DESIGN AND OPTIMIZATION OF PIPELINE CATHODIC PROTECTION SYSTEMS

Failures in oil or gas pipelines can have severe environmental and economic consequences. Large investments have been made in studies on corrosion prevention for buried and submerged metallic structures and pipes. Important research is being conducted to determine and predict corrosion mechanisms and to develop effective protection techniques. Protective coatings offer a first barrier against corrosion. However, damage of the coating during installation and coating degradation result in severe corrosion and necessitate the installation of properly designed cathodic protection (CP) systems. When designing a cathodic protection system, the aim is to obtain a pipe-to-soil potential along the entire length of the pipeline network that is more negative than a well defined minimum protection level. Based upon many-years of fundamental and applied research, Elsyca has now established a set of knowledge-based products and services that improve operational quality and performance, increase productivity and efficiency, assure confidence and reliability in the CP design and services. These ultimately safeguard the environment, all while, reducing costs and constitute a breakthrough innovation that will revolutionize existing processes in the corrosion protection engineering industry. In this paper it will be demonstrated how this technology can be used to study the cathodic protection of an existing pipeline or to optimize the design of the cathodic protection of pipeline networks.