RCS / Microcor ®

Corrosion Monitoring Solutions

PETROFAC 21ST September
2011

Rohrback Cosasco Systems

 The COSASCO System ®

 Basic components of the COSASCO® system:

 An access fitting that is welded or flanged onto the
pipe, vessel or other pressure containment entity
 A solid or hollow plug that holds the
probe, coupon, or injection Retriever

device in place through threaded

connections Service
 A cover Cover Valve
Plug
 A Service Valve
 A Retriever
Access
Fitting
Coupons
 Microcor ®
 The highest resolution metal loss method available
in corrosion monitoring
 Enables metal loss and corrosion rate to be
determined in minutes or hours (50 to 100 times
faster than other metal loss methods)
10000

1000
Corrosion Rate (mpy) T50
50 W80,F40
100 Times T20,W40,F20
T10,F10
Faster T8,F8
10 T4,S8,F4
S4
Microcor F10
1

0.1
0 1 10 100 1,000 10,000
Response Time (hrs) based on 50 units of resolution for
Microcor, 10 units for Corrosometer
 Microcor Probes ®

 Can function in any process

 Microcor probes have a patented
design which prevents iron
sulphide bridging from forming
 Ideal for use in sour applications
 The most reliable and responsive
metal loss technique available.
 262, 144 PLU compared with
1000 PLU with conventional ER
 Microcor Probes
®

 Probe life is dependent on corrosion rates

 Corrosion control through chemical injection
can prolong probe life
 Probe Life expectancy based on Corrosion
rates
 Low – 0.02mm = 5+ Years
 Medium – 0.12mm = 2+ Years

 High – 0.25mm = 1 Year

 Microcor Datalogging
®

 The Microcor® Datalogger

is Explosion-proof with an
Intrinsically Safe
Downloading Port
 The Transmitter and
Datalogger use the same
enclosure
 Microcor Datalogging
®

 Existing hand held units

can be configured for
Microcor
 Microcor Tools software
is supplied with the Data
logging equipment
Microcor Wireless Transmitter
®

 Range – 200m
 Mesh Network
 Hart7 – Standard Protocol
 2.4 GHz, Low Frequency
 -40c to 70c Temp Range
 Metal Loss / Corrosion
Rate data every 5 minutes
 Battery Life – 2+ Years
 Microcor Wireless Gateway
®

 Receives Data from up to

100 devices
 Aerial Extensions up to
20m
 Wired directly to PC or
DCS
 Interfaces – OPC, Modbus
over IP, Modbus Serial
Microcor Wireless Transmitter
®
Microcor Wireless Transmitter
®
 Microcor Online - Wired
®

 Near Real Time Data

 Single Multi Drop
Cabling
 Up to 32 TX on
Single Run
 RS 485 Digital
Protocol
 Interfaced Directly to
DCS
 Microcor Online - Wired
®
ICMS3
ICMS3
Corrosion
Corrosion
Microcor Management
Management
Transmitters Server
Server
19” Equipment
Cabinet

24VDC
Supply

RS 485
Comm
Lines

TX TX TX TX

TX TX TX TX
 Microcor Tools Software
®

 Software offers a simple way to collect, save,

transfer and display results from Microcor
equipment.
 Software can be installed on multiple PC’s
 Allows multiple downloads from handheld
unit
 User friendly interface used to graph data
 Data files are easy to import and view
 Large number of functions allow detailed
analysis of probe data.
Microcor Tools Software
®
Microcor Tools Software
®
Microcor Tools Software
®
Microcor Tools Software
®
Microcor Tools Software
®
Microcor Tools Software
®
Microcor Tools Software
®

Repeated readings in data in file

 Poor Data Graph
 Caused by repeat data files being downloaded
 Data should be downloaded to checkmate
once
 Do not erase memory on Datalogger until full
 Data can be sent to RCS for Evaluation and
remedy
 Proper procedure should be followed when
importing data to Microcor Tools
 Microcor® Probe Data
Interpretation
 Subjects for discussion.
 Initial Probe Reading
 Effects of Hydrogen Sulfide
 Microcor Probes in Sour Service Lab Test
Sep 2004
 Compensation for Thermal Transients
 Interpreting Noisy Data
 Q & A’s
 Initial Probe Reading

 The Microcor transmitter has an 18 bit resolution, that is 2 18 ,

or 262,144 Probe Life Units (PLU’s).
 A Microcor probe (or Corrosometer® probe) has a useful life
of 50% of the probe element thickness.
 A negative metal loss value is a concern to many customers.
In reality, it does not affect the measurement in any way as the
value is purely an offset.
 . For these reasons all Microcor probes are adjusted (metal
removed) as necessary to ensure the initial value is always
positive, in the range of 1500 to 13,000, or 0.5% to 5% of
probe span.
 Effects of Hydrogen Sulfide

 Electrical Resistance (ER) probes have earned a reputation of

not working in sour (high levels of H2S) service.
 Hydrogen sulfide produces Iron Sulfide (FexSy) corrosion
products on a carbon steel surface
 in some element designs, especially the early probe designs
the iron sulfide can also “short-circuit” an element and send
the reading completely out of the measurement range.
 This latter effect was the problem with Electrical Resistance
probes in sour service.
Effects of Hydrogen Sulfide
 Effects of Hydrogen Sulfide

 On a Microcor cylindrical element probe a stable iron

sulfide film can produce up to 5,000 PLU’s decrease
(up to 2% of probe span) in the metal loss reading, or
an apparent “gain” in metal. So the formation of an
iron sulfide film can produce an reduction in the
metal loss reading of up to 2% of span as it forms. If
the film is removed the metal loss reading will
increase back to the original pre-film formation
reading and then continue to increase if corrosion
occurs.

