An increase in pipework repairs correlates to an increase in scrubber installations, says underwater repair and maintenance solutions provider Hydrex.
The company has recorded an increase in repairs to the pipe work and overboard outlets of ships that have exhaust gas scrubbers installed.
Dave Bleyenberg, Hydrex Production Executive: 'These systems remove harmful sulphur oxide compounds from the exhaust gasses of marine diesel engines burning high-sulphur heavy fuel oils. However, the resulting residue removed from these gases can have a rapid and highly corrosive effect on the scrubbers’ internal pipework and outlets.'
Corrosion Results in Water Ingress
Diver/technicians from the underwater repair specialist recently carried out pipe replacements on 270 m shuttle tankers where the wash water from the “scrubbed” exhaust gases had corroded the pipework, resulting in water ingress.
Ecospeed Coating
For protection of the new pipe against further corrosion, hydrex has opted to coat the internal surface with Ecospeed, a highly chemical resistant coating product from sister company Subsea Industries.
Picture: To repair corroded piping while vessels remain in-water and in service, Hydrex fabricates a custom-made mobdock (flexible mobile mini-drydock). This is then transported to the repair site, where it is placed over the scrubber cooling pipe outlet to allow the repair work to be carried inside the vessel without further water ingress.
