American Journal of Environmental Engineering 2014, 4(6): 176-181 DOI: 10.5923/j.ajee.20140406.06 Application of Anticorrosive Techniques Compatible with the Environment to Engineering Education Fernando B. Mainier * , Fabiana R. Leta, Flávio F. Feliciano Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, RJ, Brazil Abstract The media has shown the major problems caused by pipeline leaks; however, the contamination caused by storage tanks of fuel and chemicals is not always shown to the general public, especially when the holes are located on the bottom of the tank. Most of the time the groundwater contamination goes unnoticed and will only be confirmed much later when soil decontamination is impractical due to the high costs involved. Corrosion problems occurring in gas station tanks are one of the examples of the everyday discipline concerning corrosion belonging to the courses Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering of the Universidade Federal Fluminense (Fluminense Federal University), which aims to encompass anticorrosive techniques compatible with the environment through a program based on basic knowledge of corrosion and experiments. This work is an attempt to link and integrate the knowledge of corrosion and anticorrosive techniques for the benefit of the environment in order to develop a scientific-technical approach that includes ideas generated and the experiences gained in the teaching and researching of these techniques. Keywords Corrosion, Cathodic protection, Contamination, Environment 1. Introduction Carbon steel has been the most frequently used material in most segments of basic production of the assets of society. In recent decades, there has been considerable progress in both the manufacture of new ferrous alloys and the development of new materials. But, because of the low cost and the extent of the use of carbon steel, field exposure decay is also expected to occur broadly. According to Revie [1], corrosion processes have led to a number of everyday problems in construction, explosions of boilers, water mains disruptions, and oil spills caused by holes in tanks and pipelines. In petroleum refining and petrochemical facilities, about 50% of failures are attributed to materials corrosion. According to Roberge [2] and Baeckmann et al. [3], parks of fuel tanks and chemicals in general are subject to internal and external corrosion due to the products and the prevailing environmental conditions, respectively. The risk of pollution caused by leaks depends on the local hydrogeological conditions. Accidents involving environmental pollution load in the basement often involve petroleum or hazardous chemicals or both. That charge can also be caused by transport, leakage due to operational failures, or corrosion of buried pipes and * Corresponding author: fmainier@uol.com.br (Fernando B. Mainier) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/ajee Copyright © 2014 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved tanks. The numerous cases of leaks in gas stations from underground fuel storage tanks have caused irreparable damage to the environment and compromise the safety and quality of life of people living in the vicinity of these locations [4]. Generally, fuel leaks occurring at gas stations into the environment are caused by internal or external corrosion of pipes and underground tanks. Brazilian estimates show that around 40% of these leaks are caused by corrosion and the remainder by mounting failures, leaking joints, operational failures, and so on. The damage caused by corrosion damage, from the economic point of view, leads to extremely high direct and indirect costs, resulting in considerable waste of investment, not to mention accidents and loss of life, caused by contamination, pollution, and lack of safety equipment [3-5]. In assessing costs, sometimes the value of a new material to replace the old one is about 20 to 50 times more expensive events that end up determining the option to use a chemical additive to delay or inhibit the corrosion process. This leads to results which are often more disastrous, in view of the toxicity of these products, eventually leading to their dumping or leaking into the environment with much greater aggression. Due to the astronomical figures for waste – about 3.5% of Gross National Product – the major industries of the first world are investing in research in order to rethink projects and processes in a combinatorial search for solutions that are more effective and less costly.