NACE San Francisco Section June Meeting

Vacuum Excavation

Vacuum excavation removes the concern about damaging underground electrical conduits and piping at natural gas compressor stations when installing distributed impressed anode beds.  Before this technology was developed it often was necessary to hand dig trenches inside compressor stations.  I took this photo recently on a construction project. 

More information on vacuum excavation equipment can be seen here. 

ASNT Golden Gate Section Meeting - May 2014

NACE San Francisco Section Meeting - May 2014

NACE Los Angeles Section Meeting - May 2014

Short Sales Posting

Trident Environmental & Engineering, Inc. starting July 1st will be  doing the as-needed corrosion control services for CCWD (Contra Costa Water District).  This part of the business plan to become less dependent upon one client and have water district clients.

Trident has in the short one year period that I have been Principal Corrosion Engineer obtained small projects from Mid-Peninsula Water District, Coastside County Water District, Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD), San Francisco PUC, Dublin San Ramon Utility District, and EBMUD (East Bay Municipal District).  I cannot take full credit for obtaining these new clients and projects as it was a team effort.  

If your water district needs corrosion control services, consider using Trident Environmental & Engineering, Inc.

NACE International San Joaquin Section Annual BBQ

NACE San Joaquin Section April Meeting

Girth Weld ILI Tool

Sodium Hypochlorite Storage Tanks

Fiberglass storage tanks containing Sodium Hypochlorite will not have a rupture failure but typically last less than 15 years in service.  Therefore, many operators will store Sodium Hypochlorite in fiberglass tanks.

Poly tanks are more economical than fiberglass storage tanks and may have a service life up to 20 years storing sodium hypochlorite.  However, poly tanks may rupture in service resulting in complete spillage of tank product with expensive environmental clean-up. 

Therefore the risk of poly tank rupture with environmental clean-up needs to be considered when deciding to use fiberglass or poly tanks to store sodium hypochlorite. 

Corrosion Damage to Vessels Have to Be Accurately Measured & Documented

I found myself as corrosion / integrity consultant of a low pressure vessel  built to API 620 standards.  The vessel was in the process of being recoated after ten years of service.  During removal of the coating internal and external corrosion damage was reported to exist on the vessel.   My company was asked to do a integrity accessment and recommend how the corrosion damaged vessel was to be repaired.

The corrosion damage reported on the internal surface didn't appear consistent with internal corrosion damage.  A NACE International Level 2 Coating Inspector with a ultrasonic thickness gauge had done the measurements.  In addition, the corrosion damage was not reported in a format that allowed any calculation of the remaining strength of the vessel wall.

An API inspector and myself entered the vessel to inspect the internal corrosion damage.  We found construction defects which didn't impact the integrity of the vessel being improperly called out as corrosion damage with inaccurate ultrasonic wall thickness measurements.  Basically we found no evidence of any internal corrosion pitting and very minor construction defects which didn't impact the integrity of the vessel wall.

The coating inspector didn't use a pit gauge but put his ultrasonic thickness gauge on rough surface manufacturing defects which caused inaccurate measurement of deep corrosion pitting.  Research on the vessel operating conditions indicated that internal corrosion was highly unlikely as the conditions inside the vessel didn't support corrosion.  Therefore, the fact that the API inspector and myself couldn't find any internal corrosion pitting was to be expected.  This type of vessel in this service has a history of zero internal corrosion issues.

Nine locations of external corrosion pitting caused by coating failure in a Pacific coast atmosphere had resulted in the need to do weld-fill repair which took about a week to complete.  These corrosion pits were small in size yet deep enough to require repair.

It is important that anyone doing ultrasonic wall thickness measurements on a API 620 or similar vessel know ASNT, API, and ASME methods to accurately measure and document corrosion pititng damage.  A coating inspector may be qualified to do coating inspection, but not qualified to document corrosion damage to a vessel. 

ASM – ASCE – NACE TEMECULA COMBO Meeting

ASM – ASCE – NACE TEMECULA COMBO Meeting

April 24, 2014 Thursday DINNER Meeting
"What Really is Involved in Materials Selection"

Speaker: Dr. Robert C. Klug, P.E.

