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  • 01 - 1970 Estefan-Design Guide To Metallurgy & Corrosion in Hydrogen Processes

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    corrosión en procesos con hidrógeno

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    01_1970 Estefan-Design Guide to Metallurgy & Corrosion in Hydrogen Processes

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    corrosión en procesos con hidrógeno

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    20 views8 pages

    01 - 1970 Estefan-Design Guide To Metallurgy & Corrosion in Hydrogen Processes

    Uploaded by

    Ileana
    corrosión en procesos con hidrógeno

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    @ Design Guide to Metallurgy and Corrosion in Hydrogen Processes Corrosion and metallurgy in today’s all-hydrogen refinery processes differ sharply from conventional catalytic and thermal processes. Here's how to meet the design corrosion life Samir L Estefan, Jacobs Engineering Co, Pasadena, California * THe NATURE OF ConROsiON and choice of métallurgy in all-hydrogen refineries differ sharply from those in the older catalytic and thermal processes. Low-chrome stcels, considered effective in resisting sulfur attack, are a hhelples as carbon steel under the scvere corrosion ‘attacks vccurring at comparatively low sulfur levels. Chrome. nickel stainless steels have proved to be the only econon- ically attractive materials capable of withstanding the more aggresive hydrogen-rich environment. The extensive se of stainless steels has not only increased the overall project coat, sometimes estimated as high as $0 percent of the material and equipment cost, but has alo created new metallurgical problems. ‘The object of this arucie is to discuss the design con- snderations and methods needed to achieve the desired corrosion life criteria for a modem hydrogen-refinry project. While the material and examples cited here are ‘asi te the professional corrosion enginccrs itis primarily rieant to fainiliarize project engineers and equipment ‘lesigners with the techniques and problems associated with this aspect of plant design. Ie deals with the following subjects: © Common types of cotrotion, * Corrosion rate data, Selection of sicels for hydrogen service, © Corrosion life requirement, Easrocawer Proersene December 1970 © Alloys usually selected for all hydrogen project, and © A typical example that demonstrates the use of the methods described. Types of Corrosion. It is not expected that designers will become corrosion experts, nor sit intended bere to elaborate on the various types of corrosion and correxon ‘echanians encountered in all-hydrogen project How: ‘ever, it a felt that designers are curious to know the basis for theie design, and therefore the following brie! explana- tion is given, Discusion shall be limited to two common corrosion types designer can handle without need for ‘uch profesional advice. These typen are the organic sulfur compounds and the hydrogen sulfide in hydrogen- Fich environments epusteaetiretic in hydrogen-fee envioament) fuch eytems as are found in crude and vacuum units and similar systems handling hoe carbons. organic wulfur compounds will flow in the vapor and liquid process streams. These compounds, with tempera: ture, will decompose at the metal surface and attack the men converting it to wulides ia a manner salar to oxidation Wot usually at a faster rate, Carbon stel is recommended for application in this type of corraion to temperatures up to about 5S0°F, but higher temperatures ‘pay require chrome-moly stels, Stainles sel is wed only in lecatons where aan kaown wo be tree, Es rogen ich cove ‘meng’ takes place ia the feed, reaction sul sale formed by this type of corrosion is (dab ane ‘thus flakes off more readily than the oxide or the scale formed in the first type of corrosion. This distinctive characteristic is one which designers must combat by avoiding high corrosion rey, af the sale formed will collect at some eriteal point in the satem and impair operation. Catalpe bods are vulnerable to such accurmiation, DESIGN GUIDE TO METALLURGY . which results in a premature rise in the pressure drop across the bed. Mott studies have shown that straight brome steels containing up to 9 percent chmmium act the sanie as carbon steel in this type of corrotion. Inter- tniediate chrome-stoels (11-13 percent chrome) are tome. limes slightly better, Austenitie stainlessstecls ate used predominantly for excessive corrosive environments \ithough most corrosion sourecs recomnize sulfur come Pounds and hydrogen sultide to be the prime culprits, ‘other currodents such as ammonium chlorides, naphthenic acid. carbonic acid, ete., and erodents such at streain ‘elocitcs can aggravate corrosion and send the rates tours ing. Therefore, additional attention may well be justified in investigating and establishing the design corrosion allowance for the equipment. Corrosion Rate Date. There is a great deal of concern fegarding the wide variation of corrosion data reported from various sources. Some plant operatans go to. the extreme vlaiming that plants designed and. operated similarly develop different corrosion rates, probleina and pattems, With the achievements made to date in the Feld of corrosion, such statements hardly can be justified. The disagreement among the various reporting sourees can be atinbuted to vither inaccurate measurenent oe nent