Chris Lynch: Worthy Recipient of the Paul McIntyre Award 2022

Chris Lynch: Worthy Recipient of the Paul McIntyre Award 2022

Blogs, Corrosion Engineering Division, PFP

Giving Back in Corrosion Engineering

First awarded in 2017, the Paul McIntyre Award is our premier award in the field of corrosion engineering. It is presented to a senior corrosion engineer by the President of the Institute of Corrosion at the Corrosion Engineering Division’s Working Day and Symposium.

In addition to the recipient being a senior engineer, the criteria includes that he or she is a leading practitioner in his or her field who has advanced European collaboration and the development of international standards.

This year, we returned to an in-person Working Day held at the National Railway Museum in York. It certainly proved to be a Working Day and Symposium to Remember, especially for Chris Lynch, who received the Paul McIntyre Award at the end of the morning’s session.

Paul McIntyre – an inspiration to those who follow

Dr Paul McIntyre was determined, invariably polite and accommodating, and had an endearing, dry sense of humour. His career spanned industry, asset management, and editorial work, as well as working on standardisation within the industry.

After graduating from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Paul spent the initial stages of his career in industry. He moved south in 1978, to join the Central Electricity Research Laboratories in Leatherhead. As Group Leader, he spearheaded studies into stress corrosion, localised corrosion, and corrosion fatigue in conventional and nuclear power plants.

Later in his career, Paul became involved in asset management and remaining life assessment of components, including the development of remedial methodologies such as reliability, availability, and maintenance (RAM) and reliability centred maintenance (RCM).

Between 1996 and 2006, he was the editor of the British Corrosion Journal, though editorial work was not his only foray into the written word in the corrosion industry. Paul authored around 60 published papers and over 200 technical reports.

Paul was never one to rest on his laurels, and thrived on demanding work. If he wasn’t at work, he was deliberating, or brainstorming, or advising. Between 2004 and 2010, he worked as consultant in the Electrochemistry and Corrosion group at NPL. He put his insight and engineering experience to work in producing critical analysis of a wide range of failure investigations including fracture of wind turbine bolts and corrosion pitting in desalination plants, as well as providing informed corrosion control guidance to industry.

Paul also had nearly 30 years of participation in corrosion standardisation as a member of BSI and ISO committees. This included time served as Chair of ISO/NFE 8 Corrosion of metals and alloys, and UK representative on the equivalent ISO committee TC 156 and within that being secretary of WG 2 Stress Corrosion Cracking and member of WG 7 Accelerated Corrosion Tests.

He made an immense contribution as Scientific Secretary of the EFC.

He was also on the Council of the Institute of Corrosion from the early 2000s, specialising in standards work and pan-European activities.

In 2003 Paul was awarded the T. B. Marsden Prize of IOM3 for his considerable achievements in promoting standards, education, and publishing in corrosion and materials. In citation for the award, the Chair of ISO TC 156 said, “Paul has provided more input into the development of ISO standards in the corrosion field than any other individual”.

Unfortunately, Paul was diagnosed with secondary liver cancer in 2012, and, despite his spirit and fight, he sadly passed away in 2012.

The Paul McIntyre Award is a befitting celebration in his memory, and an inspiration to all those who follow him.

Chris Lynch

Chris Lynch graduated from the University of Leeds in 1990.

He began his working career as a junior corrosion engineer at Aberdeen Corrosion Engineers Limited, and remained in the north of Scotland for more than 10 years. Extensive travel took him into Europe and the Middle East, while working onshore and offshore.

Employed by Corrpro Companies Europe Limited in 2005, he is now Senior Engineering Manager and responsible for cathodic protection engineering, site services, and the power unit design personnel.

Like Paul McIntyre, Chris is dedicated to his work and an avid learner. He also believes it is important to give back to the industry he loves and that has rewarded him well.

