Evaluación de la efectividad del sistema de protección catódica aplicado a la base de los tanques de almacenamiento de combustibles en el Terminal de Productos Limpios Riobamba de la EP Petroecuador.

Abstract

The Effectiveness of the Cathodic Protection System by Printed Current applied in the base of the Fuel Storage Tanks in the Clean Products Terminal Riobamba was evaluated, by means of the Technique of the Interruption of the Current. For this, a diagnosis of the current state of the tanks was made, measuring the thickness in the bottom of said structures by ultrasonic inspection, being able to know the corrosion rate and the useful lifetime, whose average values were Vc = 0.152 mm / year and VU = 17.3 years respectively. By physical-chemical analysis, it was obtained that the soil has a relatively low aggressiveness index with an average resistivity of 12 500 Ω / cm, in addition it could be deduced that it is a soil of the Arid Fino type with a moisture content of 23.09% and a plasticity index of 12.52%. Subsequently, the measurement of potentials was made, so that most tanks meet the polarization criterion of +100 mV, with the exception of Diesel tanks whose average potential is 56 mV approximately. However, taking into account this exception, it can be concluded that the Cathodic Protection System is effective in most tanks. Finally, it is recommended to schedule ON - OFF tests annually to have statistical information about the Cathodic Protection behavior.