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Summary
Service experience from 27 seawater
reverse osmosis (SWRO) plants
confirms that there is an evident risk
of corrosion if wrong steel grade is
used for the high pressure piping.
Neither 316L nor 317L possesses
sufficient corrosion resistance. Not
even highly alloyed grades like 2205
and 904L show reliable service
performance. However, no corrosion
has been reported for 254 SMO,
which has been used in 16 full
strength SWRO plants and several
plants using high salinity brackish
water.
Steel composition
in relation to
corrosion resistance
The resistance of a steel, austenitic
or ferritic-austenitic, to pitting and
crevice corrosion is enhanced by
increasing contents of chromium,
molybdenum, and nitrogen. A rough
estimation of the resistance of a steel
to pitting and crevice corrosion can
be obtained by assigning different
weighting factors to these three most
important alloying elements when
calculating a so called Pitting Resistance Equivalent (PRE) factor. The
following formula is often used (1):
PRE = %Cr + 3.3 x %Mo + 30 x %N
The PRE-factor can be used as an
indication of what pitting and crevice
corrosion resistance a steel with a
certain composition can be expected
to have, provided the steel has been
manufactured, heat treated and
conditioned in a proper way. The
typical chemical compositions and
corresponding PRE values of some
commonly used stainless steels are
shown in Table 1.
Table 1.
Typical chemical compositions and PRE values for various steel grades.
Steel designations
Avesta Sheffield
ASTM
17-11-2L
18-14-3L
2205
904L
254 SMO
654 SMO
316L
317L
S31803
N08904
S31254
S32654
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.06
0.08
0.15
0.06
0.20
0.50
17
18.5
22
20
20
24
11.5
13.5
5.5
25
18
22
2.2
3.2
3
4.5
6.1
7.3
254 SMO and 654 SMO are registered trademarks of Avesta Sheffield AB.
PRE
26
31
36
37
46
63
Laboratory ranking
of steel grades
A calculated PRE value will give an
indication of the corrosion resistance,
but the ranking of different steel
grades in a specific environment is
best carried out by some form of
corrosion testing. Crevice corrosion is
often the main problem in SWRO
plants but it might be difficult to
reproduce crevice conditions when
performing crevice corrosion tests, so
pitting tests are often used instead.
One commonly used pitting corrosion test is to measure the lowest
temperature, CPT or critical pitting
temperature, at which pitting occurs
on the steel surface after 24 hours of
exposure to 6% FeCl3. Another way of
settling a CPT value is from polarization curves plotted for a series of
temperatures at which the steel is
exposed to 1M NaCI. By utilizing a
special electrochemical cellthe
Avesta Pitting Celldisturbing effects
from simultaneous crevice corrosion
are eliminated (2). Results from both
tests are compared to PRE values in
Table 2. The table illustrates that a
high PRE factor usually accounts for
good results in corrosion tests. However, the corrosion resistance of the
different steel grades differs so much
that all of them cannot be compared
in the same test. The CPT for 316L is
just above the freezing point of the
ferric chloride solution while the best
grade, 654 SMO, resists the highest
obtainable temperatures in both test
methods.
Since steels with high resistance to
pitting also have a high resistance to
crevice corrosion, the same ranking is
usually obtained in pitting tests and
crevice corrosion tests. However, the
critical temperatures are consistently
lower for crevice corrosion.
Table 2.
Resistance to pitting, typical values.
Steel grades PRE CPT in 6% CPT in 1M
FeCI3, C NaCI, C
316L
26
<5
15
317L
31
35
40
2205
36
40
50
904L
37
40
60
_
254 SMO
46
75
>90
654 SMO
63
>100
>95
Service experience
The number of desalination plants
erected each year has been quite
large for several decades, but the
SWRO-share has not been of any
significance until the eighties. A
consequence is that only a small
number of plants can show long term
service experiences.
In the early plants the high pressure parts were made of 316L. One
example is the Jeddah plant built in
1978, being the first major size
SWRO plant. But 316L turned out to
corrode and give rise to excessive
mainenance (3). Figure 1 shows one
of the 316L pipes that suffered severe crevice corrosion. The same
experience was made at other
plants, e.g. Doha (4), Ghar Lapsi,
Tigne, and Cirkewwa (5). Table 3
shows service experiences from high
pressure piping at 27 plants out of
which six show corrosion of 316L,
Figure 1.
Crevice corrosion of 316L pipe.
Table 3.
High pressure piping service experience.
Plant, installation year
Bahrain, Al Dur, -89
Gibraltar, Glen Rocky, -88
Great Britain, Eurotunnel, -89
Kuwait, Doha, -81
, -84
Malta, Ghar Lapsi, -82, -90
, Tigne, -86, -90
, Cirkewwa, -88, -91
, Pembroke, -91
Oman, Masirah, -85
Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, -78
, Al Birk, -83
, Tanajib, -83
, Umm Lujj, -86
, Safaniyah, -86
, Jeddah 1, -89
, Duba, -89
, HaqI, -89
Spain, Galdar-Agaete, -89
, Lanzarote II, -86, -89
, Inalsa I, -90
, Lanzarote III, -91
, Agragua, -91
, Corralejo, -93
, Gran Tarajal, -93
, Gando, -93
USA, Gaviota, -88
Corrosion
2205
2205
316L
904L
316L
316L
316L
No corrosion
904L
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
316L
316L
317LN
317L
254 SMO
254 SMO
317L
317L
316L
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
254 SMO
Reference
(8)
(8)
(8)
(4)
(9)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(5)
(3)
(6)
(7)
(6)
(7)
(6)
(6)
(6)
(11)
(12)
(13)
Figure 2.
Micro-guard filters of 254 SMO.
Conclusions
As can be predicted, to some extent
from the chemical composition of
different steel grades, but mainly from
corrosion testing in high chloride
environment, the different steel grades
have different resistance to corrosion
when applied in practical SWRO
service.
Neither 316L nor 317L possesses
sufficient corrosion resistance in
practical SWRO service. Out of
eleven known plants using 316L or
317L piping, good experiences are
reported only from two.
Not even highly alloyed grades like
2205 and 904L show reliable service
performance since corrosion failures
are reported from several plants using
these grades.
No corrosion at all has been
reported for 254 SMO, which has
been used in 16 full strength SWRO
plants and at least as many plants
using high salinity brackish water.
All these plants together represent
an extensive number of years of
successful service experiences.
Based on laboratory testing, the use
of 654 SMO can be expected to
increase the safety margin above all
requirements.
9
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responsibility whatsoever for errors or omissions or information found to be misleading or any opinions or advice given.
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