Buried gas transmission lines are protected against external corrosion by organic coatings. Cathodic protection (CP) is designed and operated with the aim to mitigate corrosion where coating is faulty. The EN 12954: 2001 standard specifies reference values of the protection potentials according to soil conditions. However some kind of soils, like silt and clay with high resistivity, are not considered by this standard. Moreover, it is necessary to estimate the residual dissolution rate of the structure under CP so as to quantify and optimize the efficiency of the CP system setup.A laboratory study has been initiated by GDF SUEZ and TOTAL with the general aim to improve guidance on cathodic protection criteria by (i) developing tools and methods to estimate soil corrosivity from electrochemical and physico-chemical parameters and (ii) identifying the “necessary and sufficient” conditions to guaranty a negligible corrosion rate on a case by case.Steel coupons were buried in soil boxes for 2.5 months, with or without CP. The soil boxes were filled with various soil media from the field. The evolution with time of the corrosion systems was followed by weekly measurements of physico-chemical and electrochemical parameters: pH, soil conductivity, humidity level, redox potential of soils and open circuit potential of steel coupons. The corrosion rates deduced from electrochemical methods, i.e. voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, were compared to weight loss measurements.Results show, on one hand, that soil corrosivity could be estimated by the measurements of 3 main parameters: soil resistivity, redox potential of soil and open circuit potential of steel. These parameters could be measured on the field and could immediately give a first good estimation of the soil corrosivity. On the second hand, a detailed analysis of the polarization curves led to an estimation of residual corrosion rates of coupons under CP. The decrease with time of this residual corrosion phenomenon could be followed and quantified. In the experimental conditions considered here, the efficiency of the CP could be demonstrated. Moreover, the methodology could allow adjusting the protection potential, if necessary.
