Author(s)

Mahmoud Ibrahim Abdou, Mohamed Abd EL-Fattah Moustafa, Hany El- Sayed Ahmed, Hamada Abd El-Wahab

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Production Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Cairo, Egypt.

The construction of gas and oil plants include many items such as steel structures, equipments, piping, tanks and vessels at different conditions such as offshore, onshore, above and underground shall be protected against corrosion by coating. The protective value of a coating system is proportional to the surface preparation; the objectives of the surface preparation are the surface cleanliness and the surface profile of the substrate. The surface preparation is usually achieved by blast cleaning using different types of abrasive. Due to its high hardness and low cost, silica sand has been used extensively for impact abrasion. It is, however, very brittle with most grain disintegrating on impact, causing excessive levels of siliceous dust which is a major health hazard and causes serious environmental pollution. Consequently, it has been banned as impact abrasive material in most countries around the world. Considerable research has been done in the last twenty years to find an impact abrasive material as hard as silica and that respects. So it was important to search for sand substitution among the local abundant minerals in Egypt. Waste product obtained from ilmenite ore extracted from the mine was found to be the most suitable alternative abrasive. This work shows the abrasive types, the occurrence of the ilmenite ore. The chemical properties, physical properties and microscopic examination of the waste were investigated. The obtained result indicates that, the waste product obtained from ilmenite ore can be utilized for abrasion as sand substitution.

Blast Cleaning Material, Ilmenite, Abrasive Material, Surface Cleanliness, Surface Profile and Surface Preparation.

M. Abdou, M. Moustafa, H. Ahmed and H. El-Wahab, "Utilization of Egyptian Ilmenite Ore for Steel Surface Preparation in Petroleum Field," Engineering, Vol. 3 No. 8, 2011, pp. 802-809. doi: 10.4236/eng.2011.38097.