New Self-healing Cold Spray Coating for Internal Pipeline Corrosion Protection
NETL is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. This invention, a new self-healing cold spray coating, can help protect against corrosion in natural gas, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide (CO2) pipelines.
Pipeline corrosion can cause catastrophic failure events such as explosion hazards and emissions of environmentally damaging substances like methane from natural gas pipelines. Traditional approaches to fighting pipeline corrosion included the use of inhibitors or organic coatings such as fusion-bonded epoxy and polyurethane. Injection of inhibitors in natural gas or CO2 pipelines is challenging because of the difficulty of transporting the inhibitor along the pipelines. The main disadvantage of using organic coatings is that they have poor abrasion resistance and can form a corrosion focal point. Another approach is to use sacrificial coatings to protect pipelines and equipment from internal corrosion. However, the existing sacrificial coatings tend to dissolve too fast in natural gas pipelines.
https://netl.doe.gov/node/12793