National Power and Energy Conference (PECon) 2003 Proceedings, B�ngi, Malaysia

366

Cathodic Protection System

S. M. Bashi, Member, IEEE, N. F. Mailah, Member, IEE E and M. A. Mohd Radzi, Member, IEEE
,

Abstract--Cathodic Protection System (CPS) is used to based on the national institute of standards and technology
reduce corrosion by minimizing the difference in potential data to estimate the corrosion rate due environmental
between anode and cathode. This can be achieved by applying factors and soil type. He also discussed on how to design
a current to the structure to be protected from electrical
proper cathodic protection system to minimize the
source. When enough current is applied, the whole structure
corrosion of underground steel structure.
will be at one potential, thus anode and cathode sites will not
El Ghitani and Shousha [4], have implemented the
exists. CPS is commonly used on many types of structures
microprocessor-based cathodic protection system .which
such as pipelines, underground storage tanks, locks and ship
hulls. The main objective of this work is to discuss and are able to adjust the protection current automatically
compares the two methods of applying cathodic protections by according to the state of corrosion of a pipeline. They also
using an impressed current system and sacrificial anode. The used the solar panels to supply the cathodic system with the
physical models were also developed for the two methods. The required energy.
importance of controlling the protective current in the system
is presented and discussed. Calculated and measurement
n. FACTORS OF CORROSION RATE
results for the two methods have been presented in this paper.
Measurement of output current were taken each week showed
Most of the corrosion of underground metals is as a
that there Is a decrease in the required cUfrent according to
time due to reduced of anode surface during the life of the
result of an electrochemical reaction. Corrosion occurs
system. tlrrough the loss of metal ions at anodic areas to the
electrolyte. Cathodic areas are protected from corrosion
Keywords-cathodic protection, coatings, corrosions, because of the deposition of hydrogen or other ions that
sacrificial anode, impressed current carry current.
Factors that affect underground corrosion could be listed
I. INTRODUCTION as soil resistivity, soil pH value, moisture, aeration and
others factors.
In principle, cathodic protection can be used for a
variety of application where a metal is immersed in an A. Soil Resistivity
aqueous solution of an electrolyte, which can range from
relatively pure water to soils and to so lu tion Of acids. This depends on the natural ingredient, the amount of
Whether the method is applicable will depend on many salts dissolved in the soil, and the moisture content. Table 1
factors. It should be emphasized that as the method is gives the relationships between soil resistivity and
electrochemical both the structure to be protected and the corrosion rate.
anode used for protection must be in both metallic and
electrolytic contact. TAB\-E I
SOIL RESISTIVITY AND CORROSION
Cathodic protection carmot be applied for controlling
atmospheric corrosion because it is not feasible to immerse
Soil Resistivity Type of corrosion rate
an anode in a thin condensed film of moisture of
meter) (Mils! year)
complexity
(Ohm'
rainwater's droplets. The of the systems to be
protected and the variety of techniques available for < 25 Severely corrosive (>13)
cathodic protection are in direct contrast to the simplicity of
the principles involved. At present, the application of this 26-50 Moderately corrosive (9-12)

Mildly corrosive (�- 9)

method of corrosion protection remains more of an
51-100
experience of the practitioner rather than a science. A
properly designed cathodic protection system will be both >100 Low corrosive (<4)
economical and effective. On the other hand, an incorrectly
designed scheme will not be sufficient nor economical and
tmder certain circumstances may accelerate corrosion
instead of controlling it.·
Many different studies have been carried out to
improve this cathodic protection mainly in the chemical
side and the types of anodes. Other researchers consider on B. Soil pH Value
the electrical variables and th e ir calculation.
Favetto and Osella [1], have used numerical simulation The main factor that affects corrosion process. The more
to calculate the current induced in a buried pipeline due to acidic the soil is, the higher the corrosion rate. This pH
magnetic storm. While Sarti, Salama and Gebotys [2] value ranges generally from 5 to lOin soil. PH 7 indicates
suggested new techniques for optimal design of cathodic neutral value, where lower value is considered as acidic and
protection system in which they tried to minimize the cost higher value is alkaline. Table 2 shows the relationship of
of sacrificial anodes. For simplicity they considered linear . pH and corrosion.
system in their study. Sen [3] has formulated a new formula

0-7803-8208-0103/$17.00 ©2003 IEEE.

