Corrosion Engineering Consultants

Specializing in cathodic protection system design, installation and testing.

About CEC

Patrick Raabe, CP Specialist

Patrick Raabe is a Certified CP Specialist that has over 25 years in the design, installation and testing of galvanic and impressed current CP systems. Specializing on Military Fuels systems, projects have encompassed pipelines, piers, bridges, wharves and tanks world-wide.

Cathodic Protection in All Environments

CEC has designed, installed and tested CP Systems in a wide range of enviroments. In the dry heat of Tucson and Australia, through the humid heat of Guam and Wake Island to the outskirts of Alaska, CEC has been there. We have provided services throughout the US, Asia, the South Pacific and Western Europe.

Projects and Customers

CEC has a long history of working with the US Federal Government, particularly protecting fueling infrastructure on US Military Installations worldwide. We have had projects with Departments of Transportation, Transit Authorities, Veterans Administration, local utilities, and all types civilian clients. We work on large multidisciplinary design projects, as well as provide annual system assessment, adjustment and repair.

Small Business

CEC is a small business by design. We strive to offer a more personal and collaborative experience than is available from a corporate institution. CEC is primarily focused on providing quality Cathodic Protection and Corrosion Control services to our clients' satisfaction.

Corrosion and Cathodic Protection

Corrosion - A Natural and Costly Occurrence

The estimated annual Direct Cost of metallic corrosion in the U.S. is $276 billion, or about 3.1% of the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The effects of corrosion include environmental damage and public safety risks.

Federal law requires effective Cathodic Protection on any pipeline or tank containing hazardous materials, to prevent environmental damage. Many other entities employ cathodic protection on pipelines, sheet-piles, tanks and other structures simply as a life extension and cost saving measure.

Coatings and Corrosion Control

Coatings are crucial in mitigating corrosion, and can provide corrosion protection for up to 99.5% of a structure, but many metals are used bare, such as copper and stainless steel. When used on steel, coatings block the interface of the metal with the environment, preventing corrosion when complete coverage is achieved, for as long as the coating is intact.

The best coatings today have areas where coverage is not complete, called flaws. Natural potential differences between locations in effect push all corrosion activity to flaw locations.

Cathodic Protection with Coatings

Cathodic protection impresses DC current onto all bare areas of a structure. A coated structure will only receive cathodic current at flaw locations, therefore, the better the coating, the less cathodic protection is required.

The cathodic current being supplied to the structure impedes the ability of the metal to combine with oxygen and hydrogen, thereby preventing the corrosion reaction from occurring at the source.

What is Cathodic Protection?

Cathodic Protection (CP) was discovered by Sir Humphry Davy, a pioneer in the field of Electro-chemistry, and President of the Royal Society from 1820-1827.

Sir Davy first used his discovery to prevent the loss of copper cladding of English ship hulls due to corrosion of the fittings. CP systems were widely installed in New York in the 1920's to inhibit the corrosion of cast iron water pipelines caused by the introduction of AC powered trolley cars.