The Vital Role of the Corrosion/Materials Engineer in the Life Cycle Management of Pressure Equipment

In my 40 years of experience I’ve come to firmly believe that nearly every operating site processing hydrocarbons needs the services, to some extent, of a competent, experienced corrosion/materials (C/M) engineer in order to achieve excellence in pressure equipment integrity and reliability (PEI&R). Without such services there are many PEI traps to fall into caused by lack of knowledge of corrosion and materials degradation issues. This paper outlines those traps that can lead not only to avoidable cost issues, but unanticipated breaches of containment and the ensuing undesirable safety and environmental consequences. The most well rounded C/M engineer should be knowledgeable, not just in metallurgy and materials selection, but also in process chemistry, corrosion and degradation mechanisms, corrosion barriers, materials degradation prevention, repair and replacement decisions and cost-effective mitigation practices. In this paper, I will indicate how a competent C/M engineer could easily save the company the cost of his/her services ten times over while recognizing that not all small sites may need a full time C/M engineer on staff, but should at least have access to one through contractual agreements. I will show how proactive corrosion control activities in the top ten vital C/M engineering aspects are necessary to achieve excellence (and avoid pressure equipment failures) in PEI&R.