This paper describes various means required to resolve corrosion management challenges in India.

1. Features
Corrosion Management
Our “Iron Pillar” Way to Resolve Corrosion
Management Challenges in India
M Valliappan
The latest surveys show that the worldwide direct cost of corrosion is between 3.1 to 3.5 percent
of a nation’s GDP annually. These results reflect only the direct cost of corrosion that include
essentially materials, equipment and services involved with repair, maintenance and replacement
and does not include the environmental damage, waste of resources, loss of production or
personal injury resulting from corrosion. Corrosion experts have concluded that a net of 20 to
25 percent of that annual cost can be saved by applying currently available corrosion control
technologies.
T
he Iron Pillar of Delhi is a 7 materials.
meter (22 feet) high pillar in
the Qutb complex which is Primary iron dissolution reaction
notable for the composition of the seems to be simple.
metals used in its construction. It
has withstood corrosion for over Fe →Fe 2+ + 2e -
1,600 years in the open air. This
historic fact shows our strengths The deleterious nature of this
in developing corrosion resistant reaction is evident in many surveys
materials. But our present position reported in India and elsewhere
on corrosion problems faced by in the world. It also includes the
many industries in India seems to effect of corrosion on many metallic
be a disturbing fact. Corrosion costs materials and engineering plastics.
reported by various agencies in many The latest surveys show that the
countries revealed the alarming worldwide direct cost of corrosion is
situations experienced all over the between 3.1 to 3.5 percent of a nation’s
world and the efforts we need to take GDP annually. These results reflect
in many ways to counteract ‘Metallic only the direct cost of corrosion,
Cancer’, the term often used to essentially materials, equipment,
describe deterioration of metallic and services involved with repair,
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2. Features
though they corrode when exposed
to acid. On the night of the disaster, a
leaking carbon steel valve was found,
allowing water to enter the MIC
tanks. The pipe was not repaired
because it was believed it would take
too much time and be too expensive
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Bhopal_disaster)
Selection Process - Is it a
material or process issue?
When selecting construction
materials it is essential to know
how the materials will behave when
exposed to the actual operating
environment. In particular, special
attention must be given to the
following factors: potential for
maintenance and replacement. It  o we use our national resources
D corrosion, operating temperatures
does not include the environmental properly to address this alarming and pressures, unexpected operating
damage, waste of resources, loss effect and find solutions? conditions and startup and shut-
of production, or personal injury  ho is responsible for these
W down procedures. A large share
resulting from corrosion. At the problems – academic society or of equipment operation and
same time, corrosion experts have research institutions or designers maintenance costs in the chemical
concluded that a net of 20 to 25 or technology providers or end- processing industries are the result
percent of that annual cost can be users or collection of all? of materials failure due to abrasive,
saved by applying currently available corrosive or high temperature
corrosion control technologies Now is the time for corrosion environments. If corrosion is not an
(Source: http://www.corrosion.org). professionals to join together to issue, the least expensive material
Astounding corrosion costs educate industry, governments, and with the appropriate mechanical
reported in various media in India the public. Now is the time to work properties is usually selected.
raise many questions and call for together to harmonize standards and
immediate actions to reduce such practices around the world and to Industries Classification for
costs through various means of communicate and share corrosion Corrosion Costs
corrosion control available all over mitigation technologies. Now is Corrosion cost surveys conducted
the world. the time to make a major impact to by various agencies in the US and
 o we preserve our precious
D protect the environment, preserve elsewhere in the world included
material resources for the future resources, and protect our fellow five major sector categories and
generation? human beings (Source: http://www. 26 sectors. Major categories
 o our government and
D corrosion.org) are: Infrastructure, Utilities,
industries pay attention to Our country can’t forget the Transportation, Production and
corrosion problems? night of terror and death in Bhopal Manufacturing and Government.
 o we have a proper survey to
D on Decmeber 3, 1984. One of the The economy of India is as diverse
account for corrosion problems factors identified for the cause of as it is large, with a number of major
faced by all industry sectors? gas leakage was ‘Possible corroding sectors including manufacturing
 s our focus on specific industries
I material in pipelines’. Carbon steel industries, agriculture, textiles
to find solutions for corrosion? valves were used at the factory, even and handicrafts and services. The
Chemical Engineering World | 66 | FEBRUARY 2010

3. Features
Indian chemical industries comprise
small, medium and large - scale
units. The chemical industry which
includes basic chemicals and their
intermediates, petrochemicals,
fertilisers, paints, pesticides,
bulk-drugs and pharmaceuticals
is one of the most diversified
industrial sectors covering more
than 70,000 commercial products.
