Cathodic Protection (CP) is a technique used to control the corrosion of a steel surface by making it the cathode of an electrochemical cell. This is a simple method of protection, which connects the steel to be protected to a more easily corroded “sacrificial metal”, which acts as the anode. The sacrificial anode then corrodes instead of the protected steel.

In instances where subsea steel structures such as offshore jackets and long pipelines require CP and sacrificial (galvanic) CP is inadequate, an external DC electrical power source is used to provide sufficient current by means of an Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) system.

A large variety of different types of structure leads to a variety of systems to provide protection. Where possible, sacrificial anodes are favoured, although ICCP systems can also often be used. These systems are often used in conjunction with suitable marine grade coatings in order to achieve the optimum corrosion protection system.

Cathodic Protection helps prevent corrosion and damage, while increasing the life of subsea assets.

Subsea Corrosion Ltd provides expertise in the application of sacrificial anode and Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) systems. Cost-effective CP designs protect against corrosion and provide additional asset protection whilst minimising expensive asset repairs.

Because of the wide variety of subsea structure geometry, composition, and architecture, tailor-made CP designs are quite often required to engineer structure-specific CP systems.