Also like Paul McIntyre, Chris has served on many committees and with industry bodies. He is Chair of a BSI committee, and has presented training and development courses. He has an international outlook, and thrives on exchange of information with his peers from around the globe. A Chartered Engineer, his rollcall includes:

  • Working on numerous training committees
  • Course presenter of ICorr training schemes
  • Currently a member of the Cathodic Protection Governing Body (CPGB)
  • Level 4 CP Specialist of buried and marine structures and internal surfaces
  • Fellow of the Institute of Corrosion
  • Chair of GEL/603 which is the British Standards Institute (BSI) committee for Cathodic Protection
  • Works on various Working Group activities for ISO and CEN
  • Member of CEOCOR
  • Member of the Marine Corrosion Forum

In accepting the Paul McIntyre Award, Chris said:

“I would like to thank those who have voted for me to receive the Paul McIntyre Award for 2022. This is a great honour for me.

“I would like to dedicate it to all the people who have contributed to my success, many of whom I have met whilst doing the work that Paul himself did tirelessly and for so many years himself.

“It is wonderful that my work with GEL/603 and with ISO and CEN standards committees and working groups has been recognised with this award. The work is so varied and with communities such as CEOCOR, the approach is unique and informal.

“To be honest, it is not work at all. It is fun.

“There is much to be gained in international standards work and I have built up friendships with peers and experts across Europe and the wider world. I have gained so much more than can be taught on courses or read in presentations, papers, or visiting exhibitions.

“I believe we all have something to share. Perhaps an experience we have had that is unique or a set of interesting data we have gathered; or a job that went wrong that others would benefit from in hindsight.”

The similarities between Dr Paul McIntyre and Chris Lynch are uncanny. A worthy recipient of our most prestigious corrosion engineering award.

To learn more about the Institute of Corrosion Awards, click here.

To discover how you can become a member of the Institute of Corrosion, and ways in which membership can help develop your career, or how you can give back to the industry by sharing your knowledge and experience with those who are developing theirs, please contact us.

A Case Study for All Young Corrosion Engineers – It Could Be You

A Case Study for All Young Corrosion Engineers – It Could Be You

Blogs, Corrosion Engineering Division, Corrosion Science Division, YEP

Rewards, Awards, and Benefits of Participating in the Young Engineer Programme

Here’s a case study for all young corrosion engineers:

Do what you love to do. Receive grade A mentorship in the process. Develop your learning and understanding, and make new connections to deepen your professional network. Oh, and win a fully expensed trip to the 5-day AMPP Annual Conference & Expo in the USA.

Too good to be true? Not for the winning team of the 2020 cohort of the Institute of Corrosion’s Young Engineer Programme (YEP).

What is the Young Engineer Programme?

The YEP is specifically designed for engineers at the early stage of their careers in the corrosion industry. A series of lectures are presented, and the group is divided into teams and challenged to present solutions to a real-life case study.

The lectures cover subject areas including:

  • Basic corrosion
  • Welding
  • Materials
  • Coatings
  • Painting, fire protection and linings
  • Cathodic protection
  • Chemical treatments
  • Presentation skills

These lectures are designed to provide the theoretical and practical guidance needed to complete the case study. To aid progress toward their goal, each team is allocated a mentor with relevant and recognised industry expertise and experience.

There was a total of 30 young engineers enrolled in the 2020 cohort, all able to take advantage of this immensely valuable (and free) course. The YEP enrolled engineers divided into seven teams of between three and five for the case study.

The mentors were:

  • Andrew Sturgeon, Manager Materials Engineering at Genesis Energies, London
  • Chris Googan, Materials & Corrosion Engineer at Anticorrosion Engineering Limited
  • Charles Barraclough, Materials and Welding Engineer
  • Tasos Kostrivas PhD, ΕMBA, MSc, FIMMM
  • David Shaw, Lead QC coating/insulation/PFP Saipem
  • Rob Doggett, Materials and Welding Engineer at Fluor
  • John Davies, Consultant QA Engineer at Fulkrum Technical Services

Throughout the programme, guests included Bill Hedges, Gareth Hinds, Steve Paterson, Danny Burkle, and Caroline Allanach and the Steering Group; Trevor Osborne, Alan Denny, Anthony Setiadi, and David Mobbs.

