Yolanda De-Abreu

Yolanda De-Abreu joined ChampionX in 2010 and is currently a corporate scientist within our Chemical Technologies asset integrity team. During this time, she has been involved and responsible for various projects related to corrosion, failure analysis, and electrochemistry.

After gaining her undergraduate degree in Materials Engineering from Simon Bolivar University (USB) in Venezuela in 1990, Yolanda went on to achieve a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering in France.

In her current role, she conducts scientific research in partnership with her ChampionX colleagues as well as external partners, such as universities, to develop or improve existing processes. Her passion motivates her to pursue and identify new technologies and solutions which address our customers’ challenges. Yolanda’s work has introduced sophisticated electrochemical techniques to ChampionX for quickly screening product compatibility in a way that compliments traditional materials compatibility corrosion testing. This drastically reduces the time to screen, select, and qualify new chemical product formulations.

Yolanda explained: “I have always enjoyed how varied my role is, and ChampionX’s dedication to continuous improvement is why I’ve worked here for over 10 years. Curiosity is what led me to study science and engineering, and the company provides me with the flexibility to continue exploring by working with my colleagues and customers to try new things and investigate new solutions.”

As president of ChampionX’s IMPACTO! Employee Resource Group, Yolanda regularly shares her knowledge and experience with younger generations and works particularly close with those of Hispanic/Latino descent, sharing her learnings and experiences to support their career growth.

Her expertise in corrosion and material science has also resulted in the collaborative development of a patent application on hydrogen compatible chemistry. Last year, the results were presented at the Pipeline Technology Conference in Berlin. Once Yolanda and her colleagues understood which chemistries are compatible with specific materials used in transporting hydrogen, the second part of the investigation was to understand which molecules work as a barrier to hydrogen ingress.

“I began my post-doctoral work in hydrogen research, and now I can see how the practice of blending hydrogen presents new opportunities and technical challenges for us to solve related to chemical compatibility and the prevention of hydrogen damage to infrastructure that will be used to transport hydrogen blended with natural gas.  I look forward to presenting our work that has the potential to unlock existing infrastructure for hydrogen transport.”

Yolanda will present the findings of her most recent investigation at this year’s Pipeline Technology Conference in Berlin on Wednesday, April 10, 2024.

Learn more about hydrogen compatibility with gas production chemicals: https://www.pipeline-conference.com/abstracts/chemistry-matters-hydrogen-compatibility-gas-production-chemicals