Institution: Imperial College London
Innovation Focus: Real time high-temperature corrosion monitoring technologies
Sectors Impacted: Energy, Chemicals, and Beyond: hydrogen, nuclear, and clean energy sectors.
Corrosion is a billion-dollar problem-costing the oil & gas sector alone $8 billion per year in the US. Traditional inspection methods can’t monitor equipment in real-time or during operation, forcing costly shutdowns and risking safety failures.
Imperial College London developed two breakthrough corrosion monitoring technologies that operate in real-time, one under extreme heat (up to 600°C), and another through protective coatings—solving critical challenges in petrochemical, power generation, and process industries.
Permasense Ltd employs ~45 staff and was acquired for £32.4M by Emerson, a global industrial leader
Over 20,000 sensors deployed in 200+ industrial sites worldwide in first few years of operation
Generated $72M+ in sales during the period 2014-2020
Delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in annual savings for end users
BP: Safely processed cheaper, corrosive crude oil, unlocking €100M profit in 2.5 years at one refinery alone.
Shell Brunei: Enabled additional oil and gas production worth $11M per year, by reducing risk classifications.
PTTGC (Thailand): Cut chemical inhibitor costs by $300K annually, while improving asset safety.
Global Sites: Reduced unplanned shutdowns, extended equipment life, and minimised manual inspections, improving both safety and profitability.
Enables processing of lower-cost feedstocks
Real-time data reduces downtime and maintenance costs
Lowers workforce exposure to hazardous environments
Grew to be a global industry standard, with continued use and further potential application across the energy and chemicals sectors, and beyond (hydrogen, nuclear, clean energy sectors, etc.).
RCNDE helps to create success stories such as this one by:
UK research output and NDE technology now delivers global impact—transforming asset management and safety across energy, chemicals, and heavy industry.