The case study – the challenge

The case study that the teams were asked to review and present their findings centred around a titanium pipe corrosion failure at an onshore glycol desalination plant, in which was found several leaks. The desalination plant is used to periodically remove the salts from glycol which is used for hydrate and corrosion control in gas pipelines from three offshore fields.

Particularly challenging in this case study is that the high-grade titanium spool would be expected to resist any form of corrosion in this service. After being given the complete case study, the teams were tasked to include the following in their submissions:

  • Propose credible root causes for the observed defects and describe the potential failure scenarios
  • Explain how you would perform a corrosion risk assessment to determine if the plant is safe to operate
  • Identify what mitigation options could be applied to prolong the service life of this section of the desalination plant
  • Propose alternative materials of construction for replacement pipe spools and describe the basis for the selection
  • Describe what other factors should be considered in your assessment and propose possible longer-term solution(s)

The case study – presentation and judging

The teams presented their case studies to a panel of judges (Sadegh Parvizi, Chris Williams, and John Boran) on 12th November 2020. Each 20-minute presentation was followed by five minutes allotted for questioning. While no team was allowed into the presentation meeting before their time, they were permitted to remain in the meeting to hear subsequent teams present.

The presentations began at 5pm after registration and introductions. Would presenting first be best? To get your presentation completed and then relax to watch others? Or maybe presenting last would be more advantageous – with extra time to do those last-minute preparations and practice? Or would each team feel the added pressure of more eyes on them as the evening progressed?

When the final presentation had been made, the presentation session was called to a close. During a 20-minute break in proceedings, the judges deliberated, cogitated, and digested the tremendous presentations they had been served in seven courses (sorry, we couldn’t resist pinching from Lloyd Grossman’s Master Chef catchphrase!).

To be honest, there was very little to choose between the case study tasks completed. Each team’s findings had terrific merit – a testament to their mentorship, the lectures they had attended, and the collaborative capability of each team.

The deciding factor came down to presentation: the clarity and precision with which the winning team delivered its findings and answered the challenging questions posed by the judges.

And the winning team… Drum roll…

Team number four, mentored by Tasos Kostrivas, and comprising:

  • Ryan Cobbs, civil engineer at Mott MacDonald
  • Izabela Gajewska, corrosion engineer at Intertek
  • Harry Wright, corrosion engineer at Element
  • Praveena Nkumaran, mechanical engineer at Worley Parsons
  • Lemoine Vincent, welding engineer at Saipem

The grand prize – the fully expensed trip to the AMPP Annual Conference & Expo 2022

Because of Covid, the delivery of the grand prize was unavoidably delayed by a year. Nevertheless, the winning team – unfortunately minus Praveena who was unable to attend – set out off for San Antonio in Texas for the AMPP Annual Conference & Expo in March 2022.

For many, this is a once-in-a-lifetime event. For only a select few young engineers, their attendance is fully expensed, courtesy of YEP sponsor BP.

This event is the largest of its kind in the corrosion world. There are more than 500 technical paper presentations, almost 500 exhibitors, opportunities to gain credits toward career development, and the chance to hear from some of the best corrosion professionals on the planet – as well as meet and connect with peers from around the globe.

And it wasn’t only these four young engineers who attended the conference and expo in San Antonio. Thanks to the sponsorship of Pipeline Induction Heat, James McGladdery (National Nuclear Laboratory) and Benjamin Lee (SGN) were selected to join the AMPP Leadership Course for their performance during the programme.

The YEP experience through the winners’ eyes

Winning at anything isn’t a cake walk. It takes hard work, effort, and determination. It takes learning and enthusiasm. How does YEP stand up to scrutiny from the inside?

Here’s what Izabela Gajewska said about her experience:

“Taking part in 2020 Young Engineer Programme was an amazing experience and a great opportunity for networking. All lectures were interesting and very educational. I got an opportunity to learn more about areas of the industry that I am not involved a lot in my daily job including welding, fire protection, and chemical treatments.

