Comprehensive anti-corrosion solutions
Three areas of expertise for the complete protection of your buried networks and infrastructure.
Cathodic Protection
Cathodic protection is the most effective method of protecting buried or submerged metallic structures against electrochemical corrosion. IPSI Solutions masters both principal systems: impressed current and sacrificial anodes.
- Design and engineering
- On-site installation
- Measurements and inspection
- Preventive maintenance
Pipeline Coatings
Coatings are the first line of defence against corrosion. Our range covers internal and external coatings for all types of pipelines and environments.
- Epoxy coatings
- Extruded polyethylene
- Reinforced bitumen
- On-site application
Rectifiers
Power supply equipment is at the heart of every impressed current cathodic protection system. We offer high-reliability rectifiers and controllers.
- Rectifiers
- Automatic regulators
- Monitoring systems
- Solar power
Why corrosion threatens buried networks
A buried steel pipeline sits in an electrolyte: the soil. Wherever moisture, dissolved salts and oxygen meet bare metal, an electrochemical cell forms and metal is lost — silently, continuously, and out of sight.
The consequence is rarely a slow leak. It is a perforation that appears after years of undetected loss, on a section nothing distinguished from the rest. On a gas or drinking-water network, the cost of that perforation has little to do with the price of the repair: it is measured in service interruption, excavation, environmental impact and regulatory exposure.
Two factors accelerate the process. Soil aggressiveness first — resistivity, moisture, sulphate-reducing bacteria. Then the electrical environment: stray currents from electrified railways, and alternating current induced by parallel high-voltage lines, which can perforate a pipeline in a few years at a single coating defect.
Three complementary levers, not three competing options
Protecting a buried network is never a matter of picking one solution over another. Coating, cathodic protection and power supply form a chain — and the chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
The coating: the passive barrier
The coating isolates the steel from the soil. A sound coating removes almost all of the exposed surface, and with it almost all of the current a cathodic protection system would otherwise have to deliver. Its quality at commissioning determines the cost of protecting the line for the next thirty years.
No coating is perfect, however. Handling damage, welding at the joints, ageing and cathodic disbondment all create defects. That residual exposure is precisely what the second lever addresses.
Cathodic protection: the active barrier
Cathodic protection lowers the potential of the metal until the corrosion reaction becomes thermodynamically unfavourable. It is what protects the steel exactly where the coating has failed — at defects nobody can locate in advance.
Two families cover the field: sacrificial anodes, self-regulating and autonomous but limited by their driving voltage, and impressed current, adjustable and powerful but requiring a supply and monitoring. The choice depends on the current demand, soil resistivity and electrical environment.
Power supply: what makes protection last
An impressed current system is only worth its source. A transformer-rectifier that drifts, an unmonitored station or an installation running at full output leaves the line unprotected without anyone noticing until the next measurement campaign.
This is why automatic potential regulation, remote monitoring and — on isolated sites — solar supply are not accessories: they are what turns a system that works on the day of commissioning into a system that still works ten years later.
Which solution for which situation?
A new pipeline
Everything is decided before backfilling. A high-performance coating, systematic defect detection before covering, effective insulating joints and a cathodic protection system sized for end of life — not for commissioning. This is the least expensive configuration to protect, and the one where mistakes are the most costly to correct.
An ageing existing network
The starting point is a diagnosis, not a purchase order. Potential measurement across the whole route, DCVG or ACVG coating defect surveys, verification of insulating joints, assessment of interference. Only then does it make sense to decide between reinforcing the cathodic protection, repairing the coating locally, or rehabilitating a section.
A complex electrical environment
Where an electrified railway, a high-voltage line or another protected network runs alongside, no solution can be designed in isolation. Stray current drainage, AC mitigation, decoupling cells and equipotential bonding become part of the design itself — and require an interference study involving the neighbouring operators.
Networks and structures we protect
The principles are the same everywhere; the constraints are not. Each sector brings its own standards, its own access conditions and its own tolerance to service interruption.
- Gas distribution and transport networks, where regulatory requirements and safety stakes are the most demanding
- Drinking water and wastewater networks, with the constraint of continuity of supply and health protection
- Oil pipelines, terminals and storage tanks, including tank bottoms and their specific current distribution
- Industrial sites: process networks, buried tanks, heat networks and utility infrastructure
- Port and marine structures, sheet piles and immersed steelwork subject to quay-vessel influence
- Reinforced concrete structures, where cathodic protection extends the service life of bridges and civil works
Equipment behind each solution
Every solution above relies on equipment we supply and hold in stock. Browse the catalogue by family.
Anodes27 products
Sacrificial and impressed current anodes, backfill and accessories.
Transformer-rectifiers14 products
Air and oil cooled units, automatic potential regulation.
Reference electrodes13 products
Cu/CuSO4 and Ag/AgCl electrodes, permanent and portable.
Measuring instruments34 products
Voltmeters, data loggers, current interrupters and remote monitoring.
Junction boxes & connections53 products
Measurement posts, junction boxes, cables and connection kits.
Duct passage25 products
Plugs, centralisers and casing accessories.
Pipe insulation13 products
Insulating joints, monobloc joints and isolating kits.
Cleaning23 products
Pigs, foam pistons and inflatable spheres.
Instrumentation9 products
Sensors, pig signallers and pipeline monitoring.
Coatings5 products
Tapes, primers and coating inspection equipment.
A cathodic protection project?
Our engineers are at your disposal to study your requirements and propose custom-built solutions.
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Sous 48h
Expertise certifiée
Ingénieurs NACE
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