Soil-side corrosion of the bottom plates of aboveground storage tanks is the main cause of tank failure in 90% of the storage tanks in the Middle East. Chemical and topographical analysis of the soil revealed high salt content and sinkholes that lead to porous soil structure that is not stable. A case study is discussed in this paper, in which failures of three storage tanks were investigated. In the three cases, the soil analysis revealed high salt content and low resistivity. The soil was ranked in the extremely corrosive region. Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) doesn’t provide the necessary protection for these tanks. Analysis of the corrosion scale on the tank bottoms were conducted using X-Ray Diffraction Spectroscopy (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS). It is believed that the corrosion scale on the bottom of the tanks, as well as the presence of voids in the soil prevented the ICCP from providing the necessary protection to the tank bottoms.

Subject
Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Impressed current cathodic protection, Sand, Soil resistivity, Failure analysis, Corrosion products, Corrosion scales, Corrosion resistance, Tank bottoms, Chlorides, Soil, Samples
Keywords:
soil-side corrosion, aboveground storage tanks, impressed current cathodic protection, ICCP
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2018
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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