Advantage and Disadvantage of Sacrificial Protection

Sacrificial protection is used for corrosion protection in underground tanks, water heaters,
above-ground tanks, hulls of ships and Pipelines.
The benefits of a Sacrificial Protection include easy installation and operation is another,
there is no external power supply or no external electrical current needed, low cost and
essentially provides protection without power requirement.
The disadvantage of a Sacrificial Protection is it requires frequent monitoring, anode current
is uncontrollable, periodic replacements of the anode, increased noise level from the anodes,
current output cannot be regulated and lastly periodic replacement costs, particularly in ships
since they must be dry docked.

Advantage and Disadvantage of Impressed Current Cathodic Protection

Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) are used to provide cathodic protection
for pipelines, ship hulls, offshore production platforms, water and wastewater equipment, tank
farm and of course underground storage tanks.
There are many benefits of using ICCP systems unlimited current output capacity: from
few amperes to several 100 amperes, the amount of current can be configured. The current
overall amount will be a function of the number of anodes provided, the voltage of the rectifier
and the capability of the amperage and resistivity of the soil (electrolyte). Adjustable output
capacity: It is simple to adjust the output of the rectifier to accommodate changes in circuit
resistance or current demand. It can be automatic or manually controllable. Low cost per
ampere of CP system: Galvanic anodes are expensive where amperes rather mill amperes are
required.
The disadvantage of it even if only a mill ampere of current is needed, they are the most
expensive. Their base expense is several thousand dollars on their own. ICCP has higher
maintenance costs because switches and fuses are prone to failures and need to be checked
regularly. In other nearby structures, ICCP can generate stray current corrosion and it is an
inherent potential device problem. This can often be reduced by distributed anode designs that
position anodes close to the protected structure.