Corrosion Protection of Storage Tank Soil Side Bottoms Application Experience

摘要

Corrosion of soil side bottoms is unpredictable and can be up to 5 mm/year. The soil side bottom cannot be protected while the tank is in service. The well-known cathodic protection system is not efficient enough. This paper presents case studies of soil side bottom corrosion protection using new systems with volatile and soluble corrosion inhibitors installed on new and existing soil side and double bottom aboveground storage tanks. This paper describes field trial and application experience of principally new corrosion protection systems for different designs of storage tank foundations. The new system demonstrates corrosion protection efficiencies as high as 70-90% and also decreases the incidence of pitting corrosion in most aggressive environment conditions. Application experience has shown that inhibitor use can increase the tank service life approximately 3-5 times and reduce maintenance and replacement costs.