By Emily Newton, revolutionized.com
Corrosion is a natural process affecting metals due to chemical and electrochemical reactions. However, it can cause significant problems in industrial environments, ranging from production stoppages to accidents. Fortunately, smart monitoring systems allow decision-makers to get ahead of the situation by spotting it early and taking the appropriate corrective action.
Solving a worsening problem with real-time controls
Sometimes, decision-makers understand the need for better corrosion detection once they realize the shortcomings of current prevention strategies. Such was the case for the leaders of a meat processing plant using traditional cooling water treatments to control scale on a critical evaporative condenser system.
However, they noticed calcium carbonate buildup on the equipment’s heat exchange surfaces, causing significant efficiency losses and strain on other components. Calculations suggested the enterprise wasted 442,000 kilowatts of electricity because of the problem.
Executives knew they needed to address the matter. They also wanted to implement a process change to descale the condenser while it operated and without harsh cleaning acids that pose environmental and safety risks. The leaders hired a service provider to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the water, equipment and environment and provide tailored tips to remove existing deposits and prevent future corrosion.
Part of the suggested plan involved using a scale and corrosion preventive similar to what the business had administered previously. However, the recommendations included real-time chemistry controls that allowed better monitoring and problem remediation. They kept corrosion at bay after leaders addressed their initial concerns.
The corrosion removal and prevention strategy also featured a proprietary product that relies on numerous filming substances to eliminate existing deposits. However, it added a hydrophobic coating on the material’s surface, creating a physical barrier to greatly reduce buildup.
After implementing these suggestions for a year, the company saved an estimated $35,000 U.S. dollars — approximately £27,368 — due to reduced electricity use linked to the improved evaporator condenser performance. Additionally, corrosion rates decreased, and the business avoided the costs of a planned shutdown to clean the condenser since descaling now occurs during operations.
Switching to sensors for better corrosion monitoring
Corrosion management requires a detail-oriented mindset where professionals choose the most appropriate mitigation measures for their industrial setups. For example, non-metallic liquid-tight flexible conduits protect cables in damp, humid or wet environments. These are more corrosion-resistant than their metal-containing counterparts.
Technicians should periodically check critical components as part of their corrosion-detection methods. Still, the size and scale of many industrial facilities make online monitoring systems helpful for finding and fixing problems early. Some companies use drones that capture aerial footage and upload it to the cloud. However, sensors also support faster, more accurate methods.
One example comes from a Swedish refinery serving numerous Eastern European countries. A main crude distillation column had corroded parts near the pressure relief valves. Decision-makers believed the cause was a broken injection quill that administered a neutralizing amine into the pipework. They addressed the matter by redesigning surrounding pipes and replacing the non-functional component.
However, those measures only worked for about five weeks. Additionally, calculations showed corrosion happened at a rate of 1.19 millimetres annually, highlighting the amine inhibitor’s insufficiency. The leaders proceeded to install a 17-sensor corrosion-detection system to pinpoint the cause. They then learned a salt-rich crude slate was likely partially to blame, but the injection quill also failed again and had probably spread the inhibitor along the surrounding pipe walls, making it less effective.
Decision-makers temporarily stopped the neutralizing amine injections to verify if corrosion rates reduced after doing so. They did, so executives replaced the injection quill again, eliminating the issue. A smart monitoring system also prevented repeat occurrences and supported the company’s predictive maintenance measures by reducing unplanned downtime. Moreover, technicians use sensor data to make quantitative measurements that extend equipment life spans and improve performance.
Identifying new opportunities in smart monitoring systems
Since corrosion can be such a disruptive phenomenon, researchers are interested in finding new, high-tech ways to control it in industrial settings. One example is a transducer equipped with eight sensors that use ultrasonic guided waves to detect pipe abnormalities that could cause leaks and show technicians corroded areas. Built-in algorithms process the collected information, indicating the size and location of affected areas. Additionally, the sensors compare historical data to differentiate between stable and worsening problems.
Another group creatively designed mobile robots with integrated ultrasonic sensors and sent them into pipes. The creations worked collaboratively in pulse-echo mode to detect corrosion and other defects and showed people their locations.
Each robot contained an omnidirectional guided acoustic wave transducer, which researchers determined would provide reliable results for pipes of various materials and lengths and could spot defects of numerous sizes and types. The group tested this method on a three-metre steel pipe, verifying that this approach did not require prior synchronization of the robots and that it found both pitting and crack-related issues.
Elsewhere, a Canadian team designed sensors that detect corrosion caused by erosion. They continue performing in extreme temperatures, high humidity, intense sunlight and other harsh weather conditions, making them ideal for pipework or industrial equipment frequently exposed to the elements. The hardware detects the extent of the issue and measures the wear depth of protective coatings, indicating whether current preventive measures get the desired results or need improvement.
The researchers’ system also includes microwave resonator sensors equipped with artificial intelligence. They go beyond surface-level detection to assess individual layers of protective coatings, checking for signs of failure. Associated experiments tested the technology in four settings, tasking it with screening numerous surfaces.
Exciting corrosion detection improvements
Industrial leaders must adopt proactive attitudes to manage corrosion and stop it from hindering operations. These examples show why smart monitoring systems and advanced sensors increase oversight, allowing technicians to move away from manual or time-consuming approaches and embrace automated or tech-driven methods.
Anyone considering similar techniques for their facilities should define corrosion’s cause and extent before finding technological solutions to tackle the problem. They should also choose and track metrics that show whether their new investments have paid off or need further tweaking to achieve the expected results.
Such careful approaches mitigate corrosion and its costly effects, increasing businesses’ uptime and positioning enterprises to continue meeting demands without encountering unforeseen challenges.
