Watching Paint Dry

Amazing video of paint drying under a microscope.

Washington State Issues Record Fine in Tesoro Refinery Explosion

The Washington Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) determined that the explosion that killed seven workers at the Tesoro petroleum refinery in Anacortes, Washington could have been prevented. L&I fined the company $2.39 million for 39 “willful” violations and five “serious” violations of state workplace safety and health regulations. This is the largest fine in the agency’s history.

A heat exchanger at the refinery ruptured around 12:30 a.m., April 2, 2010, releasing hydrocarbon vapor that then ignited. The incident occurred during maintenance on the Naphtha Hydrotreater (NHT) process unit. During routine operations involving an on-line switching of unit heat exchanger feed trains, a feed-effluent heat exchanger catastrophically failed, due to high temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA), releasing a hot, pressurized flammable hydrocarbon/hydrogen mixture. Seven workers, five men and two women, died as a result. It is the worst industrial disaster in the 37 years that L&I has been enforcing the state’s workplace safety law, the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act.

The heat exchangers were nearly 40 years old and were subjected to extreme heat and pressure, wide temperature and pressure swings, extensive chemical exposure and a near doubling of production over the years. These are all stresses that can damage this equipment, including causing cracking.

From Washington L&I press release.

Hoax Email - Aircraft Corrosion

There is an email going around, your Corrosion Blog editor has received it, called Aircraft Corrosion. The email is discussed on the extremely useful and entertaining "fact-checking" urban legends website snopes.com here. Public awareness of the dangers of corrosion is beneficial but spreading false tales is not. If you receive this email, I suggest that you do not forward it and reply to the sender letting them know that the email is a hoax, with the link to the snopes site (or this post).

The pictures are from a simulation of an actual crash in 2007. The failure was attributed to out-of-spec structural member that ultimately failed due to fatigue cracking. The pilot was able to eject safely and suffered a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, and cuts and bruises.

There I was just flying along, enjoying the flight...

And what's so cool is they actually pay me to do this!

Hmmm... What's that strange sound? Something feels different!

Hey, why am I looking up?

Whoa here. Controls aren't working.

Time for a mirror check. ?Hey, where's the rest of my F-15?

Uh oh, it's over there.? I think I've got a definite 'Aw, hell' going on here.

I gotta wonder, am I the first guy to ever experience 'cockpit-airframe separation anxiety?'

OK, enough is enough! I'm outta' here! But first, the canopy has to go...

OK, now it's my turn. I'm gonna be gone - soon as I find that frickin' lower handle.

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

This 'incident' caused the USAF to ground its fleet of F-15's.

How about the guy who took these pictures? Just when it looks like it's going to be just another 'average day at the office'.. You never know!

What caused the mid air break up? The main "longeron" (stringer) behind the cockpit failed due to corrosion.

NTSB Says Corrosion Found on Marshall, Michigan Ruptured Pipe

Close-up view of the section of pipe containing rupture

In testimony to a U.S. House of Representatives committee today, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman provided an update on the progress of the NTSB's investigation into an oil spill in Marshall, Michigan in July. Investigators found corrosion on the exterior surface of the accident pipe piece and the second pipe piece, and found surface cracks and indications of corrosion on the ruptured pipe. Government investigators estimate that between 800,000 and 1 million gallons of oil spilled as a result of the Marshall pipeline rupture.

For the full trascript of Ms. Hersman's testimony, see here.

For more information on the pipeline incident, see here.

U.S. Probes Gulf Oil Fire Involving Paint Crew

Federal authorities are investigating the cause of a blaze that broke out Thursday (Sept. 2) while a 13-member painting and cleaning crew was working aboard an oil and natural-gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters planned this weekend to survey the site of Mariner Energy Inc.’s Vermilion Block 380 platform, about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast, to determine whether the platform was leaking oil.

From SSPC's PaintSquare News.

