July 12, 2007

New Radios Automate Pipeline Integrity Monitoring for Corrosion Control

By: David J. Southern, P.E., FreeWave Technologies, Boulder, Colorado

The key building block to a cost-effective, pipeline integrity/corrosion protection program is vital, timely monitoring and reporting of cathodic protection data. Today, this can be achieved by moving the data electronically from remote corrosion protection field sites to a centralized data collection system complete with automated regulatory reporting.

The first step in implementing this level of automation technology currently exists in the form of supervisory control and data acquisition systems (SCADA). Now, there is a radio-based system that can support these requirements.

Energy and pipeline companies are wrestling to meet new, more strict, state and federal pipeline integrity requirements while trying to control operating costs. Recent, unfortunate pipeline news events made corrosion and cathodic protection front-page news. This elevated concerns to the extent that the U.S. Congress and several states are now working on legislation directed specifically toward cathodic protection practices.

Many pipeline operating companies are looking to new technologies and automation for answers. Some companies have tested and used cell phone technologies for remote pipeline monitoring. Unfortunately, ever-changing cell phone technologies have left some operators scrambling to stay ahead of telemetry obsolescence. Effective answers to critical issues affecting public safety often are found in a combination of both old and new technology.

Aging infrastructure

From the time the first steel pipeline was constructed in Pennsylvania in the late 1870s to today, nearly 2.3 million miles of buried steel pipeline have been built and installed. With roughly 70% of North America’s energy supply running through these aging metal assets, pipeline integrity management has never been more important. To meet rising energy demands, new pipeline construction is at a record pace, driving steel prices to a historic high and making replacement pipe harder to come by. One creative pipeline company reportedly resorted to buying an existing buried line, unearthing it and reinstalling the pipe elsewhere.

Remote pipeline cathodic protection systems installed in the 1920s were implemented to protect these vital assets and extend their useful lifespan. However, maintaining these remote systems is onerous and expensive, and it is often difficult to optimize aging technologies and practices. With many of the major domestic transportation pipelines reaching 50 years of age, national concerns are being raised about their long-term integrity and ability to serve the public safely or economically. One analyst speculates that pipeline integrity issues alone could drive energy prices higher by 27%

Legislation and regulations

As pipeline operations grew throughout North America, so grew federal and state regulations governing the industry. Recent legislation passed by Congress further adds to the legal implications of pipeline integrity management. At the heart of this growing legislative effort is a desire to protect public safety, the environment, national energy reserves and the U.S. economy.

As noted, recent developments have placed an increasing focus on the protection and integrity of all U.S. pipeline operations. Evidence of this increased national public awareness can be seen with the recent passage of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of December 2002 and the Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement and Safety Act of 2006. Both acts illustrate this growing awareness, as well as a federal desire to educate the industry on pipeline operation best practices.

The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of December 2002 mandates significant changes and new requirements in the way the pipeline industry ensures the safety and integrity of its pipeline facilities. These included or called for the following:

• Each pipeline operator must prepare and implement an Integrity Management Program (IPM).
• Participation in planned-excavation, one-call notification programs.
• Increased penalties for violations of safety standards.
• Authorization of state participation in interstate pipeline oversight.
• A multi-agency program of research, development, demonstration and standardization to enhance the integrity of pipelines.
• An inter-agency task force to expedite environmental reviews when necessary to expedite pipeline repairs.

The Pipeline Inspection, Protection, Enforcement and Safety Act of December of 2006 added further regulations. These entailed:

• Establishing federal civil penalties for failure to promptly report damage to pipeline facilities.
• Requiring certification procedures of annual and semi-annual pipeline integrity reports by a senior executive officer of each pipeline company to certify that the officer has read the report and, to the best of the officer’s knowledge, that it is true and accurate.
• Directing the Secretary and the Technical Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Standards Committee and other appropriate entities, to review internal corrosion regulations in 49 CFR 195 subpart H to determine whether the regulations are adequate to ensure that pipeline facilities do not present a hazard to the public or environment.
• Requiring the Secretary to submit a report of findings and recommendations to Congress by December 31, 2007.

This legislation also authorized research and development on corrosion detection, and called for the improvement of methods and technology to identify, prevent and manage internal and external corrosion

While recent Pipeline Safety Acts send a clear message of increased regulatory oversight of pipeline operations, they also provide a glimpse of even more stringent oversight at both the federal and state levels.

In March 2007, Bill H.R. 1770, the Corrosion Prevention Act of 2007, was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill would provide a tax credit to companies that invest in corrosion control and mitigation technologies. H.R. 1770 directly benefits nearly all owners and operating companies that must protect their assets and businesses from the impact of corrosion and that must help protect the environment and public safety from the harmful effects of corroding assets.

