Corrosion Control Documents: One High Priority Approach to Minimizing Failures of Fixed Equipment

Introduction

For those who have finished reading all ten articles on the necessary Pressure Equipment Integrity & Reliability (PEI&R) Management Systems recently published in the Inspectioneering Journal^1-10, you already know that there is not just “one key” to minimizing failures of fixed equipment in a process plant. There are 101 essential elements of maintaining PEI&R¹¹ and Ten PEI&R Management Systems¹ to make sure that they all stay under control. But one primary key stands out as a critical foundation block in the PEI&R work process. In those previous articles in the Inspectioneering Journal, I mentioned several of the most important work processes that can be accomplished in order to minimize the chances of unanticipated failures/leaks/ruptures of fixed equipment from in-service damage mechanisms. But perhaps the most important work process to achieve success in fixed equipment PEI&R is to create Corrosion Control Documents (CCD’s)⁴ for each process unit. In this article, I expand upon that work process in order to guide the interested owner-user in creating CCD’s for their process units.

So what is a CCD? A CCD is basically a document that tells readers almost everything they need know about the mechanical integrity of fixed equipment in a process unit. Its purpose is to help owner-users avoid unexpected deterioration of materials of construction and demonstrate how to manage corrosion and other damage mechanisms that afflict fixed equipment in service. One way to think of it is that it takes the type of generic information available in API RP 571¹² and creates another document that is very specific to the chemistry and degradation mechanisms in each process unit in a manufacturing plant or refinery. While API RP 571 is an excellent document covering (in brief) nearly every damage mechanism known to refining and petrochemical manufacturing, knowledgeable technical people need to translate the useful generic information in that standard into more useful information as it applies to each specific process unit.