At a minimum, the cost of corrosion equals the value of any assets lost, premature equipment failure, the price of repairs as well as unplanned downtime.

In the dynamic landscape of major projects across the mining, energy, marine and modular construction industries, it is imperative to ensure optimal equipment performance.

When corrosion and rust threaten your critical equipment, the right preservation strategy can mean the difference between a costly failure and long-term reliability.

Almost all materials will corrode if exposed to sufficiently reactive conditions.  This can include moisture in the atmosphere, seawater, sour service conditions and more.

The global cost of corrosion is estimated at an astounding US$2.5 trillion, equivalent to 3.4% of the global GDP (2013) as referenced in the NACE International Economic Impact report.

How Can Corrosion Be Mitigated?
Implementing comprehensive corrosion prevention measures is the cornerstone of extending equipment lifespan. Addressing pain points such as spare parts and equipment corrosion, lay-up corrosion, corrosion under insulation, OEM equipment corrosion, in-transit corrosion, pipework corrosion, and steelwork corrosion is imperative.

In many cases, corrosion may be predicted, managed, mitigated or prevented entirely and whilst there are several corrosion prevention methods, regular inspections, protective coatings. Advanced corrosion inhibitors should be integral to your maintenance regime.

Cortec® Global Services (CGS) Australia, offers a range of specialised solutions designed to mitigate corrosion, extend the life of assets, and ensure that sustainability goals are at the forefront of the strategy.

Our solutions leverage Cortec® Corporation’s advanced vapor phase corrosion inhibitor technology (VpCI®). Cortec® is a world leader in the research, development, and manufacturing of vapor corrosion inhibitors and are backed by over 50+ years of demonstrated history across the Energy, Mining, Oil and Gas, Automotive, Manufacturing, Electronics and Defence industries.

Corrosion inhibitors offer significant benefits, including:

• Extending equipment lifespan
• Reduction in maintenance costs
• Specialised products for every application and scenario
• Widely compatible with multiple metal types
• Minimal effects on systems and processes
• Eco friendly products and solutions
• Reduction in waste and disposal of unusable equipment
• Minimal to zero removal steps, for start up
• OEM endorsement
• Warranty validation and control
• Improved Safety
• Enhanced reliability

With industry-leading products and solutions backed by a proven track record and available worldwide — Cortec products are best in class.

How does VpCI® technology work?
Volatile corrosion inhibitors (VCI) are chemical substances that can decrease corrosion rates of materials, typically metals or alloys. These substances can move in a vapor phase and prevent/reduce corrosion by condensing on metal surfaces to form a protective, molecular layer.

VCIs can also be referred to as Vapor phase Corrosion Inhibitors (VpCI®), which covers a wide range of corrosion inhibiting technologies.

Cortec®, core technologies are organic, amine-based compounds, from which they produce a wide range of formulation blends adaptive to the environment where they will be used.

VpCI® can be incorporated into many different carriers, including oils, solvents, and water-based formulations, as well as papers, plastics, coatings, and cementitious constituents.

They are classified as mixed inhibitors, meaning they affect both anodic and cathodic portions of a corrosion cell. Their protective layer inhibits corrosive elements from further reacting with metal surfaces, thereby preventing the initiation of corrosion, or reducing existing corrosion rates.

Referenced from Cortec® Corporations, Environmentally Sustainable Corrosion Solutions Brochure. Product range includes:

• VpCI® Packaging Products
• VpCI® Water Treatment Products
• VpCI® Maintenance Repair and Operations (MRO) Products
• VpCI® Chemical Products
• VpCI® Protective Coatings
• VpCI® Emitting Products
• VpCI® Additive Products

Greenfield and Brownfields Projects
Whether you’re embarking on Greenfield or Brownfield project, integrating corrosion prevention strategies from the outset is pivotal, which could mean short-, medium- or long-term storage solutions. For Greenfield projects, the opportunity to implement advanced protective measures ensure that equipment starts its operational life, with optimal protection.

Tailor your maintenance and preservation programs to specially address the demands of your equipment and operating conditions.  Preservation must start with primary equipment in mind, ensuring critical or high-dollar assets such as screens, turbines, transformers, gearboxes, pulleys, heat exchangers, tanks, and modules will survive the transit and storage periods, without corrosion.

Collaborating closely with engineering teams, in reliability and asset integrity to craft a customised strategy will be key.

