Corrosion coupons are small test specimens that are exposed for a fixed period within a process environment. At the end of the fixed period, the corrosion coupon is removed from the process environment and analyzed for time averaged General Corrosion Rate, Pitting Corrosion Rate, sessile bacteria, and solids if required. Of importance with corrosion coupon monitoring is the placement within the process and within the infrastructure to provide representative results. Corrosion coupons provide an economical approach to internal corrosion monitoring and material evaluations. Rysco Corrosion Services LTD are available to provide equipment sales, manufacturing, data interpretation, lab analysis, and field services in support of weight-loss corrosion coupons.

Erosion monitoring is common on equipment and infrastructure that may be subject to metal loss due to flow conditions and any particulate that may exist within the flow. Common erosional monitoring equipment has a known wall thickness, that when fails provides a transfer of pressure to a gauge or other instrumentation. This is a useful notification of erosion. Rysco Corrosion Services are available to provide equipment sales, manufacturing, data interpretation, lab analysis, and field services in support of mechanical erosion monitoring.

X-ray diffraction (XRD analysis or XRPD analysis) is a unique method in determination of crystallinity of a compound. XRD is primarily used for:

• ID of crystalline material (used for regulatory purposes or during development).
• ID of different polymorphic forms (“fingerprints”).
• Distinguishing between amorphous and crystalline material.
• Quantification of the percent crystallinity of a sample.

The CHNS mode for elemental analyzers determines total carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulphur simultaneously from 0.1% (0.05% for sulphur) to high percentage levels. It is ideal for the analysis of most sulphur compounds and is widely used in the analysis of soils, sludges, and plant material.

FTIR stands for Fourier transform infrared, the preferred method of infrared spectroscopy. When IR radiation is passed through a sample, some radiation is absorbed by the sample and some passes through (is transmitted). The resulting signal at the detector is a spectrum representing a molecular ‘fingerprint’ of the sample. The usefulness of infrared spectroscopy arises because different chemical structures (molecules) produce different spectral fingerprints.

So, what is FTIR?

• The Fourier Transform converts the detector output to an interpretable spectrum.
• The FTIR generates spectra with patterns that provide structural insights.

ICP-OES is a trace-level, elemental analysis technique that uses the emission spectra of a sample to identify and quantify the elements present. Samples are introduced into the plasma in a process that desolvates, ionizes, and excites them. The constituent elements can be identified by their characteristic emission lines, and quantified by the intensity of the same lines.

• High sample throughput enabling the efficient analysis of large batches.
• Simultaneous determination of multiple elements in each sample.

Water, as an electrolyte, is an intrinsic part of any corrosion cell. It is well known that the chemistry of an electrolyte has a profound influence on the rates of corrosion, and the corrosion mechanisms that may take place. Rysco Corrosion Services performs onsite measurements at the time of sampling (pH, temperature, and dissolved gases) to ensure the accuracy of the water chemistry results. Results include total alkalinity, bicarbonate and carbonate, chloride and sulphate, pH and specific gravity, barium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, strontium, iron and manganese. Calculations are performed for ion balance and total dissolved solids.

Analysis of dissolved iron and manganese concentrations in process liquids can be used as a technique for determination of corrosion occurrence, by examining the concentration of corrosion by-products in solution within the process stream.

Water, as an electrolyte, is an intrinsic part of any corrosion cell. It is well known that the chemistry of an electrolyte has a profound influence on the rates of corrosion, and the corrosion mechanisms that may take place. Rysco Corrosion Services performs onsite measurements at the time of sampling (pH, temperature, and dissolved gases) to ensure the accuracy of the water chemistry results. Results include total alkalinity, bicarbonate and carbonate, chloride, bromide and iodide, sulphate, pH and specific gravity, boron, barium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, strontium, iron and manganese. Calculations are performed for ion balance, total dissolved solids, and scaling indices, and the report includes a scaling tendencies plot.

Perhaps the most common and widely accepted method for bacterial determination. This technique involves bacterial culturing from the sample to determine the concentration of viable bacteria. Successive dilutions of the sample are put into the culture media and left to grow. The samples that develop give an indication of the original concentration of bacteria. The test can show some results in a few days, but the usual incubation period for the test is 14 to 28 days.

Adenosine Triphosphate Photometry (ATP) is a measurement method that examines the ATP present in all living cells, but which disappears rapidly on death. ATP can be measured using an enzymic reaction, which generates flashes of light that are detected by a photomultiplier. This method commonly reports as a mass of total bacteria per mass of sample.

A Biological Activity Reaction Test (BART)™ is a water testing system for bacterial populations that utilizes time to reaction, color change indications, solids precipitation, and the generation of gases to classify bacteria along with population size.

The qPCR (Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction) analysis amplifies specific gene sequences from target organisms. Genetic material is extracted from a sample number of copies of a specific gene in the extract is quantified. The qPCR delivers total number of bacteria, total Archaea, SRB, SRA as well as specific species in each group. This method does not distinguish between live, inactive, or dead cells. This method should be used with other complimentary bacteria testing methods.