23/03/2024, 09:28 Alloy Selection for Dilute and Medium Concentration Sulfuric Acid | NACE CORROSION | OnePetro

Alloy Selection for Dilute and Medium Concentration

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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 & films, 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 influence of copper and silicon additions on the corrosion resistance is described. On the basis
of the beneficial influence of some element additions a new alloy modification 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
hydrofluoric acid and the wide field 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 become necessary. Alloy 20,
alloy 825, alloy 926, alloy 31 and B-alloys are typical examples. The nickel based alloys 825 and
20 can be used for temperatures up to 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

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be reduced leading to considerable energy losses. For components operating at these lower
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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)

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