Present in more than 70 countries, Air Liquide is a leader in industrial and medical gases and related services, offering innovative solutions based on constantly enhanced technologies. These solutions, which are in line with Air Liquide's commitment to sustainable development, help to protect life and enable its customers to manufacture many indispensable everyday products. In 2005, Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP, an American subsidiary of Air Liquide became the first company to implement Satamatics' Cathodic Protection Monitoring System. Glenn Malone, responsible for field operations in the Gulf Coast area, implemented the CPMS to support over a third of its 2,200 miles of pipeline in the US.
Glenn says, "My role is to ensure that our pipelines are efficiently managed, monitored and maintained. Air Liquide has 5 Transformer Rectifiers and 48 Posts across two locations, reporting the current, voltage and pipe potential to a central SCADA system which can be accessed online at any time. The CPMS provides us with the essential data to detect any problems at an early stage and monitor the lifeline of our pipes. Knowing that we have a complete picture of our pipeline provides us with the confidence to continue providing an exceptional service to our customers."
Conclusion
Air Liquide Gulf Coast operationsAs recent legislation and industry standards worldwide reiterate the global concern for the construction and maintenance industry to influence the environmental and economic choices that will affect their business, it falls on the pipeline operators and maintenance contractors to consider their requirement for corrosion protection and its monitoring.
The cost to industry of not protecting and monitoring adequately is well documented. By using state-of-the-art protection systems the savings are immense. Cathodic Protection (CP) supplements protective coatings, but monitoring is essential because corrosion, as explained, not only creates damage to the pipe, but causes problems for the business too.
