Technical & Commercial Comparison

(material selection for High pressure pumps and piping)

Introduction

A technical submission has been previously submitted highlighting the excellent corrosion resistance
and superior mechanical properties of SDSS (UNS S32760 Zeron 100 or equivalent) compared to
superustentitic Steel 254 SMO UNS S31254. This concluded reccomending the specificaiton of UNS
S32760 (Zeron100) in the technical specification for MARAFIQ.

Figure 1 below plots the relative localised corrosion resistance as quantified by the PREN number
against the strength level of these steels. From this it can be seen that the family of duplex steels mirrors
the family of austenitic stainless steels in terms of corrosion resistance but with the benefit of 2 x
strength and the added benefit of higher resistance to chloride stress corrosion cracking.

Figure 1 : PREn versus 0.2 proof stress for various austenitic and duplex steels

MARAFIQ has requested a commercial comparison of the two options. The commericial comparison
needs to be carried out considering both the specific price of the material and the thickness that is
specifically required by the allowable strenght of the material selected.

Yanbu SWRO Page 1 of 5

 Technical & Commercial Comparison of Super Duplex Stainless Steel

Table 1 below shows the composition and mechanical strength of a range of stainless steels used in
SWRO Plants and in particular of Zeron 100 and 254 SMO that are the specific materials considered in
the comparison.

0.2%
Proof UTS
ALLOY NOMINAL COMPOSITION (WT%) Stress (MPa)
Fe Cr Ni Mo Cu W N PREN (MPa)

316L bal 17 10 2 - - - 24 170 485

904L bal 20 25 4.5 1 - - 35 215 490

6Mo Aust. bal 20 18 6 0.7 - 0.2 43 300 650

Zeron 100 bal 25 7 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.25 >40 550 750
(Wrought)
Zeron 100 bal 25 8 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.25 >40 450 700
(Cast)
Table 1 composition and mechanical strength of a range of stainless steels used in SWRO Plants.

Figure 2 below shows the allwoable stresses for super austenitic steel 254 SMO agains the temperature
as per ASME VII div 1.

Yanbu SWRO Page 2 of 5

 Technical & Commercial Comparison of Super Duplex Stainless Steel

Figure 2 allwoable stresses for super austenitic steel 254 SMO agains the temperature as per ASME VII
div 1.

Table 2 below shows the allowable stresses for pipework and vessels of SASS and SDSS alloys according
to British and American vessel and pipe codes. As it can be seen from the table below the design stress
for temeprature up to 40C is much lower for Super austenitic steel 254 SMO. This therefore results in
higher thickness for the mateiral selected.

DESIGN STRESS FOR TEMPERATURES UP TO 40°C (100°F)

MATERIAL
PD5500 (formerly ASME VIII div.1 ASME B31.3
BS5500)

6% Mo (UNS S31254) 207 MPa (*Note 1) 185 MPa 207 MPa (*Note 1)

Zeron 100 (UNS 319 MPa (*Note 2) 214 MPa (*note 2) 250 MPa
S32760)

Table 2 allowable stress for pipework and vessels

Yanbu SWRO Page 3 of 5

 Technical & Commercial Comparison of Super Duplex Stainless Steel

Piping calculations

Taking typical SWRO conditions of 70 bar max pressure and 40°C max design temperature it is possible
to calculate for a given pipe diameter the wall thickness required to contain the pressure.

B31.3 is a widely used US Standard for pressure piping. The required pressure piping wall thickness may
be calculated according to ASME B31.3-2014 section 304.1.2 per Following formula provided in ASME
B31.1 for the pipes under internal pressure gas been adopted to calculate the pipe thickness.

P ∙ 𝐷𝑜
𝑇𝑚 = +𝐴
2(𝑆 ∙ 𝐸 + 𝑃 ∙ 𝑌)

Where
 Tm is the minimum calculated thickness
 P is the internal pressure
 Do is the outer diameter of the pipe in inches
 S is the allowable stress of the pipe
 E is the joint efficiency
 Y is a factor to adopted from ASME B31.1
 A is additional thickness to compensate if material is removed and corrosion allowance

The result of this exercise for a range of pipe sizes is shown in Table 3 Below.

