The subject of electrical earthing and how it impacts on cathodic protection is constantly questioned  and requires discussion.

20130213 Cathodic Protection Network Progress

Cathodic Protection Network International.

There are many followers of Cathodic Protection Network who are waiting for me  to send proposals about the formation of Cathodic Protection Network International  Ltd.
Others are standing by and waiting to jump on the band wagon as soon as we start making money.

The product of Cathodic Protection network technology that is controlling corrosion by electrical means.

Corrosion is causing damage to the environment, loss of life, loss of energy and water and loss of profits to multinational companies globally proving that the present service industry of corrosion control is not as efficient as it could be.

The following activities cannot work in competition but must be coordinated into a single organisation  At present there are privately owned companies that train and certify specialists through a variety of activities.

Consultancy.

Training

Manufacture

Field survey and engineering.

Software development.

In order to deliver the control of corrosion to the end user the company Cathodic Protection Network International Limited must be an identifiable entity for legal, financial and operational purposes.

We therefore require interested parties in the fields of expertise to contact the company using the email address ralexander1938@googlemail.com

Each comment on this posting describes a field of expertise that the company requires.

Many of the water pipeline leakages in the UK could be due to inteference from the cathodic protection systems of the oil and gas pipelines.

All cathodic protection systems alter the electrical equilibrium of remote earth
with respect to all conducive paths that might provide a return path to negative of
the source of energy. Electrical energy passing from metal into electrolyte dissolves
metal in proportion to the current. This causes pipelines to leak. Have any of the
learned bodies and institutions advised the water distributors about this matter and
what is their advice?

The half-cell is not a reference electrode.

I have been told by highly qualified scientists that is it not even a half-cell
...
http://www.rogeralexander1938.webspace.virginmedia.com/cpn/halfcell/halfcell.htm
...

The link shows pictures that prove that the copper/copper-sulphate electrode is merely a suitable ground contact.

Cathodic Protection Network Master Class

How to control corrosion in pipeline systems.

It has been suggested that I hold a 3 day master class for Cathodic Protection Network technology and it will be a good opportunity to explain the significant changes that are presently happening  to the whole of the cathodic protection industry.

This is a scientific and technical blog

Please keep opinions to the minimum and base postings on facts that are established by repeatedly demonstrable observations that you are prepared to support with documentation, pictures mathematical calculations etc.
Scientific papers and some codes of practice contain words and characters derived from Greek and Latin and are not in general use by the people who have to apply the advice they advocate.
Cathodic Protection Network is a facility to bridge the gap between the elite academics and the people who walk miles over pipelines gathering data and noting crucial information.

International reference potential

When we make voltage measurements pertaining to two or more pipelines we have to relate these to a reference potential in a fixed position so that we can understand the direction of flow of electrical currents.
Corrosion committees are already required by law to mitigate interference corrosion between pipeline owners and their measurements must relate to a common potential to make any sense.  There are no boundaries to pipeline networks and we therefore need a common reference potential in the same way that we need the conventions on international time.

Attenuation curves

Pipe-to-soil voltages graphs are sometimes called 'attenuation curves'. They are similar measurements to those we make when carrying out close interval potential surveys and are ground potentials

The very word 'attenuation' infers that it is the pipe metal potential that varies and this is
incorrect. Could one of our NACE or Institute members please explain this?

Criterion for cathodic protection

It can now be demonstrated that the copper/copper-sulphate electrode cannot be regarded as a fixed potential against which a voltage can be measured for cathodic protection survey work.  This raises the question of interpretation and analysis of the millions of voltages that have been recorded over the years and are still being recorded world wide.
It is clear that there can be no criterion for the achievement of protection using a voltage that is measured between to floating potentials.  The established way of presenting this is a straight line at -0.850 volts on a graph showing distance X and voltage Y but if both potentials are floating then the -0.850 volts is also floating.
What is needed is a corrosion cell that can be monitored at each location as close to the pipeline or structure as possible.  The arrangement of coupons that is called the Alexander Cell is just this.
This will show the actual electrical equilibrium at which corrosion stops and can be related to the pipe-to-soil voltage taken at the same spot.