 367
Insulating fittings come in many forms which include
TABLE 2 unions, couplings, flanges and spools. These are most often
PH RANGE AND CORROSION
used to electrically separate dissimilar metals. lnsulation
only serves to break apart obvious corrosion cells. It will
Type of soil pH value range Corrosion rate
not preven t local corrosion activity resulting from each
metal as difference in oxygen concentrations.
Extremely acid < 4.5 Highest
Very strongly acid 4.5 to 5.0
Strongly acid 5.1 to 5.5
Medium acid 5.610 6.0 IV. CATHODIC PROTECTION
Slightly acid 65
6.1 to
Neutral 6.6107.3 Least
Mild alkaline 7.4 to 7.8 Cathodic protection i s the most effective way of
Moderately alkaline 7.9 to 8.4 protecting underground m eta l structures. It operates by
Stronglyalkaline 8.5 to 9.0 stopping the current flow from the metal to the electrolyte
Very strongly alkaliIJe 9.1 > Higher
by neutralizing it with a stronger current of opposite
polarity from an external source. Two metho ds basically
used in cathodic· protection systems, sacrificial anode and
impressed current.

Sacrificial Anode
C. Moisture
A.

This factor depends on season, location, soil type,

The sacrificial anode technique uses the natural potential
ground water level and particle size. Corrosion increases
difference that exists between the structure and a second
the
with higher moisture contents due to higher salt solubility.
metal in same environment to provide the driving
voltage. No power source is employed and is illustrated as
D. Aeration
in Fig. 1. Moreover, the dissolution of the second metal i.e.
the sacrificial anode provides the source of electrons for
It is a measure of the availability of oxygen to the met al cathodic polarization of the structure. While the impressed­
and is dependent on particle size and distribution. current anode may be more noble or more base than the
Corrosion increases with the increase of aeration. protected structure because the power source force it to act
as an anode, the sacrificial anode must be spontaneously
E. Other Factors anodic to the structure [5]. In practice, the anode, which
w ill be on a steel core, can be attached directly to the
Factors that are difficult to classify because they are a structure.
combination of many factors and include the effect of
temperature, bacterial or interference current effects. These
factors contribute no more than 10% of the total corrosion
rate and in many cases are neglected. Electron flow

III. COA TlNGS

Coatings are often used for corrosion control. The

purpose of a barrier coating is to insulate the anode and Protected
S"eMei"\
anode (l\Il)
MDT
cathode of the corrosion cell from the environment. By structwe
insulating the metallic surface from the electrolyte, coating
reduces the corrosion reaction from occurring. Selection of
�
Positive c=m�
a coating for a particular application requires detailed flow
knowledge of the enviwtUnent and the type of service.
After a coating is selected, great care must be exercised to
make certain the coating is properly appli ed. A coating
Fig. I. Schematic diagram of cathodic protection using sacrificial anode.
failure usually occurs due to improper application and not
due to a breakdown of the coating material. Surface
preparation is critical to coating performan c e [2).

Impressed Current System

The proper selection and application ofa coating system
B.
will reduce the total metal Joss but will not prevent
corrosion. Unfortunately, coatings concentrate the
Fig. 2 illustrates the use of an external power supply to
corrosion activity at the imperfections. This intensifies the
provide the cathodic polarization of the structure. The
corrosion and results in penetrations more rapidly than if
circuit comprises of the power source, an auxiliary or
the structure was uncoated.
impressed current electrode, the corrosive solution and the
Electrical insulation is another method of corrosion
structure to be protected. The power source drives positive
control that can be used to break the conductor which
current from the impressed current electrode through the
corme cts the �mode and cathode in the corrosion protective
' . corrosive solution and on to the structure.
system.
 368
The structure is thereby cathodically polarized (its
potential is lowered) and the po sitive current returns Zinc anode
through the circuit to the power supply. Thus, to achieve welded b1__-t==::::===�=::::
:: =---;;:----:-1
::;
cathodic protection, the impressed current-electrode and the ,("I rod
10 the pipe
structure must be in both electrolytic and electronic contact.

