Plant applications of online corrosion monitoring: CO₂ capture amine plant case study

Over the past several years, there has been a significant effort to bring corrosion monitoring into the realm of online, real-time management with plant process control technology. As part of this new direction in corrosion monitoring, corrosion data (e.g. information on corrosion rate, measured Stern Geary constant (or B value), and parameters for pitting and corrosion filming tendencies) are directed to the plant process control system. Availability of such online corrosion data in real-time by process and corrosion engineers along with key process variables facilitates optimal management of process/plant safety and reliability. This paper reviews this new corrosion monitoring approach and experience gained from two monitoring campaigns in a post combustion CO₂ capture plant and identification of corrosion upsets and correlations with plant operating modes. It provides an indication of how real-time corrosion data can more specifically identify periods and causes of corrosion upsets that were previously "invisible" to process engineers facilitating quicker resolution and deployment of corrosion solutions with greater value than what was available with offline, reactive older corrosion monitoring approaches.