Problem:

Mechanical deaeration equipment of seawater injection system will be out of operation for 3
months.
Seawater injection system operating condition:
Kinetic viscosity, = .
Volume flow rate, = = .
Diameter of pipe, = = .
Pipe area, = = (

.
)

= .

Sherwood number, = . . . =
Where, = =

and =

Corrosion implication of operating the system with mechanical deaeration and oxygen
scavenger injection:
Concentration of oxygen in seawater, C = 0.01ppm = 3.125 x 10-4 molm-3
=
=

. .
= .
. .
.
= .

= . . . =

. . (. ). .
=
= .
.
=
= . . = . = .
Corrosion implication of operating the system without mechanical deaeration:
Concentration of oxygen, C = 7ppm = 0.21875 molm-3

Corrosion rate without mechanical deaeration is 27.5mmy-1 = 2.29mm/m

Amount of corrosion without mechanical deaeration equipment for 3 months is 6.87mm.
Corrosion control assessment:
In order to reduce corrosion risk during repair of mechanical deaeration equipment, 2
possible changes to mode of operation to reduce corrosion risk which are as following:
1. Increase amount of sodium sulphide oxygen scavenger to seawater
From inspection data indicates that acceptable corrosion rate is < 0.1mmy-1:
. = . =
Therefore, m
Chemical reaction is as below:
Na2SO3 + 0.5 O2 -> Na2SO4
Theoretically, 8 ppm of sodium sulphide is needed to reduce 1 ppm of dissolved oxygen.
Initial concentration of oxygen scavenger (Cos) reduce dissolved oxygen in seawater from 0.1
ppm to 0.01 ppm:
=

.
= .

Table 1: Change of corrosion rate of system corresponding to the amount of oxygen

scavenger added to seawater injection system.
Concentration of oxygen
scavenger, Cos (ppm)
0.72

Oxygen concentration,
Co2 (ppm)
6.91

Corrosion rate,
ilim (mmy-1)
27.16

4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
40
44
48
52
55.8

6.5
6
5.5
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0.025

25.40
23.63
21.62
19.62
17.72
15.72
13.76
11.80
9.81
7.85
5.89
3.93
1.96
0.12

Efficiency of sodium sulfite oxygen scavenger is higher when it injected with

continuous batch at suitable point in the feed water system. However, oxygen corrosion
cannot inhibited by oxygen scavenger completely and increasing amount of oxygen
scavenger with continuous batch injection will increase cost. In additional, sodium sulfide
oxygen scavenger can act as nutrient for SRB bacteria from seawater.
From table 1, amount of oxygen scavenger required to reduce acceptable corrosion
rate of 0.1 mmy-1 is 55.8 ppm. High concentration of sodium sulfite will increase pH of
seawater but this also increase solid to the pipe leading erosion corrosion and possibility of
pipe blockage. However, increasing amount of oxygen scavenger will not increase
effectiveness of deoxygenate due to low reaction rate of oxygen scavenger with oxygen at
room temperature. Catalyze is require to increase reaction rate of oxygen scavenger with
oxygen.
Amount oxygen scavengers increased will not effectively substitute the function of
the deaerator. For example, if the oxygen content of the feedwater of boiler system is greater
than 50ppb then oxygen corrosion will occur although oxygen scavenger added into
feedwater. Sulfite does not passivate metal surface.
2. Decrease flow rate of water
Initial reynold number of seawater flow is 1.46 x 106 which indicate turbulent flow inside
pipeline. Flow rate of water will cause change in reynold number.
From =

, Re directly proportional to u.

Initial flow rate of water, = . = 0.184 m3s-1

Velocity of seawater flow in pipe, =
Theoretically,

.
..

= .

Critical velocity for erosion, =

Density of water r = 1030 kgm-3

Empirical constant c is between 180 and 245 for continuous service or up to 300 for
intermittent service. Therefore, Vc is ranging from 5.61 ms-1 to 9.35 ms-1.
Table 2: Change of corrosion rate of system corresponding to flow rate of water and reynold
number.
Flow rate of water, u
(m3s-1)
0.184
0.160
0.140
0.120
0.100
0.080
0.060
0.040
0.020

Reynold number, Re
1.46 x 106
1.27 x 106
1.11 x 106
0.955 x 106
0.796 x 106
0.637 x 106
0.477 x 106
0.318 x 106
0.159 x 106

Corrosion rate, ilim

(mmy-1)
27.16
23.79
21.46
18.86
16.15
13.34
10.35
7.35
4.06

Initial velocity of seawater flow in pipe is 10.08 exceed critical velocity for
erosion will cause erosion corrosion and enhance corrosion by mass transport controlled with
increase oxygen delivery to pipe internal surface. From table 1, reducing flow rate of water
from 0.184 m3s-1 to 0.020 m3s-1 will decrease the corrosion rate from 23.41 mmy-1 to 3.5
mmy-1. This shown that decrease flow rate of water without change in initial amount of
oxygen scavenger (0.72 ppm) is less effective to reduce corrosion rate compare to effect of
increase amount of oxygen scavenger.
In conclusion, amount of oxygen scavenger is the major factor to reduce corrosion
risk in seawater injection system without mechanical deaeration equipment for 3 months. In
order to achieve a cost effective plan, both amount of oxygen scavenger and flow rate of
water operation condition can be changed to compensate loss of mechanical deaeration
equipment.