“It was a great experience to work on the case study with colleagues from different companies and industry branches. The ideas and a views of all team members were equally valuable, enhanced creativity, and were essential to solve the case study and prepare the final presentation. I enjoyed collaboration and brainstorming very much.

“During solving the case study I had to motivate myself to look through many valuable research papers and technical books recommended by my team colleagues and our mentor, Tasos Kostrivas. I had also a chance to see different approaches to solve corrosion issues thanks to the diversity of the industries in my team. Apart from this, I feel that I have improved my planning and communication skills, teamwork, did some good networking, and made new friends.

“I also was delighted to take part in the 2022 Annual Conference by NACE/AMPP (Association for Materials Protection and Performance) in San Antonio, Texas and celebrate winning the Young Engineer Programme 2020 along with my team colleagues Vincent Lemoine, Ryan Cobbs, Harry Wright.

“One of my team colleagues, Praveena Nanthakumaran was not able to attend. Fortunately, she will be able to attend the next NACE/AMPP conference in Denver next year, and celebrate her well-deserved trip to the conference in the United States.

“For me, the highlight of the NACE/AMPP conference was the EMERGing Leaders Bash which included recognition and celebration, acknowledging the accomplishments of 2022 scholarship and award recipients including my winning team and two other colleagues accepted for the NACE/AMPP Leadership Programme:  James McGladdery and Ben Lee. It was an honour to be a part of this amazing and inspiring evening.”

To the present – a case study to whet the appetite

The 2022 YEP cohort have another real-life case study to become immersed in. This year’s candidates will be presenting in Aberdeen (held here for the first time, and aptly so). They have been asked to provide a corrosion risk assessment of a platform in the North Sea for a client who is planning to acquire the asset. But:

  • Corrosion on the platform has been poorly managed during the past 15 years, resulting in several hydrocarbon leaks
  • The teams must determine and present solutions to extend the life of the platform for another 10 years, making the exercise a real challenge
  • They must also identify materials selection for a new pipeline

A challenging, real-life case study that will help all the young engineers involved improve their learning and prove their competence. A fantastic addition to any CV.

To the future – it’s time to start thinking about pre-enrolment for YEP

Demand for places in the Institute of Corrosion’s Young Engineer Programme is always high. Benefitting from lectures given by some of the industry’s brightest minds, offering the chance to network and collaborate with some of the industry’s upcoming stars, and the opportunity to be rewarded with an incredible, fully expensed experience, it is not difficult to understand why.

If you are at an early stage of your career in the corrosion industry and would welcome extra experience to set you up for the future, please contact the Institute of Corrosion. We would be pleased to answer your questions and provide details of how you may pre-enrol for our next YEP cohort.

Don’t forget, also, to follow the Institute of Corrosion on our LinkedIn page – where we post regularly to keep the corrosion community updated.

If you’re not already, why not become a member of the Institute of Corrosion? We have many different membership options, including free student membership.

Corrosion Engineering Division Day 2020

Corrosion Engineering Division Day 2020

Corrosion Engineering Division, Uncategorized

Corrosion Engineering Divison Day 2020

Due to the unprecedented COVID 19 pandemic, the 2020 Corrosion Engineering Division day was held virtually. Below you can watch and download the presentations.

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Unfortunately due to technical issues this presentation could not be recorded.

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CED working day April 28th 2021 – ‘Managing Corrosion in Low-Carbon Energy Technologies’,

CED working day April 28th 2021 – ‘Managing Corrosion in Low-Carbon Energy Technologies’,

Corrosion Engineering Division, Latest News

CED working day April 28th 2021: Managing Corrosion in Low-Carbon Energy Technologies.

The Corrosion Engineering Division will be holding its Spring Working Day on April 28th 2020. If the Covid-19 situation allows it, the meeting will be held at the York National Railway Museum, otherwise the meeting will be held on-line, as it was in 2020. The theme of the meeting will be ‘Managing Corrosion in Low-Carbon Energy Technologies’, which will include, for example, heat pumps, solar power, wind turbines, hydro power, hydrogen fuel, fuel cells, nuclear, and carbon capture and storage technologies.

