NACE Paper No.

MECCOCT18-XXXX

Solid state reference electrode & Industrial best practices

Abed Sneineh
Business Development Manager
BORIN Manufacturing, Inc.
5741 Buckingham Parkway,
General Office Building B
Culver City, CA 90230

ABSTRACT

Reference electrodes are the sensing elements used to measure CP system parameters, and by
choosing the right reference electrode for your application, the more accurate your measurements are,
to determine how effective the CP system works and protecting your assets.

This study might serve as a reference for CP engineers and might assist CP system designers, during
the process of choosing an installing the right reference electrode for their specs and requirements.

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study is to help CP engineers to identify the challenges and difficulties facing when
they chose the right reference electrode, during the CP system design stage and during the service life
of the CP system, also to help to troubleshoot defects that can occur on the reference electrodes,
during the installation and during service life of the reference electrode, and finally, the industry best
practice and reference electrode installation.

This study discusses exclusively the Solid state reference electrodes with the most commonly used
chemistry in buried applications:

• Cu-CuSO4 Copper-Copper Sulfate

• Zn-ZnSO4 Zinc-Zinc Sulfate

• Ag-AgCl Silver-Silver Chloride

• Pd-PdCl2 Palladium-Palladium Chloride

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 REFERENCE ELECTRODE SELECTION GUIDELINES

During the design stage, CP engineers should consider the following:

Soil Analysis

Determining the soil conditions, CP system designer should identify the following:

 PH value: the acidity, alkalinity will determine the life expectancy , stability and accuracy,
 Hydrocarbons: the existence of the hydrocarbons in the immediate environment of the reference
electrode, will damage the reference electrode within few months.
 Sulfides: at any level, sulfide contamination in the immediate environment of the reference
electrode will cause failure, and reduce the life of the reference electrode.
 Chlorides + Bromides: if exceed 100 ppm, will cause failure in the Cu-CuSO4.
 Temperature and moisture: reference electrodes tolerance against high temperature, especially
in dry soil condition; reduce the service life of the reference electrodes, also in subzero
temperature, reference electrode can be damaged by expansion.

Choosing the right chemistry, limitations and the grey area

After analyzing the soil, choosing the right chemistry to match the soil conditions is the second
important part CP system designer should identify.
Chart below as an example for chemistry tolerances:

Pd-PdCl2 Palladium-Palladium Chloride:

Work with any chloride and PH level, with a high tolerance of Hydrocarbons such as H2S, temperature
-23 C to 80C in dry condition.

One of the problems CP system designer faces, when the soil conditions are within the limits of the
chemistry tolerance (grey area), different type of surrounding can be used to minimize the impact, such
as using sweet sand or electrical mud.
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Desert, Wetlands, Shoreline and Swamps

The existence of water in the immediate environment of the reference electrode, will determine the
design and type of reference electrode, for example in wetlands and swamps, you need smaller
sensing elements without moisture membrane or water reservoir, more dry environment, required larger
sensing elements and bigger moisture membrane / water reservoir.

In extreme dry environment, watering system recommended to be installed to maintain the moisture in
the soil.

Different type of installation (Buried application)

Permanent: direct burrier, is the most common way of installation the reference electrode.

 Pros:
o Installation cost, less costly to install during the construction of the structure or CP
system installation.

o Less complicated.

 Cons:
o Replacing a damaged reference electrode is expensive and complicated, because of the
civil work related.

o More complicated to replace and troubleshoot in case of defects.

Retrievable: installing the reference electrode inside a ventilated PVC pipe, and partially buried.

 Pros:
o Installation cost slightly more during the construction, need to design the vented PVC
pipe and install it correctly.

o More complicated installation and testing.

 Cons:
o Replacing a damaged reference electrode is cheaper and less complicated.

o Easy to replace and trouble shoot during the service life of the CP system.