St. Louis Gateway Arch Showing Rust and Decay

Almost 45 years into its reign atop the St. Louis skyline, the 630-foot monument is suffering from growing rust and decay. And nobody knows how extensive. Corrosion, some of it feared aggressive, and severe discoloration of the stainless steel skin have long been present, according to engineering reports reviewed by the Post-Dispatch. ... The problems are increasingly evident, with streaks and spots marking the upper reaches of the Arch exterior.

From stltoday.com via LinkedIn.

For more about the Gateway Arch, see here and here.

Plains All American Pipeline to Pay $44.25M for Oil Spills

Cleanup in Homochitto National Forest in Mississippi;
photo courtesy of the US EPA.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Department announced that Plains All American Pipeline and several of its operating subsidiaries have agreed to spend approximately $41 million to upgrade 10,420 miles of crude oil pipeline operated in the United States. The settlement resolves Plains’ Clean Water Act violations for 10 crude oil spills in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and requires the company to pay a $3.25 million civil penalty

Approximately 6,510 barrels (273,420 gallons) of crude oil were discharged from various pipelines and one tank owned and operated by Plains into navigable waters or adjoining shorelines in the states of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Most of the spills were caused by corrosion on the pipelines.

The $3,250,000 civil penalty will be paid to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

From the EPA website.

PRCI Selects Cliff Johnson as Next President

The Board of Directors of Pipeline Research Council International, Inc., (PRCI), has selected Clifford M. Johnson to be its next president. Cliff Johnson comes to PRCI from NACE International, where he has held a variety of positions during his 13-year career. His most recent position was as NACE’s Director of Public Affairs where he led several of NACE’s legislative initiatives. Mr. Johnson will succeed George W. Tenley, Jr., who is retiring at the end of the year.

The Corrosion Blog offers its most sincere congratulations to Cliff!

From the PRCI Newsroom.

Corrosion Found on Enbridge Pipeline Prior to Leak

Federal regulators say earlier tests found corrosion along the pipeline that sent thousands of gallons of oil rushing into the Kalamazoo River this week and that, as recently as two weeks ago, its owner was talking about replacing pipe sections. No cause for the spill has been released, and it was not immediately known whether problems found in the earlier testing were in the area of the spill, or whether that part of the pipe was targeted for replacement.

Enbridge's Line 6B response website here.

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration corrective action order here (PDF, 322k).

National Transportation Safety Board announcement here.

From Detroit Free Press.

RAS Syndrome in Corrosion

RAS syndrome stands for redundant acronym syndrome syndrome and refers to the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym or initialism with the abbreviation itself, thus in effect repeating one or more words. Usage commentators consider such redundant acronyms poor style and an error to be avoided in writing, though they are common in speech. The term "RAS syndrome" is itself a redundant acronym, and thus is an example of self-referential humor.

From Wikipedia

I can think of several terms commonly used in corrosion, including AC current or DC current, AC current attenuation, DA assessment, SCC cracks, CSE electrode, etc. Corrosion engineers are very fond of their TLAs.

Corrosion Books

Looking for a book on corrosion? Here are some ways to find what you're looking for. Click on these links, then modify my search criteria to narrow down your search.

Google Books

NACE Store

ASM International (Materials Information Society) Books

Amazon Corrosion Books

Corrosion Books on the Kindle

Book Recommendations from the Corrosion Doctors

Azom (A to Z of Materials) Books

We Are All Safer

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was established by the United States Congress in 1967 to investigate and determine the causes of accidents in all modes of transportation. Since then, the Safety Board has investigated more than 110,000 aviation accidents and thousands of railroad, marine, highway, and pipeline accidents. The Board is recognized as one of the world’s premier independent accident investigation agencies
because of the expertise it has accumulated in more than three decades of experience.

This 1998 NTSB report We Are All Safer (PDF, 1.1Mb) lists NTSB-inspired improvements in transportation safety, involving aviation, railroad, marine, highway and highway bridges, pipelines, and hazardous materials transportation safety, many related to corrosion issues.

