Development of Erosion Sensors for Internal Pipeline Coatings

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ROSEN Canada Ltd. provides high-value engineering services in the field of pipeline internal coating for slurrypipes. They provides internal pipeline coating which is polyurethane based polymer coating, where itscomposition is specialized to resist wear due to internal erosion and corrosion caused by oil sands. The thicklayer of coating protects the steel pipelines for the average of 4 to 6 months before they 'turn' the pipes. In thisprocess, the most worn out bottom section moves to the less wear-intensive sidewalls or the top, replaced byless worn out section of the coating. After repeating cycle of the coating turns, the coating has to be replaced bya fresh new coating layer.The specific challenge for ROSEN Canada, however, is that they lack a direct method to monitor the erosionwear of pipeline coatings. The upstream pipelines are often challenging to the traditional Inline Inspection (ILI)tools, and they cannot be deployed frequently as the use of ILI causes disruption in the pipeline services.Indirect measurements from outside or experience based erosion rate estimation are common practices whichled to more frequent 'turn' and replacement, increasing the cost and time loss in pipeline operation. With theincreasing concern over pipeline integrity management, the importance of direct and continuous monitoring ofinternal pipeline coating has become more significant.The main goal of this project is to develop erosion sensors of the pipeline internal coating. The sensor must beaccurate, providing continuous measurement of the data, robust and fully integrated into the coating itself. Toachieve this goal, the University of Calgary and ROSEN Canada have formed a collaborative relationship,proposing electrically conductive polymer nanocomposites sensors for wear detection purposes. Prototypedesign, fabrication, testing, characterization and optimization of nanocomposite-based erosion sensors will beperformed in this project. Given the importance of the pipeline industry for the energy sector to the Canadianeconomy, the new erosion sensor will provide a significant benefit to the industry and the nation.