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The system has been designed by the project to detect defects generated by corrosion in oil and gas installations.

The setup of a pipeline demonstrator designed by members of the CUIDETEC (Corrosion Under Insulation DETECtion and prediction in steel pipes) project consortium is ready and has been operating at CIDETEC Surface Engineering facilities for already 1 year. This Project aims to develop a procedure for the maintenance of oil and gas installations based in an automated system with hardware and software tools for the management of the pipelines and equipment integrity affected by Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI). The system has been designed to detect, localize, and quantify defects generated by corrosion.

The demonstrator is currently installed on the terrace of CIDETEC Surface Engineering building. Prior to the heat-insulation setup, artificial defects were generated on the pipes to simulate the CUI. This demonstrator undergoes thermal cycles, simulating the conditions of an operating pipeline in the oil and gas sector.

Detection tests of corrosion defects have been carried out by using Non-Destructive Techniques, including a pulsed current transducer and an electromagnetic acoustic transducer which, combined, allow to measure through the insulation, estimate the defects dimensions due to CUI and generate a mapping of the wall thickness over the detected areas. The defects have been successfully identified by the sensor coupled to a robot which allows it to move across the pipeline and is also able to rotate 360 degrees.

CUIDETEC is an international project whose participants are Innerspec Technologies UK, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon GmbH, Nuromedia GmbH, Robolan robotic engineering, Design Business & Verification Services (DBV), and CIDETEC Surface Engineering.

This Project is funded by the joint program Eurostars-3 with co-funding of CDTI, and the Research and Innovation Europe Horizon Framework Program of the European Union. Its execution period started in January of 2023 and will end in December of 2024.

A project progress meeting was hosted by CIDETEC Surface Engineering last October.

CIDETEC Surface Engineering will offer greater flexibility to develop sustainable materials.

CIDETEC Surface Engineering has incorporated innovative, fully automated Filament Winding and ATL (Automatic Tape Laying) equipment, supplied by Mikrosam, a global leader in composite manufacturing technologies. This advanced equipment will provide CIDETEC Surface Engineering with greater flexibility to develop sustainable materials, especially through its 3R technology (recyclable, repairable and reprocessable epoxy resins), from which currently active projects, both European (Cubic, Genex) and regional (EcoH2Mov, Hi-Mugi), will begin to benefit.

“This equipment will allow us to take our developments to the next level, contributing to the use of more sustainable composite materials in the Energy, Aerospace and Automotive sectors,” says Dr. Eva García-Lecina, Deputy Director of CIDETEC Surface Engineering.

This new equipment incorporates specialized software that allows both wet and dry winding (towpreg), in addition to the precise placement of unidirectional prepregs tapes. This equipment allows CIDETEC Surface Engineering to strengthen its leadership in advanced materials technologies.

Experts discuss the future of epoxy resins and their role in creating recyclable materials within the CUBIC project.

CIDETEC Surface Engineering was the venue for the second training session of the academic program under the CUBIC project, organized in collaboration with Specific Polymers on October 9th. The event gathered 21 participants interested in exploring the journey of epoxy resins, from their discovery to their use in vitrimer technology, to develop more sustainable composite materials.

The training addressed the challenge of replacing petroleum-derived monomers with bio-based alternatives and the potential of adaptable covalent networks, which enable the creation of self-healing, moldable, and recyclable materials. Additionally, the use of 3R epoxy resins patented by CIDETEC Surface Engineering in the production of circular materials was highlighted, with a particular focus on their chemical, mechanical, and thermoforming recycling processes.

This session provided researchers with a valuable opportunity to acquire and share knowledge on the new generation of sustainable resins and composite materials.

The new bio-based materials will replace the current SVHCs that pose a high risk to human health and the environment.

The BioPhenom project, in which CIDETEC Surface Engineering participates, aims to offer a solution to the widespread use of hazardous petrochemicals, many of which are high-risk substances (SVHC) due to their harmful effects on the environment and health human. Current industrial practices use SVHC to formulate and improve the functionality of thermoplastic and thermostable materials and wood, which are toxic and non-biodegradable, making it necessary to find safer and more sustainable alternatives for these products urgently.

In this regard, the European Green Pact and its zero pollution target has established the introduction of bio-based, safe and sustainable solutions by design, which can accelerate the transition to a circular economy and reduce waste. The BioPhenom project, using advanced technologies and processes (such as fast pyrolysis and liquid extraction), seeks to explore the isolation of biophenols from secondary streams of industrial biomass to produce bio-flame retardants (bio-IFRs) and therefore replace SVHC with safe, sustainable and recyclable materials. This will make it possible to have wood products, thermostable carbon fibre composites and thermoplastic composite materials for different applications without using harmful products in their manufacture.

The BioPhenom project, which will run for four years with a budget of 3.6 million euros, brings together a dynamic consortium of 12 partners, including 5 RTOs (VTT, NIBIO, LIST, CIDETEC, CNR), 1 university (UoB) and 6 SMEs (NT, INVENT, SP, EwC, CRCF, TALOS) from 10 different countries across Europe.