Seaflor power for cathodic protection

SIMISON, SILVIA; ORFEI, LEDA HILEN; BUSALMEN, JUAN PABLO

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Congreso; NACE CORROSION 2009; 2009

National Association of Corrosion Engineers

The aim of the present paper is to introduce the recently proposed method for cathodicprotection based on the use of energy stored at the marine sediment/seawater interface as apower source. It is shown here that graphite electrodes buried in the seafloor can be used asanodes for the cathodic protection of immersed structures. The participation of reduced sulfurcompounds and / or electrogenic bacteria in the energy generation is introduced. Experimentalresults demonstrate the applicability of this method for the protection of stainless steel againstmicrobial corrosion.Once installed, the proposed method should need minimal requirements for maintenancewith a very low cost and, most importantly, it would have significant environmental benefits since itis based on an immense and renewable energy source that do not produce aggressive emissionsto the environment.