A new year means a fresh start in areas that were less than successful last year. When it comes to corrosion control, the rewards of making and keeping practical corrosion resolutions are not only satisfying but often save time and money. For those who want to do better in 2025, Cortec® Corporation suggests the following five resolutions to kickstart the year.

New parts that arrive at their destination speckled with rust are almost sure to prompt customer complaints and demands to make things right. The easy way to avoid such headaches and losses is to implement a rust preventative packaging plan that matches the shipping environment and duration. The possible combinations of VpCI® packaging are endless, but some favorites include slipping a Cor-Pak® 1-MUL Pouch inside small packages (one per cubic foot [28 L]), wrapping auto parts in CorShield® VpCI®-146 Paper, or adding BioPad® to a VpCI®-126 Bag filled with metal components. Vapor phase Corrosion Inhibitors diffuse out of these materials and form a protective molecular layer on metal surfaces within the package.

Good corrosion protection also plays a vital part in mission readiness. Power plants, hospitals, and oil and gas facilities need to have critical spares and redundant assets to back up primary turbines, boilers, pumps, and other components in case of failure. Once again, Vapor phase Corrosion Inhibitors in the form of VpCI® packaging or water treatment (e.g., Boiler Lizard® or Boiler Dragon™) provide comprehensive protection and are relatively easy to remove, minimising installation delays and maximising uptime.

Unfortunately, many facilities already have thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of rusty spares stored in warehouses. These represent a major liability to the facility, especially if a replacement is not available when needed, leading to financial losses from production downtime. Fortunately, it is not all that hard to set up a rust removal station with three containers: one with VpCI®-422, one with rinse water, and one with VpCI®-414 for neutralisation and flash corrosion protection. Dipping rusty components in this sequence of liquids has resulted in many success stories and an estimated millions of dollars in assets reclaimed around the world.

Members of the concrete industry have been finding that it can be tough to find sustainable solutions that do not shorten service life. Cortec® MCI® is one technology that looks at the bigger picture and supports sustainable construction by slowing down the corrosion process on embedded rebar. By extending service life, less replacement concrete will need to be made through energy-intensive, carbon emitting processes. For an added sustainability perk, engineers can specify MCI®-2005, a corrosion inhibiting admixture that is a USDA Certified Biobased Product.

In addition to MCI®-2005, Cortec® has a long list of USDA Certified Biobased Products that can be used for corrosion control with a nod to sustainability. These include more popular products such as VpCI®-422, BioCorr®, EcoShield® VpCI®-144, and BioPad®, as well as newer options such as CorroLogic® CUI Inhibitor Injection (for inhibiting corrosion under insulation) and EcoLine® AL-Corr™ (for protecting aluminum irrigation pipes).