The Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) (San Antonio, Texas) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) (San Antonio, Texas) recently announced a project to research a new technique to mitigate cracking and corrosion in piping and related oil and gas industry equipment.
The project will receive $125,000 in funding through the school’s Connecting through Research Partnerships (Connect) program, sponsored by the office of the vice president for research at UTSA and SwRI.
“Material failure caused by corrosion is a significant risk identified by the oil and gas industry,” project officials say in a news release. “The risks to safety and the environment associated with material failure for deep sea drilling and oil transmission pipelines are enormous.”
To address these risks, SwRI and UTSA plan to collaborate to identify changes in solution chemistry and oxide film composition that cause localized corrosion and cracking. The team will use Raman spectroscopy and electrochemical corrosion measurements to evaluate and address critical corrosion pathways that can be mitigated by selecting appropriate inhibitors or advanced materials.
The project is officially titled “Effects of Triazine-Based H2S Scavenger Byproducts on the Film Composition and Cracking of Carbon Steel in Oilfield Applications.” James Dante, manager of SwRI’s environmental performance of materials section, will collaborate with Brendy C. Rincon Troconis, an assistant professor in UTSA’s mechanical engineering department.
“SwRI is a recognized leader in the corrosion community with extensive expertise in the oil and gas industry,” Dante says. “SwRI is using this expertise and well developed testing infrastructure to work collaboratively with UTSA to bring new methods of assessing the mechanisms of corrosion in harsh oil and gas environments.”
The Connect program is designed to enhance scientific collaboration between SwRI and UTSA while increasing their research funding base. Since 2010, the joint SwRI-UTSA program has funded 13 projects.