A SHORT INVESTIGATION ON THE CATHODIC PROTECTION

SYSTEM OF GAS PIPE LINE NEAR ABQUAIQ

Dr. Anees U. Malik

Research & Development Center

Saline Water Conversion Corporation
P.O.Box 8328, Al-Jubail -31951, Saudi Arabia
Tel: + 966-3-343 0333, Fax: + 966-3-343 1615
Email: rdc@swcc.gov.sa
October 1988

INTRODUCTION

The cathodic protection system for the gas pipeline in the Abquaiq oil field is a deep well
anode bed-type system (closed hole design). It is approximately 45 meters deep and 8 anodes
are installed in the well. The deep well is contained in a sealed steel casing from top to
bottom and has water from an aquifer up to a level of about 23m from the bottom. The deep
well has been in operation since 1981-82. The anodes used are Fe-Si-Cr type and a
carbonaceous material has been used as a back fill. The anodes have been installed with
independent cable, each returning to the surface and then terminated in a junction box. The
T/R feed to the junction box is of standard single core type.

As early as November 1987, problems with the cathodic protection system were apprehended
with the tightening and straining of the anode cables. Subsequently, an ARAMCO engineer
visited the site and reported the non-functioning of 2 of the 8 anodes as appeared by the zero
output. As a temporary measure, SWCC relieved the excess strain by splicing the anode
cables with extra cables through welding. Presently, out of the 8 electrodes, 7 electrodes were
reported to be functioning and cables were not overstrained.

CAUSES

There are several causes responsible for the straining of the anode cables and nonfunctioning
of the anodes. The most probable are:

(i) The sealed steel casing is torn or broken away due to continuous operation of the deep
well or corroded at some point below the ground. in each case. the water from aquifer
 has entered inside the sealed tube through the leak and washed away a portion or
whole of the back fill carbonaceous material. It is also possible that the anode-
supporting pipe is also displaced from its normal position. This could result in
abnormal tension on the anode cable due to the weights of free anode and supporting
pipe.

(ii) The presence of an efficiently packed carbonaceous back fill around an anode serves
two important purposes: the back fill makes contact with the anode surface
electrically and transmit current directly from the anode surface, therefore, reducing
consumption rates, the conductive carbon back fill around anode will increase the
effective size. In the present deep well cathodic system. if the contact between back
fill material and the anode is not maintained due to disruption in the integrity of back
fill packing then accelerated consumption of anode occurs specially on either end of
the anode and can precipitate a failure. The accelerated consumption rate of the anode
occurs when the current density leaving the anode surface exceeds the current
carrying capacity of the back fill material. The high consumption or corrosion rate of
the anode might result in weakening of the contact between the anode and cable
inducing enormous strain on the string.

(iii) In the cathodic protection deep well anode bed, due to continuous current transfer to
back fill, the solidification of the back fill slurry accentuated. Subsequently the
segregation of solid carbonaceous back fill around the anode surface occurs. In this
situation, the anode cable not only carries the mass of the anode but also the mass of
the back fill and in consequence, exerting abnormal strain on the anode cable. A'S
stated above, there are at least three possible causes of the damage to the deep well
cathodic protection but one factor seems to be common, the packing of back fill
carbonaceous material around anode is disturbed resulting in abnormal straining of
the anode cables.

RECOMMENDATION

An average life of 7 to 10 years has been experienced for conventional deep well anode
installations (closed type) in U. S.A. and other countries, due to cable failures, gas blocking,
connection failures, end effects etc. So it is not surprising to have problems in deep well
cathodic protection system.

The straining of anode cables and nonfunctioning of anodes in the deep well cathodic
protection system can be solved by taking the following course:

As a temporary measure, the anode cables can be repaired by joining with additional cables
so as to relieve the tension on the existing cables. As stated in the beginning of this report,
this measure has already been taken by SWCC and has shown satisfactory results. In
addition, by pumping some back fill material in slurry, gaps in packing could be filled and
might further extend the life of the system.

