An introduction to the Corrosion Management Concept

Ali Morshed (PhD, MSc, CEng, DIC) shares his industry opinion on corrosion management and its application benefits

Corrosion Management (CM) is a rather new concept and process whose international advent could be traced back to the publication of the UK Energy Institute’s book (Ref. 01) on the subject in May 2008 and the NACE International’s first CM book (Ref. 02) in 2012.

Beginning with the UK’s offshore oil and gas industry it gradually became evident that the corrosion engineering discipline by itself could not efficiently control and mitigate corrosion and that another tool or process was crucially required to complement the existing corrosion engineering measures. Thus, corrosion management was born and has gradually become an indispensable constituent of an increasing number of asset integrity management systems (AIMS) worldwide.

Since the early 2000s, continuous efforts to offer a more comprehensive asset integrity management approach or view has so far resulted in two internationally recognized asset corrosion management models:
1. The UK HSE Corrosion Management Model
2. The Morshed Corrosion Management Model (MCMM)

According to the MCMM the corrosion management concept can be defined as:

“The process of reviewing the required integrity management measures, regular monitoring of their performance, and the assessment of their effectiveness post-commissioning.”

Corrosion management applications can render an existing AIMS more effective, efficient and risk-based. However, its two most important benefits are the enhancement of the corrosion failure pre-emption capability of an organisation and the optimisation of the associated corrosion and integrity costs. Such significant application benefits has rendered corrosion management a fundamental component of any existing AIMS; thus, demands for corrosion management services such as training and consultancy have been increasing constantly over the recent years within both the hydrocarbon and the non-hydrocarbon industries.

Therefore, it is beneficial to attend a CM training course such as the Corrodere Academy’s online CM course to be able to take advantage of the CM concept’s numerous benefits.

Although, the hydrocarbon industry is regarded as the birthplace of the CM concept; nevertheless, it is equally applicable in any other industry where corrosion is a major integrity threat.

Tools such as corrosion control matrices, corrosion key performance indicators and the asset corrosion control document are widely used in both hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon industries. In general, industries which greatly benefit from such a training course include, but are not limited to:
Hydrocarbon (upstream, midstream and downstream)
Marine
Military
Nuclear
Water and waste water management
Power and utilities

CM application benefits are numerous and include:
1. Enhanced asset integrity and extended asset and equipment design life.
2. Improved (site) personnel safety and environmental protection.
3. Enhanced teamwork, communication and reporting.
4. Increased corrosion failure pre-emption capability across the organisation.
5. Optimised corrosion and integrity costs.
6. Increased production and operation times and reduced number of unplanned shutdowns.

References
1. Energy Institute, Guidance for Corrosion Management in Oil and Gas Production and Processing (London, United Kingdom: Energy Institute, 2008).
2. Morshed, A., An Introduction to Asset Corrosion Management in the Oil and Gas Industry (Houston, TX: NACE International, 2012).

To find out more about our specialist corrosion courses including Corrosion Management, Coating Surveys and the Diploma in Coatings for Corrosion Control, download a brochure or contact laura@corrodere.com