bridge in the Midwest United States that is expected to cause traffic delays.
NACE Postpones CORROSION 2020 Due to COVID-19 Coronavirus
CORROSION 2020, the largest conference on corrosion in the world, has been postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19. The event, held by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE), was supposed to be held in Houston, TX at the George R. Brown Convention Center from March 15 to March 19. The decision to reschedule the conference was made by the CEO and the board of directors of NACE with input from other conference stakeholders such as vendors and the conference center. NACE plans to hold the CORROSION 2020 conference from June 14 to June 18 later this year. NACE is also communicating with vendors and speakers in order to keep the programming similar to what was originally planned.
Likewise, the Appalachian Underground Corrosion Short Course (AUCSC), originally scheduled for May, has been postponed until August 4, 2020 in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Corrosion Found to Have Played Role in 2018 Pipeline Explosion
An investigation into a 2018 pipeline burst has found that corrosion, in conjunction with stresses, was the root cause of the failure. The pipeline, located in Canada near Prince George, burst into flames back in October of 2018. Fortunately no one was hurt during the explosion and the environmental consequences were limited to the immediate area. The Transportation Safety Board, the Canadian entity that carried out the investigation, found that moisture had built up under the pipeline’s protective coating. Over time, this moisture catalyzed corrosion of the pipeline. With the corrosion present, the typical stress that the pipeline underwent during normal operation was enough to create small cracks that propagated through the pipeline's wall thickness through a process known as stress corrosion cracking (SCC). This ultimately led to the rupture of the line. SCC is a common problem with oil and gas pipelines because of the large stresses and potential for corrosion.
Major Bridge to be Partially Closed for Corrosion Repairs
The Interstate-75 bridge that enables car traffic to cross the River Raisin between Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio will be undergoing partial shut downs in the near future as crews work to make structural repairs. The repairs are necessitated by the high degree of corrosion found on the structural beams that holds the bridge up.
The approximately $8 billion dollar project will encompass removing the steel structures, discarding overly corroded portions, cleaning salvageable portions, and reinstallation. This will be done in sections so that while traffic will be constricted across the bridge, it will not be cut off completely. Bridge corrosion such as this can be quite common as steel is exposed to moisture from the river below and salt from deicing trucks above.
Indian Researchers Develop New Coating
A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology in Dhanbad with the help of Ohio State University have created a new hydrophobic coating for a variety of metals. Hydrophobic coatings are able to repel water. The coating developed by the researchers can be applied to a variety of materials including steel and other types of metals. The coating is applied through a method known as spin coating, which is carried out by applying a volume of coating to the top of the underlying substrate and then spinning that substrate until the coating disperses evenly over its surface.
Hydrophobic coatings such as this can be excellent preventers of corrosion due to their ability to repel certain liquids from the surface of a metal, which reduces the risk of liquids seeping underneath the coating and causing corrosion to occurs below the coating's surface.
Large Sewage Line in New Zealand Corroding
The largest sewage line in Wellington, New Zealand was found to have large amounts of corrosion that has begun penetrating through its concrete wall. The sewage line, named “The Interceptor”, carries the highest volume of any sewage line out of New Zealand’s capital and third-largest city. The corrosion has not caused a line failure yet, but without intervention it eventually will. This type of corrosion is not atypical of sewage lines. Hydrogen sulfide, a common type of gas that is produced during the breakdown of waste products, is highly corrosive and can cause corrosion not only on certain types of metals but concrete as well. The intended repair is expected to occur in the coming months and will involve the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) piping, which is resistant to corrosion caused by hydrogen sulfide.
DNV GL Releases New Guidelines for Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI)
DNV GL, an organization that creates specifications and classifications, has released new guidelines for preventing corrosion under insulation (CUI). CUI is corrosion that typically occurs when moisture is present between an insulating layer and the substrate being insulated. The different sets of recommended practices are intended to reduce the high costs associated with CUI in the oil & gas industry.
In addition to providing best practices, DNV GL has also co-released a digital tool that helps users of the guidelines implement and maintain their practices. The guidelines and the digital tool will allow users to weigh the costs of the preventative measures required to stop CUI versus the costs of not doing so.