Changing technologies

Changing communication technologies have soured some pipeline companies on the prospect of implementing widespread remote monitoring facilities. A good example of this has been the recent switch from analog cellular technologies to the now diverse offering of digital protocols. This required the wholesale change of thousands of cell phone modems costing the consumer tens (and possibly hundreds) of thousands of dollars. Many companies soon were hit again for cell phone modem conversion when many communication providers switched to different digital protocols, once again costing tens of thousands of dollars. Understandably, operators are concerned about the long-term stability of their communications services provider.

In addition, homeland security issues are leading more companies to reconsider farming out their communication systems outside the firewall. Many have or are considering implementing their own communication system in an effort to boost network protection of vital company assets.

The corrosion problems facing energy and pipeline companies today can be solved in much the same way. A new and innovative low-cost cathodic protection monitoring and reporting technology is helping pipeline owners and operators automate and optimize one of the most difficult, yet vital, of facility operations – corrosion protection systems. The solution is actually simple, and the first step may already be in place.

First step

A SCADA system is the backbone to a wireless data communication network that sends and receives data from secure, central IT networks to companies’ remote field assets. These assets can include facilities such as pipelines, compressor sites, pigging stations, pump stations, wellhead controls, tank farm units, rectifiers, pipe-to-soil test stations, city gates, measurement stations, isolation points and above-ground appurtenances.

For operational and security reasons, many energy and pipeline companies already own and operate their own SCADA networks. These operators can leverage their existing capital investment by extending their data communications network further out in the field to include their cathodic protection equipment as well. Many companies already remotely monitor measurement points, compressors and pumping stations using cost-effective SCADA solutions.

For companies that do not currently own a SCADA system, small-scale cathodic protection SCADA systems are implemented with minimal investment in readily available software, off-the-shelf personal computers, and the services of internal or external local integration companies.

SCADA systems were first implemented back in the 1960s, and at that time were typically mainframe-based and therefore very centralized; used custom communication protocols; and were very expensive to implement. Now, SCADA systems are commonly available for as little as a few thousand dollars. They use open communication protocols, such as Modbus, and implementation is made simple through standardization and by using templates of basic pipeline operations.

Finishing the job

With an effective SCADA system in place, remote cathodic protection monitoring field devices are easily and cost-effectively installed on rectifiers, pipe-to-soil test stations, pigging stations and pressure monitoring points. Cathodic protection monitoring field devices automatically collect and report mission-critical corrosion prevention data, and transmit that data back to the central SCADA system via wireless radio modems, often using an existing radio network. Extending the companies’ existing SCADA and radio infrastructure leverages this investment further and automates the operational function of cathodic protection monitoring. Many of the same reasons SCADA was justified in the first place years ago still hold true for pipeline integrity automation as well:

• Public safety, company safety and operator safety
• Reduced operator windshield time, road usage, vehicle maintenance, risk exposure and general liability insurance
• Reduced operating costs – operators spend time on vital company functions rather than driving around collecting data
• Automated and timely regulatory reporting
• Timely operational data retrieval, with enhanced automated trending capabilities and alarming functionality and automated operator notification
• Enhanced cathodic protection performance – the systems get worked on in a timely fashion when problems arise, not three months later.

Today, multi-purpose, built-for-purpose, all-in-one wireless, data communication radios are available that can monitor multiple data points. This includes reporting all cathodic protection rectifier operations; automating rectifier interruption; monitoring rectifier operational status; and monitoring and reporting pipe-to-soil potential, pipeline pressure and pipeline pigging operations. These new cathodic protection monitoring radios wire directly to field assets and feed critical pipeline information into existing company data systems without going outside the company’s firewall security protection. The new cathodic protection monitoring radios are relatively low-cost, easy to install, have no licensing fees, and no monthly reoccurring fees.

Each cathodic protection monitoring radio can also serve as an infinite data communication repeater site. Adding new radios extends the radio networks’ ability to reach further into remote areas, thus enabling additional monitoring of remote compressors, energy fields, oil and gas wells, gas plants, pump stations and other facilities.

Many pipeline companies already own other similar radio products, and the new cathodic protection monitoring radios easily integrate into these existing systems with minimal investment and a tremendous return.

Automating pipeline integrity

Automation of pipeline integrity management has never been more needed, more available or more affordable. New remote monitoring technologies merged with existing company assets solve a very difficult and expensive task of corrosion prevention monitoring, and extend the useful lifespan of buried pipeline facilities.

The author

David J. Southern, P.E., is a cathodic protection product development manager with FreeWave Technologies, Boulder, Colorado. In that position, he is responsible for developing new remote monitoring technologies for corrosion prevention. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the Montana School of Mines, with advanced education in remote automation and he is a licensed Professional Engineer.

Product web page

900 MHz Spread Spectrum Radio for Cathodic Protection Scada Networks, FGRCP by FreeWave Technologies