Welcome to the early February 2020 Corrosionpedia News Roundup. The News Roundup is your biweekly digest to learn about important events and developments with regard to corrosion in a clear, concise way. This edition highlights the root cause of a pipeline explosion in Philadelphia. Also in this edition, we cover new coatings, deicing alternatives to road salt, and more.
Corrosion to Blame for Pipeline Explosion
An investigation of a pipeline explosion that occurred at a refinery in Philadelphia last June determined that the root cause was corrosion of one of the pipes. The wall of one segment of pipe had corroded to the point of extreme wall thinning and wall loss. According to the investigation report, the wall thinning, combined with the pressure the pipeline was under, cause it to rupture and allow its contents to spill out and ignite. The failure of the line occurred at an elbow, and although the line was being monitored for corrosion, the elbow had been missed during these inspections. Several workers were slightly injured as a result of the explosion. The refinery was shut down shortly after the explosion occurred.
New Coating from Belzona
Industrial coatings manufacturer Belzona has released a new product that can be used for thermal insulation and corrosion prevention. Designed for use on piping and process vessels in the oil and gas industry, Belzona 5871 can be used in extreme heat or extreme cold conditions because it is thermally insulating. This can prevent icing of the coated substrate and can prevent burns due to contact with the substrate when it is contains hot substances. Belzona 5871 is also excellent at preventing corrosion under insulation (CUI), which is a common issue for insulated metallic surfaces due to moisture build-up. The coating can be applied with a variety of methods such as brushing and plural component spraying, and it does not need a primer coat before application.
New Corrosion Monitoring Software
Emerson announced that it has developed a new software platform that can be used to monitor the corrosion of oil and gas assets. The application, called Plantweb Insight Inline Corrosion, retrieves information about the asset's corrosion status from a network of sensors placed in the field. These sensors send corrosion information to a central device. The Plantweb Insight Inline Corrosion application software extracts the information from that device, processes the information, and visualizes it so that a human operator can easily and quickly interpret the corrosion status of a variety of assets.
New Graphene Coating Released
A new graphene coating has been released by Micro Powders, Incorporated. The coating, Graphshield 730, is a wax composite that has micronized graphene powder loaded into the wax medium. The combination of graphene powder and wax-based material results in a coating easily applied to a variety of substrates. Graphene is able to provide excellent corrosion resistance while also having outstanding electrical, mechanical and thermal characteristics. Recent graphene innovations such as Graphshield 730 are making graphene more affordable and practical for use in large-scale operations.
New Coatings Designed for Wind Power Components
New coatings have been released by Cortec for the wind power industry. Cortec’s new versions of VpCI coatings are designed to combat the harsh environment that wind turbines are often subjected to. Generally, wind turbines have to deal with extreme amounts of ultraviolet exposure, airborne chlorides (when placed near the ocean), and extreme winds that can carry sand and other abrasive materials. Protecting against these types of environments and corrosion with specialized coatings is crucial to increasing the service life of wind turbines.
Alternative Deicers Being Researched to Prevent Corrosion
Researchers at Washington State University are exploring environmentally friendly alternative substances that can be used for deicing roads. One type of substance they are looking into is agricultural waste products such as grape skins and certain types of leaves. According to research results, the agricultural waste can have performance superior to sodium chloride and other chemical deicers. In addition to performance, they are less harmful to the environment because they use fewer harmful chlorides that can run off into rivers and lakes and endanger wildlife.