 Microcor Probes in Sour Service
Lab Test
 In this first test before H2S is introduced you can see the initial corrosion rate of about 30 mpy
gradually reducing as time progressed to about 10 mpy. This is typical of a new probe in a
closed system test. When H2S was introduced in the middle of the test, the metal loss turns
negative corresponding to the deposition of the partially conductive iron sulfide film on the
probe metal surface and correspondingly the corrosion rate shows negative during that time.
Once the film is fully established and forms a protective film the corrosion rate is reduced to
zero.
 Microcor Probes in Sour Service
Lab Test
 On the second test, shown below, the corrosion rate without H 2S was around 20
mpy before the addition of a smaller amount of H 2S. After the addition, the rate fell
to around 10 to 12 mpy

 The tests demonstrate the ability of the Microcor probes to operate successfully
through H2S environments
Microcor Probes in Sour Service
Lab Test
 Test 3 was a similar test.
 Interpreting Noisy Data
 Typically it is best to first look at the whole metal loss data history
 The data below shows noise and steps in the data including some positive and some
negative metal loss discontinuities
 this can show spikes in corrosion rates and the particularly confusing “Negative
Corrosion Rates”.
 Interpreting Noisy Data
 First of all this may be bad or noisy data from a bad or loose connection or a bad or damaged
probe. So first check if this is typical at this location, and if necessary, check the probe, the
adapter and transmitter integrity. The signal levels being measured by a Microcor system are
so incredibly low that probe connection integrity is critical.

 let’s first look at all of the metal loss data relative to the span of the probe. This is how the
graph first opens up.

It is clear that the metal loss has

not changed much over the whole period,
which corresponds to about 11 weeks.
A horizontal metal loss curve is
zero corrosion rate
 Interpreting Noisy Data
 The higher the corrosion rate the steeper the slope of the metal
loss line
 The slope of the metal loss curve is the corrosion rate
 We compute this corrosion rate by the statistical method of
Linear Regression
 This method draws the best straight line through a set of data
and computes the slope of that line.
 So as the metal loss graph is a plot of metal loss against time,
namely mils against days, the slope of the curve is mils per
day which is annualized to mils per year
 Interpreting Noisy Data
 When we set the green and red cursors on the metal loss graph to select the
whole data set the slope of the best straight line through all of the data
shows a corrosion rate of -0.5 mpy. Since the line is relatively straight we
have negligible corrosion. As it actually showing a slight negative value,
this may be from thermal noise or formation of some iron sulfide films.
 If we zoom in to the metal loss further, we see a couple of
steps near the start around March 20 and March 26, a
negative step around May 17, and another step around May
25th.
 We can tell that the first two steps are not real metal loss or iron sulfide film formation for the following
reasons. If the metal loss graph goes up it is not a film formation which goes negative. Therefore it could
only be metal loss. However, when it steps back down again we know we are not putting metal back on.
So this means that it must almost certainly not be true metal loss data but either dues to a poor connection
or probe, or some significant thermal disturbance. This is when we should check the operational log to see
if anything significant was happening such as start up or shut down. Since they are clearly disturbances we
can work around them in computing corrosion rates. In general it looks as if there is a slight slope on the
first week of data (excluding the first step). It then is almost completely flat for the next seven weeks.
There is then a significant negative shift in the metal loss between May 18 and May 20. The curve is then
essentially flat after that except for the step back up at May 24 and 25 th.


 The third period after the step down also shows about zero
corrosion rate.
 The negative step could be iron sulfide but again checks should be made to see
what process or operational changes if any were occurring at that time.

 However, overall it is clear that careful

analysis of the metal loss graph is
probably the most effective
method of data interpretation.
 If we look at the corrosion rate graph using a 96 hour (4 day) regression period without
suppressing negative rates and without any 24 hour filtering.
 A step in the metal loss will always create a significant transient in the corrosion rate
computation.
 A square wave in the metal loss will cause both a positive and negative spike in the corrosion
rate. If we increase the regression period to about 144 hours (6 days) the rate graph is even
smoother. This is fine for low corrosion rates but it can slow the response to corrosion upsets.
We do see the initial rate of a few mpy, settling down to close to zero. You can see from the
slight positive and negative that he average is close to zero
 If we set to no negative rates and 24 hour filter to remove diurnal temperature noise
. We get a display as follows:
 This truncates any negative values, but generally shows the initial rate followed by
negligible rates. The regression period can be further increased which is acceptable
for post analysis where all the metal loss data is available. With an on line system
the regression period should not be too long or response to upsets may be too slow.
Each probe can be set with its own individual regression parameters to best match
the situation after analysis as above has been done. The settings are remembered if
saved on exit.
 A similar analysis on the next probe shows the following:

A average overall rate over the whole data of about 0.33 mpy, a peak rate average over
about 1 week of about 1 mpy as shown on the metal loss computation above. There are
places where the rate is near zero and up to about 2 mpy as shown on the rate graph. There
is one area around May 6 to May 11 where it goes negative. This might be film formation
but comparison with process conditions is necessary to validate this assumption.
 Thank You

We will be happy to answer

any questions