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February 21, 2023 •EAPA Newsletters
The Association of Materials Prevention and Protection (AMPP) Pakistan Chapter organized the 3rd International Corrosion Conference at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi on September 27, 2022. The event’s main sponsor was Inspectest (Pvt.) Limited which is an internationally certified integrated service provider, co-sponsored by Velosi Integrity & Safety Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited and supported by AMPP Pakistan Chapter. The main aim of the conference was to enhance corrosion awareness among the stakeholder and provide a platform for networking among corrosion professionals, academia and R&D institute and service provider companies for corrosion mitigation.
Same as the previous conference, the organizing committee invited professionals to submit abstracts on more than ten topics relevant to the conference. This time, the response was excellent and almost all the stakeholder corrosion companies and academic institutes fully participated in the process. The abstracts were reviewed by the technical committee and they approved nine technical papers for the oral presentations and four technical papers for the poster presentations. The poster presentations were to encourage the upcoming corrosion engineers to share their R&D works with the corrosion community.
The conference commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran, followed by dua magfirat for those people who died during COVID-19 pandemic, the affecters of the recent devastating floods and for Mr. Sultan Ahmed Ansari who passed away in 2020 due to cancer. Ansari served as treasurer of the AMPP Pakistan Chapter and was a member of the organizing team for the 2nd NACE Pakistan Section, International Corrosion Conference held in 2019.
Ahmed Asad, the current treasurer of the AMPP Pakistan Chapter and Manager of the Corrosion Control Department Inspectest (Pvt.) Ltd delivered the Welcome Address of the conference and conveyed the message to the participants that the purpose of this International Corrosion Conference is to address the adverse effect of corrosion, provide a platform to network with the professional corrosion community and publicize the vision of AMPP. He advised the participants to exchange ideas, share their concerns and knowledge, and avail the opportunity to network with the professionals attending the Conference.
Liaquat Raza, Member At-Large, AMPP Pakistan Chapter, welcomed all the participants, informed them about the activities of the AMPP Pakistan Chapter and spread the vision of AMPP. He also conveyed the current status of the AMPP certification examination being planned to be held in Pakistan and efforts being made to convince the Education team of AMPP. He further added that if the certification examinations are held in Pakistan then the membership shall also increase substantially. He thanked the sponsors for their support and praised the efforts of the organizing team in making the event memorable.
(Left) Liaquat Raza, Member At-large AMPP Pakistan Chapter welcomed the participants.
(Right) General Manager Inspectest (Pvt.) Ltd, Habib Raza Khan and AMPP Pakistan Chapter Officers.
The first presentation was delivered by Syed Ahmed Moinuddin, Director of Seal for Life in Pakistan. The presentation was very comprehensive and covered all aspects of coating and its application supported by international case studies. Also, he highlighted the future of coatings in Pakistan and internationally.
The next presentation was delivered by Liao Haixure, Business Development Manager, Vector Corrosion Technologies Ltd, Canada on corrosion of concrete in the aggressive marine environment and detailed the solutions offered by his company which was supported by case studies. He informed the participants that the solutions offered by his company are not only protecting the concrete structure impressed in the marine environment but also the river water. He highlighted that by spending a small amount on corrosion mitigation techniques, we can protect the structure or assets from the adverse effect of concrete corrosion and also extend the life of the structure.
Rehan Amjad, Deputy Chief Engineer Corrosion Control from Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) delivered a paper on the detection and mitigation of DC stray current on an underground pipeline and its adverse effects. He elaborates on the methodology adopted by his team to detect the DC stray current and mitigation technology to overcome this threat to valuable national assets. The stray current affects both protected, unprotected and coated pipelines. This was a new topic and created interest in the participants who raised interesting quires.
Rob Haak, Managing Director of Pure Air Filtration from USA and his Pakistan representative Mr. Fahad Yousfi from NESCOP Technologies delivered a presentation on the effect of NOx and SOx on electronic devices, which can lead to malfunctioning of the instruments. They elaborated on the equipment offered by the company to overcome the issue and shared their international and local experiences.
LI Jinwu, Vice General Manager, Shenglong Oil and Gas Pipeline Inspection Technology Co. Ltd from China and his local representative Qaiser Armughan presented a paper on the Inline Inspection of the Complex Pipeline and detailed the projects that the company has successfully implemented in the different parts of the world.
Ameeq Farooq, Lecturer, Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (IMME), Faculty of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of the Punjab, Lahore and also the Secretary, AMPP Pakistan Chapter presented a paper on the development of Al-Zn sacrificial anode for marine applications. He discussed the R&D work carried out by him and his team in developing sacrificial anodes at the IMME facilities, the University of the Punjab, Lahore. He emphasized the need to develop sacrificial anodes in Pakistan which will save foreign exchange besides meeting the requirement of Karachi Shipyard and Pakistan Navy etc. He was the only speaker from the academics who presented the R&D work at the corrosion conference.