NACE International Names New Executive Director

From the NACE International press release (PDF, 99k):

NACE International today named Robert (Bob) H. Chalker as its new Executive Director. Chalker has served as Managing Director & CEO of ASQ Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Society for Quality, for the past year and half. Prior to ASQ Global, Chalker served as Director, Global Development and Strategic Planning at SAE International for five years. From 1981 – 2003, Bob worked for Delphi Corporation where his most recent assignment was as Sales Director and Global Customer Manager. Bob earned his MBA at Oakland University (Rochester, Michigan) and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Cincinnati, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering. He and his wife Kim will be relocating to Houston, TX. They have two grown children.

NACE International, the Corrosion Society, based in Houston, Texas, has over 23,000 members in 110 countries. It is recognized worldwide as the largest professional association dedicated to protecting people, assets, and the environment from the impact of corrosion. It was founded in 1943, and offers technical training and certification programs, sponsors conferences, and produces industry standards, reports, publications, and software to prevent and mitigate corrosion.

SS Great Britain

The steam ship SS Great Britain, launched in Bristol in 1843, was the first large ocean-going ship with an iron hull and a screw propeller. On her maiden voyage across the Atlantic the Great Britain easily broke the previous speed record. Although effectively a prototype, she continued sailing until 1886, and travelled thirty-two times around the world and nearly one million miles at sea. She was finally abandoned in the Falkland Islands in 1937 after more than 40 years use as a floating warehouse. In 1970 an ambitious salvage effort brought her home to Bristol where she was originally built.

Conserving the more than 160-year-old iron hull on this site [dry dock in the Great Western Dockyard, where she was built between 1839 and 1843] is exceptionally difficult as the dock was a damp environment, and moisture in the air made the process of corrosion continue quickly. Exposure to rain and moisture in the air (humidity) in Bristol allowed the ship to continue to corrode, particularly accelerated by salt infestation in the wrought iron structure.

The site has many papers relating to the corrosion mitigation efforts here.

Quoted text from SS Great Britain site.  Photo by Photo by Matt Buck.

Blogging the Periodic Table

Sam Kean is blogging about the periodic table on Slate Magazine in conjunction with his new book, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World From the Periodic Table of the Elements.

Creepy Corrosion

From Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo by David Ross, used by permission. From an image search on Flickr.

Corrosion art

http://electromagneto-studio.blogspot.com/

US Department of Defense Corrosion Defense website

The DoD Corrosion Defense (CorrDefense) Web Site is a state-of-the-art corrosion prevention and control information management and distribution e-portal sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics (OUSD(AT&L)), Office of Corrosion Policy and Oversight. The website has been designated as one of the cornerstones in the DoD's long-term strategy for corrosion prevention and mitigation detailed in 10 U.S.C. 2228, which was enacted by the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2003. CorrDefense is a free service for all individuals and organizations from Industry, Academia, and Government who have an interest in corrosion, particularly as it relates to DoD weapon systems, equipment, related commercial assets, and infrastructure.

CorrDefense.org

Cycle of Corrosion

http://www.corrosion-club.com/cycle.htm

Rectifier safety

http://employment.alberta.ca/documents/WHS/WHS-PUB-FR_2004-08-09.pdf

Nations's First B.S. Degree in Corrosion Engineering

The University of Akron will launch the nation's first baccalaureate program in corrosion engineering when the fall 2010 semester begins in August. The innovative program and its potential impact on our everyday lives and the regional economy, were highlighted in this editorial by Michael Douglas
, the Akron Beacon Journal editorial page editor, on Sunday, June 6, 2010.

For the entire article, see the University of Akron's newsroom here. For more information, see the UA Corrosion and Reliability Engineering homepage here.