Invitation for presentations

The organisers would like to invite speakers to apply to give a presentation during the day. If you are interested, please send your contact details, a title and a brief summary of your proposed talk to the CED chair, Nick Smart at nick.smart@jacobs.com. The event will also include meetings of the CED working groups; for more information about these, see https://www.icorr.org/technical-divisions-ced-csd-2/.

Working group agendas

The working group agendas have just been released, click on the links below to download them:

CED Agenda Coatings Working Group 2021

CED Agenda Renewables General Discussion 2021

CED Agenda CP Working Group

CED Agenda Oil and Gas Working Group

CED Agenda Corrosion Concrete Working Group

CED Agenda Nuclear Working Group

Corrosion Engineering Division (CED)

Corrosion Engineering Division (CED)

Corrosion Engineering Division, Latest News

Working Day, Wednesday 29 April 2020
This one-day meeting was the latest in a series of working days held by the Corrosion Engineering Division. This year’s meeting had the theme of ‘Corrosion Control in Transport and Infrastructure’. Originally, it was planned that the meeting would be held at the fascinating conference venue at the National Railway Museum, York. However, due to the coronavirus lockdown, it was no longer possible to go ahead with a physical meeting and so the division held the meeting on-line using the Zoom platform (set up by the Institute), for the first ever on-line Institute of Corrosion symposium. The meeting was joined by ~60 corrosion engineers from around the world who had pre-registered for the meeting, including from India and New Zealand, despite the time zone differences. Nick Smart (Jacobs) chaired the meeting, which followed the published agenda and timetable. After the technical talks, the meeting divided into individual CED working groups, using the Zoom breakout room facility.

The first talk was given by Phillip Watkinson (Corrocoat) who presented ‘Fascinating Uses of Heavy Duty Glassflake Coatings in Transport Applications’. Phillip described the technical background to glass flake coatings and how they have developed over the years, initially from crude trowel- or brush-applied coatings, using predominantly polyester resins, through to spray-applied coatings using epoxy formulations, that can now be easily sprayed internally on pipes with diameters ranging from 50 mm to over 1 metre. Modern coatings can also be applied using an aerosol method. The methods for producing glass flake have evolved so that now it is possible to have close control over the thickness of the flake used (±1 µm) and to minimise the curvature in the glass flakes. Phillip highlighted the many desirable properties of glass flake coatings and illustrated their application in various industries, including their use on train axles, train air brakes, dip tanks for applying coatings to car bodies and a propeller shaft.

Chris Atkins (Mott MacDonald), presented the second talk entitled ‘Innovations in Preserving Transport Infrastructure’. This presentation focused on the ‘embodied energy’ concept of building materials, which can be applied when considering the amount of energy that is consumed in producing a range of building materials. It is important to take account of this factor in relation to achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by mid-century. By applying the ISO definitions of environmental conditions (ISO 9223) and the decrease in corrosion rate with time (ISO 9224), the approach taken is to evaluate the energy lost in allowing corrosion to take place for steel or galvanised steel, with coatings reapplied every 15 years over the life of a structure. By analysing the predicted energy consumption involved, it is possible to determine the relative energy efficiencies of various coating strategies, such as galvanising, depending on the corrosivity of the environment, the energy consumed in producing the initial material, and the availability of recycling facilities.

