NACE Paper No.

MECCOCT18-12509

Managing Corrosion Challenges in Crude Overhead Condensers with Intermittent

Water Wash

Swaraj Dubli
Saudi Aramco
Yanbu Refinery
P.O. Box 30028 Royal Commission of Yanbu
Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Crude tower overhead corrosion has been one of the most researched subject in the field of refinery
corrosion. Even though extensive study and work has been done in the industry, it has been still a concern
in most refineries around the world. Each overhead system has its own unique problem and hence
requires similarly unique set of solutions to effectively manage the corrosion.
In current times, it is believed and well understood that a continuous water wash system is required to
effectively manage and mitigate the overhead corrosion risk posed due to dew point acid corrosion and
ammonium chloride corrosion. But the challenge lies in managing and mitigating the corrosion risk in
overhead systems where continuous water wash is not possible.
In the current study a systematic approach has been adopted to understand the main root causes for the
corrosion (under the available intermittent water wash) and possible solution were recommended to
overcome the challenge of mitigating and managing the overhead corrosion risk and reduce the number
of leaks in the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) overhead system. In the current study various tools and
methods were deployed to optimize the water wash and ensure its effectiveness.

Keywords: Overhead corrosion, dew point acid corrosion, ammonium chloride corrosion, intermittent
water wash, Integrity Operating Windows (IOWs)
 INTRODUCTION

Corrosion in crude unit overhead has been a problem since the beginning of the petroleum refining
process. Various solutions have been adopted to overcome these challenges ranging from addition of
various chemicals to the process stream to incorporation of complex water wash system and use of
modelling tools to predict corrosion.1, 2, 3 Despite all the complex research at disposal for the industry to
combat crude unit overhead corrosion, it remains one of the most challenging issue for the refining
industry at large.
Major corrosion challenges for the crude unit overhead system are dew point corrosion, ammonium or
amine salt corrosion, under-deposit corrosion and fouling due to salt deposit, erosion-corrosion especially
at overhead piping bends and inlet of overhead condensers tubes. Industry adopted varied solutions to
overcome each specific challenge such as use of neutralizing amines or ammonia to control the pH (in
the range of 5.5 – 6.5) and corrosion inhibitors to create a protective film on the metal surface prone to
corrosion activity. Further caustic is also added to the desalted crude to lower the salt hydrolysis rate
which in turn reduces the amount of inorganic acid in the overhead. Also, one of the objective of water
wash is to enforce the water condensation before the salting point and the condensed water may wash
away the salts thereby reducing its corrosivity.4,5,6,7
Despite all the technological advancements and practices available at our disposal, there remain
challenges to overcome which are inherent in the system due to design limitations, increased processing
capacity, unit operating conditions and cost constraints.

UNIT AND CORROSION CONTROL OVERVIEW

The unit initially designed for 175,000 bpd has undergone several revamps and de-bottlenecking to
process 250,000 bpd of crude. After the revamps, the desalter vessels were under-sized for the new
processing capacity and therefore lead to more salt out of the desalter than the established limit of 1 ptb.
To overcome this challenge of high salt out due to under-sized desalters, caustic is injected downstream
of the desalters and preheat train in the hot crude stream. To control any damage due to caustic injection,
its concentration is maintained at the least in the range of 4-6 Be⁰ and injected at the center-line of the
pipe to ensure good mixing with the crude. Figure 1 below shows the trend for desalter salt out against
the acceptable threshold limit.