Zeron 100
NPS Nom Sch (mm) Nom. Sch (mm)
Wall Wall
(mm) (mm)
1.5 0.921 1OS 2.77 0.763 1OS 2.77
4 2.181 1OS 3.05 1.807 1OS 3.05
6 3.211 1OS 3.40 2.660 1OS 3.40
8 4.180 20 6.35 3.463 1OS 3.76
14 6.785 20 7.92 5.620 10 6.35
16 7.754 20 7.92 6.423 20 7.92
18 8.724 30 11.13 7.226 20 7.92
20 9.693 30 12.70 8.029 20 9.53
22 10.662 30 12.70 8.832 20 9.53
24 11.631 30 14.27 9.635 30 14.27
Table 3 : pipe wall thickness calculated per ASME B31.3 internal pressure 70 bars (1015 psi), at 100°f
(40°c)

Yanbu SWRO Page 4 of 5

 Technical & Commercial Comparison of Super Duplex Stainless Steel

Commercial prices

The prices available in the market for the two alloys in comparison are as follows :

 Price of Zeron 100 ERW/Welded Pipe : $ 16500 ~ $ 18000 USD / Ton

 Price of 254 SMO ERW/Welded Pipe : $ 20000 ~ $ 21500 USD / Ton

The fact that Zeron 100 is cheaper is mainly dictated by the lower amount of Nicker and Chromium in
the alloy. This also gives stability to the price.

The table below shows an estimation of the savings per m linear of pipe achieved in the case of Zeron
100 selection.

The savings arise from the lower price of the alloy and whenever the schedule allows in the selection of
a lower schedule for Zeron 100 for the same design pressure due to the higher tensile strength and
allowable design stress.

254SMO Zeron 100

Nom Nom. Nom. Delta
Nom Saving
NPS Wall Sch (mm) Weight Wall Sch (mm) Weight
Weight US$/m)
(mm) (Kg/m) (mm) (kg/m)
1.5 0.921 1OS 2.77 2.5 0.8 1OS 2.8 2.5 0.0 8.7
4 2.181 1OS 3.05 7.6 1.8 1OS 3.1 7.6 0.0 26.6
6 3.211 1OS 3.4 12.8 2.7 1OS 3.4 12.8 0.0 44.8
8 4.18 20 6.35 31.6 3.5 1OS 3.8 19.0 -12.6 609.9
14 6.785 20 7.92 69.6 5.6 10.0 6.4 56.1 -13.5 778.7
16 7.754 20 7.92 79.8 6.4 20.0 7.9 79.8 0.0 279.2
18 8.724 30 11.13 125.5 7.2 20.0 7.9 89.9 -35.6 1843.5
20 9.693 30 12.7 159.0 8.0 20.0 9.5 120.1 -38.9 2094.0
22 10.662 30 12.7 175.3 8.8 20.0 9.5 132.3 -43.0 2311.9
24 11.631 30 14.27 214.7 9.6 30.0 14.3 214.7 0.0 751.6
Table 4 : Commerical comaprison and price saving estimation for 254 SMO and SDSS Zeron 100

This table is made conservatively for a design value of 70 bar but it is very likely that the selection pf the
design pressure is going to be in the range of 85-100 bars and in this case obviously the thickness
selection for SDSS would provide additional advantages.

Conclusions and Recommendation

It can be seen that from both a technical and a commercial point of view, the selection of SDSS Zeron
100 as per UNS S32760 (or equivalent) is both the most technically reliable as well as the most cost
effective solution. It is therefore recommended to specify SDSS Zeron 100 as per UNS S32760 (or
equivalent) for high pressure pumps and pipework as part of the RfP Package for SWRO Plant at Yanbu
II.

Yanbu SWRO Page 5 of 5