Steve Paterson (Arbeadie Consultants, 2019 Paul McIntyre award winner) presented the third talk on ‘Managing Corrosion in Ageing Offshore Infrastructures’. This talk summarised the background to the operation of existing North Sea offshore facilities beyond their original design life, with some structures predicted to be operating for 45 years or more. This can be compared with the operation of the Forth Rail bridge which was originally opened in 1890 and it still going strong because of ongoing maintenance regimes. The various considerations for extending the lifetimes of offshore installations were reviewed and the current guidance available from the Energy Institute was highlighted. Steve summarised the various ageing mechanisms that need to be considered in assessing future lifetimes and the following mechanisms were recognised as key current primary threats to facilities/pipelines: fabric degradation – external corrosion, corrosion under insulation, microbial corrosion, sand erosion and preferential weld corrosion. These corrosion issues were illustrated with a number of examples taken from field operations, followed by a discussion of future challenges, not least of which is the possible closure of facilities due to the current Covid-19 pandemic and the retention of the necessary technical skills within the workforce.

Turning from the oil and gas industry to the nuclear industry, Cliff Harris and Clive Harrison (both Jacobs) presented a talk entitled ‘Corrosion Monitoring of Dry Fuel Storage Containers in Nuclear Facilities’, which focused on the corrosion aspects of dry storage of spent nuclear fuel removed from the Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) at Sizewell. Spent nuclear fuel is moved from initial wet storage in ponds at the power station and placed into purpose-built dry storage facilities, because there is currently no geological disposal facility (GDF) available within the UK. The fuel is placed into a stainless steel multi-purpose canister (MPC), which is filled with inert gas, welded shut and then placed into a steel and concrete overpack. This system provides passive cooling through the use of convective air flow induced by the high operating temperature of the MPC, and has a planned storage life of up to 100 years. Corrosion studies have focussed on the possibility of atmospherically induced stress corrosion cracking due to the deposition of deliquescent sea salt particles. A corrosion evaluation test programme has involved the use of environmental monitoring combined with the construction of a full-size, fully monitored, MPC corrosion simulator, backed up by laboratory test programmes of SCC susceptibility under a range of test conditions and a study of the deliquescence properties of various deposited salt analogues.

Before the lunch break, Gareth Hinds (ICorr president) gave a ‘virtual’ presentation of the 2020 Paul McIntyre Award to Professor Carmen Andrade, who was located in Madrid, Spain (see report below), highlighting her many achievements in the field of applied corrosion science and corrosion engineering. Following the presentation, Professor Andrade gave a brief illustrated summary of her activities during her career and expressed how honoured she felt to receive the award.

The final talk of the day was given by Pablo Merino (CLH Pipeline Systems) entitled ‘A New CP Approach on Non-Isolated and Aged Pipelines: A Case Study’. The talk was concerned with the corrosion protection of the very large pipeline systems, extending for 10s of km, that support the UK infrastructure, for example for distributing aviation fuel. The presentation covered a review of the various options for manging an oversaturated CP system, which used an impressed current cathodic protection system. Inspections had shown that the pipeline was not achieving the require BS EN 12954 criteria, and that the coating was deficient in a number of areas. The remediation options considered included electrical isolation, coating rehabilitation, upgrading the CP system, and changing the CP criteria to a less restrictive one. The last of these was the only feasible one, backed up by the use of an external corrosion monitoring system, based on an electrical resistance corrosion rate measurement technique.

The final talk was followed by a set of parallel working group meetings for all the CED working groups, namely nuclear, coatings, oil and gas, cathodic protection and corrosion in concrete. At the end of the afternoon, Nick Smart thanked all the participants and contributors, and so ended the first on-line CED meeting. He looked forward to holding the next CED working day meeting at the National Railway Museum next Spring, pandemic permitting! Copies of the presentations will be put in the members area of the ICorr web site, together, where possible, with recordings of the presentations that were given.

