Supervisor: Professor Nikki Stanford (University of South Australia)

Thesis Title: Investigation and application of thermal spray coatings at Moomba Benfield Trains

Thesis synopsis: For over 40 years, the Benfield Process has been used to produce sweet gas by removing CO2 and H2S from the raw gas at Moomba Benfield Trains. Corrosion taken place at the pressure equipment exposed to the Benfield solution is causing unscheduled downtime and production losses. A research was carried out to define the corrosion mechanism and the root causes that might have been involved. The research concluded that corrosion occurs when the Benfield solution does not meet the defined operation conditions and recommended surface treatment to deal with the issues. The aim of this research is to investigate and propose a corrosion resistant coating as a durable solution which prevents the corrosion risk to the integrity of the structure. Various technologies are being explored and ranked to find out the most effective and feasible solution, and to provide guidance on how the solution should be implemented. Various coatings will be exposed to the Benfield solution as well as the Moomba Benfield Trains operational condition to determine the corrosion mechanisms taking place and durability of each coating under such a condition.

Hoda Adelkhah is a SEAM Associate Investigator working on the ‘Maintenance and repair of ageing infrastructure in remote Australian locations’ project with Professor Nikki Stanford at University of South Australia. Hoda holds a bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering during which she conducted research on nano wear resistant coatings. As a Materials Engineer and a member of Engineers Australia, Hoda has performed variety of QC/QA, testing and investigation activities which has led to improvement solutions and recommendations. In many cases, she was assigned to failure analysis projects to investigate the causes of the failure, and then to recommend solutions to improve the systems and to avoid further failures. Selected failure analysis projects include: Failure Analysis of Cast Iron Paper Mill Dryer; Reverse Engineering of Ni-Resist Cast; Failure Analysis of Hadfield Alloys; Defect and imperfection analysis of cast iron parts of engine cylinders; Investigation of reinforcement bars fracture causes. Hoda has several years of experience working in materials laboratories where she gained experience in operating various laboratory equipment including Optical Microscope, Stereo Microscope, ElectroEtch, Fixed & Portable Hardness Tester, Portable Field Metallography, XRF, etc.