ABSTRACT
Offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are in a very corrosive environment and the maintenance coatings require regular attention. Coating maintenance should progress at a reasonable rate to preserve the integrity of the operating facilities. Since the bulk of the time is spent on surface preparation and coating application, if the time for these two activities could be reduced with a less degree of surface cleanliness without too much compromising corrosion mitigation and coating life, this will be of great benefit, providing a higher success of being ahead of the painting program and thus reduces corrosion risks.
Presently, in Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production facilities, the most common maintenance painting surface preparation techniques are, ultra high pressure (UHP) water jetting, power tools and in some cases abrasive blasting. The main maintenance protective coating systems are 3-coat protective coating systems (Primer + Epoxy midcoat + UV resistant Polyurethane topcoat).
The main objective of this study is to conduct laboratory testing of six different types of protective coating systems that could be applied on pre-corroded panels with less prepared surface (SSPC①, SP-2). The protective coating systems tested are claimed by the manufacturers can be used as “1 coat” systems but for these tests a topcoat is used for color and further UV protection. The performance of these coating systems will be compared with the current 3-coat maintenance coating system.
The secondary objective of this study is to conduct laboratory testing on pre-corroded panels with different types of surface preparation techniques (hand tool, power tools, UHP, dry abrasive blasting and wet abrasive blasting) then use the same coating system on all panels. The aim is to identify a power tool for the surface preparation in the future to save operating cost and also compare the performance of the various surface preparation.