Javaid Iqbal Niazi, from Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) delivered a presentation on assets inspection management which was carried out by the company after 30 years of operation. The survey was conducted to access the integrity and reliability of the system and extend the useful life of the assets. The mitigation study came up with a list of recommendations for the future insuring uninterrupted protection of the valuable assets of the company.
Muhammad Khurram Yousaf, Chief Operating Officers, Ma’Aref Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd presented the solution of the galvanic corrosion caused on the bolts, flanges and valves on the process lines. He told the participants about the Corrosion Inhibiting Sprayable Thermoplastics (CIST) on those flanges and valves to protect them from corrosion. He shared case studies through which their team has mitigated and minimized the corrosion problems in various process plants.
Nizar Marjaba, Cortec, UAE representative delivered a presentation on the vapor phase inhibitors (VpCI’s) to mitigate the corrosion of the storage tanks from the soil side and the MCI inhibitors to mitigate the corrosion of the steel re-bar in the concrete structures. He further highlighted the solution provided by Cortec to preserve the assets from corrosion during shutdown and when the equipment needs to be stored for a long period. He discussed the case studies in which VpCI was successfully implemented by his team all over the world.
Presenters during the technical session of the conference - (from Left to Right) Syed Ahmed Moinuddin, Liao Haixure, Rehan Amjad, Rob Haak, Li Jinwu, Ameeq Farooq, Javaid Iqbal Niazi, Muhammad Khurram Yousaf, Nizar Marjaba.
The poster presenters Qaiser Armughan, iCoaTek (Shanghai) Anti-Corrosion Technology Research Center presented the “Material Selection and Inspection, Quality Control on 3LPE Anti-Corrosive Coating and its Effects on the Integrity of Pipeline Coating”, Mubashir Razzaq, Corrosion Engineer, SNGPL presented “Mill Application & testing of 3LPE Coated Line Pipe in accordance with DIN 30670”, Uzair Hussain Bhatti, Researcher from National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Karachi presented on “Effect of corrosion on the airworthiness and response time for the control Surfaces of Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle” Azfar Zahir and Shoaib Raza from Innovior Rays presented on “Assets Preservation in Storage, Shut Down”.
This year, the exhibitors showed keen interest in setting up booths showcasing the products and services offered by their respective companies. The exhibitors included Inspectest (Pvt.) Limited, Orient Engineering Services, SGS Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited, Innovior Rays, Seal for Life, Ma’Aref Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd, Velosi Integrity & Safety Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited, Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), NESCOP Technologies and Dawood University of Engineering & Technology. At booths, the technical experts were available to share information about their products and services with the participants.
Delegates who attended the conference are from oil, gas, chemical processing, refineries, power plants companies and academics from Descon Engineering Limited, Inspectest Pvt Limited, Engro Chemicals, Fatima Fertilizer, MAS Associates (Pvt.) Ltd, National Refinery Limited (NRL), Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Sui Sourthern Gas Company (SSGC), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL), Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), SGS Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd, iCoaTek (Shanghai) Anti-Corrosion Technology Research Center, Innovior Rays, University of the Punjab, Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Karachi, NESCOP Technologies, Nuricon Pertoservices, Cortec, UAE, Pakistan Arab Refinery Limited (PARCO), Seal for Life Industries, Orient Engineering Services, Karachi Shipyard, Pakistan Navy, Descon Power Solution, ENAR Petroleum, IICS, Islamabad, Nordex, Pak-Arab Pipeline Company Limited (PAPCO), Unilever Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited.
Participants showed their interest during the Q&A session.
The chief guest of the conference was Maqsood Ali, President HR, Descon Engineering Limited. He appreciated the efforts of the organizer to conduct an excellent corrosion conference in Pakistan. He further added that it is a need for the stakeholder to save their assets by carrying out proper corrosion mitigation techniques instead of replacing the corroded assets because the price of the assets has dramatically gone up in recent years and the budget has been reduced to bear the minimum. He said such conferences created awareness among the stakeholder and the corrosion professionals who work in the field. He thanked the speakers, especially the International speakers who came all the way from USA, Canada, China and UAE to speak at this conference and also appreciated the efforts of the local speakers for their valuable contribution.
At the end of the session, Maqsood Ali, Habib Raza Khan, General Manager Inspectest (Pvt.) Limited and Liaquat Raza distributed the shields among the presenters of the conference and organizers.
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Author: Ameeq Farooq, Secretary, AMPP Pakistan Chapter AMPP & Lecturer, Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, University of the Punjab, Lahore |