CORROSION PROBE IS

A specialized consulting engineering firm providing design, quality control, quality assurance, condition evaluation, testing, failure investigation, and repair and rehabilitation engineering services to clients throughout the United States and Canada.

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

New Hire - Kyle Newberry

CPI is proud to announce that Kyle Newberry has joined our staff as a Project Engineer. He will support CPI's service offerings at the Procter & Gamble, Mehoopany, PA facility, providing cost engineering, schedule engineering, and construction management support. Kyle has an industrial/commercial Project Engineering background and holds a bachelor's degree in Construction Management. He has been the on-site lead project engineer on construction projects in the pharmaceutical and consumer products industries.

CPI/CTL in WRF Study on Stainless Steel Use

CPI and CTL are participating in a Water Research Foundation effort to create "Guidelines for the Use of Stainless Steel in the Water and Desalination Industries". CTL is currently performing corrosion testing of various stainless steel alloys, the results of which will be used to establish recommended operating condition "envelopes" for these alloys. These guidelines will help engineers design reliable water systems that are free from unexpected corrosion failures and associated operational downtime and water loss.

Maley Receives JCPL Award

CPI's Bob Maley was given the Journal of Protective Coatings and Linings 2012 Editors' Award for his article, "Strategic Corrosion Protection of New Sewerage Overflow Tunnels", which described work CPI performed for the City of Columbus, OH. Maley's article was published in the JPCL February 2011 edition.

CPI Speaking Engagements

CPI's Randy Nixon presented a paper entitled, "Design Considerations for Lining Concrete Sludge Mixing and Storage Tanks in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Issues that Do Not Meet the Eye", and Kevin Krawiec presented, "Internal Inspection of Egg-shaped Digesters", at January's NEWEA Conference in Boston. Randy Nixon also presented a paper written by Bob Maley entitled, "Preparing and Lining Concrete for Immersion Service - Steps and Procedures to Avoid Failures", at January's SSPC Conference in San Antonio.

FEATURED PROJECTS

Water Transmission Main Failure

Springfield Water and Sewer Commission suffered a catastrophic failure in a 54" diameter water transmission pipeline. The pipe section, put into service in 1928, failed along a longitudinal, shop-made weld seam near the top of the pipe.<more>

P&P Industry Hungry for FRP Help

CPI has developed and implemented mechanical integrity programs for fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) in two large southeastern pulp mills. Program development included preparing an overarching management framework document and separate guidelines for inspection and repair of used FRP laminates. Additionally, in a team effort with the Fiber Reinforced Plastics Institute (FRPI) in Buffalo, NY, CPI provided quality verification and design review for a variety of new scrubbers, tanks, and piping to be installed in a new chlorine dioxide generation plant. Drawing and other submittal review, vendor proposal vetting, and field & shop fabrication quality verification were performed to ensure the highest quality of FRP laminates. CPI has seen a steady increase in the need for FRP equipment support at North American mills.

Identical SS Rods: Only One Fails

CPI was asked to determine the cause of severe corrosion of a Type 304L stainless steel threaded rod in a wastewater plant aeration basin. A second, identical rod was found without deterioration. Initial speculation was that the two rods were, in fact, of different materials; however, chemical analysis showed them both to be 304L. CPI's investigation found that the rods were seeing different process conditions in the aeration basin. The corroded rod appeared to have been exposed to stagnant bio-solids build-up, while the non-corroded rod was not. All of the data strongly pointed to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) in an anaerobic environment as the cause of the deterioration. During the investigation, CPI was also able to rule out other possible causes, such as high chloride ion concentrations from a ferric chloride feed system and stray current effects.