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+ Material technology
DRAWING THE
CORROSION-RISK PICTURE
ASSET MANAGERS WANT TO REDUCE CORROSION RISKS. TO ENABLE THEM TO MAKE THEIR DECISIONS
IN A FAMILIAR CONTEXT, CORROSION PROFESSIONALS HAVE STARTED APPLYING RISK PRINCIPLES.
OPTIMISED CORROSION MANAGEMENT IS THE GOAL.
TEXT: EVA HALVORSEN PHOTOS: DAMIR CVETOJEVIC
There is zero tolerance for failures
that affect people or the environment,
and asset managers’ expectations
regarding corrosion-risk reduction
are now higher than ever before. This is
true across most industry segments where
the demand for corrosion management
has grown, such as the oil and gas, chemical
process, nuclear, bridge, and aircraft
industries. At the same time, the infrastructure
in countries that experienced their
peak industrial growth more than 30 years
ago is becoming increasingly difficult to
manage. Although most assets can be operated
beyond their original design life, the
information related to their construction,
maintenance and historical damage may
be of low quality or have gaps.
“These factors complicate risk assessment,
causing apparently unlikely events to
occur without warning,” explains corrosion
expert Oliver Moghissi. He is the director
of the DNV Materials and Corrosion
Technology Center located in Columbus,
Ohio, USA. He is also the President of
NACE International, the world’s leading
corrosion society, with more than 27,000
members from over 110 countries. NACE’s
mission is to ‘Protect People, Assets, and
the Environment from the Effects of
Corrosion’.
I “By monetising the benefit in terms of reduced risk, the corrosion professional allows the asset manager to make
decisions in a familiar context, and he or she can prioritise expenses and risks across the entire asset,” says Oliver
Moghissi, the director of the DNV Materials and Corrosion Technology Center located in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
He is also the President of NACE International, the world’s leading corrosion society. Here he is making a speech
at the CORCON Corrosion Conference in Mumbai, India, earlier this year.
“Corrosion professionals are increasingly
using risk principles to optimise corrosion
management,” says Dr Moghissi. “First of
all, this is a result of the asset managers’
higher expectations, but it is also a consequence
of the asset managers’ desire to
better understand the recommendations
of corrosion professionals. Another aspect
is the need to optimise corrosion-related
maintenance expenses.”
COMMUNICATION GAP
To be able to understand the total risk picture
better, asset managers need to understand
the effects of corrosion. According
to Dr Moghissi, there is today a communication
gap between asset managers and
corrosion professionals.
“Corrosion professionals tend to have
the technical knowledge to identify and
mitigate specific threats, but lack the abil-
62 – no 01 2012