Protecting land and water near Casper, Wyoming

Beneath the rolling prairies of East Central Wyoming are rich oil and natural gas deposits, making the land valuable despite the lonely, sweeping landscape. More than one refinery exists in Wyoming to process the black gold that lies beneath the land. Wyoming is also a state that enjoys tremendous natural treasures and is a destination spot for outdoors adventurists and sportsman alike. Maintaining the environment, while developing our energy resources do not have to be mutually exclusive endeavors – and MATCOR is proud of our small role in accomplishing these two goals.

In 2008, MATCOR was asked to evaluate a sheet pile barrier wall separating a former refinery from the North Platte River, near Casper, which was designed to protect the river from spoils of the refining process. The North Platte River is one of the Western United States’ great rivers and offers some of the finest fly fishing on the planet. Since 1996, Trihydro Corporation has handled engineering and environmental consulting for the refinery, focusing on recovery of free phase hydrocarbons, removal of source materials and protection of the river. Protecting the sheet pile barrier wall from corrosion was a mission-critical task. Both the water side and the earth side of the wall offered different challenges, so unique cathodic protection systems were designed for each side of the 3400 foot long wall.

On the water side, MATCOR’s SPL ™- HDP Anode was utilized; on the earth side, SPL™-FBR was the best option. Like every project, customized engineering plans were drafted, and carefully selected anodes manufactured specifically for the job at MATCOR’s Pennsylvania headquarters. The presence of bedrock from 10 to 40 feet below the surface, the amount of current required for CP, and the physical properties and limitations of the site were influencing factors in the choice of cathodic protection materials.
Installation and commissioning had to take place in September and October 2008, when the North Platte was at its lowest.

Engineers thrive on new challenges, and MATCOR’s engineers are no different.

The vastly different electrolytes on each side of the sheet pile wall only made the project more interesting. MATCOR SPL™-HDP anodes were lowered into the river, and secured with concrete weights. SPL™-FBR anodes were laid parallel to the sheet pile wall in the earth 10 feet from the wall, protecting 87,000 square feet of metal from corrosion. The system was designed for a 30-year life, with regular testing and inspection.

When planning schedules for CP installation, MATCOR has worked around snow and frozen tundra, rainy seasons, tidal changes, and space flight launch schedules, but this is the first time we’ve designed our system and timeline around the rise and fall of a river. Right now Casper, Wyoming is cold and snowy, but the CP system is at work, protecting the sheet pile wall, and in turn, the environment of one of America’s beautiful places.

MATCOR teams placed the SPL ™- HDP Anodes in the North Platte River by boat. The anodes were weighted down with concrete blocks, and placed in the deepest part of the river to assure constant moisture surrounded the anodes, even in the rivers dry season.

Invest in Prevention

With the economy in an uproar, it can be difficult to focus on investing in long term maintenance and prevention of infrastructure failure. And yet, those investments are crucial to America’s infrastructure and our ability to recover from recession. Prevention and mitigation of corrosion in bridges, pipelines, power plants, liquid natural gas storage facilities and ports saves millions of dollars in future repairs, but even more importantly, prevents major disasters that disrupt commerce—something America cannot afford.

We only have to look back at the tragic loss of the I-35W Bridge in Minnesota last year to see the disruption caused by the collapse and 12 month repair. (Corroded gusset plates were part of the reason for the failure.) The Minnesota Commercial Railway was blocked, along with numerous auto and truck routes. The Federal Aviation Administration restricted pilots in the vicinity for a period. Thirty five people lost their jobs when Aggregate Industries, a company that delivered construction materials by barge, cut production in the area. Many businesses, large and small, near the collapse site reported losses of 25% to 50% of their income. Ultimately, the state increased the fuel tax by $0.055 per gallon to fund Mn/DOT maintenance. The new bridge cost $234 million. The cost in loss of life was immeasurable.

And, we can learn from an incident across the ocean: on June 3, 2008, a natural gas pipeline exploded in Western Australia. Reports say the explosion cut that nation’s fuel supply by a third and drained between $2.4 billion and $4.5 billion from Australia’s economy. The investigating body, Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, reported that the rupture occurred because of thinning of the pipe wall and corrosion of the external surface.