However, the above measures can be employed on short-term basis until all the anodes are
failed or protective potential is below the NACE criteria. In that case some permanent
measures could be taken.

As a permanent measure, the existing cathodic protection deep well system should be
replaced by another new system. A deep well (open hole) cathodic protection system
employing fiber glass casing and Nb- Ti/mixed oxide anodes is preferable over closed well
steel casing employing petroleum coke back fill and Fe-Cr-C anodes.

CONCLUSION

The existing deep well anode bed cathodic protection system for gas pipe line near Abquaiq
can be used for considerable time (about a year or so) after some periodic repairs but this
system is to be replaced ultimately by another new deep well cathodic protection system.
 AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT ON THE SCALING AND SCALE
REMOVAL PROBLEMS IN THE OPEN CIRCUIT COOLING
WATER SYSTEM IN RWTS PRODUCT
WATER PUMPS AT PS1

Dr. Anees U. Malik and Dr. Mayan Kutty

Research & Development Center

Saline Water Conversion Corporation
P.O.Box 8328, Al-Jubail -31951, Saudi Arabia
Tel: + 966-3-343 0333, Fax: + 966-3-343 1615
Email: rdc@swcc.gov.sa
October 1988

INTRODUCTION

A discussion and subsequently a site inspection were carried out by the research center team
with the operation staff of the RWTS at PSI office on 2nd Oct. 1988 to study some problems
faced during the operation of the above system and to suggest possible remedial measures.
The operation staff gave a brief description of the system and the problems faced by them
were follows:

(a) System

The system is an open circuit Cooling Water System to reduce the temperature of the cooling
water from the product water transmission pumps bearing. The water containing an
antiscalant chemical (Cool treat 94) is pumped from an open concrete tank and sprayed over
a series of heat exchanger tubes made of PVC. The spray water, apart from the antiscalant,
contains CaCO3 up to a maximum of 35 ppm. Though the possibility of scaling on the
outside of the PVC tubes is low due to the low concentration of CaCO3 and close-to-ambient
temperatures involved, the operation staff normally carry out acid cleaning of the PVC tubes
using low concentration of sulfamic acid once every year.

(b) Problems

Operation staff raised the following questions and sought advices/remedial measures to
optimize the performance of the Cooling System and acid cleaning procedure:

(i) Is it necessary to carry out the acid cleaning on a routine basis (once every year as
practiced now) since the observed scaling is not very significant?
(ii) The concentration of sulfamic acid used for the acid cleaning is approximately 0.2%. Is
this concentration sufficient to remove the scales?

(iii) How to improve the performance of the acid cleaning procedure? The operation staff
feels that a slow rise in pH of the circulating acid and persistence of scale deposits at
nooks and corners even after several hours of acid circulation indicate poor
performance of the procedure.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The research center had the following recommendations on the various points raised by the
operational staff of the R WTS.

(i) It is a good practice to carry out the acid cleaning at least once a year. Though CaCO3
concentration in the cooling water and the temperatures involved are low, there is a
possibility of some scaling due to the fact that the PVC tubes are open to atmosphere
and sand or dust particles settling on the tubes might act as nucleation sites for scaling.
A qualitative check on the samples of scales indicated the presence of 5-10% sandy
particles, besides CaCO3.

(ii) The concentration of sulfamic acid used presently by the operation staff (0.19%, i.e. 65
Kg of sulfamic acid in 35 M3 of water) is quite adequate for this purpose.

(iii) The best way to get the optimum result out of the acid cleaning procedure is to make it
a once-through operation as against the procedure of re-circulating the used acid for
long time as practiced now. In the former case cleaning will be more efficient due to
contact between fresh acid and the scale throughout the period of acid cleaning
operation. In this case, it is also easy to monitor the procedure by measuring the pH of
the influent and the effluent; i.e. when both pHs become equal, the cleaning may be
considered complete.

