Corrosion Control
Corrosion is a natural process can attack any metal or alloy under the right conditions.
Corrosion in water systems is a major concern for commercial and industrial facilities. Corrosion related failures in the process industries can result in catastrophic failures of piping and equipment which can cause explosions, fires, and the release of toxic materials. These consequences of corrosion are obvious and drastic. The economic costs of corrosion are less obvious. Consider:
The replacement of corroded equipment - Unscheduled plant shutdowns to replace equipment
- Process upsets resulting from corroded equipment
- Product contamination
- Product loss from leaking vessels and piping
- Otherwise unnecessary preventative maintenance
- The costs to over design to prevent corrosion
- The inability to use otherwise desirable materials
The overall cost of corrosion is in the billions of dollars annually!
The causes of corrosion in water systems are many and varied and the technology of identifying and preventing corrosion is a huge and ever expanding field.
KWT has had over 30 years of experience in identifying and preventing corrosion occurring in boiler, cooling, wastewater, and process water systems. Eric Fraser is a member of NACE International (An international association of corrosion engineers) and AWT (An association of water technologist). Both of the organizations provide excellent resource material for corrosion prevention in commercial and industrial applications.
Some of the key areas of corrosion prevention that KWT has had direct experience with include the following:
- Prevention of white rust on galvanized water system
- Prevention of Microbiologically influenced corrosion in cooling water systems
- Prevention of Stainless Steel Chloride corrosion and Chloride stress corrosion cracking
- Prevention of excess corrosion of equipment during chemical cleaning processes
- Prevention of dissimilar metals corrosion in water systems.
- Prevention of copper ion plating causing additional mild steel corrosion in cooling systems.
- Prevention of low pH / Acid excursion caused corrosion
- Prevention of cavitation Erosion
- Prevention of oxygen pitting in condensate and feedwater systems
- Prevention of low condensate pH corrosion