Onshore Oil and Gas Industry Leads Industrial Maintenance Coatings Segment

According to the “U.S. Paint & Coatings Industry Market Analysis (2008-2013),” which was published by The American Coatings Association (ACA) and The Chemark Consulting Group, Inc., industrial maintenance coatings accounted for approximately five percent of the volume of paint sold in the U.S. and about six percent of the total value of paint sales.

U.S. Census data revealed that total industrial maintenance shipments for 2008 were 73.3 million gallons equaling $1,225.3 million. This represents a slight decrease in volume of three percent and a one percent decrease in value over 2007.

Commercial architectural is the fastest-growing end-use segment of industrial maintenance coatings. This segment also commands the highest gross profit margins, according to the report.

From Coatings World.

Onshore Oil and Gas Industry Leads Industrial Maintenance Coatings Segment

According to the “U.S. Paint & Coatings Industry Market Analysis (2008-2013),” which was published by The American Coatings Association (ACA) and The Chemark Consulting Group, Inc., industrial maintenance coatings accounted for approximately five percent of the volume of paint sold in the U.S. and about six percent of the total value of paint sales.

U.S. Census data revealed that total industrial maintenance shipments for 2008 were 73.3 million gallons equaling $1,225.3 million. This represents a slight decrease in volume of three percent and a one percent decrease in value over 2007.

Commercial architectural is the fastest-growing end-use segment of industrial maintenance coatings. This segment also commands the highest gross profit margins, according to the report.

From Coatings World.

Sticking Your Hand into Molten Lead

Making a batch of lead anodes and accidentally stick your wet hand briefly into the casting pot? You'll probably be okay, according to the MythBusters show. The Leidenfrost effect works in this case the same way you can touch a hot iron and not get burned. The good stuff starts at around 1:55.


From kottke.org, home of fine hypertext products.

Just to be clear, I am telling you not to try this yourself.

Keeping Corrosion at Bay

http://www.che.com/news/Keeping-Corrosion-at-Bay_5725.html

Given the recent focus on cost control, it’s likely that chemical processors will suffer sticker shock when they learn that industry spends $276 billion annually on corrosion prevention, monitoring and repair. Even more abrasive is the fact that this figure does not include the cost of downtime or accidents resulting from corrosion damage. However, as capital spending allowances continue to come under tighter scrutiny, asset management and sustainability become crucial, and installing the right corrosion monitoring system can help bolster these efforts, while actually controlling corrosion prevention, monitoring and repair costs.

As the economy is slow to rebound, there are two key phrases in the chemical process industries (CPI): asset management and sustainability, notes Michael McElroy, business development manager with Pepperl + Fuchs (P+F; Twinsburg, Ohio). “People are paying more attention to anything related to reliability and sustainability, especially when it concerns safety and environmental discharges. And, all of these hot-button topics are affected by corrosion,” he says. “To ensure both proper management of assets and sustainability of equipment, processors must know the condition of their piping, tanks, valves, pumps and other assets. They must know when they need maintenance to avoid shutdowns or accidents. And, corrosion monitoring is an integral part of these focus areas.”

Corrosion monitoring perks are many. They range from high-value benefits (such as accident and shutdown avoidance) to mid-range value advantages (including optimizing the life of equipment by not having extensive wear) to lower-range, but still significant, value that stems from knowing when and what kinds of maintenance are actually needed based on knowledgeable predictions (instead of replacing parts on a time-based schedule) to recognizing and maintaining the sweet spot of corrosion inhibiting chemicals.

Netherlands reactor repairs to be fixed this week

http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=22657:netherlands-reactor-repairs-to-be-fixed-this-week

The final welding of the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten, Netherlands, will be completed this week and root cause of the deformations was galvanic corrosion, according to the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) of the Netherlands.

The welding activities on the High Flux Reactor’s reducers have started, and three out of four corroded parts of the reducers have been welded and inspected, said NRG.