While some chemical industries
are knowledge based and small, collaboration of industry, academia  hallenge No 3: To raise public
C
others are large, requiring huge and educational infrastructure with awareness of corrosion and
capital and interrupted power and India spending only 0.8 percent corrosion control.
other infrastructure for production. of its total GDP on research and  hallenge No 4: To develop
C
There are 7 major chemical clusters innovation which is much lower as corrosion-related standards
identified in a survey conducted by compared to developed countries for our Indian conditions
Technical Group (Source: National such as US, Japan, Germany and and support the worldwide
Chemical Management Profile, France (Source: Ernst and Young normalization process.
CPCB, India). OPPI Report, Aug 2009)
Now-a-days the Business The science of corrosion Legislation: Make it compulsory
is becoming competitive day by prevention and control is highly to use proper corrosion
day due to Government’s policy of complex, exacerbated by the fact that management means
liberalisation and globalisation. The corrosion takes many different forms Corrosion Prevention Act of 2009
business and industry is passing and is affected by numerous outside has been introduced in the US to
through the phase of bearing risk after factors. With its many forms, causes, amend the Internal Revenue Code
risk. ‘Business is always associated and associated prevention methods, of 1986 to encourage the use of
with the risk factor’. The types of risks corrosion obviously is highly complex corrosion prevention and mitigation
involved depend upon the nature and requires extensive expertise and measures in the construction and
of construction and production significant resources to control. maintenance of business energy-
activity in plants. More hazardous related property.
plant erection, commissioning and Global Challenges on Corrosion In such a large country like
operating activity involves risk of Management- Our Stand India with its diverse spectrum
accident and breakdown (Source: What is our present stand on of chemical manufacturing and
http://www.iimm.org). Vigilance the challenges (Source: http://www. consumption, laying of legislation
through operation, maintenance corrosion.org) identified for corrosion is not an easy task but it has been
and inspection is required to operate management by worldwide corrosion accomplished to a great extent due
these plants in a safe manner and control agencies and professional to the country’s democratic and
protect the environment. organizations? federal political structure. The most
important aspect is that these wide
Our Position: Use present  hallenge No1 : To identify
C spectrums of legislation are mutually
resources for future savings world best practices in corrosion exclusive and their overlapping is
India has been rated highest in management that suits our not significant. Approximately 15
terms of cost efficiency, technical Indian conditions. Acts and 19 Rules have been laid
competency and skilled manpower  hallenge No 2: To facilitate the
C down for chemical management.
attractiveness. However India lacks provision of corrosion control The Environment (Protection) Act,
a culture of innovation due to legacy expertise to governments, 1986 serves as an umbrella Act and
issues such as low levels of funding, industries and communities. can link other Acts in one way or
Chemical Engineering World | 68 | FEBRUARY 2010

4. Features
another, without interfering with the
autonomy of any other Acts / Rules.
The weakest factors identified
with regard to implementing
legislations are inspection, vigilance
and public awareness. With respect to
inspection and vigilance, the inherent
limitation is lack of manpower and
standardization of procedures for
inspection and vigilance (Source:
http://www.cpcb.nic.in).
None of these acts address
corrosion concerns. Considering the
severity associated with corrosion
problems and its influence on other
management activities especially
the environmental protection, our
position is to identify the best possible
on the flow of information from corrosion control required to ensure
way for structuring a base corrosion
one component to another and the life of assets, which is monitored
management act which shall be
the quality of data it takes in for through various means available for
linked with other main acts.
various processes. Any broken link the whole process. The next step is to
or avoidance of any component capture all information produced and
What do we really need?
leads to ‘Uncertainties’ that reduce processed by the corrosion design
The cost of developing and
confidence levels of finding ‘Optimal’ components and link with other
incorporating advanced materials is
solutions to corrosion problems. pertinent management systems for
high. The reliability of new materials
Prediction needs to be done to integrated analysis.