probably, 10 vlhanges in the operating conditions during the test period, Corrosion is a chemical reaction ‘which fiechanisins and kinetics are sensitive to a wt of operating conditions. Aone these conditions, temperature is probe ably mort promotive. Corrosion rate accelerates with ine create in operating temperature following i relationship similar to rrleniua’ Law. AAs described later, process plants are desiened for a apevitie eorrusion life according to specifi operating condi tions, In many instances, plants are not operated secords ing to the design conditions, hence the reaton for developing different corrosion rates and probleus. The author is personally aware of a dazen or more cases where in one entire or section of a process unit was operated under conditions widely divergent frurn the original design scheme. In these eases the altered operation resulted severn corrosion problems, high corrosion rates and une fortunate low of production. One type of process in wide usage today where altered ‘operating conditions have resulted in arene corrosion is the CO, absorption system in hydeogen pruction units for lyydrocrarking. Inattention to operating details lack of understanding of the consequences finery operate ing wveriev oF lack of operating knewledee has resulted in expensive failure, equipment replicenent or neve for alloy upgrading often 10 the dismay of top management. With the show L the designee should be oper= ot wuided Iv a particular case rates The following selecting corrosion rates: 1. Use wurces of corrosion rte data knonen and accepts able to the industry. such ax NACE and API Corson Data. ‘These data ure based on information conteibuted by. the industry, and are averaged and presented in usable chart forms. 2. toventiqae the specific environment of the equipment Under consideration and thet eflca on dev Gent the average conditions 3. Tnvesticate other sources of corrosion rates and select 2 final rate alter taking into consideration all factors ins volved. ln proceeding with (2) and (3) above, it is highly beneticial to seek the information available at ‘other specialized chemical, alloy and equipment suppliers. Some ‘of these companies have highly qualified and experienced {echnical perionnel in constant contact with the process industries and their own research divisions. Thear tech. nical representatives are in a good joition to assimilate experience with research and. theot 3. Process unit licensors have standard recommendations hased on their own experience. In the interest of the cuttonter, these recomendations should be reviewed in the light ‘of other experiences a ic Vite philowophy of the plant. By mutual agreement. licen ‘ors recomunendations inay be revised where found neon: G. Somne refiners have their own standard recommenda tions for metallurgy and corrosion ratcs. Tn the inure of thw contractors own obligation towards a well and ero ically designed plant, this infonnstion should be ree Viewed in the light of ather experiences. {i the absence of specifi corrosion data. Figh. 1 and 2 prewnted for estimating average desien “corrosion ates (ot carbon, chromw-mnoly. and sainlea steel, Fig 4 {0 onpanieomitur eosion -i-entrapolated: frott data. published wr-the APLL This chart is bused on averaye sulfur content. A aug ested correction factor to adjust for extremes in slfur level is offered in the insert curve. Fig. 2 can be wed for systems subject to hyetrogen-sulfide corresion in hydrogen ‘ich environments, The data used to ennstruct Fig. 2 are ‘extracted and extrapolated from original NACE dati and is presented for the five pressure groupings considered (vractical for mont designs. The corrosion rate data in Figg, | and 2 werd found to be reliable in providing a desirable degree of conservation in the dri. Tlowever they should be juicy saa When the designer feels that the specific environments of the system are different, other sourees should be investi- gated. On the other hand, the use of thi information foe equipment with metal temperatures much higher than that of the process fluid should be made with tome diacre- tion. Such conditions are encountered in direct-Gred hheater tubes, in contrast to the usual operation of process viping. Since corrosion attack uewrs on the metal aufave sad is inflewed by the actual metal temperature, some compemation should be taken in considering corrosion fates for fied heaters ‘Selection of Steels for Hydrogen Service, The final selected metallurgy for systems containing lvdrogen should safely withstand Iiydrogen attack. In addition, metallurgy for systema containing hydrogen sullide and hydrogen should be selected to satisly the cneresion desien rrquite= nt as well, Hydrogen attack on may cause blistering, embrittlement, delayed fracture. "December 1970 Hyrmocatsow ProcrssiNo fone case, a refiner built a plant in a remote area on the Persian Gulf where maintenance, transport and availe ability of trained technicians were limited. The owner decided, under these conditions, to extend the corrotion life following over-alying philosophies and fool-proof design. ‘When any or similar conditions such as those mentioned above do not influence the design life requirements, it is the general practire to design the plant on the following general basis: 20 years life. High-pressure, heavy-wall and major equip- ment which are considered a principal item requitit extended offstream period to replace. These include re actors, fractionating towers, high pressure exchanger shells, covers, and channel forgings. 