‘Pakistan could save Rs270-380 billion annually through corrosion prevention’

An interview with Jeffrey Didas, President NACE International

NACE (National Association of Corrosion Engineers) International is the worldwide corrosion authority established in 1943. With nearly 36,000 members in over 130 countries, it is recognised globally as the premier authority for corrosion control solutions.

 Jeffrey Didas, the current NACE president visited Pakistan for a Corrosion Conference hosted in October 2018. Didas has been an active NACE member since 1975 and has 44 years of diverse corrosion experience working for pipeline and energy company owner-operators. He holds the highest level of NACE certification as a Corrosion Specialist and a number of other NACE certifications.

Recently, BR Research sat down to learn more about the impact of corrosion. Below are the edited excerpts:

BR Research: Corrosion is not something that is part of the common narrative. Can you give us a bit of a background outlining its importance?

Jeffrey Didas: Corrosion (rust in common language) is a silent menace. It is the degradation of materials, usually steel and other metals, caused due to the process known as oxidation. This greatly impacts the stability and age of structures and assets like pipelines, storage tanks, vessels, buildings, bridges, and cars. Metal wants to go back to its natural state of its oxides, so engineers are tasked with the job of protecting them through coatings, catholic protection systems and inhibitors to slow down the process of corrosion,

Metallic structures that are buried or submerged in water are particularly susceptible to corrosion and hence require more specialized techniques and gadgets to protect them. This is where the corrosion experts are handy as they save billions of tomorrow by spending thousands today. Corrosion mitigation involves several techniques such as the use of imported coatings or providing electrical supply to polarize it. Through corrosion prevention, life of any structure can be extended two or three times and the maintenance cost would come down.

Without corrosion measures potholes appear on roads, bridges fall down and sometimes airplanes crash. Corrosion prevention measures are necessary to keep people safe.

BRR: What is NACE International?

JD: NACE International is a professional society that works with folks all over the globe, through training and education to prevent and protect from corrosion. We help design systems that are resist corrosion or are corrosion proof. NACE is a non-profit organisation that is sponsored by different companies. In China and India, it is sponsored by state-owned companies.

In Pakistan NACE is in the initial stages with only 41 members; globally there are 36,000 members. NACE is trying to raise awareness of the need to protect assets such as pipelines, storage tanks, and vessels but as yet no public sector company has invested in it.

BRR: Can you put a figure as to how much the global economy suffers due to corrosion? 

JD: The last corrosion study we did, the figure came up to $3.42 trillion dollars in one year. This equates to about 3.5 percent of your global GDP. Of course corrosion is higher in some countries and less in others.

BRR: Do you have such figures for Pakistan or comparison with peer countries?

JD: Pakistan was not one of the countries that were included in the study. However, there are some reverse calculations by some corrosion experts that indicate Pakistan could save Rs270-380 billion annually if best practices of corrosion prevention and maintenance were put in place.

In India, the government is actively involved with NACE there. Two presidents of NACE have been of Indian origin. This year India had their eleventh international corrosion conference and Pakistan had its first conference.

In Pakistan, most corrosion mitigation measures are taken by the private sector. There has been some discussion at the government level but awareness and implementation is limited in general.

BRR: How aware are sectors in Pakistan of the impact of corrosion?

JD: The oil and gas sector in Pakistan is very aware of the impact of corrosion and they do a very good job, within their budget, to maintain corrosion control. The oil and gas sectors have departments dedicated for corrosion inspection and prevention because they are the most impacted by it. Fertilizer sector is also expert at it.

BRR: Which sectors are most affected by corrosion?

JD: Every sector is affected but we focus on the public safety side the most. In the oil and gas sector, if a pipeline leaks or something spills out, public is impacted and then there is property damage as well. We try to minimize the damage through corrosion control systems

Most countries do not put a lot of money for corrosion control. They build it and then they forget about it. Take Italy’s example; a few months ago there was a bridge collapse and 43 people died. They didn’t maintain it; there weren’t any corrosion prevention measures in place. Now all the bridges in Italy are being looked at because the same designer built many of them 30 years ago.

BRR: Can you give a ballpark figure for the cost of corrosion prevention?

JD: Let’s take corrosion prevention for a bridge for example. The cost of corrosion, inspection, maintenance is less than 1 percent of the cost of building the bridge.

BRR: So if the cost of corrosion prevention is less than 1 percent, why aren’t even developed countries like Italy willing to spend on it?

JD: In part it is lack of awareness of the impact of corrosion and lack of awareness that corrosion can be controlled or stopped. It also takes a little bit of money to do it which is not always budgeted as part of the cost.

BRR: How big is the corrosion prevention sector in Pakistan?

JD: The turnover of the sector is about Rs1 billion. InspecTest Private Limited has a major share in the private sector. In public sector, oil and gas companies owned by the state have by far the greatest share, followed by fertilizer and chemical companies.

When a house is build and pipes laid, no measures of corrosion prevention are taken. The pipes are simply replaced if they are too corroded for use. In plants, this is not feasible because the cost of replacement would be to the tune of millions of dollars. Such pipes need to be protected for 25-50 years, which is why the oil & gas sector is the most involved in corrosion prevention.

BRR: We have been talking about plants and pipelines. What about infrastructure such as the Orange Line project or the Green Line project?

JD: Oil and gas sectors have internal standards and corrosion control procedures. The infrastructure side is paid by the government, which does not have those standards and procedures in place nor the awareness to do so. We are trying to educate the government that a 20-year design can be safely stretched out for life through corrosion prevention.

BRR: Building infrastructure is central for CPEC. What is the level of corrosion awareness in China?

JD: We have been working in the Chinese market for a long time and have about 900 members there. Awareness there has gone up quite a bit because they have had tremendous accidents that you don’t hear about. Roads have collapsed, train systems, pipelines, power plants have been affected, all because of corrosion.

They didn’t take the time to do it right because they built up their infrastructure so fast. Adding corrosion prevention costs more if it is not incorporated in the design from the start. Since they have made a corrosion plan, the incidents have gone down in the last 10 years.