17em

SoItwll<r
.. an --t--f
electrolyte
\1

Fig. 3. Sacrificial anode plan to protect carbon steel pipe

Impressed
Protected
current anode
structure B. Impressed Current's Model Design
in ground bed

Fig. 4 shows the impressed current plan to protect the

carbon steel pipe. The model comprises of the dc power
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of cathodic protection using the impressed source, an impressed current zinc anode, saltwater solution
and the structure to be protected. The power source drives
current technique.

positive current from the zinc anode through the saltwater

solution and to the structure. The structure is thereby
The calculated value of anode to cathode resistance
cathodically polarized and the positive current returns
through the circuit to the
and the number of anodes required could be found [5 J as:
power supply, In order to achieve
cathodic protection, the zinc anode and the carbon steel
pipe must bath be electrolytic and electrically in contact.

R = � ln 4L
i127rL r
[ -1J Fig. 5 shows the photo of impressed current model.

(I)

N=
O.0052p [In -1J
8L
SaltW&t-e:f
RaL d .. ""
eloclror,1:I:l

(2)
Ziru;: mode

I�-----�'���cm----�'I

(3) Figure.4. Impressed current plan to protect carbon steel pipe

where R. is the anode-to-electrolyte resistance (ohm), N is

the number of anodes r equired p is the resistivity of the
water (olun cm), L is the length of anode (cm), r is
,

equivalent radius of anode (em), a is the cross section of

anode (cm2) and d is the diameter of the column (cm).
The resistance of the anode and conduc tor s are very
small with respect to electrolyte resistance and can be
neglected.

V. METHODOLOGY

A. Sacrificial Anode's Model Design

Fig. 3 shows sacrificial anode plan to protect the carbon

steel pipe by using zinc as an anode. The zinc anode is
Fig. .5. Impressed current model to protect carbon steel pipe
welded to the carbon steel pipe by steel rod to provide
continuity for the current flows. The structure is immersed
in a saltwater solution to imitate the seawater environment.
 369
negative terminal to the structure to be protected. In this
VI. RESULT AND DISCUSSION way, c urrent flows from the electrode through the
electrolyte to the structure.
The comparison between the calculated and measured The applied voltage of 2V not critical, it needs only be
value of impressed current system design are shown in the sufficient to supply an adequate current density to all parts
Table 3 below. of the protected structure. Observing the calculated and
measurement value of current output showed that there is
TABLE 3 some d ifference in the value. This is because the calculated
COMPARISON BETWEEN CALCULATED AND MEASURED
values used here were just an estimated value ta king from
VALUE FOR IMPRESSED CURRENT SYSTEM.
the appropriate table. Therefore, there could be an
inaccurate estimation of the values .
Calculated M easured
From the current output line chart, there is a decreased
CUrrent,I,(mA) 3.32 3.54 of current output relatively to the time. This is due to the
reduced of anode surface during the life of the system. The

Measurement of protective current flows from

dissolving anode must also obey Faraday's law that the
wasting of the .anode will be proportional to the total
electrolyte into the structure was taken 'every week to' check
the variation by time of the current value. Table 4 shows current delivered. Therefore, as the anode dissolves, the
the variation of the protective current with respect to time. resistance it pr � sents to the circuit increased and the current
measured decreased.
TABLE 4
CURRENT MEASUREMENT DATA VI1. CONCLUSION