Understanding the key considerations, like your materials, environment, budget, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) specifications, length of storage and storage conditions, will also help define an appropriate preservation solution and strategy.

We challenge you to expand your perspective beyond immediate costs by conducting a thorough lifecycle cost analysis. While upfront investments in corrosion prevention, preservation and maintenance may seem substantial, the long-term benefits in terms of prolonged equipment lifespan far outweigh the upfront investment.

CGS subject matter experts can help you evaluate the entire lifecycle of a piece of equipment from the supplier to the client, including shipping, fabrication, storage, project site, and commissioning.  This type of turnkey solution mitigates corrosion issues at the forefront and reduces the risk profile of our customers through the execution phase of projects and during operations.

Remediation Scopes
Where rust and corrosion already exist for your assets, inspection and remediation activities are necessary to achieve ‘fit for use’. The degree of degradation and the response of materials can be complex. Professional inspection and assessment of the condition, as well as appropriate remediation activities can potentially return your asset to fit-for-use.

Choosing the right VpCI® technology gives you access to a wide range of surface preparation and rust removal products. We’re clear and confident in stating that selecting the right product—and applying it correctly—is absolutely key to achieving complete corrosion control with Cortec® VpCI® solutions.

A well-engineered preservation program can significantly reduce your corrosion risk profile—transforming how you combat corrosion before it even begins. But who needs to pay attention?

Teams in Materials, Reliability, Engineering, Maintenance, and Asset Integrity should be familiar with our products and services. This also extends to Procurement, Fabrication, Warehousing, and Logistics—any group involved in building or storing critical equipment.

To intimately understand your at-risk-profile, a complimentary audit and assessment are offered by CGS Australia.

Preservation Best Practice Tips from Our SME’s

Reduce Excess Inventory by Long Term Spares Management
Since corrosion is a major culprit for component failure, rust prevention itself can reduce the number of spares needed. Considering how quickly the cost of spares adds up, a little planning and some good preservation materials could have significant ROI.

Preservation of Startup Spares
Startup spares should be preserved along similar lines. Hydrotesting valves, pumps, and vessels with a dose of VpCI®^®-649 will help protect against the residual moisture that inherently gets trapped inside during hydrostatic testing.

Fogging of voids with Vapor phase Corrosion Inhibitors is also beneficial because the protective vapours form a molecular corrosion inhibiting layer on metal surfaces until the enclosure is opened.

VpCI®^® Films and Bags with UV resistance serve multiple functions by trapping these vapours inside a space, creating a durable barrier to wind and rain, and actively inhibiting corrosion through their own embedded rust preventative chemistry.

Protective coatings such as VpCI®-368 are great for temporary protection on exposed metal surfaces such as flange faces.

Preservation of Insurance and Operating Spares
Once a facility moves from startup to full operation, the plant will continue to require backups or “operational spares” to ensure continued uptime.

As in other stages, good asset management and preservation of operational spares are critical to keeping parts corrosion free and ready to install on short notice. It can also be good evidence of a proactive safety management plan. In either case, Cortec®^® VpCI®^® fogging fluids, films, and coatings again provide an excellent path to preservation.

Reduce Plastic Wrap Usage with VpCI®-386
VpCI®-386 is a fast-drying, water-based, UV-resistant acrylic topcoat that can be applied directly to metal (DTM). It delivers reliable protection in harsh, outdoor, and unsheltered environments.

At a mining client site, we replaced traditional shrink film wrapping with VpCI®-386—reducing single-use plastic by 74% in just one year.

The solution proved cost-effective, highly durable, and faster to apply, allowing equipment to be service-ready without the need to remove the coating.

By switching to VpCI®-386, you not only cut plastic waste but also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your preservation practices.

Optimising Project Planning and Engineering
Preserving spares at all three stages and documenting the process is an important part in asset management with documented results.  It is critical to not only take care of the assets throughout their life, but to be able to provide detailed ‘proof of care’ to stakeholders.

This ‘proof of care’ gives project owners a greater chance of reselling or transferring the spares to the next stage of the project rather than scrapping excess inventory and writing it off as a loss.

‘Proof of care’ offers peace of mind and facilitates smooth operations. It can also mean significant savings by reducing the number of spares needed.

Contact Cortec Global Services (CGS) Australia for technical support and assistance.

☎️ 08 9417 9931

📧 cgsa.info@cortecgs.com

🌎 www.presserv.com/cgsa