Barking Power Station was mothballing part of its plant. Included in this were 20 high-pressure (HP) and low pressure (LP) pumps that were fitted both indoors and outdoors. These pumps, varying in fluid capacity between 20 and 400 liters, were to be mothballed dry. Also being mothballed were two 6,000-liter fluid capacity condensate extraction (CEX) pumps, which were to be mothballed wet. Hitek-nology Solutions was approached to provide a solution to prevent these pumps from corrosion during the 6 to 12 month mothballing period. The HP and LP pumps were treated with a mixture of 20 percent of Cortec’s VpCI®-377 and 80 percent water. According to Cortec, its solutions worked by:
- This mix was pumped into the HP and LP pumps and left for a minimum of one hour, before being pumped out again.
- The pumps were treated in sets of four to keep the quantity of material required to a minimum.
- The VpCI®-377 mix was checked between each set of four pumps with a refractometer, to ensure the mix was still at the correct strength and therefore reusable.
- The CEX pumps were treated using VpCI®-649, which was added to the system at 1 percent concentration and then circulated to ensure the entire system was protected.
- This treatment has resulted in the low-cost storage of these high-value assets.