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Example of Retrievable Design:

Test Station

Under Tank

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AC mitigation and critical areas

Structures such as a pipeline can go through thousands of miles passing cities, farms, industrial
complexes etc. with a chance of crossing high voltage line or other pipelines and in some cases low
potential areas, CP system designer should consider these factors, not just for the CP system also for
choosing the right reference electrode.

Example #1:

Pipeline crossing a high voltage power line, a safety concern can occur, because of the induced voltage
on the pipeline, caused by the magnetic field of the high voltage power line, also can cause AC
corrosion in some cases, CP system designer should not just include an AC mitigation system, also
should consider to measure how effective the AC migration system works, by using reference
electrodes with AC coupons, designed specially by the industry for that purpose.

Example #2:

Congested areas such as underground utility tunnels, where you will have tens of cables and pipelines
running parallel and crossing each other, CP system designer should consider to use special type of
reference electrodes to measure the potential without having interference from other systems, such as
IR drop free reference electrodes with DC coupons.

Example #3:

Measuring polarization/de-polarization and simulating the holidays by using multiple DC coupons, CP

system designer should be able to estimate the required coupons size according to the system
specifications.

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 REFERENCE ELECTRODE INSTALLATION

 CP system designer should carefully allocate the location where the reference electrode should
be installed in reference to the CP system anode bed and the structure and away from the stray
of current, to give the most accurate measurements, also the depth of the reference electrode,
especially in cold weather areas, should consider to be buried below the frost level.

 In some cases such as a crude oil pipeline, when the temperature of the structure and
surrounding areas rises above the reference electrode manufacturer recommendations, CP
system designer should consider to install the reference electrode with a distance between 1.5
to 2 meters from the structure to keep the temperature of the reference electrode within the
manufacturer recommendations.

 Create a muddy surrounding by adding water during the installation process, to ensure good
contact with the reference electrode sensing part.

 Always check the reading before bury the reference electrode completely.

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 RF SERVICE LIFE, TROUBLESHOOTING

RF service life

In general, permanent buried reference electrodes service life between 10 to 20 years, assuming the
CP system designer chose the right RF for his application and the RF has no defects.
Reference Electrodes Malfunction & Troubleshooting (Most common)

 Contamination: occur when the reference electrode chemistry doesn’t match with soil specs,
reference electrode may fail within few months of operation.

 AC & DC interference: occurs when the reference electrode cable within the same AC or DC
conduit or close by, will notice a shift from 100 to 1000mV in the reading.

 Wrong connection: by mistake, connecting the reference electrode with rectifier output as
anode, reference electrode will be damaged instantly.

 Cable damage: if the reference electrode cable wire damaged, the reference electrode will act
like a capacitor, causing reading to shift up to 500mV.

 Installing over magnesium anode: Will cause a shift in reading by 200mV to 300mV,
reference electrode need to be relocated and revalidated.

 Magnesium anode-flex system (anode flex gradient): To obtain accurate measurements,

you need to disconnect the system before taking the reading. This is not practical, put on
opposite side of flex anode.

 Close to a damaged structure: A shift in reading by 300mV can occur depends on the size of
the holiday, caused by the current flow from the holiday.

 Contamination: Installing the reference electrode such as Cu-CuSO4 in an area, rich with
hydrocarbons or high content of chlorides, bromides, will result in damaging the reference
electrode.

 Acidic Soil: When the reference electrode is installed in soil with acidic or alkali content outside
the 4 < pH < 9 range, the stability of the cell will begin to deteriorate and the reference
electrode will be rendered useless, solution is to use Palladium Chloride Chemistry.

 Direct sunlight: Direct sunlight has a reactive effect on the chemistry of a Cu-CuSO4 or Zn-
ZnSO4 cell. If you take readings where the sun is in direct contact with your portable reference
electrode you will begin to see a shift in your readings that could be as high as 50 mV, this
apply when using liquid state portable to confirm or trouble shooting.

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