Battling natural forces, advancing the industry and protecting the environment: OHIO’s corrosion institute remains a world leader
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Battling natural forces, advancing the industry and protecting the environment: OHIO’s corrosion institute remains a world leader
Ohio University’s Institute of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has a large collection of pilot-scale equipment. The facility allows researchers to create field-like conditions in a laboratory setting where they can control crucial variables while exploring causes of corrosion. The added control and stability of the experiments conducted in the lab lead to results and discoveries that are often impossible for oil and gas companies to attain in the field. The largest and some of the most important equipment in the facility are four multiphase flow loops capable of various temperature changes, pressure changes and flow controls. The piping of the flow loops is made of more durable stainless steel to increase their longevity as research equipment.
“That’s where we are unique—there’s no other lab that I know of that has such a large collection of pilot-scale equipment, where we can recreate the problems that they have in the field and study them appropriately,” said Nesic. “We have large lines and high-pressure vessels, and we use complicated, often poisonous gases and acids because that’s what they have in the field, yet we do it in a controlled, safe, research setting where we can get the answers in a way that [those in the industry] cannot.”
The largest and some of the most important equipment in the facility are four multiphase flow loops capable of various temperature changes, pressure changes and flow controls. These large-scale systems simulate the multiphase flow of fluids in a transport pipeline using a looped system that continuously circulates the liquid and/or gas contents. The piping of the flow loops is made of more durable stainless steel to increase their longevity as research equipment—pieces of carbon steel are inserted through dedicated ports when testing for corrosion.
Professor of Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering and ICMT Associate Director for Project Development Marc Singer, Ph.D., says flow loops are ideal for a variety of research projects in the realm of oil, gas and carbon dioxide transportation.
“We recreate the chemistry of the fluids and gases inside the pipeline, and measure the resulting corrosion on steel,” explained Singer. “One relatively crude but effective method is to expose a piece of metal, directly cut out of carbon steel pipelines, to the corrosive gas or fluid inside our flow loops for a given time, and to inspect the effect that water can have on the integrity of metal. It’s amazing what even little droplets of water can do to steel in a few months.”
Image Professor of Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering and ICMT Associate Director for Project Development Marc Singer, Ph.D.,
The ICMT also houses an inclinable flow loop used to simulate vertical or angled pipelines as they would be positioned in the field. Additionally, the lab contains high pressure autoclaves capable of liquifying carbon dioxide and several smaller rooms where conducting bench-scale experiments is done in support of the institute’s industrial-scale work. Analytical instrumentation such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction, Raman microscopy, surface profilometry and a comprehensive range of electrochemical techniques help examine the effects corrosion even more precisely.
Battling natural forces, advancing the industry and protecting the environment: OHIO’s corrosion institute remains a world leader
Ohio University’s Institute of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has a large collection of pilot-scale equipment. The facility allows researchers to create field-like conditions in a laboratory setting where they can control crucial variables while exploring causes of corrosion. The added control and stability of the experiments conducted in the lab lead to results and discoveries that are often impossible for oil and gas companies to attain in the field. The largest and some of the most important equipment in the facility are four multiphase flow loops capable of various temperature changes, pressure changes and flow controls. The piping of the flow loops is made of more durable stainless steel to increase their longevity as research equipment.
“That’s where we are unique—there’s no other lab that I know of that has such a large collection of pilot-scale equipment, where we can recreate the problems that they have in the field and study them appropriately,” said Nesic. “We have large lines and high-pressure vessels, and we use complicated, often poisonous gases and acids because that’s what they have in the field, yet we do it in a controlled, safe, research setting where we can get the answers in a way that [those in the industry] cannot.”
The largest and some of the most important equipment in the facility are four multiphase flow loops capable of various temperature changes, pressure changes and flow controls. These large-scale systems simulate the multiphase flow of fluids in a transport pipeline using a looped system that continuously circulates the liquid and/or gas contents. The piping of the flow loops is made of more durable stainless steel to increase their longevity as research equipment—pieces of carbon steel are inserted through dedicated ports when testing for corrosion.
Professor of Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering and ICMT Associate Director for Project Development Marc Singer, Ph.D., says flow loops are ideal for a variety of research projects in the realm of oil, gas and carbon dioxide transportation.
“We recreate the chemistry of the fluids and gases inside the pipeline, and measure the resulting corrosion on steel,” explained Singer. “One relatively crude but effective method is to expose a piece of metal, directly cut out of carbon steel pipelines, to the corrosive gas or fluid inside our flow loops for a given time, and to inspect the effect that water can have on the integrity of metal. It’s amazing what even little droplets of water can do to steel in a few months.”
Image Professor of Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering and ICMT Associate Director for Project Development Marc Singer, Ph.D.,
The ICMT also houses an inclinable flow loop used to simulate vertical or angled pipelines as they would be positioned in the field. Additionally, the lab contains high pressure autoclaves capable of liquifying carbon dioxide and several smaller rooms where conducting bench-scale experiments is done in support of the institute’s industrial-scale work. Analytical instrumentation such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction, Raman microscopy, surface profilometry and a comprehensive range of electrochemical techniques help examine the effects corrosion even more precisely.