As per World Corrosion Organization advice, the NACE International Pakistan Islamabad Section and Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, University of Punjab, Lahore jointly organized a Corrosion Awareness Day Seminar on April 24, 2019 in the university’s conference room of faculty.
The objective was to increase awareness about the devastation caused by corrosion and the availability of mitigation techniques that can protect the people, assets, and the environment from serious damages. Participants included academia, engineers from the oil and gas sector, corrosion experts, cathodic protection (CP) service providers, representatives of the service sector, and students from the Metallurgy and Materials Engineering Department.
In his welcome address, Liaquat Raza, founding member of the Islamabad Pakistan Section, highlighted that the global cost of corrosion is estimated to be USD $2.5 trillion, which is equivalent to 3.4% of global gross domestic product (GDP). A large percentage can be saved by adopting corrosion control technology and techniques. It is estimated that savings of 15 to 35% can be realized by adopting best practices. Next, Amjad Mumtaz (general manager, SNGPL and trustee of the Islamabad Pakistan Section) emphasized that his gas company protects its assets effectively by applying the latest technologies available and training manpower in this field not only for themselves but for the industry at large. The keynote speaker, Muhammad Shahid of NUST, delivered a presentation on the basic mechanism of corrosion, corrosion control techniques, and highlighted failures that occur due to this phenomenon.
Ahmed Asad (activity chair of the section and manager of the Corrosion Control Department at Inspectest, Ltd.) presented data on the industrial trend of spending more capital on corrective action instead of preventive action. Also discussed were the different assets installed in the industry that can be protected by installing well-designed CP systems at a very nominal cost. This can save substantial capital cost in addition to extending the life of the assets. Muhammad Sohail has over 10 years of corrosion experience and was of the view that failure of CP systems is due to lack of awareness or ignorance and not following the recommended practices, procedures, and international codes, especially during installation. Muhammad Abid, Ph.D. student in the Department of Polymer Engineering, University of Punjab, gave a presentation on cold galvanizing paint that he has developed as part of his studies. Muhammad Ahsan, who is a techno-commercial engineer at Captain and Co., gave a presentation on the different types of corrosion resistance coatings being used at the industrial level.
In the concluding session, Midhat Ali Jafri (founding member of the Islamabad Pakistan Section) congratulated the organizing committee for holding the awareness session, which creates awareness about the threat of corrosion and the need to protect valuable assets. He also encouraged the participants to become a part of NACE International and play an active role in the Islamabad Pakistan Section. At the end of the session, Taqi Zahid Butt, dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Punjab, distributed souvenirs among the presenters of the session.
Source: NACE International, www.nace.org.