Rice University establishes National Corrosion Center

Bridges, pipelines expected to benefit from research on preventing corrosion

HOUSTON -- (Sept. 26, 2008) -- Rice University has established a National Corrosion Center where researchers will develop better technology for preventing corrosion -- a problem that is estimated to cost $276 billion a year in the U.S.

To develop the center, Rice is working closely with NACE International, an association of more than 20,000 scientists, engineers and technicians around the world who are involved in virtually every industry and aspect of corrosion prevention and control.

Rice will collaborate with others in academia and industry to create corrosion-control strategies that can be applied to the nation's infrastructure.

"Anything made with steel corrodes, so our system of highways and bridges, our pipelines for transporting water, oil and gas, our buildings, our aviation and transportation industries are all at risk," said Emil Peña, executive director of the new center and also of Rice's Energy and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI). "We will focus on corrosion prevention and mitigation technologies that not only have the potential to improve the reliability and safety of just about everything made of steel, but also can save billions of dollars in repairs and rebuilding. This research even has biomedical implications."

Corrosion is a "silent destroyer of our nation's critical infrastructure," said NACE International's Cliff Johnson. "Because it is a slow process that usually occurs out of sight, it is not uncommon for corrosion mitigation measures to be delayed or never implemented. Unfortunately, when this occurs, the problem grows dramatically and shortens the useful life of the asset, similar to what we saw with recent bridge collapses in the U.S. or the pipeline failure in Carlsbad, New Mexico, in 2000."