Cathodic Protection

Cathodic protection is the most effective method for mitigating corrosion risk for oil/gas and utility transmission/distribution underground assets. Bare surface area of buried components, complexity of the structure, grounding and soil resistivity are the most important factors that must be considered in designing cathodic protection systems.

Cathodic protection effectively protects underground or submerged metallic structures through the use of a negative charge applied by an external source to the structure. The potential to which the structure must be polarized needs to be taken into account for different soil resistivities. This potential determines the degree to which the corrosion rate is reduced. It should be noted that the critical potential for cathodic protection of galvanized steel, stainless steel, copper and Alumnium is different from carbon steel.

A cathodic protection program designed especially for transmission, distribution and substation structures should consider:

1. Current Requirement
2. Soil Resistivity
3. Electrical Continuty
4. Grounding at the Project Site
5. Bare Surface Area for Piping, Galvanized Steel/Weathering Structures
6. Coating Integrity and Degradation in time
7. Stray Currents
8. AC/DC interference

Cathodic protection provides:

1. Safer Work Environment
2. Maintenance and Repair Cost Reductions (Labor, Materials, Wasted Time)
3. Increased Reliability

Matergenics offers a wide array of services to control corrosion and protect aging assets including underground pipe lines, poles, latticed towers, grillage, anchor rods, substation equipment and more. Our services include design and modeling, installation, and maintenace of cathodic protection systems for different applications. Matergenics has obtained a position of considerable prominence in the cathodic protection computerized design and wireless monitoring of cathodic protection installations.