Don Harrop BSc(Hons), FICorr, FEFC

Education and Working Career 

Honours graduate (1971) in Chemistry from the University of London followed by postgraduate research in electrochemistry.

1975 to 1977 - UK Building Research Establishment

Higher Scientific Officer working on corrosion of reinforced concrete structures including production of related industry Codes of Practice.

1977 to 2011 - BP

Located in central technology and engineering supporting BP's global Upstream Business (major new projects and ongoing operations) in all aspects of corrosion and materials variously as:

• 1981 - 1987:  Materials & Corrosion R&D Team Leader, BP Research
• 1987 - 1989:  Senior Research Associate in Corrosion, BP Research
• 1989 - 2001:  Principal Engineer in Materials & Corrosion, Engineering Shared Services, 
• 2001 - 2004:  Facilities Engineering Team Leader, Upstream Technology Group 
• 2000 - 2011:  Member of the Upstream Innovation Board
• 2004 - 2007:  Integrity Management Technology Programme Manager, Upstream Central Engineering
• 2008 - 2011:  Chair of the Upstream Innovation Board
• 2006 - 2011:  Upstream Engineering Technical Authority and Group Senior Advisor in Materials & Corrosion.

This included direct support to the development, commissioning and/or operation of many BP Exploration fields around the world, including - Alaska; Algeria; Angola; Azerbaijan; Colombia; Egypt; GoM; Indonesia; Iraq; Middle East; North Sea; Oman; Russia; Trinidad.  Retired from BP in October 2011, at 60 years of age. 

2012 to 2015 - University of Manchester

Visiting Professor in the School of Materials, within the Corrosion & Protection Centre.

2015 to present – Senior Associate PEP

Professional Activities

• Past President (1994 to 1996) and Honorary Life Fellow (FICorr) of the UK Institute of Corrosion (ICorr)
• Current member of ICorr Council, its Professional Development & Training Committee, and assessor of professional member applications
• Past President (2001 to 2003) and Honorary Life Fellow (FEFC) of the European Federation of Corrosion (EFC)
• Member of the EFC Board of Administrators (BoA) (1991 to 2014), and currently an elected member (since 2010) of Science & Technology Advisory Committee (STAC)
• Active member of NACE (National Association of Corrosion Engineers, USA) International for 37 years
• Past Vice President (2011) of the UN World Corrosion Organisation (WGO)
• Current UK representative (since 2003) on the International Corrosion Council (ICC)
• Member (1999 to 2011) of the Structural Materials College of the UK Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
• Served as external PhD examiner at University of Sheffield and Imperial College, London 
• Member (2005 to 2015) of the UK Government National Measurement Office Work Group for funding Materials Metrology Research in the UK
• Member (since 2012) of the Industrial Steering Committee for the University of Manchester / University of Sheffield Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Advanced Metallic Systems                                                                                                                                                                                        

Career Major Research and Technology Activities

• Development of electrochemical process for the deposition of alumina films for corrosion protection and decorative applications
• Development of potentiostatic and galvanostatic approaches to study of the corrosion of reinforcing steels embedded in concrete
• Development of an electrochemical approach for assessing pitting and Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) susceptibility of a range high alloy stainless steels, titanium, tantalum and zirconium used as materials of construction for reactor vessels and pipework exposed to acetic acid / acetic anhydride.
• Development of industry leading test facilities and methodologies for testing and selecting oilfield corrosion inhibitor
• Application of electrochemical noise to laboratory and field corrosion studies and monitoring
• Use of Second Harmonic Generation laser reflection measurements combined with rotating cylinder electrode for in situ study and characterisation of corrosion inhibitor surface films
• Application of the slow strain rate technique for assessing a material’s susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking especially under sour (H2S) saline conditions
• Application of molecular modelling for understanding the functionality of oilfield corrosion inhibitors and development of green chemistries
• Developed in-field deployment of renovation process for recovering acceptable service fatigue life (>10 years) of damaged production, water injection and gas injection flexible risers during installation
• First subsea application (500m water depth) of platelets pipeline sealing technology to successfully seal a leak in a high pressure sea water injection line
• As part of Field of the Future technology established the basis for developing a data-to-desktop (D2D) approach to real time infield corrosion prediction and management 

Publications, Teaching and Reviews

• Written and presented 41 papers, many invited, at international conferences and in journals on corrosion research, technology and engineering activities
• Written over 80 internal technical reports covering fundamental research and technology development projects and engineering codes of practice and engineering technical best practices
• Co-authored with Dr Bijan Kermani a book entitled - Corrosion and Materials in Hydrocarbon Production: A Compendium of Operational and Engineering Aspects - published by Wiley, April 2019
• Conducted many technology and in-field technical and engineering reviews, including failure analyses, while working for BRE, BP and latterly as an independent consultant
• Taught on many internal and external training courses on materials and corrosion fundamentals, technology and engineering application. 
• Since 2010, invited lecturer on oilfield corrosion at the University of Manchester MSc course on Corrosion Control Engineering