Proven technology exists to prevent these disasters. In the United States, cathodic protection is required on energy-carrying pipelines. Other structures, such as bridges, tunnels, power plants, piers and ports can also be protected from corrosion by involving certified corrosion engineers in planning new structures and maintaining existing structures. The cost of including the right people and the right technology in America’s infrastructure is minimal in comparison to the cost of corrosion, which is $276 billion or 3.1% of the GDP.

We’ve learned that we can’t put blinders on and hope the worst won’t happen. It’s time to be realistic and invest in our future.

William R. Schutt
President and CEO
MATCOR, Inc.
Doylestown PA
www.matcor.com

Installing Cathodic Protections Anodes to Protect Historic Marina

Studies have shown that for every dollar invested in cathodic protection (CP), ten dollars of future spending is averted. So, instead of spending a fortune on cyclical repairs, it seems that a smarter investment would be to protect infrastructure using cathodic protection. For instance, why would a small to mid-sized marina drive up operating expenses by repairing corrosion-related damage every few years when they can invest in long term corrosion prevention?

Many of the tug boat companies and marinas that operate on the East Coast are smaller, private organizations that don’t have huge budgets. Take, for example, Dann Marine Towing, a family-owned commercial tug boat and marina services operation located on the Delaware and Chesapeake Canal. Instead of spending a fortune on repetitive repairs over the next few decades, they invested in cathodic protection systems from MATCOR to protect their marina.

Dann Marine asked us to design and install a system for their 100-acre Canal Palace location, a historic landmark that has served the marine industry for more than a century. As the marina’s infrastructure aged and continued to be exposed to chlorides, it became apparent that Dann Marine had to stop the escalation of corrosion and prevent damage to its sea wall and boat ramp.

Specifically, MATCOR is installing three cathodic protection anode systems: MATCOR’s SPL™-HDP Anodes, MMP™ Anodes and PW™-Anodes to protect the marina.
Despite the use of CP for marinas and boats over the last couple hundred years, I have seen several news stories regarding marine infrastructure and marine vessels corroding and in need of repair over the last year. I’m left to ask myself why more private and public organizations don’t adopt CP or aren’t more aware of how cathodic protection can protect their assets. With a 20+ year operating life, Dann Marine believes MATCOR CP systems can really “save our ship.”

Edouard welcomes MATCOR to its new Houston Office

Tropical Storm Edouard was threatening Gulf Coast energy infrastructure as it approached land this past week, and it finally touched ground yesterday morning just after our Houston office spent the weekend moving into a new office space in Katy, TX. I’m glad we were able to relocate and beat the storm, and that our staff are all safe.

We opened our Houston office in 2002 with just one person working from home. Since then, MATCOR’s Houston office has been our staging ground for global energy projects, and we grew to serve some of the largest energy interests in the world. Over the last few years, we moved to an office space outside of Houston, expanded our project portfolio and added over a dozen engineers, technicians, project administrators and technical sales professionals. Our pipeline and energy infrastructure business grew more than 500%, and we now have thousands of pipeline miles to walk every year and hundreds of storage tanks to protect.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that we’ve seen this kind of growth. Oil and gas are the most treasured commodities in the world right now, and energy companies like Exxon Mobil are realizing record profits. So, with energy companies looking to drive further growth and command the global economy by protecting every line mile, every drop of oil, every cubic meter of gas and every inch of a storage facility, MATCOR has forged a strong position in the corrosion protection market.

Our new facility, which is 8,100 sq. ft., gives us a lot more space for welcoming our customers, accommodating a larger staff, conducting product demonstrations, and adding warehousing for the systems we manufacture at our headquarters. The Houston team will be more agile and responsive, and we’re excited about bringing clients to the new, state-of-the-art facility.

