Costs of unmanaged corrosion can range from unplanned shutdowns and unbudgeted capital expenditure to full replacement of machinery and equipment. A 2016 corrosion study by NACE International reveals that the cost of corrosion represents about 3.4 percent of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), i.e. approximately US$2.5 trillion on a global scale [1].
Retrospectively, a 2002 study conducted by the US Federal Highway Association, estimated a total annual cost of corrosion in the United States to be about 3.1 percent of the country’s GDP [2].
Despite ongoing corrosion research, technological progress in the development of corrosion related inspection, digitalization of monitoring tools and selection of chemicals (click here for more information), the comparison of these two corrosion cost estimates would suggest that no significant progress has been made in reducing the costs associated with corrosion over the last 15 years.
A major contributory factor to failures from corrosion (such as the 2014 Flint (Michigan) incident; 2007 Carlsbad (New Mexico) incident and cases elsewhere) is often a consequence of inadequate intervention linked to corrosion management and/or inspection.
AIE, as a specialist independent chemical and corrosion management service provider can offer a client a corrosion management system that complies with Safety, Health and Environmental policies in industries such as Oil and Gas, Power Generation and Nuclear. This helps to reduce leakages and unplanned maintenance, consequently increasing plant reliability and availability.
In the face of historical evidence, AIE aims to minimize the occurrence of failures at their clients’ assets, through its corrosion management services.
AIE’s corrosion experts stated the following:
“Corrosion Management and Control are two core activities for maintaining asset integrity, reliability and safety. These activities provide the basis for effective monitoring and mitigation of the destructive corrosion process over the life cycle of an asset. However, the measures and processes put in place need to be practical and achievable.”
AIE offers a suite of activities designed to intervene and mitigate the negative causes and impact of corrosion, such as:
- Integrity and Risk Based Inspection services
- Materials engineering services
- Corrosion studies
- Corrosion risk assessments and planning
- Chemical testing programs and recommendations
- Independent management of laboratory testing and coupon removal/analysis
- Cathodic protection assessment and design
- Periodic analysis and reporting of corrosion management systems
To create a safe and sustainable future, the industry needs to address integrity challenges in an integrated and strategic manner, always having a long-term strategy in mind.
It is AIE’s priority to ensure that corrosion management and integrity strategies are efficiently and cost effectively executed and are periodically reviewed to ensure that the recommendations are appropriate and realistic.
AIE’s corrosion management services have aided numerous clients in building proactive corrosion management and integrity systems, enabling them to be prepared for answers to the questions such as ‘What could go wrong?’ and ‘Can we identify and prevent potential incidents?’
If you would like to further understand how our corrosion team can manage, control and mitigate the corrosion threats in your system, please visit our contact us page.
Providing a holistic approach for corrosion, chemical and flow assurance management, our market leading software, Veracity CCM enables operators to manage their key threats more effectively thereby maintaining plant up-time whilst reducing unplanned maintenance and costly repairs.
To learn more about Veracity CCM, click here.
To request a free demo, contact us.