Failure of a carbon steel gas feed inlet nozzle of an absorber tower due to severe localised corrosion was observed after three years of successful operation of a hydrogen plant. Other areas of corrosion, repetitive nature of the failure and the repair procedures adopted, with their merits and disadvantages are discussed. Corrosion problems in the potassium carbonate circulating lines are elucidated. Though the exact causes of the above corrosion problems are uncertain, increasing CO2 content in the feed gas, decreasing strength of the vanadium pentoxide inhibitor in the solution and the suspended solids present in the liquid are found to be of contributing factors to the localised corrosion. Replacement of carbon steel nozzles with stainless steel roll clad material is considered as a long term reliable solution.

Subject
Materials, Piping, Nickel based alloys, Nozzles, Vanadium, Potassium, Flanges, Mechanical failure, Repair, Towers, Carbon steel, Localized corrosion, Stainless steel
© 1989 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1989
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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