connects down to smaller diameter pipe that feeds
natural gas boilers at the power plant. The boilers
provide steam to two 858 MW steam turbines.
Because the power plant is located near a freshwater
preserve teeming with wildlife, the electric utility is very
attentive to its environmental stewardship.
the pipeline. EonCoat represents a new category of
tough, Chemically Bonded Phosphate Ceramics (CBPCs)
that can stop corrosion even when applied on in use,
wet, “sweaty” pipeline. This eliminates the need to shut
down the pipeline for maintenance while also eliminating
dangerous VOCs and HAPs.
In Use Pipeline Corrosion Protection
Accordingly, the electric utility turned to EonCoat, a
spray applied inorganic coating from the Raleigh, North
Carolina-based company of the same name, for use on
Unlike traditional coatings, the CBPC coating is designed
to apply over wet pipe because it is water based, ceramic,
and initially porous before setting.
This allows any excess water to
vent out of the coating during the
application process.
In contrast to traditional polymer
coatings that sit on top of the
substrate, the corrosion resistant
CBPC coating bonds through a
chemical reaction with the substrate.
An alloy layer is formed. This makes
it impossible for corrosion promoters
like oxygen and humidity to get
behind the coating the way they can
with ordinary paints.
Although traditional polymer coatings
mechanically bond to substrates that
have been extensively prepared, if
gouged, moisture and oxygen will
migrate under the coating’s film from
all sides of the gouge.
By contrast, the same damage to the
ceramic coated substrate will not
spread corrosion on the pipeline
because the carbon steel’s surface is
turned into an alloy of stable oxides.
Once the steel’s surface is stable (the
way noble metals like gold and silver
are stable) it will no longer react with
the environment and cannot corrode.
Visible in scanning electron
microscope photography, EonCoat
does not leave a gap between the steel
and the coating because the bond
is chemical rather than mechanical.
Since there is no gap, even if moisture
was to get through to the steel due
to a gouge, there is nowhere for the
20 TUS Magazine • March ‘19