Opendata, web and dolomites

Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INTELLICORR (Intelligent corrosion management underpinned by advanced engineering science)

Teaser

Our planet’s population will continue to grow rapidly and between 2010 and 2025 the global population will grow by 1.1bn people. In developing countries the movement of the rural population will lead to urbanisation. Urbanisation and growth of the consumer class in...

Summary

Our planet’s population will continue to grow rapidly and between 2010 and 2025 the global population will grow by 1.1bn people. In developing countries the movement of the rural population will lead to urbanisation. Urbanisation and growth of the consumer class in developing countries will in turn lead to unprecedented demands on energy. There is arguably no bigger challenge to engineers than ensuring the security of affordable and environmentally-sustainable energy. Corrosion across the energy sector (i.e. oil and gas, carbon capture and storage, renewables technology) is widely accepted to impose massive costs. 3% of the GDP of developed nations is estimated to be the cost of corrosion but of course this hides the massive prizes that are available if corrosion can be efficiently managed. Corrosion is one of the major life-limiting factors for energy supply (oil and gas, renewables, Enhanced Oil Recovery - EOR) and in environmental emissions control (Carbon Capture and Storage - CCS). This proposal brings some of the most exciting experimental and modelling engineering science to create a framework for the intelligent management of corrosion.
It is surprising that although worldwide we have been using carbon and low alloy steels as materials of construction since the 1960s there are two aspects of corrosion control that are largely ignored; the elephants in the room.
- We cannot predict the initiation or propagation rates of localised corrosion; yet 90% of failures in oil and gas and other energy applications are from localised corrosion and not general corrosion. Localised corrosion is where a material corrodes at hundreds or thousands of times higher rate in a small area; penetration of pipes can occur in a few days
- We inject massive amounts of chemicals to mitigate corrosion without proper cognisance of the environmental impact; we have at our disposal a corrosion product layer that naturally forms and that could be “engineered”
In this proposal a package of work is being undertaken to enable a step change to be made in corrosion management; shifting the paradigm by applying the best engineering science to a very important engineering problem.
Objectives
Corrosion issues commonly limit the lifetime of engineering components and systems across the energy sector. INTELLICORR will use synchrotron techniques, advanced microscopy, numerical methods and environmental/cost analysis to bring about progress in the following objectives
(a) advance the prediction and management of localised pitting corrosion and
(b) implement novel methods for green corrosion protection using the natural corrosion product layer.
(c) improve the understanding of localised corrosion in arduous conditions

Work performed

Work performed and summary
The work summarised here is aligned with the workpackages. All workpackages are progressing as in the proposal and no delays are reported.

WP1. Raman cells to evaluate production of the iron carbonate.
WP2. Evaluation of pit formation and the development of a new pitting cell.
WP3. Less progress on mechanical evaluation but fine according to the gantt chart and is now a priority
WP4. New nano fillers being attempted based on inorganic and organic species.
WP5. Numerical frameworks being set for computational studies
WP6. Environmental assessments being discussed with CEFAS.

Main results achieved so far
Two main areas of results are reported in this summary; the raman measurements on the iron carbonate and iron carbide formation (PART I) and the development of the Raman pitting cell (PART II). See Technical report for full summary.
The main advances have been
- identification of the kinetics of iron carbonate growth by Raman mapping
- linking the drop in corrosion rate to the formation of the iron carbonate
- pitting chemistry to be determined from the localised Raman cell.

Final results

The INTELLICORR programme work has started with a focus on experimentation and there have been several activities all aligned with the workpackages presented in the technical annex. The current activities fall into the three categories below and in all areas papers are being prepared.

- Novel in-situ Raman cell
- Novel cell for pitting chemistry analysis
- Novel dopants for iron carbonate to augment its natural properties

INTELLICORR will use synchrotron techniques, advanced microscopy, numerical methods and environmental/cost analysis to bring about progress in the following objectives
(a) advance the prediction and management of localised pitting corrosion and
(b) implement novel methods for green corrosion protection using the natural corrosion product layer.
(c) improve the understanding of localised corrosion in arduous conditions

Website & more info

More info: https://intellicorr.eu/.