Week Current(nJA) Two main methods of cathode protection system,

Week 1 (7 February) 3.54

impressed current and sacrificial anode, were presented in
this paper. The design for sacrificial anode makes use of the
Week 1 (\3 February) 35 corrosive potential for different metals, The current
required for carbon steel pipe is suppl ied by the corrosion
Week 3 (27 February) 3.47
of the zinc anode that has a higher positive charge than the
Week 4 (t4 Mac) 3.43 protected structure. This electric potential (voltage)
difference causes a greater attraction of negative free
Week 5 (20 Mac) 3,4
electrons than the ions in the carbon steel pipe. The result is
Week 6 (27 Febru3ry) 3.47 that the zinc anode gets sacrificed ( corrode) and the
corrosion process in the carbon steel pipe is interrupted and
Week 7 (14 Mac) 3.43
hence protected.
Week 8 (20 Mac) 3.4 The current measurement for impressed current system
indicates the decreased of output current due to anode
dissolve in the immersed saltwater.
The calculation principles and measurement of cathodic

Anode performance depends on the electrolyte

protection are quite straightforward and based on
assumption. However, their application in real systems is
resistivity as well as the anode material and size. For this
often sufficiently complex to prelude quantitative
model, the seawater resistivity value of 30n has a better
determinations.
conductivity than in soils. The zinc anode that used is
suitable for seawater application b ecause of its high driving
nite.
VII. REFERENCES
voltage and low consumption
Both model used zinc anode that act as an auxiliary
anode that is composed of a metal more active in the [I] Favello and A. Osella, " Numerical simulation of currents induced
Galvanic Series than the structure to be protected. It serves by geomagnetic storms on buried pipelines; an �pplic.lian to the

essentially as a source of portable electrical energy. The Tierra del

[2] Fuego, Argentina, gas transmission rou\e." iEEE Transae/ions on
potential difference of zinc with respect to steel is about -
Geoscience and Remole Sensing, vol. 37, pp. 614-619, Jan. 1999.
I ,03V and hence current output per anode is also less. This [3] R.I. Sarti, M.M.A. Salama, C. Gebotys, and AY. Chlkhani, "
low voltage is sometimes considered as an advantage over Optimal design of cathod ic prolection sche mes ; a power engineering

higher impressed voltages in that danger of overprotection applications," in Proc. /993 Electrical and Computer Engineering
Con!, pp. 664·667.
to some portion of the system is' less .
per anode is only 4.98mA, which· is
[41 P. K. Sen, "Design of steel grounding system in 8 heavy industrial
The current output plant", Material IEEE, No. PCIC91-23, 1991.
sufficient enough to protect the carbon steel p ipe. The [51 H, EI Ghilani, and AH.Shousha, "Microprocessor-based cathodic
estimated resistivity value of 30n is selected because of the protection system using photovoltaic energy", Applied Science,
Elsevier Science, 1995.
use of saltwater as an electrolyte for this model. Total [6] L.L Shelr, R.A.' Jarman and G.T. Burstein. Corrosion Omlrol, 1'·
resistance value of 0.5720 was calculated according to the Edition, London , Butterworth Heinemann, 1994,
formula for a single horizontal rod anode (slender type).
The impressed current system requires a source of direc t
current and an auxiliary electrode (anode) located some
distance away from the protected structure. The de source is
connected with its positi ve terminal to the anode and its
 370
IX. BIOGRAPHIES

S. M. Bashi grad uated from Un ive rsity of Mosul.

Iraq in Ele ctrical and Electronics Engineering
(1969). He received his Ph.D. in Simulation
of
power transmission systems from
Loughborough University of Technology,
En gland (1980). Since 1999, he is with the
Department of Electri cal and Electronics
Engineering, Facully of Engineering, Universiti
Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. His area of research
interest includes; power system analysis and design, quality of power
supply, simulation and applications of power electronics systems, and
machines drives.

N. F. Mnilah graduated with B. Eng. de gree in

Electrical and Electronic Engin eer ing from the
Universi ty of Huddersfield, UK in 1999 and
obtained M. Eng. from the Universiti
her
Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia in 2001. She is
currently a lectu rer in the Department of
Elec trical and Electronic Eng in eering , Faculty of
Engineerin g, Universiti Putr. Malaysia, Malaysia.

M. A. M. Radzi graduated,.with B. Eng. degree

in El ectrical and Electronics from the Universiti
Putra M al aysia in 2000 and obtained his M.Sc.
from the same university in 2002. He is currently
a lecturer in the Department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
Un iversi ti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.