Babi Cerdik dan Pemantauan Kakisan

One of the leading causes of pipeline failure is internal corrosion which remains one of the most difficult failures. Keeping pipelines safe from internal corrosion can be challenging. Internal corrosion can occur when impurities are present within the natural gas, crude, and refined products being transported.

Corrosion on the internal wall of a gas pipeline occurs when the pipe wall is exposed to water and contaminants in the gas, such as O₂, H₂S, CO₂, or chlorides. The functions on the concentration and particular combination of these various constituent within the pipe as well as of the operating conditions of the pipeline are the nature and extent of the corrosion damage. Gas velocity and temperature in the pipeline play a significant role in determining if and where corrosion damage may occur.

Corrosion may also be caused or facilitated by the activity of microorganisms living on the pipe wall. This phenomenon is referred as microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). This type of corrosion can occur when microbes and nutrients are available and where water, corrosion products, deposits, etc., present on the pipe wall provide sites favorable for the colonization of microbes. This type of microbial activity may create concentration cells or produce organic acids or acid-producing gases, making the environment aggressive for internal pipe wall which is made of carbon steel. The microbes can also metabolize sulfur or sulfur compounds to produce products that are corrosive to the pipe wall.

Monitoring is a series of surveys, planned and organized to obtain more comprehensive information on condition over time. A glossary published by the National Corrosion Service of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL, UK) has defined corrosion monitoring as a method used to observe or measure the progress of corrosion.

Pipeline failures are possible and due to internal as well as external factors. Therefore, both internal as well as external monitoring of pipeline is required for complete health assessment. Intelligent pigging is quite suitable in corrosion monitoring of pipeline.

Intelligent pig provides the operator with the opportunity to cost effectively monitor pipelines for indications of internal corrosion, and to trend these instances over a period of time. Intelligent pigging is an effective method to accurately determine location and severity of corrosion. Intelligent pigging can find internal and external corrosion defects.