Application Prospects of Novel Nano-Coatings for Corrosion Protection of Crude Oil Storage Tank Inner Walls

Novel nano-coatings exhibit significant advantages in corrosion protection of crude oil storage tank inner walls. Their nano-scale dense barrier (such as the maze effect of graphene) can effectively block the penetration of corrosive media such as sulfides and aqueous electrolytes, improving protection performance by more than 3 times compared to traditional coatings. Taking Baichuan graphene epoxy coating as an example, its electrochemical corrosion protection mechanism can simultaneously achieve physical isolation and cathodic protection. The measured service life in sulfur-containing crude oil environments reaches 15 years, far exceeding the 5-8 years of ordinary epoxy coatings.

Actual application cases show that after a refinery adopted SiO₂ nano-composite coating, the corrosion rate of the inner wall of the storage tank was reduced to 0.02mm/year, and the coating adhesion reached more than 15MPa, effectively coping with crude oil scouring and abrasion. Graphene-based coatings further enhance the protection integrity of weld areas by 40% through self-healing functions (such as microcapsule corrosion inhibitor release rate of 90%) to dynamically repair micro-cracks.

Technology promotion needs to overcome cost bottlenecks (the current price of nano-coatings is 2-3 times that of traditional coatings), but policy support (such as the 13th Five-Year Plan key development projects) and large-scale production are driving cost reductions. In the future, nano-coatings will develop towards multi-functional integration (corrosion protection/wear resistance/self-cleaning), becoming a core solution for green storage tank protection.