Not sure if we’re going to decorate with gigantic palm trees like we did in the Doylestown, PA headquarters, but this new office has all the space we’ll need for a Texas sized hoe-down. You can contact MATCOR's Gulf Coast office at the same phone number, but our new address is as follows:

MATCOR, Inc.
20302 Park Row Drive
Suite 100
Katy, TX 77449
(281) 558-2600

Why would you install, but never test

Recently, I visited a power plant built around 1970. I was pleased to find out that there was a coating and cathodic protection (CP) system protecting the plant’s gas pipeline. But, I was dismayed to find out that no commissioning report was available, and the plant’s maintenance files lacked any test data to confirm that the system had ever worked properly. That didn’t surprise me as much as it probably does you. At too many power plants built with a pipeline CP system, the system is installed and turned on, but never inspected or tested later.

Tests determined that the system no longer worked- some rectifiers proved inoperable and anodes were depleted. The scary part is we couldn’t tell when it stopped working, or if it ever worked in the first place.

This case is all too common with competitive power plants because CP is not their primary concern. Sadly, I fear that one day, maybe not too far into the future, inadequate safety measures on a power plant gas line will lead to an explosion. Though it’s not part of a plant’s day-to-day operations on the surface, a failure on the gas line could lead to a major disaster resulting in injury, further equipment failures, widespread power outages, and even death.

It is in the public and private sectors’ interest to maintain power plants, so it’s critical to maintain the integrity of a plant’s systems. I would recommend that power plants across the country consult with an established and experienced cathodic protection systems firm.

CP- A balcony's best friend

The Florida coast is a particularly harsh environment for concrete structures, combining heat, humidity and high concentrations of chloride. Concrete balconies in the region are especially susceptible to corrosion of reinforcing steel, requiring major repair and maintenance.

Condo owners recognize that repeating patch maintenance cycles are disruptive and increasingly expensive. However, property managers don't always implement methods for corrosion prevention out of ignorance or because of the cost.

But, applying cathodic protection (CP) can lengthen the lifecycle of the reinforcing steel and concrete, delaying the need for maintenance. CP is a viable long term solution to protect these vulnerable concrete structures, but applying CP to condominium balconies is not easy. The evolution of cathodic protection, as applied to concrete balconies in Florida, has been an evolutionary process. Many systems have been tried with varying degrees of technical and commercial success. In ture Darwinian fashion, some of the solutions took the path to extinction, others evolved and have flourished, and some technologies moved to other, more favorable applications.

Many structural engineers now recognize the benefits of cathodic protection (CP) to stop the corrosion process and how to apply the right system in a given environment. This long-term solution extends the life of these important concrete structures and protects residents who own condos with balconies.

I just hope condo owners and property managers do their due diligence to find out what available technologies will keep residents safe.


Bill

Spotlight on I-95 signals corrosion problem

It’s been a busy few weeks for us at MATCOR, and I’m just getting the chance to breathe and share a few things with all of you.

The biggest event lately was the NACE 2008 show in New Orleans. As you all know, NACE is the international organization for corrosion engineers, and our annual trade show and conference was a lot of fun.

Being in New Orleans, I got the chance to share two of my biggest passions with the crowd. Not only did we talk about my favorite topic, corrosion, but I had the chance to play sax with a couple of friends at our booth. We even had a mime walking the show floor.

More so than in past years, I saw that our industry has grown, and methods for treating or preventing corrosion have advanced significantly over the past several years. However, events outside of the show point to the overwhelming challenge of overcoming our crumbling infrastructure.

While I was at the NACE show, a portion of I-95 was shut down here in Philadelphia. It turned out that a pillar supporting a raised section of the highway showed significant spalling, referred to by the media as a crack two to three inches wide and six feet long, threatening the integrity of the structure and the safety of commuters.

Spalling in concrete is almost always caused by corrosion of the reinforcing steel in the concrete. Regardless of the nomenclature, the result is an unsafe condition. Not only is this another example of our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, but these pictures show that this wasn’t an isolated incident.

PennDoT reacted quickly to ensure public safety, but other supporting structures in the area make it obvious that corrosion is a serious problem along I-95. Surprisingly, PennDoT doesn’t really think corrosion is an issue. I even visited a nearby support structure to check it out first hand.

This week marks the 20th anniversary that the Williamsburg Bridge in New York City was closed after the discovery of a 6-foot crack caused by severe corrosion. Eerily similar, I’d say. The connection between these two events makes it obvious to me that we are in trouble.