Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) in Alberta’s oil sands industry has been observed in above ground assets in thermal operations carrying emulsion, steam, hot water and/or warm water that are externally insulated to ensure safe and energy efficient operations. CUI has also been observed in oil sands mining operations in various piping systems, tanks and/or vessels, and structural supports including insulated support rings, which are frequently in contact with soil or standing groundwater. Furthermore, CUI can go easily unnoticed over prolonged periods of time, only detected after an insulation or pressure containment failure occurs. Most of the CUI occurrences are usually found at the 6 o’clock position or lowest collecting point. Therefore, it is important to identify suitable methodologies to predict CUI for Alberta’s oil sands industry. This work, carried out within the Materials and Reliability in Oil Sands (MARIOS) consortium at InnoTech Alberta, explores existing methodologies for CUI prediction reported in the public domain, and provides a preliminary validation of findings using field data collected by the producer members of the MARIOS consortium.

Subject
Water, Materials, Piping, Insulation, Risk based inspection, Corrosion rate, Predicted corrosion rate, Tools, Oil sands, Mechanical failure, Corrosion data, Corrosion under insulation, Integrity management
Keywords:
Insulation, corrosion mechanisms, corrosion under insulation, corrosion monitoring, simulation, and modeling
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2023
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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