Tutorial: Titanium Piping in Salt Water Environment

Scenario: A small, independent oil company has discovered oil/gas in a remote part of the North Sea and early indications show that this would develop into a small to medium size field. The anticipated high price of energy coming from the field appeared to make it reasonably profitable venture over the life of the project. In developing the piping for the extraction and transportation of the oil/gas, the chief engineer and the design team carefully considered the optimum materials of construction for the transportation in the salt water environment. Titanium was strongly considered as a candidate material given the harsh environment and remoteness of the location. Concern was expressed about possible galvanic corrosion resulting from dissimilar metals/alloys/composites found in pumps, clamps, sleeve bolts, flare stacks, nozzles and other pieces of equipment in the salt water which would come in contact with a titanium piping system. Other considerations expressed by the design team were crevice corrosion and microbiologically influenced corrosion. The Chief Engineer turned to Knovel for background information and an overview of the issue.

1. In the Search Box on the Knovel Library home page enter the search phrase titanium and galvanic corrosion. The query entered means, “find any page of text or row of data from an interactive table where the terms titanium and galvanic corrosion are present somewhere on the same page or in the same row of data.” Click the search button.
   
   
   
   
2. Knovel's Search Results page shows 44 titles with hits that match our query but the first title, with 100% relevancy, is Advances in Corrosion Control and Materials in Oil and Gas Production: (EFC 26), this issue's featured title. Click on the title.
   
   
   
   
3. The second Search Results page shows every section where there is a hit from our query in this title. Starting at the beginning of Chapter 38. Galvanic Corrosion - Principles and Practice for Use of Titanium, click on Text (1).
   
   
   
   
4. By navigating through the pages using the Acrobat Reader tool, all the information needed to make a decision is there for the team.