Figure 1: Lab results for desalter salt out analysis

Subsequently, the crude is heated in the fired heater and enters the crude column in the flash zone. The
contaminants along with hydrocarbon vapor ascend the column and reach the overhead system. The
hydrocarbon vapors reaching the overhead system contain chloride salts. In the process of cooling or
condensation in the overhead system these chloride salts hydrolyze to form hydrochloric acid. In absence
of any corrosion control measure, the untreated acid in the overhead system will cause pH to drop to
lower levels and cause accelerated corrosion. Two chemicals, which are, neutralizing amine and filming
corrosion inhibitor are dosed on the column top to neutralize the acids and form a protective layer on the
metal surface of the overhead system respectively. Even though provision for continuous water wash is
available in the overhead system, it is not being utilized. With the increased processing capacity, the
velocity in the overhead piping is in the erosional range and pose a great risk in case of presence of
condensed phase in the piping.
The overhead vapors are cooled and condensed in set of 26 fin fan coolers. These condensers have
been prone to severe corrosion due to accumulation of corrosive salt and in-effective water wash
frequency deployed. Figure 2 shows the tube failure history for the fin fan cooler prior to implementation
of the modified corrosion control strategy. The water for washing accumulated salts is injected in the inlet
piping, a meter upstream of the inlet of each fin fan. Figure 2 shows the typical geometry of the wash
water injection facility available. In the past various water wash frequencies have been adopted for salt
removal with minimal success. Details for all the water wash frequencies and their durations are
discussed in further section.
The condensed liquid is collected in the overhead vessel and boot water sample is analyzed for pH,
chlorides and iron count. The under-sized overhead vessel and its boot further inhibits increasing the
water wash quantity to be injected for removal of salts. Insufficient residence time for water separation
pose a risk of water carry over to downstream equipment and cause corrosion.

Figure 2: Tube failure history for the overhead fin fan coolers

UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM

To effectively manage the corrosion and to define a strategy for intermittent water washing in crude unit
overhead system, following are analyzed:

 Review of operations history

  Analysis of failed tube samples
 Ionic modelling simulation
Review of Operations History
As the most important parameters for monitoring any overhead corrosion control, pH, chloride levels and
iron count have been monitored in the overhead boot water sample every shift. These parameters were
in compliance over the long period of time. Figure 3 shows the pH, Figure 4 shows the compliance of
chloride and Figure 5 shows the compliance of total iron of the boot water sample. Despite deploying
various water frequencies in the past, the compliance of the corrosion monitoring parameters has been
well maintained.
It is clear from the Figure 2 that even though the compliance for corrosion parameters have been well
maintained, there have been numerous leaks reported in the overhead fin fan condensers. Thus, it is
appropriate to say that just monitoring the pH, chloride and total iron does not represent the actual
conditions that trigger the failures in the fin fan coolers.
After last debottlenecking of the unit, the capacity of the unit was increased to 250,000 bpd. With this
increase in production capacity, the velocity in the overhead piping was found to be in erosional range
and had severe corrosion reported in presence of condensed phase due to continuous wash water
injection at the column top. This lead to discontinuation of the continuous water wash and beginning of
intermittent water wash just upstream of the individual bundle. Initially a 2-hour water wash was
considered for each of the 26 bundles at the beginning of each month. This process was conducted only
once in the month and hence each bundle received water after 30 days dry period. Leaks were reported
during this period and hence after continuing this practice for two years, the water wash duration was
increased to 24 hours for each bundle thereby reducing the dry out period for each bundle to 25 days.
Due to various repeated failures in the fin fan condensers, a detailed analysis and root cause was
conducted and it was proposed to change the water wash duration to 4 hours for each bundle with a dry
time of approximately 4.5 days.

8.00

7.50

7.00

6.50

6.00

5.50

5.00

4.50

4.00

V04-SP-103.PH Min Max

Figure 3: Laboratory boot water pH analysis

 Figure 4: Laboratory boot water chloride analysis

Figure 5: Laboratory boot water iron count analysis

Analysis of Failed Tube Sample

There have been number of fin fan condensers leak reported with multiple tube failures. To understand
about the exact damage mechanism for frequent failures of these tubes, detailed investigation was
carried out for the failed tube sample.
The failed tube was found severely thinned and found with deposits. These deposits were analyzed for
composition and pH. The pH of the 1% solution of the deposit in deionized water was found to 5.28.
Further analysis of the deposit revealed the main constituents were chlorides, sulphates, ammonia and
iron. This clearly indicates that ammonium chloride salts are being deposited inside the fin fan cooler
tubes and leading to under deposit corrosion.
 Figure 6: Sliced section of failed fin fan tube