TIME:

6 PM Social Hour & Pizza

7 PM – 8PM Presentation & Questions

Location:

Pat & Oscar’s, 29375 Rancho California Road, Temecula, CA

(951) 695-2422  Cost: $20.00

MENU:

Pizza, Chicken, Salads

PLEASE RSVP by Wednesday, April 23, 2014 but walk-ins are welcome.  Contact Eddie Hernandez to RSVP via email at ehernandez@vglabs.com or (951) 215-6399 

Presentation attendance counts for

(1) Professional development contact hour.

At first blush Materials Selection sounds like a relatively easy process.  However, the number of variables can rapidly multiply and the simple “walk in the woods” can quickly become a struggle to extract yourself from the quicksand.  We will explore what the principle objectives are that you need to consider and how to avoid the quagmire of processing, cost, and design considerations to successfully bring a product to the market, choosing products, and avoid being sued.   

Dr. Klug has worked as a cook, machinist, and welder before earning his doctorate at the Colorado School of Mines Steel Research Center in 1989.  He has worked in a variety of Metallurgical Engineering positions ranging from large Corporations to small independent consulting firms in fields spanning failure analysis, expert litigation support, quality control, education and technical services. Bob and his wife Sharon moved to San Diego in July 2011 where he presently works with the Materials and Processing Department at Solar Turbines Inc.   

Join our emailing list by e-mailing

Temecula-Valley-Engineering-Meetings@googlegroups.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Temecula-Valley-Engineering-Associations-News/337740092952355?ref=ts

Causes of Corrosion in Copper Water Piping

An Article on this issue can be read here. 

Cathodic Protection for Internal Surface of Water Well Casings

I was asked recently if cathodic protection can be used to protect the internal surfaces of a water well casing.

Although cathodic protection is used to protect the external surface of water, oil production well casings, and natural gas well casings; it is not standard practice to use cathodic protection inside a water well casings.

I was project engineer for a experimental project to use cathodic protection to protect the internal surfaces of a water well casing.  Special magnesium anodes had to be made that were small enough to fit inside the well casing.  A permanent reference cell was put inside the well casing and it's wire connection mounted inside a test station near the water well. 

The result was the cathodic protection was effective in protecting the water well when the pump was not running.  Since cathodic protection current requirements are a function of water velocity, the water well didn't have sufficient cathodic protection levels when the pump was operating.  However, internal corrosion of water wells tend to occur mostly when the water well is idle. 

NACE International Los Angeles section - April 2014 USS Iowa Tour

(NCCPC) Northern California Cathodic Protection Committee

As current Vice Chairman of SCCPC (Southern California Cathodic Protection Committee), I am interested in creating a NCCPC.  The NCCPC will cover Alameda, Contra Costa, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sacramento, and Sonoma counties.  Due to the ever growing DC mass transit systems operating in Northern California, I see the need for such a committee.

I will be contacting various persons by email about this matter.

Anyone interested in joining this committee, please contact me by email at SCCPC@Outlook.com

NACE International San Francisco Section Meeting - April 2014

SSPC Northern Calilifornia - Nevada Chapter Meeting - March 2014

MIC in Cargo Tanks of Crude Oil Tanker

I was surprised recently to discover that this paper which I co-authored is still available in the NACE International store.  NACE International members can download it as a PDF for free from the www.nace.org website.

Stray Currents - The Blog of the SCCPC (Southern California Cathodic Protection Committee)

I have created a blog for the SCCPC.  This blog can be viewed at http://sccpc-blog.blogspot.com/. 

Temecula Combo Meeting

Temecula Valley Engineering Association Presentation

I will be giving a technical talk on "Smart Pig Corrosion Inspection Capabilities" at the Temecula Valley Engineering Association meeting on January 23, 2014.  Contact Eddie Hernandez: Cell: (951) 215-6399 or Email: ehernandez@vglabs.com for additional information.  It will be very similar to the presentation given at NACE International Los Angeles Section meeting on November 8, 2012.  It will have information on new pipeline inline inspection technology that has occurred since November 2012.  I will publish additional information on this presentation later on this blog.