Diseño y simulación de protección catódica en la Industria Petrolera

Abstract

This paper presents a cathodic protection design that allows to face the problems that are generated by corrosion in buried metal structures. A conceptual framework of the theoretical bases of corrosion is briefly exposed, as well as the types of protections that exist with a particular emphasis on cathodic protection by sacrificial anodes and by printed current. It has been traditional in the petroleum and petrochemical industry that galvanic cathodic protection is implemented when it is desired to protect small sections of buried metal pipes; while printed cathodic protection is implemented when it is desired to protect larger metal structures, such as external funds from storage tanks. The algorithms for the design have been clearly established using both methods. Part of the design involves the extraction of information from buried metal pipe sections, as well as information about the external funds of buried metal tanks through an AutoCAD export interface to Matlab. The ideal location of the anodes, their life times are simulated graphically, considering the NACE and H-201 standards of PDVSA, and the currents resulting from the design are shown