Carbon Steel and Stainless-steel Cathodic Protection Design Data in Deepsea Water - Influence of the Environment on the Biofilm Cathodic Activity

Abstract In natural seawater, many parameters might influence the cathodic protection current demand such as potential, temperature, dissolved oxygen content, biofilm and fouling activity, and calcareous deposit formation. The actual deepsea environment cannot be easily reproduced at laboratory scale. In this study, the influence of the depth on the cathodic protection criteria of carbon steel and stainless steel was investigated in intermediary (1020 m depth) and deep water (2020 m) at the same location. For this purpose, at set of corrosion and environmental sensors, as well as metallic coupons, were exposed during 11 months in Azores in the Atlantic Ocean. On stainless steel, a strong characteristic cathodic depolarization due to biofilm activity was observed in deep water and not in intermediary water. The biological-induced cathodic activity appears thus to be dependent on the environment, even in open seawater. In presence of an electroactive biofilm high and relatively stable current densities were measured. Under such conditions, an important structure depolarization appears, affecting thus the CP design and efficiency. For carbon steel, the cathodic protection data collected in-situ show that the initial and mean (after 11 months) current densities are higher than those recommended by the DNVGL RP B401 standard. Even if mean current densities are expected to continue to decrease slowly with further exposure time, so probably tending to the standard recommendations, the DNVGL RP B401 standard might not be conservative in terms of current densities criteria for these environments.