Ionic modelling simulation

Corrosion Risk Monitor (CRM)†, an ionic modelling program was used to calculate the corrosion risk of
the crude tower and the overhead piping including the condensing system. The program calculates the
dew point, velocities, and salt formation temperature of ammonia and other amines in the system at the
tower, overhead and at the dew point. The corrosion risk due to salt is measured by ΔT (temperature
difference between system and salt formation temperature) and should be more than 5.5⁰C to be in risk
free zone as industry thumb rule.
The modelling showed that salt formation temperature was reached in the fin fan bundles close to inlet.
Therefore water wash injection was required before the inlet of the bundles and it was possible to operate
without continuous water wash at the tower top as no salt was formed in the overhead piping.
It further elaborated that in absence of any condensed phase in the overhead piping, it was out of
corrosion risk zone despite velocities being in erosional ranges. This was also confirmed by ultrasonic
thickness measurements taken in the overhead piping from time to time.

RESULTS & ANALYSIS

With understanding of the operations history, ionic modelling simulation of the overhead system and
investigation analysis of the failed tube sample clearly indicated the need of improvement of water wash
for effective removal of salts from the fin fan coolers. To identify the effective water wash duration, a set
of experiments were undertaken.
Corrosion coupon was placed inside the tube of the fin fan cooler with the help of an in-house designed
coupon holder. The first set of experiment was conducted with 24 hour water wash frequency. A particular
bundle was selected for the experiment and chloride profiling of the water from the bundle was performed
for 2 hours duration. The coupons were placed inside the tube for a period of 120 days. Same experiment
was repeated with identified bundle but with a 4 hour wash water frequency. Figure 7 shows the
comparison of chloride profiling test conducted with different water wash frequencies.

___________________________________________________
†
Corrosion Risk Monitor (CRM) – A Baker Hughes Program
 Figure 7: Comparison of chloride profiling with 4 and 24 hour water wash cycles

Deposit was found on coupon which was installed in the initial phase of the experiment i.e. during 24
hours of water wash cycle however the amount of deposit was reduced to minimal with 4 hours of water
wash cycle. The salt collected in the initial phase was tested and found high with chlorides, ammonia and
iron as in case of failed tube sample.
From the above figure it is evident that the water wash is most effective for the initial 60-70 minutes from
the start of water washing. Most of the salt is removed as the water wash is started and then attain a
stable chloride levels which cannot be further reduced with the existing wash water system. It is clear
from the plots above that more salt is deposited in the tube bundles with large dry out periods.

CONCLUSIONS AND WAY FORWARD

With the implementation of increased frequency of 4-hour water wash helps in effectively removing the
deposited salts from the tube bundle. Minimum amount of salt are deposited with low dry out time which
can be easily removed with the amount of wash water available for removal thereby reducing the
corrosion rate in the fin fan cooler. This was also confirmed by measurement of corrosion rate of the
coupons placed inside the fin fan cooler.

As the initial one hour is been most effective period for salt removal from the bundle, there is scope of
further increasing the frequency of the water wash to 1 or 2 hours and reduce the dry out period to 2.5
days but this is practically difficult to implement as all the valves are manually controlled.

As an outcome of ionic modelling, it was also found that providing wash water injection in sub headers
after the main overhead piping can provide effective scrubbing of the contaminant in the short residence
time provided water is injected at the location and in correct quantity. Some paper have also suggested
the use stronger base amines in conjunction with existing neutralizing amine to reduce the corrosivity of
the salts thereby increasing the life of the fin fan coolers. (8)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to thank Toney K Joy for his rough draft and final review of the paper. I would also like to
express my gratitude towards Saudi Aramco Yanbu Refinery Management for their support and
encouragement for undertaking this task.
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