If the above-suggested modification is considered costly or impractical then the present

procedure could be continued but could be done in two or three batches using the same total
quantity of the acid. For example 35 kg of sulfamic acid dissolved in 35 M3 of water (0.1%
conc.) and circulated for a period of time. After dumping the whole solution, another similar
batch may be prepared and re-circulated. This two-step batch process is expected to do a
better cleaning. It is also recommended to spray the acid solution with a high-pressure hose to
the areas where the spray water does not reach in the normal case, in order to remove the
scale deposits from these parts of the system. Needless to say that, adequate safety
precautions should be taken while doing this.
 PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION ON THE CATHODIC
PROTECTION OF PRODUCT WATER STORAGE TANK
EXTERNALS AT AL-JUBAIL PLANTS
Dr. Anees U. Malik

Research & Development Center

Saline Water Conversion Corporation
P.O.Box 8328, Al-Jubail -31951, Saudi Arabia
Tel: + 966-3-343 0333, Fax: + 966-3-343 1615
Email: rdc@swcc.gov.sa
March 1989

INTRODUCTION

The SWCC Research Center was asked to comment on the failure of the impressed Current
Cathodic Protection System employed for the external protections of product water storage
tanks (1 to 7), the blended water storage tanks and the well water storage tanks in SWCC
desalination plant at AI-Jubail. The research center team visited subsequently the site and
inspected the Cathodic Protection System.

The cathodic protection system contains "Magnetite type" anodes manufactured by Bergsol,
Sweden; the designed life of the anodes was estimated to be 140 years by the contractors. The
system has been in service for 5 112 years. The plant authorities received the first reports
regarding the malfunctioning of the system in early 1988. Later on it was found that C.P.
system for Tanks #1 and #2 was not functioning and in other tanks the value of cathodic
protection potential was progressively decreasing. The potential measurements carried out by
using CulCuSO4 reference at the soil and the tanks show potential values far below the
accepted values (0.85V). Investigations carried out by the plant maintenance department
revealed the presence of anodes below the water table (about 3.5 meters from the ground) and
the anodes were found corroded badly.

A piece of magnetite anode excavated after digging was examined. The anode was found
corroded deleteriously, a relatively thin sheath of magnetite is left with green patches of Cu20
and copper salts on its surface. The surface of the anode showed indication of deep wearing
and erosion. While comparing the corroded anode with the unused anode, it was found that
there was a decrease of about 60% in cross -sectional area and about 70% in weight. The
ground water ingressed through the eroded magnetite sheath and came into contact with the
copper, which was used as the conductor element within the anode. Subsequently, the copper
was attacked by the ingressed water producing voluminous corrosion products which induced
tensile stresses on the magnetite sheath resulting in the fracture or cracking of the anode. The
ground water perhaps would not have ingressed if the anode had been compacted with a
water resistant and mechanically stable back fill. In such a case the performance of the
cathodic protection system would have unabated for a fairly long time.

Information regarding the composition of the back fill originally used by the contractor in the
cathodic protection system and ground water table during the installation of CPS were not
available. In the present state, the magnetite anodes are reported to be completely submerged.

The impressed current cathodic system used for the external protection of product water tanks
has failed and needs a suitable replacement. Soil condition, water level and water
composition should be taken into account while designing the new cathodic system. Although
some highly efficient and very durable anode systems, requiring little or no maintenance,
such as platinized titanium or tantalum or ceramic elements, are introduced in recent years for
cathodic protection but their initial high cost prohibits used in such installations. Si-Fe or Si-
Fe-Cr anodes as recommended by plants technical personnel are the conventional elements
suitable for cathodic protection of such installations. However, SWCC can get maximum
benefit only if the design of the dig/well and the use of an appropriate back fill are carefully
considered. The proper bonding of the back fill to the anode system should also be
emphasized since the washing away, detachment or depletion of the material adversely
effects the performance of the anode and consequently short lived the system.