Alloy Selection for Dilute and Medium Concentration Sulfuric Acid | ... https://onepetro.org/NACECORR/proceedings-abstract/CORR04/All-...

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Alloy Selection for Dilute and Medium Concentration Sulfuric Acid


Ulrich Brill; Helena Alves
Paper presented at the CORROSION 2004, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2004.
Paper Number: NACE-04233
Published: March 28 2004

INTRODUCTION
ABSTRACT
Sulfuric acid is one of the most important elementary substances of the chemical industry.
The acid has found a wide variety of applications in industry today, e.g. fertilizer, chemicals,
pigments & paints, petroleum, textiles & �lms, iron and steel etc..

Because of the changing character of the acid over the concentration, i.e. for concentrations
higher than about 85 % the acid becomes oxidizing, there is no stainless steel or even a
nickel base alloy available which is suitable over the entire concentration range up to boiling
temperature. Alloys like 825 and alloy 20 can be used today only for temperatures up to 50
°C.

This paper will give corrosion data in up to 75 % sulfuric acid at boiling temperature for
various commercial grades as well as for some new developmental alloys.

The in�uence of copper and silicon additions on the corrosion resistance is described. On the
basis of the bene�cial in�uence of some element additions a new alloy modi�cation for
service in diluted and medium concentrated sulfuric acid up to boiling temperature was
tested.

Sulphuric acid (H2SO,) is one of the basic raw materials for the chemical industry. It is used in
nu-merous processes as a reagent, as a catalyst and as a drying agent. Examples of the wide-
ranging applications of this acid include the treatment of raw phosphates in the fertilizer
industry, the treatment of titanium ores for the production of titanium dioxide, the
manufacture of phosphoric and hydro�uoric acid and the wide �eld of organic chemical
synthesis, for example in sulphonation and nitration.

Sulfuric acid is very corrosive/~/. The diluted and medium concentrated acid is best handled
by materials resistant to reducing conditions. AISI types 304 and 316 stainless steels are
used to handle very diluted acid at low temperature. At higher concentrations and
temperatures the use of materials like high alloyed stainless steels and nickel based alloys

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Alloy Selection for Dilute and Medium Concentration Sulfuric Acid | ... https://onepetro.org/NACECORR/proceedings-abstract/CORR04/All-...

become necessary. Alloy 20, alloy 825, alloy 926, alloy 31 and B-alloys are typical examples.
 825
The nickel based alloys Cite and
 beShare
20 can used   Search
for temperatures up toSite
approx. 50 °C.

The high alloyed austenitic stainless steel alloy 31 shows a more extended suitability. For
example, in aerated technical sulfuric acid (up to 90%) its corrosion rate was <0. l mm/y up to
at least 80°C/2/. In addition, this alloy exhibits good corrosion resistance to pitting and
crevice corrosion/3/.

In highly concentrated sulphuric acid only few materials were available until recently which
offered adequate corrosion resistance at temperatures above 120 °C. As a result the
operating temperatures for the downstream equipment such as heat exchangers, pumps and
piping had to be reduced leading to considerable energy losses. For components operating at
these lower sulphuric acid temperatures various special materials are used, such as

Ø high-silicon steels, e.g. for acid distribution systems (replacing cast iron which suffers
mainte-nance problems),

Ø high-chromium low carbon stainless steels like alloy 310 L (1.4335) used for plate heat ex-
changers (acid coolers),

Ø also the nickel-based alloy C-276 (2.4819) was successfully used for plate heat exchangers
(acid coolers),

Ø anodically protected type 300 series stainless steels; for example type 316 L has been used
successfully for tubular heat exchangers and piping systems. In case of tubular heat coolers
using sea- or brackish water anodically protected alloy 926 (1.4529) is preferable.

Keywords: materials and corrosion, alloy modification, sulfuric acid, metals & mining, riser
corrosion, corrosion rate, flowline corrosion, Subsurface Corrosion, alloy 31, corrosion test

Subjects: Pipelines, Flowlines and Risers, Materials and corrosion, Well Integrity, Subsurface
corrosion (tubing, casing, completion equipment, conductor)

This content is only available via PDF.

2004. NACE International

You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.

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