is unproven in most practical
carry out any functional analysis. Our Finally, the information gathered
applications and exploring their use
‘Own Experience’ is a good starter for various design processes is
in a process environment is risky.
followed by using the appropriate verified for its compliance with
Significant R&D, from bench scale
software models available for Company-Regional-National-
experiments to the construction
industry specific applications International regulations for
and testing of prototypes, is usually
(Truth: Significant developments are operating the plant/system in a safe
necessary before a new material noticed for Energy Production sector manner. Application of systems
can be implemented in chemical only) and gathering experience identified in the design process
processing equipment (Source: from similar plants and systems. needs to be continuously monitored
Technology Roadmap for Materials of Technology providers with specific and controlled as and when required
Construction, Materials Technology skills in Prediction form a systematic to see the effectiveness of resources
Institute, USA, 1998). approach of identifying the design required to achieve safe and reliable
Our focus is always on using requirements and providing environment.
the existing resources to find a integrated solutions. Assessment of Design-Apply-
suitable ‘Iron Pillar Way’ of Corrosion Designing a system to meet Monitor-Control processes is very
Management. Various functions out corrosion challenges is always crucial in the whole functional
involved in the functional analysis of superior to finding solutions as and analysis to verify and provide inputs
corrosion management are: Predict- when corrosion problems occur. It is for strengthening Predict process.
Design-Apply-Monitor-Control- not the design of equipments alone. The main driver for the successful
Assess. There are several steps involved in assessment process is: Who is doing
Reliability and effectiveness of the design process. It starts with what is needed, Application of
this functional analysis is centered the material selection followed by corrosion control measures executed
Chemical Engineering World | 69 | FEBRUARY 2010

5. Features
of technologies that can solve the
engineering grand challenges
related to the sustainability and
vulnerability of current, legacy
and future engineered products,
systems, and infrastructure. In
general, materials being used in the
modern world are being pushed to
the limits of their operability. The
demands will require a workforce
conscious of environmental attack
on all types of systems and having
the ability to anticipate and design
for sustainability under extreme
conditions. The engineering
by Technology Providers (materials Corrosion Management Services workforce must have a solid
suppliers corrosion control supply (CMS) is an example company for understanding of the physical and
houses, chemical treatment, cathodic providing independent Technology chemical bases of corrosion, as
protection and protective coatings; Provider neutral analysis and assists well as an understanding of the
monitoring technologies-corrosion, the asset owners to set up the review engineering issues surrounding
inspection and process; management panel for all phases of corrosion corrosion and corrosion abatement
systems -prediction, corrosion management and its interfaces with (Source: Assessment of Corrosion
management and asset integrity other management activities. Education, The National Academic
systems) needs to be reviewed Corrosion is a complex process in Press, USA, 2008).
by Technology Assessors. These nature. It needs a complete network
assessors should come from in- of various agencies as listed in the
house corrosion technology experts graph. Our country is yet to see the
available with the asset owner or the full fledged corrosion management M Valiappan is Corrosion
non-corrosion management group programs for all types of industries, Management Consultant
ably supported by an independent small, medium and large scale. email: corrosion.
review panel comprises external Advances in corrosion control management@gmail.com
experts in various disciplines. are integral to the development
KBR Awarded Contract by Matix Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd
Houston, Texas: KBR announced that it has been methane. The use of coal bed methane as feedstock
awarded a contract by Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals in the ammonia synthesis process is a relatively new
Limited (MFCL) a Matix Group Company owned application that provides an alternative to the use of
by Kanoria family in India to provide licensing and natural gas in areas where coal is abundant.
engineering services for its grassroots 2,200 metric tons “This selection of KBR’s Purifier Ammonia
per day (MTPD) ammonia plant located in West Bengal, technology for this mega grassroots ammonia plant
India. MFCL is setting up the largest ammonia/urea demonstrates the quality and versatility of this
(1.3 million tons per annum) manufacturing facilities in unmatched technology,” said Tim Challand, President,
the country, along with Captive Power Plant, utilities, Technology for KBR. “We are pleased that Matix found
infrastructure and railway siding in the complex. value in our technology and look forward to providing
KBR will license its Purifier Ammonia technology effective, efficient long-term solutions for both Matix
for the Matix plant, which will be based on coal bed and the region.”
Chemical Engineering World | 70 | FEBRUARY 2010