Revisiting Age Old Corrosion Problem with Modern Tools and Techniques

Corrosion remains a major operational challenge within the chemical processing and petroleum industry. Left uncontrolled, corrosion may lead to the degradation of process equipment and systems, reducing their integrity (ability to perform their intended function) and making them vulnerable to failures during normal operating conditions. These equipment failures often lead to process safety incidents potentially with severe human, environmental, and financial consequences. This paper discusses the application of modern tools and techniques to prevent, detect, and predict the corrosion mechanism. As an illustration, three cases are discussed. In the first case, the use of corrosion inhibitors to prevent and mitigate corrosion is presented. Particularly, a study of the quantum properties that characterize a substance as a corrosion inhibitor is provided. In the second case, X-ray computed tomography is investigated as a potential method for the detection of corrosion under insulation. Finally, in the third case, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models are implemented to study the behavior of erosion/corrosion in different pipe shapes and relate it to the hydrodynamic parameters of the flow inside the pipes.