High-Temperature Coatings

Corrosion under insulation is the failure mode that costs Louisiana refiners and petrochemical producers the most because nobody sees it coming. Water gets past the cladding, sits against hot steel, and eats the wall while the insulation makes the loss invisible. AAS brushes a barrier coating directly onto the hot surface under the insulation while the line stays in service. The coating is chosen to hold across the temperature band where CUI does its worst work, so the steel is protected through the heat-up and cool-down cycles that drive the attack.

The value here is what does not happen. There is no shutdown to cool the line, no drain-down, and no hot work. We strip the lagging in sections, prepare the steel, apply the system, and re-insulate, all while the unit stays online. The asset gains years of added wall life without surrendering a single run-hour.

Some equipment simply cannot come down. A vessel, tank, or pipework running hot cannot be cooled or drained without stopping production, which is exactly why conventional linings that need an ambient surface never get applied to it. AAS coats these assets in place. The crew applies high-temperature linings that cure on the operating surface, so the equipment keeps doing its job while we put protection on it. The same approach lines hot process equipment internally with ceramic-filled coatings matched to the actual service temperature, cured cold inside the unit during a planned outage.

This is in-situ work, and it is the difference between a recoat and a replacement. Instead of waiting for a window long enough to cool, drain, and dry a vessel, the facility gets a protected surface on the schedule it already has. Supporting high-temperature Belzona systems give the crew the right film for the service, but the result the maintenance buyer buys is a unit that stays in service.

Most CUI starts at a leak in the cladding. Insulation jacketing splits at seams, support legs, and penetrations, and once water gets behind the lagging it finds the pipe and corrodes it in the dark. AAS seals the cladding with a reinforced membrane and a weather-side coating, closing the seams and penetrations where water enters. The barrier keeps moisture out and stops the corrosion cycle before it starts, which is cheaper than chasing it after the metal is already thin.

The crew also handles the hardware that hot service ruins. Bolted and threaded assemblies on heated equipment seize solid, so the next overhaul means cutting fasteners free instead of unfastening them. AAS applies a high-temperature anti-seize to fasteners and mating faces so components break loose cleanly at the next teardown. That is time saved on the turnaround after this one.

Every job on this hub ends the same way. No hot work, no permits that come with an open flame, and in most cases no shutdown, because the work happens on the live, hot surface. The crew preps in the field or in our climate-controlled shop, applies the system, and the line keeps running or returns to service inside the outage already on the calendar.

The outcome the maintenance buyer is paying for is straightforward. Insulated steel that was quietly wasting away now has a barrier rated for its operating temperature. Cladding that was letting water in is sealed. Fasteners that were going to be cut out will come apart by hand. The asset stays in service, its life is extended, and the next inspection finds steel, not surprises.