Cathodic Protection and

Interferences

René Gregoor

Madrid June 18th and 19th 2009

Madrid,

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 Cathodic protection and interferences
• Corrosion
• Cathodic protection
• Protection criterion
• ON potential measurements
• DC Interferences and mitigation measures
• AC Interferences and mitigation measures
• Conclusions

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 Corrosion process
Corrosion, a natural process ...

reduction

ore =
metal
metal oxides

oxidation

3
 Corrosion mechanism

OH- O H
O
Cathodic area O
OH- O H
e-
(Reduction)
OH-
e-
e
Current entering the metal
OH-
e-
Fe++
Anodic area
e- Cl-
Fe++
(Oxidation)

Current leaving the metal

Fe Electrolyte
y

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Electro--chemical reactions
Electro

• Anode
Fe Fe2+ + 2e- ( oxidation)
• Cathode
O2 + 2H2O + 4e- 4OH- (reduction O2)

2H2O + 2e- H2 + 2OH- (reduction H2O)

2H+ + 2e- H2

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Measures against corrosion

• Electrical isolating coating to limit

• the
h metall surface
f area in
i contact with
i h the
h electrolyte
l l
• the required cathodic protection currents
• interferences to third party infrastructure

• Cathodic protection to
• protect from corrosion at coating defects
• protect from DC stray currents

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Cathodic protection installation

• Transformer--rectifier to produce DC current

Transformer

• Anode bed

• CP test posts
• Reference electrodes

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 Cathodic protection installation

Transformer-rectifier

~ - +

pipeline
p p
FeSi or titanium
oxide coated

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Transformer--rectifier
Transformer

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Titanium oxide coated anode

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 Protection criterion (as OFF potential)
• European standard EN12954:2001 fixes the protection criterion
for iron in soil as the potential more negative than -850 mV
(Cu/CuSO4 reference electrode)

• European standard EN13509:2003 defines the measurement

techniques to be applied

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Limits according to EN12954:2001

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ON potential measurement

V Reference electrode

(h lf cell)
(half ll)

pipeline
electrolyte
(half cell)

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ON potential measurement

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 DC stray currents
• from cathodic protection installations, relatively constant,
mitigated by
• direct bond (cable)
• resistive bond

• from DC traction systems (train, tramway, metro, …), highly

variable, mitigated by
• unidirectional drainage in substations
• forced drainage on rails

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 Cathodic protection (CP system)

transformer--rectifier
transformer
anode

protected pipeline

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 Stray currents from CP systems

third party pipeline

transformer--rectifier
transformer
anode
corrosion
i
possible

protected pipeline

17
Stray currents from CP systems - Remedies

transformer--rectifier
transformer third party pipeline
anode

R = R ou
R=0

protected pipeline

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 Stray currents from DC traction systems

SS +
-

corrosion pipeline
protection

0
potentiel

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 Stray currents from DC traction - Remedies

SS +
-

pipeline
protection

0
potential

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Highly variable stray currents from DC traction systems

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Forced drainage along the rails

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Induced AC from High Voltage Power Lines
• Transformer effect between HV
power lines (primary) and a
metal structure in parallel
p
(secondary)
• Interfering structures
• high voltage power lines
pour transport of electricity
• high voltage power lines
and catenaries of high
speed trains
• Interfered structures
• long
g metal pipelines
• electricity cables

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 Induced AC from High Voltage Power Lines
• Amplitude of induced AC depends on
• length of parallelism and the distance between HV power
line and the pipeline
• soil
il resistivity
i ti it
• electrical characteristics of the HV power line
• electrical characteristics of the pipeline
• type of isolating coating of the pipeline

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 Induced AC voltage
• Magnitude
• Some volt to some tens of volt under normal interference
• Limits within the framework of corrosion ((Cu/CuSO4) as
recommended in CEN TS15280
• < 4 V if specific soil resistivity < 25 ohm.m
• < 10 V if specific soil resistivity > 25 ohm
ohm.m
m
• Remedies on existing pipelines
• Grounding of AC part using special electronic circuits

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 Conclusion
• Cathodic protection is simple as a principle but complex in its
application

• Design of CP installations, follow-

follow-up of the polarization potential of
the pipelines, evaluation of the interference situation is a matter
for experts

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Thank you for your attention

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