moving to corrosion job 1

[springrise]

Dear experts,

I'm about to move to a corrosion engineer position in refinery/petrochemical plant in 2 months. My background is in water-wastewater area with some experience with corrosion in cooling and steam circuits. I feel very much attracted to the new job.

I'd like to ask you for help in identifying what I need to learn to prepare for the job and what I have to learn once I start working there.

So far I've these topics where I'm lacking the knowledge:
- materials, metals used in petroleum industry
- specific chemical processes that I will deal with (I will be working in ethylene unit)
- corrosion mechanisms specific for the process
- standards used for monitoring corrosion (plant uses RBI, NACE procedures)
- corrosion monitoring equipment
- corrosion prevention techniques

I know, it's a lot

Can you please tell me what you consider important? Where should I focus in first weeks in my new job? Is detailed knowledge of the production unit, (e.g. walking with outside operators) crucial to do the job right?

Thank you in advance,
springrise

 

[weldstan]

Much of this info is available on the WEB and you should avail yourself of the info contained therein. One assumes that a corrosion metallurgist employed by your new company will provide you much guidance - hopefully! Also avail yourself of info provided by unit operators and maintenance.

 

[metengr]

Seems to me you are asking questions that you should have answered when you applied for the job. Ok, you have the job. So, listen and work with others. Don't try to overwhelm yourself.

 

[springrise]

Thank you for your time and advice, I'll do as you say.

 

[NBrink]

I will speak to your last question:

Yes, oh dear god, yes. Walk the units, talk to the operators, look inside the heaters, get a feeling how they do their rounds, find out what's wrong on the drawings, what's lined up that shouldn't be, are pumps cavitating that shouldn't be (possible impeller damage), are operators pulling bits of packing out of pump strainers and not telling anyone, is instrumentation and bleeders getting plugged all the time?

There's a lot of stuff that you won't get from a thousand hours of staring at drawings that ten minutes with the operators will get you.

Nathan Brink