Paul McIntyre Award
The winner of this year’s Paul McIntyre Award is Carmen Andrade. The announcement was made during the on-line CED meeting on 29 April, at which she also gave a short presentation.
Until her retirement, Dr Carmen Andrade was a Research Professor at the Institute of Construction Sciences “Eduardo Torroja” of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), working in the field of concrete durability and reinforcement corrosion. At present she is visiting Research Professor at the International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE). She is the author of numerous papers, has been editor of several books, and has supervised around 30 PhD theses. She has received several awards, including the R. N. Whitney Prize 2013 by NACE, Robert L’Hermite Medal 1987 from RILEM, “Manuel Rocha” of the Presidency of Portugal, and the “ALCONPAT Prize” in recognition her distinguished career. She is an honorary doctor of the University of Trondheim (Norway) and of the University Alicante (Spain). She has participated in several standardisation committees at National, European and International level and has been President of several international organisations related to her specialty (UEAtc, RILEM, WFTAO and the Liaison Committee which brings together the Associations: CIB, FIB, IABSE, IASS, RILEM and ECCE). At present she is also the President of ALCONPAT, the Latin American Association of Control of Quality, Pathology and Recovery of Structures. She has been General Director of Technology Policy of the Ministry of Education and Science, and advisor to the Secretary of State for Universities in the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain.

You Can’t Keep Innovative Young Engineers Down

You Can’t Keep Innovative Young Engineers Down

Blogs, Conferences and Events, Corrosion Engineering Division, Latest News, YEP

Could you solve this case study and become a big winner?

The young engineers in the Institute of Corrosion’s Young Engineer Programme are an innovative bunch. There was no way that the coronavirus lockdown and curtailing of mass gatherings was going to stop them in their tracks.

Instead of in the elegant Royal Over-Seas League club in London, these intrepid young engineers gathered around their computer screens at home to learn of the 2020 Case Study that will be used to determine which group of young engineers will be the winners of this year’s star prize. It was the first time that an ICorr Young Engineers group had met online, but was so successful that it is unlikely to be the last.

2018’s Winning Young Engineers group whet appetites for success

With an appraisal of their winning case study from 2018, Caroline Allanach, Danny Burkle and Tim Evans whet the appetites for success of the young engineers in attendance online during the evening.

The insight they provided as to how they approached their task, and a critical assessment of their reaction and solution to the failure that occurred was both informative and entertaining. So, too, was their description of the prize they won – a tremendous trip to the 2019 NACE Conference in Nashville.

A corrosion conundrum is this year’s case study

There are seven participating groups in this year’s Young Engineer Programme case study, and they have been given quite a conundrum to unravel.

The case study was presented by Steve Paterson, from Arbeadie Consultants Ltd., who has a career of corrosion experience to draw on. He hasn’t made it easy for this year’s programme participants. Here is the scenario he has set:

  • Several leaks have been identified in the titanium piping in an onshore desalination plant
  • This plant is used to remove salts from mono-ethylene glycol
  • The plant is also used for hydration and corrosion control in gas pipelines from three offshore fields

At the end of the presentation, the 32 young engineers were posed with the problems they must work to overcome, which include:

  • How to perform a corrosion risk assessment to determine that the plant is safe to operate
  • Recommending alternative materials to use
  • Identifying what mitigation options could be used to prolong the life of this section of the desalination plant
  • Identifying the root cause of the corrosion

Online meetings can get lively!

The young engineers in this year’s intake come from 19 companies, and their specialities include mechanical and materials engineering, welding, materials, and more. With such diversity, you might expect a lively meeting when in a meeting room. It was hard to know what to expect online, though.

The discussions that followed the presentation of the case study proved that no matter how we get together, when there’s an interesting and provocative scenario put forward, online events can be just as lively as in-person meetings.

The range of experience and specialties were certainly put to the test, and the question and answer session proved to be the first opportunity for ideas and complexities to be explored.

In brief, a fruitful, useful and exciting meeting, aptly brought to a close by Trevor Osborne, a past President of the Institute of Corrosion, and Managing Director of Deepwater Corrosion services (UK) Ltd.

The big wait begins!

And so, the big wait begins. It will be several months before we learn which group of young engineers will be this year’s winner.

The groups now undertake further investigation, collaborating behind the scenes and aided by four more lectures, and the help of a mentor assigned to each group, before presenting their case studies in November.

Could you be a future winner in the Young Engineer Programme?

Watch this space! The Young Engineer Programme is held biannually. To learn how you could become a winner, visit our YEP pages or email the Institute of Corrosion at admin@icorr.org.