NRG has been investigating and defining the root cause of the deformations. Analyses showed that the galvanic corrosion resulted from electolytic contact between steel and aluminium, and the presence of water was the root cause of the deformations. This interaction between the steel and aluminium (galvanic corrosion) was hardly known at the time that the High Flux Reactor was designed.

“Executing this repair has been a good decision. Galvanic corrosion is a process, that will be stopped by breaking the connection between the steel and aluminium and that is exactly what we are doing now,” said Jan-Willem Rensman, material scientist of NRG.

The date of the HFR restart remains planned for the second half of August. The remaining phases of the project will be planned in detail, added NRG.




Last updated on June 11, 2010 at 8:55 am EST

http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/search?q=corrosion&type=search

Google Fast Flip is a web application that lets users discover and share news articles. It combines qualities of print and the Web, with the ability to "flip" through pages online as quickly as flipping through a magazine. It also enables users to follow friends and topics, discover new content and create their own custom magazines around searches.

Corrosion Concerns at U.S. Nuclear Reactors

In 2002, the plant, Davis-Besse, in Oak Harbor, Ohio, developed leaks in parts on the vessel head, allowing cooling water from inside the vessel, at 2,200 pounds per square inch of pressure, to leak out.

The cooling water contains boric acid, which is used to control the speed of the nuclear reaction, and the acid ate away a chunk of the steel the size of a football, leaving nothing but a thin stainless-steel liner to maintain the reactor’s integrity.

The company assumed it had solved the problem. But recently the new vessel head showed the same leakage pattern. Once again, the parts prone to leaking are nozzles through which the control rods for the reactor pass.

From the New York Times' Green blog.

Congress must work to preserve the United States' critical infrastructure

Our critical infrastructure -- from bridges to pipelines, water and sewer mains to energy generation, transmission and exploration equipment -- is in trouble. Much of this infrastructure has reached or exceeded its design life, yet we are expecting many more years of service from it. Regardless of whether it is publicly or privately owned, the common denominator in all of these infrastructure problems and, in many cases, imminent failure, is corrosion.

In a recent address, Congresswoman Betty Sutton, of the 13th District, said, "Corrosion is not a sexy topic [What? ed.]. It's not a topic that will dominate the cable news networks or garner the top headline of a major newspaper . . . until something bad happens. But it's real, and it's a major concern." No one wants to see another bridge collapse like the one in Minneapolis, whose failure was contributed to by corrosion.

From Cleveland Dealer, Letters to the Editor (Russell Schabel, Strongsville)

For more information about Congresswoman Betty Sutton's fight against corrosion, see this previous post and her site here.

MnDOT Finds Corrosion on Gusset Plates on Mississippi River Bridge

The Minnesota Department of Transportation said it found corrosion in several gusset plates in the Mississippi River Bridge at Winona. Those are the same structural components that bridge's sudden close June 3, 2008. Officials are restricting weight limits until Tuesday's repairs.

From Associated Press

Under-designed and corroded gusset plates were determined to be a major cause of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. More information about that failure at Wikipedia and the NTSB's report on the failure here (PDF, 4.2M).

Attributes of a Corrosion Engineer

In the NACE Resource Center, an article Attributes of a Corrosion Engineer lists some of the characteristics a corrosion engineer needs in order to be successful:

• Knowledge of corrosion
  
• Knowledge of corrosion resistant characteristics of materials
  
• Knowledge of corrosive characteristics of chemicals
  
• Information on physical and mechanical properties of materials
  
• Information on availability and cost
  
• Information on fabrication techniques
  
• Knowledge of special requirement of what is being produced
  
• Proficiency in planning, executing, and interpreting test programs
  
• Ability to get along with others
  
• Common sense

Norm Moriber’s hilarious article (PDF, 84k) "Out of the Norm" in November, 2001 issue of Materials Performance listed some more characteristics of a corrosion engineer, in the style of Jeff Foxworthy (i.e. "you might be a corrosion engineer if ...").

