The Research and Development Corporation of Newfoundland will be providing CAD $598,000 to build research and development capacity and expertise in corrosion research. Corrosion is of particular interest for industries such as oil & gas, marine shipping and harsh environments in general like the Arctic.
Out of the total $350,000 will fund a new R&D test site in Argentia and the remaining $248,000 for an R&D project to model Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI), led by Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) researcher Dr. Faisal Khan in conjunction with industry partner Husky Energy. Husky along with MUN’s School of Graduate Studies will be contributing an additional $126,000 to the project which will develop a model to determine the CUI rate in harsh environments and help anticipate the need to perform maintenance on subsea pipelines and other equipment.
The test site will help assess coatings and materials performance in a real-world environment. Researchers and business will use the site to detect measurement and analysis of assets integrity issues such as corrosion in harsh environments. In particular the test site will have apparatus for CUI and coatings performance research, a meteorological tower, exposure racks, security fencing and data acquisition and communications equipment.
“Corrosion of equipment offshore and onshore is a major concern for oil and gas producers, ship owners and others. To diversify our R&D landscape, Newfoundland and Labrador must invest in the expertise, research and infrastructure required to address these needs, locally and globally,” says Glenn Janes, Research and Development Corporation’s CEO.