Design of an Ionic Conductor as Permanent Electrode for Monitoring Cathodic Protection System performance

The most dominant used method for protecting the bottom of a tank is impressing a current cathodic protection (ICCP). Monitoring the CP system is critical to maintain and extend the service life of the exterior bottom of the storage tank. The bottom of the tank usually located on or near the surface of the ground and in contact with materials used to support the tank and so presents a corrosion challenge. This work presents a successful design of an ionic conductor that can be used as a monitor procedure of ICCP system for ground storage tanks bottom. The new ionic conductor system offers an accurate and efficient performance compared with old copper/copper sulphate electrode monitoring system. The risks failure of permanent electrodes including cables disconnection and electrode dryness are increasing. Ionic conductors were used to insure proper potential monitoring. The new ionic conductor system scheme has the features of lower cost and less installation time over conventional methods.