I've added a few to Norm's list:

You might be a corrosion engineer if you think the expression “watching paint dry” is misapplied to boring situations.

You might be a corrosion engineer if you can’t explain what you do for a living without 20 minutes, a PowerPoint presentation, a voltmeter and a reference electrode.

To the corrosion engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories:
(1) things that need to be protected against corrosion, and
(2) things that can be consumed to protect category 1.

To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
To the corrosion engineer, it needs more copper sulfate crystals.

You might be a corrosion engineer if ...

• in college you thought Spring Break could have been an environmentally-assisted cracking failure.
  
• you can type 70 words per minute with two fingers but can't read your own handwriting.
  
• you see a good design and still have to change it.
  
• you spent more on your calculator than you did on your wedding ring.
  
• you still own an analog multi-meter larger than a television set and know how to use it.
  
• you window shop at Radio Shack
  
• people groan at the party when you pick out the music.
  
• your hot water heater will last longer than you expect to live.
  
• you've already calculated how much you make per second.
  
• your idea of good interpersonal communication means getting the decimal point in the right place.
  
• you have used coat hangers and duct tape for something other than hanging coats and taping ducts.
  
• you own one or more white short-sleeve dress shirts. With a pocket. And you wear them with ties. For extra credit: with clip-on ties.
  
• you have a habit of destroying things in order to see how they work.
  
• you can remember the galvanic series potentials of forty different metals but not your anniversary.
  
• you take a cruise so you can go on a personal tour of the engine room. You make maintenance suggestions.
  
• you are offended by any of these jokes. Extra credit if you write a scathing letter to the editor. Double points if written on a typewriter.
  
• you write a follow-up to an MP article published nine years ago.

Chinese Scientists Say Cigarette Butts Protect Steel From Corrosion

Researchers found that extracts of cigarette butt water could substantially protect N80 type steel from corroding when in hydrochloric acid at 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees F). That type of steel is often used to make drill rods, which costs oil producers millions of dollars annually when they corrode.

From Cybercast News Service.

More information in the American Chemical Society's periodical Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research.

Corrosion Blog Maintenance

If you have received errors finding The Corrosion Blog at corrosionblog.com or at thecorrosionblog.blogspot.com in the last few days, I am sorry for the inconvenience. The site has been migrating to Blogger's (Google's) servers and there is some delay in submitting the changes to DNS servers and the servers updating the new location. Feel free to email me at editor@corrosionblog.com if you are having any difficulties. In the interim, the address http://www.corrosionblog.com/ should be working.

FAQ: The Science and History of Oil Spills

Interesting information about oil spills in a FAQ format at livescience.com.

Opposing Group Says Nuclear Reactor Design Has Corrosion Risks

An anti-nuclear coalition says design flaws in Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor could allow radiation leaks during an accident, and it is calling on federal authorities to suspend licensing and loan guarantees for plants that use it.

The AP1000 Oversight Group (PDF, 12k), made up of 11 environmental organizations, released a report (PDF, 4.46M) Wednesday detailing what it calls a serious safety issue that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not addressed on the AP1000 reactor.

The report contends Westinghouse designed the reactor without a corrosion-proof backup to protect against leaks from the containment vessel. In a reactor accident, the reactor’s safety systems would allow any radioactive material that had leaked over time to be released into the air and spread to nearby populated areas, the group contends.

From the Charlotte Business Journal (links added).

PHMSA Cased Pipe Workshop – April 28, 2010 - Baltimore, MD

PHMSA is holding a Workshop on the newly developed Guidelines for Integrity Assessment of Cased Pipe (PDF, 752k) at the Sheraton Inner Harbor, 300 South Charles Street, Baltimore, MD on April 28, 2010. The workshop focus will be for the public, pipeline operators, trade associations, and others to address ideas and concerns with successfully using External Corrosion Direct Assessment integrity evaluation methods and use of other technologies to assess pipelines in casings located within High Consequence Areas. The workshop is intended to discuss the PHMSA guidance "Guidelines for Integrity Assessment of Cased Pipe in Gas Transmission Pipelines" and related FAQs. The latest guidelines and FAQs are available online here.

