| ABSTRACT: | A NOVEL ELECTRICAL POTENTIAL DROP METHOD FOR THE DETECTION OF
NAPTHANIC ACID CORROSION IN OIL REFINING PROCESSING
T. Batzinger, P. Allison, A. May, and C.Lester
General Electric Global Research, Niskayuna, NY, United States
Since the beginning of oil refining, the industry has been plagued with corrosion due to acid within the crude
oil. As oil fields age and refining processes require greater production, the refining industry is looking to
produce petroleum products from crude oils containing greater concentration of acid leading to industry
concerns about infrastructure corrosion. General Electric has developed a novel system capable of providing
continuous monitoring of piping or vessel components during plant operation providing a measure of
material removed due to corrosion. The operation of this system is based on the measurement of changes to
electrical potential drop caused by the removal of material due to corrosion. The system developed has been
shown to be capable of acquiring accurate corrosion data during plant operations. Measurement process
data acquired from plant operation and laboratory experiments will be discussed.
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