Month: January 2023

Corrosion in fertilizer industry – Part 1.1

The fertilizer industry is as complex as any other industry in terms of corrosion.

Its corrosion issues begin from the storage area itself.

There are four major areas that need to be looked at from the corrosion point of view –

  1. Production
  2. Storage
  3. Transportation
  4. Field application

In the production stage, there are a few sub-steps.

The first step begins with desulphurization.
The motive is to remove the sulphur.
This sulphur is present in the feedstock, which is the raw material to make the hydrogen for ammonium.
The feedstock is petroleum and sulphur is an impurity. Along with this, there may be some produced water as well.
This petroleum is stored in tanks made of carbon steel.
It is transported to the process through carbon steel pipelines.
Carbon steel is said to have less severe corrosion due to elemental sulphur.

This corrosion due to elemental sulphur has mechanisms different from sulphidation and hydrogen sulphide corrosion.

Watch the video for a detailed explanation

Click here for PART 1.2!


😀Happy learning!😀

What is a Corrosion Loop – PART 2 – EXAMPLE

How to prepare a corrosion loop?

To prepare a corrosion loop, the person in charge will look at the overall picture and answer the following questions –

1. What is the process?

2. What are the components?

3. What are the materials for each component?

4. What are the common features among them?

5. Where does the commonality end? –  This is important as that will mark the beginning of a new corrosion loop.

6. Can I use the same inspection procedure for all of them?

7. Do they corrode/get damaged in the same manner due to the same reasons?

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A DETAILED EXPLANATION – 

    

Read part 1 here!


😀Happy learning!😀

What is a Corrosion Loop – PART 1 – CONCEPT

Corrosion loop is used to simplify inspection procedures in refining processes.

Corrosion loop is defined as a group of components with common materials, processes, and operating parameters. 

Source: Rachman, A. and Ratnayake, R.M.C. (2020), “Corrosion loop development of oil and gas piping system based on machine learning and group technology method”, Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 349-368. https://doi.org/10.1108/JQME-07-2018-0058

It is needed when the scenario has –

1. Complex process

2. Several variables such a materials of construction, process parameters, functions

3. Multiple damage mechanisms

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR A DETAILED EXPLANATION –

Click here for part 2!


😀Happy learning!😀