More information on the workshop here. Register for free here.

See previous posts on casings and ECDA here and here.

Flash Rust

The SSPC/JPCL are sponsoring a free webinar on Applying Coatings over Flash Rust in a Marine Environment here. The webinar will be presented by Pete Ault of Elzly Technologies and will describe a study in which coatings were applied over varying degrees of flash rust and then inspected periodically for 6 years. The performance of coatings over light, moderate, and heavy flash rust will be presented and discussed.

Participation in the webinar is free, but for those who wish to receive continuing education credits from SSPC, a test is available after the webinar. Cost of the test service is $25. All participants, however, will receive a free certificate of completion.

Some examples of flash rust here. Flash rust can be a problem with ultra-high pressure water blasting but also with other surface preparation methods, such as sand blasting with salt contamination (such as in a marine environment).

The Corrosive Properties of Coca-Cola

1. In many states the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the truck to remove blood from the highway after a car accident.
2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days.
3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl . . . Let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean.
4. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
5. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
6. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion.
7. To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
8. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan; wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for a sumptuous brown gravy.
9. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, And run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.

FYI:
1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. It's pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about 4 days.
2. To carry Coca Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly Corrosive materials.
3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years! Drink up! No joke. Think what coke and other soft drinks do to your teeth on a daily basis. A tooth will dissolve in a cup of coke in 24-48 hours.

For more discussion, see here.

p.s. Today is the first day in April

Drunk History: Nikola Tesla



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

Alyeska tests clamp to repair bullet holes

From Energy Pipeline News:

ANCHORAGE - Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. is planning a field exercise this year to test a hydraulically powered clamp designed to stop oil from spewing out of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline through a bullet hole. The bullet-hole exercise is planned for a site at the Chatanika River. A test piece of 48-inch mainline pipe will be placed at the scene and pressurized with water to simulate a high-pressure oil spray through a bullet hole, an exercise description says.

From Wikipedia:

On October 4, 2001, a drunken gunman named Daniel Carson Lewis shot a hole into a weld near Livengood, causing the second-largest mainline oil spill in pipeline history. Approximately 258,000 US gallons (980 m3) leaked from the pipeline; 178,000 US gallons (670 m3) were recovered and reinjected into the pipeline. Nearly 2 acres (8,100 m2) of tundra were soiled and were removed in the cleanup. The pipeline was repaired and was restarted more than 60 hours later. Lewis was found guilty in December 2002 of criminal mischief, assault, drunken driving, oil pollution, and misconduct. He was sentenced to 16 years in jail and ordered to repay the $17 million cleanup costs.

Photo from BBC.

Assessing the need for CO2 pipelines

A recent study commissioned by the INGAA Foundation focused on the pipeline infrastructure requirements for carbon capture and sequestration in connection with compliance with mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The major conclusion of the study was that, while CCS technologies are relatively well defined, there remain technological challenges in the carbon capture and sequestration phases. There are fewer technological challenges in connection with the transportation of captured carbon. The study forecasts that between 15,000 and 66,000 miles will be needed by 2030.

From pipelineandgastechnology.com.

Shale Gas

Interesting video explaining the process of shale exploration here.

Shale gas has become an increasingly more important source of natural gas in the United States over the past decade. ... Although shale gas has been produced for more than 100 years in the Appalachian Basin and the Illinois Basin of the United States, the wells were often economically marginal. Higher natural gas prices in recent years and advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal completions have made shale gas wells more profitable. Shale gas tends to cost more to produce than gas from conventional wells, because of the expense of massive hydraulic fracturing treatments required to produce shale gas, and of horizontal drilling. However, this is often offset by the low risk of shale gas wells.