10 ye life, Alloy replaceable items, stationary parts of rotating equipment. These include heavy-wall alloy pip ing, removable reactors and towers internals, heater coils, pumps and compressor casings, low pressure alloy and alloy-cladded exchangers, carbon-steel veswels, above $15,000 cost. 5 years life, Readily replaceable and spare part items which can be replaced during a scheduled turnaround /, These include carbon-stecl piping, exchanger tube-bune/ dles including baffles and tube siieets, replaceable trim / and internals for rotating equipment. Cr-Moly and Stainless Alloy Selection. Unfortunately. the knowledae of alloy and staiem steels in regard 107 available grades, their application and, most importantly, ’ their limitations, i sparse among plant designers and project envincers. This is probably due to the confusion / they face between the large number of grades in circus lation and the multitude of inlerent characteristics of the dilferent groups and types. Designers experiencing “ is difculte are referred to literature= whieh suecessully / ‘presents this information in a digestuble manner. / In selectine metallurgy for 2 plant, firt the suitable / corresion-rcasting alloys are chosen, followed by spec fieation of the type and grade which will meet the me- chanical design and fabrication requirements, The final / selection as such is an effort of a group of specialists in ‘welding, mechanical design. ete. The following are guidelines for ailoy selection: # For replacement items. limit the selection to the feweat euinber of Cr-Moly and stainlow-sicel alloss, This will minimize the wunler of diferent alloys necessary for/ the refiner to keep in stock for future maintenance. In’ audition, this will cut down field construction work. ’ ‘© Select allovs which will give the inost ceenoinical com= ination of the allowable design stresses and abil resist service deterioration under operating conditions/ ‘Samans® presented an excellent analysis of this subject including the effect and valuablenesof the various cle- rientalallay additions ta the steel. / © Avoid selections with limited market availability and those with honerline corrosion resistance. For example, ‘we have to select a chrome steel from the 5-9 percent rome range for a sistem subject to oreanie-sulfur at it might be aulvisable to leave out the ice F-chrome fittings are difficult to obtain. ILS, corrosive cnvironmens, the intermedie Hyonocanson Processinc ‘December 1970 ate chromes (11-13 percent) have exhibited widely fluctuating corrotion-reisting behavior and, therefore, theie selection might be avoided, (© Adequate consideration must be given to heat treat~ ing requirement if feld welding i to be conducted dure ing contruction or future maintenance. For example, ‘nmabilized austenite sainlen steel may become sensic tized during welding, thereby becoming susceptible to intergranular corrosion. Therefore, the stabilized grades typen 347 and 321 may be the economic choice rather than going to solution anncaling of the welds. Another ceamole frequently encountered in the selection of sain- leas steels is the martinsitic type 410 which hardens by heat application as opposed to the feritic type 405 which doesnot harden by heat application. ‘© Mechanical and physical properties alo influence f2b- eaton requirements and the final selection." An example ofthis is a tubetortube sheet weldment. The designer may select heat exchanger tubing of a stabilized austenitic stainlem for corrosion resistance with a 2/4 ing, instruments, ete. Tn developing this diagram, the designer inspeeted the analyses of the streams on the process flow shect; he ea | Se ee pat lil "December 1970 Hvonseanson Proczssrna TABLE 1—Recommended Steels for Refinery Equipment ~ a Steet Common Application Carbon Sieh, All equipment tw S0O—KMF, for all re C=4Me j Keon sem manateearne pants meroreners 1d Satna Leechs et | “ PAC eee a wart | occ ant gy 1 emer ets hag soge verte hac at wt Neher cron 1 Sua eee i Fratntege Seoete |- ver ive nating Easiomen, vies vim, over Sforeiae | tag aioe, cm, oe pes | Sartatagehageintegs Shee ecg aie san | temperatures Wwe thane aI foematas | com? tReet an eronong feces ‘heir tations. ping. exchanger hes (ot ag ‘duipment subject hig on, ‘Treen emperareneched Ss hekeer and eichinee Tubes neces Sha’ Sewele ra studied the base and alternate design cases to determine the controlling cases: he subdivided the process streatns and requested the process designer provide further break: down of the corronion agents where he tit that the cor rosion environments were axgresive and might require fa design change In ita final form, this diagram includes corrosion ine hibitor points and probe locations spccilied by the design (oF operating coinpany for onstream corrosion vontrol pro. grams. [t also includes points for bleeding nitrogen eas or circulating neutralizing solutions to protect the saine lem steel equipment in H,S bearing streains ayainst date age by polythionic acid’* when opened durine plant shut. down. TABLE 2—Corresion Design Life | sneen i teem sertce | POE Rese, [Wig | Rae Fea ter | ome ioe [REM sas g comes | 801 | renee ve sg rm iene |e eet. | Ses See rorernee tote | 12 Revetor Feed/EMuent | 10 amit Sr Event Air Cooler 0 3 547 | Emuent Trim Cooler | 5 5 Caren aud Law Chrome Sic Senin Steed

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