At the Port of Antwerp, LANXESS deployed Fluves Corrosion system on a large tank, monitoring temperature changes to detect potential corrosion under insulation (CUI). Using fiber optic technology, the system identifies temperature variations that signal water infiltration for spotting corrosion hotspots without dismantling the insulation. Following installation, several corrosion risks were detected that standard inspections had missed, allowing LANXESS to address early-stage defects in insulation and tank protection.
Challenge
A large tank of LANXESS at the production site at the Port of Antwerp was equipped with a Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) based monitoring system. A fiber optic cable was installed alongside and on top of the infrastructure. Using the continuous temperature monitoring, the insulation and outside tank protection were scanned on defects.
Solution
Fluves Corrosion software detects potential corrosion spots along insulated infrastructure based on temperature measurements. A DTS system measures ambient temperature along fiber optic cables. With such a system, the temperature can be measured continuously every meter for up to 50 kilometers and more of cable with a high level of accuracy (≤ 0.5°C). When a fiber optic cable is installed on a tank, the temperature of the tank will be measured every (half a) meter alongside the cable. When insulation becomes wet by water infiltration or condensation, this will lead to a hotspot or coldspot (depending on the tank temperature). This can be detected with DTS.
Without having to remove the insulation or cladding protection, moisture in insulation which lead to corrosion can continuously be monitored in insulated pipelines & vessels. The measurement system had already been installed at various petrochemical sites in Antwerp, where corrosion was detected that was not detected with standard inspection techniques.
Results
Fluves Corrosion software identified several corrosion spots along the tank, based on the temperature measurements alongside the tank. At some locations the system identified that the risk at corrosion was small and on other spots there was a significant corrosion risk. The defects in the insulation and outside tank protection were detected at an early stage.
Validation
In August 2023 the client uncovered and inspected the locations that were identified by Fluves Corrosion system in detail. At the identified points the corrosion matched with the Fluves predictions.
More information
Visit Fluves Corrosion, download our white paper about corrosion monitoring with fiber optics or let’s have a chat via sales@fluves.com.
