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Failure Analysis of Air Cooler Tubes in a Gas Refinery

Journal Name:

  • International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations

Publication Year:

  • 2017

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Abstract (2. Language): 
Corrosion-erosion phenomena are the common cause the failures of the air cooler tubes in gas refineries. This paper studies such failures experienced in gas dehydration unit of Parsian Gas Refinery, Iran. Surface analysis of the failed sections through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction, Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were performed. During gas dehydration process, all parts of fin fan coolers suffer from different types of corrosion such as sweet (CO2) corrosion, dew-point corrosion, high temperature corrosion, and erosion. In the operational condition of the air cooler, temperature drops dramatically from 250 to 50 ˚C at a pressure of 78 bar and as a result a considerable amount of water condensate inside tubes. Presence of water and corrosive components of the gas stream combined with high temperature, accelerate corrosion processes. XRD analysis of the scales, formed inside the heat exchanger tubes, revealed presence of aluminum oxide particles. This indicated that particles have detached form the molecular sieve bed and entered the gas phase. Corrosion-erosion processes are accelerated with presence of solid particles in the gas stream. CO2 is the only acid gas present in the feeding gas stream. Therefore, CO2 corrosion is expected to be responsible for the occurred corrosion attacks on the tube surfaces. Moreover, XRD data confirmed presence FeCO3 in the scale. This indicated that CO2 corrosion is dominant in the studied system.
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International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 6, Issue 62, March 2017 195
www.IJSEI.com Paper ID: 66217-23
ISSN: 2251-8843
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