Black powder in pipelines is a common problem, as it is in natural gas and oil production and refineries. Not only is it a contaminate in the production, pipeline, transportation and refining stages of natural gas and crude oil processing; it can be a by-product of of MIC corrosion. It can also be the corrosive by-product of mill scale, H2S, water vapor condensation and wet crude oil or natural gas. The problems, besides the pipe loss due to corrosion, are filter plugging, wear on compressor components and other operational units such as, valves, gauges, meters, etc.
Black powder should be removed by any steps that are necessary; pressure testing fluid analysis and recommendations for treatment, pigging, corrosion inhibition and other methods. It is critical to determine the source of black powder formation to have a plan for remediation procedures and stop the corrosion that is causing its formation. Integrity of assets is diminished by black powder formation. After all, the major component of black powder is usually your piping internal walls.
MIC Corrosion Tek offers bacterium and elemental analysis by EDS (Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis) to determine the identity and source of black powder. We just need a small sample (25-50 grams) to do a complete analysis. Once the origin of black powder is determined, MIC Corrosion Tek can offer a mitigation plan, which does not focus on one supplier; but is completely objective and offers many solutions for the mitigation of black powder.
Have any questions about Black Powder testing? Please email us at Support@MIC-Tek.com or call us at 01.303.587.3325 .