From Wikipedia.

PRCI and NACE Sign a Memorandum of Understanding

Building further on a long-standing relationship between PRCI (Pipeline Research Council, Inc.) and NACE International, the two organizations have executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster activities that will serve their common interests in developing and disseminating technical information related to corrosion on energy pipelines. THE MOU also provides a framework for working cooperatively to advance these goals for the mutual benefit of their memberships. The MOU formalizes this important relationship with one of the primary standards development organizations that utilizes and applies PRCI's corrosion research results in developing the standards for integrity management of pipeline systems.

From the PRCI Newsletter Throughput Volume 4, Issue 1

Hoax Email - Dial Before You Dig

There is an email going around, your Corrosion Blog editor has received it three times now, called Dial Before You Dig. The email is now discussed on the extremely useful and entertaining "fact-checking" urban legends website snopes.com here. Public awareness of the dangers of third-party damage to pipelines is beneficial but spreading false tales is not. If you receive this email, I suggest that you do not forward it and reply to the sender letting them know that the email is a hoax, with the link to the snopes site (or this post).

The email contains a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow named Dial_Before_You_Dig.pps.

Dial Before You Dig
This happened in America. It’s a good reason why you should dial before you dig…… The following pictures are a result of a worker on a farm using a post hole digger - he hit an underground, high-pressure gas main. He took out 2 homes, associated sheds and vehicles. They never found the man.

The remainder of the slideshow is pictures showing the devastation of a pipeline explosion. The pictures are from an actual pipeline explosion that happened in "America", but not as the result of a man with a post hole digger. The photographs are actually from a natural gas transmission failure near Appomattox, Virginia in September 2008 caused by external corrosion. There were some minor injuries but fortunately no one was killed.

Corrosion Results in Electrocution on Navy Ship

The Navy has ordered the inspection all electrical enclosures aboard every ship in its fleet after the Nov. 28 electrocution of a sailor aboard the Rentz, a San Diego-based frigate currently deployed in the Persian Gulf. The order — issued jointly by the Virginia-based Naval Sea Systems and the San Diego-based Naval Surface Forces commands — suggests that hidden corrosion on a hinge attached to an electrical enclosure may have played a role.

From The San Diego Union-Tribune. Also, see the Navy Times.

Plans on Schedule for First New Refinery in U.S. since 1970's

From Energy Pipeline News:

The US currently has 150 existing refineries, 141 operating with nine idle. Hyperion Resources began construction of the nation's first new oil refinery since 1976 on 3,800 acres of farmland near Elk Point, South Dakota.

The Dallas-based developers say that they plan to get shovels into the ground in 2011, and that Hyperion will be refining Canadian tar sands crude into gasoline and diesel by 2015.

Opposition groups such as Save Union County and the Sierra Club plan to ask the Environmental Protection Agency to step in and review concerns about air permits.

CP and the World's Tallest Building

Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai), the recently opened skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft).

The superstructure is supported by a large reinforced concrete mat, which is in turn supported by bored reinforced concrete piles. The design was based on extensive geotechnical and seismic studies. The mat is 3.7 meters thick, and was constructed in four separate pours totaling 12,500 cubic meters of concrete. The 1.5 meter diameter x 43 meter long piles represent the largest and longest piles conventionally available in the region. A high density, low permeability concrete was used in the foundations, as well as a cathodic protection system under the mat, to minimize any detrimental effects form corrosive chemicals in local ground water.

From the Burj Khalifa website.

Bridge Closed Permanently Because of Extensive Corrosion

The Cline Avenue bridge (in northwest Indiana) from Calumet Avenue in Hammond to Michigan Avenue in East Chicago that's been shut down since last month will remain closed permanently. The Indiana Department of Transportation announced today that the Cline Avenue bridge will not be repaired or re-built.

From ABC 7 News Chicago.

See here for original blog post on The Corrosion Blog.