An innovative answer to a $250 billion problem

April 10, 2019

A new award-winning technical insulation product from ROCKWOOL is helping the oil & gas industry to overcome one of its most costly challenges.

A potential disaster that can start with just a few drops of water

It's called Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) and it costs the oil & gas industry $250 billion a year. A new technical insulation product from ROCKWOOL is helping the industry fight back.

Putting a stop to CUI

Hidden under insulation, CUI is difficult to detect until it becomes a costly and potentially dangerous problem. Products that can withstand high temperatures and still prevent water from reaching corrosion-sensitive infrastructure is high on the oil & gas industry’s wish list. 

And now there is one; it’s called “WR-Tech,” for Water Repellent Technology and it was developed by ROCKWOOL Technical Insulation, a subsidiary of ROCKWOOL Group.

WR-Tech is five times more water repellant than the current best industry standard among mineral wool technical insulation, a fact that helped it recently win the Innovation of the Year Award in Materials Performance magazine, a publication of NACE International, the world’s leading authority on corrosion.  

“The innovation award is gratifying recognition of ROCKWOOL’s efforts to develop innovative stone wool products that have a positive impact, in this case for our customers in the process industry. This product, with its very high water repellency at high temperatures, is helping the oil and gas industry reduce the risks from Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) and thus improve the safety and reliability of cricital oil and gas pipelines,” says Frank Larsen, Managing Director, ROCKWOOL Technical Insulation.

WR-Tech was selected from more than 50 nominations and was one of 10 technologies to receive the coveted innovation award as judged by a panel of corrosion experts. To be considered an innovation, nominated projects are required show the potential for a significant positive impact in corrosion control.

WR-Tech is a patent-pending solution that applies an inorganic, hydrophobic additive to the stone wool fibers making the insulation five-times more water repellent (at 482°F /250° C) than standard EN-classified stone wool. 

This 2-minute video shows how the product works along with tips on how best to avoid CUI.