Corrosion Tests on the hot water return to the cooling tower in a nitrogen plant showed the corrosion rates on mild steel to be 10 to 15 mils per year. For these tests, a piece of jacketed steel pipe was placed in the system so that the test pipe was heated with steam to maintain active heat transfer as the water passed through.
Although the corrosion rates were high and probably would have caused heat exchanger problems a shutdown occurred because of other reasons.
Considerable difficulty was experienced in eliminating algae growth on the top deck of the cooling water during the initial start-up of the plant. This area was under optimum conditions for good algae growth with adequate sunlight and desirable water temperature. Large quantities of chlorine were necessary before adequate algae kill was obtained. Physical removal was accomplished only by brushing the algae growth loose and letting it...
