Editorial - June - July 2024

How well do we understand the real cost of corrosion and corrosion mitigation? This was a question
raised during the Technical Conference on Coatings and Corrosion at the Middle East Metallurgy,
Corrosion & Coatings Expo 2024 (MECOC Expo 2024) held in Abu Dhabi, UAE recently. After all, if
corrosion professionals do not understand the cost of corrosion, how are they going to convince the
management?
One has to necessarily consider spending money on corrosion mitigation measures for as long as one
can, whether it is an already operating asset, or developing a totally new project. Corrosion
management practices implemented throughout organizations ensure safer, long-lasting protection
of assets such as pipelines, oil storage tanks, refineries, ships, etc; increase return on investment
(ROI) while decreasing life cycle costs; and preserving the environment. It is essential that, a culture
focused on corrosion management, much like process safety management, must exist within the
organization, such that corrosion management is part of the organization’s overall management
system.
Corrosion auditing is one way of investigating the worthiness of corrosion control techniques and
suggested suitable economic method to control corrosion. It is inspecting the corrosion sites,
analyzing the reasons for corrosion, suggesting methods of prevention, doing a cost analysis of
prevention and losses due to corrosion.
One of the first line of defense in corrosion mitigation is the coating. Coating may seem a simple
thing, but one of the major elements that contribute to asset integrity and safety over the design
life. Coating failures do occur leading to tremendous losses. As essential as the coating, is proper
surface preparation. Proper surface preparation extends the life of the coating and hence the life of
the asset. The problem is that surface preparation and coating application is usually scheduled at the
end of the maintenance operation cycle and need to be rushed!
In fact, surface preparation is the key for coating life. 70% of coating failures occur due to poor
surface preparation. In other words, the life of the coating depends 70% on surface preparation.
In this issue, we try and discuss the topic about asset integrity management,
a systematic process that ensures the safety and reliability of assets throughout their life cycle by
managing risks and monitoring their technical integrity. It is our hope that corrosion will become a
part of organizations’ corporate cultures!