Chapter 9

ANODIC PROTECTION

9.1 INTRODUCTION
Use of anodic protection (AP) can be considered when coating and cathodic pro-
tection techniques are not suitable for protecting a structure against corrosion.
The AP technique is normally used very successfully in aggressive environments,
such as sulfuric acid and mild solutions [1-4]. The main requirement
for AP is that the material to be protected must exhibit an active-passive be-
havior, but the passive potential range must be wide enough and the passive
current must be sufficiently low as compared with the corrosion current. Thus,
a potentiostat can be used to supply a potential in the passive region of a po-
larization diagram, but potential monitoring is necessary; otherwise, a potential
deviation can make the material to become active and anodic protection is lost.
In anodic protection the structure to be protected is the anode by connecting
it to the positive terminal of an electrochemical circuit, whereas the negative
cathode is made of steel or graphite. On the other hand, in cathodic protection,
the structure to be protected is made the cathode (positive).

9.2 DESIGN CRITERIA

Anodic protection, like cathodic protection, is an electrochemical technique in
which the metal or structure is polarized from the critical current density
as schematically shown in Figure 9.1. In order to anodically protect a structure,
such as sulfuric acid storage steel tanks, heat exchangers, and trans-
portation vessels [2,5], the critical current density is high in the active state,
but the goal is to force the active state change to a passive state at a potential
as shown in Figure 9.1. Thus, the protective parameters are
296 CHAPTER 9. ANODIC PROTECTION

Also included in Figure 9.1 is an schematic Pourbaix diagram (potential-

pH diagram) showing the electrochemical regions needed for characterizing the
electrochemical behavior of a metal immersed in an electrolyte. This diagram is
related to the polarization diagram (Figure 9.1b). Observed the correspondence
of potential in both diagrams. As indicated in Chapter 3, the Pourbaix diagram
does not give an indication of the rate of reaction, but the polarization curve
does at a pH value indicated by a downward arrow in Figure 9.1a.
Hence, a structure is anodically protected if the metal is active-passive and
shows a sufficiently large passive potential range, eq. (9.1), due to the formation
of a dynamic oxide film. This implies that the current density depends on time
and therefore, the power supply must provide the required potential so
that Thus, anodic polarization results due to the formation of
an insoluble oxide film of a few in thickness. The effectiveness of anodic
protection depends on the quality of the oxide film in a particular environment
and the applied potential. For instance, if the applied potential is
then the film corrodes by pitting, which is a localized electrochemical process.
On the other hand, if the metal corrodes by general and uniform
process.
Passivation may be accomplished due to the accumulation of reacting ions
forming an oxide film (metallic coating) on the anode surface. Consequently,
the current flowing from the anode to the electrolyte reduces since the metallic
coating has a high electric resistance. This can be defined by Ohm’s law

Figure 9.2 shows a schematic set up for AP of a steel tank for storing an acid
solution. Normally, sufficiently large cathodes are needed in order to compensate