Microbiological-Influenced Corrosion Failure of a Heat Exchanger Tube of a Fertilizer Plant

Sharma, Pankaj Kumar

doi:10.1007/s11668-014-9826-2

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Due to the adjustability of the module, the use of metal plate prone to corrosion such as copper or carbon steel can be explored. Microbiologically influenced corrosion causes serious damages in full-scale plants [49], and is very challenging to control due to the combination of processes involved in the corrosion mechanisms [50]. The module can for example be used for the testing of metals or innovative coatings, and assessment of their ability to withstand microbial corrosion under different temperatures.…”

Section: Potential Applications In Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Impact of Temperature on Biofilm Composition with a Laboratory Heat Exchanger Module

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Temperature change over the length of heat exchangers might be an important factor affecting biofouling. This research aimed at assessing the impact of temperature on biofilm accumulation and composition with respect to bacterial community and extracellular polymeric substances. Two identical laboratory-scale plate heat exchanger modules were developed and tested. Tap water supplemented with nutrients was fed to the two modules to enhance biofilm formation. One “reference” module was kept at 20.0 ± 1.4 °C and one “heated” module was operated with a counter-flow hot water stream resulting in a bulk water gradient from 20 to 27 °C. Biofilms were grown during 40 days, sampled, and characterized using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, EPS extraction, FTIR, protein and polysaccharide quantifications. The experiments were performed in consecutive triplicate. Monitoring of heat transfer resistance in the heated module displayed a replicable biofilm growth profile. The module was shown suitable to study the impact of temperature on biofouling formation. Biofilm analyses revealed: (i) comparable amounts of biofilms and EPS yield in the reference and heated modules, (ii) a significantly different protein to polysaccharide ratio in the EPS of the reference (5.4 ± 1.0%) and heated modules (7.8 ± 2.1%), caused by a relatively lower extracellular sugar production at elevated temperatures, and (iii) a strong shift in bacterial community composition with increasing temperature. The outcomes of the study, therefore, suggest that heat induces a change in biofilm bacterial community members and EPS composition, which should be taken into consideration when investigating heat exchanger biofouling and cleaning strategies. Research potential and optimization of the heat exchanger modules are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Potential Applications In Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Impact of Temperature on Biofilm Composition with a Laboratory Heat Exchanger Module

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the literature, more examples can be found of heat exchangers that failed due to MIC (Rao & Nair, 1998;Abraham et al, 2009;Sharma, 2014;Rizk et al, 2017).…”

Section: Microbiologically Induced Corrosionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corrosion and corrosion prevention in heat exchangers

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In many industries and processes, heat exchangers are of vital importance as they are used to transfer heat from one fluid to another. These fluids can be corrosive to heat exchangers, which are usually made of metallic materials. This paper illustrates that corrosion is an important problem in the operation of heat exchangers in many environments, for which no straightforward answer exists. Corrosion failures of heat exchangers are common, and corrosion often involves high maintenance or repair costs. In this review, an overview is given of what is known on corrosion in heat exchangers. The different types of corrosion encountered in heat exchangers and the susceptible places in the devices are discussed first. This is combined with an overview of failure analyses for each type of corrosion. Next, the effect of heat transfer on corrosion and the influence of corrosion on the thermohydraulic performances are discussed. Finally, the prevention and control of corrosion is tackled. Prevention goes from general design considerations and operation guidelines to the use of cathodic and anodic protection.

show abstract

“…Several failure modes of heat exchangers have been identified; the most common modes are fatigue [7,8], creep [9,10], oxidation [11], and hydrogen attack [12]. The common causes of heat exchanger failure include weld defects [13,14], vibration [15,16], erosion [17,18], stress corrosion cracking [19][20][21], and microbial-induced cracking [22][23][24][25]. Considering its numerous failure modes, the failure of the heat exchanger should be analyzed by recognizing the possible root cause, especially the lessons learned from previous studies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Failure Analysis of Duplex Stainless Steel for Heat Exchanger Tubes with Seawater Cooling Medium

Ardy

Albatros

Sumboja

2023

Metals

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The present paper describes a study case of the failure investigation of duplex stainless steel (UNS S31803) on the tube and tube sheet sections of BEM TEMA-type shell and tube heat exchanger with seawater as the cooling medium. The heat exchanger’s shell design pressure was 22.6 MPa at 422 K, and the tube design pressure was 1 MPa at 339 K. Although UNS S31803 offers high strength, high resistance to chloride-induced SCC, and high resistance to pitting attack in chloride environments, the heat exchanger in this study experienced some material degradation after 28 months of use; 102 out of 270 tubes failed, 26 tubes leaked and were plugged on both sides, and scale plugged 76 tubes. The examination in this study case revealed the formation of white-colored biofilm inside the tubes; XRD examination revealed that the film contained CaCO3. Using microstructural examination on the inner surface of the tube, the austenite grains were shown to have been preferentially attacked; this phenomenon is typical in duplex stainless steel which fails due to crevice corrosion. According to the examination result, the failure in this case was caused by crevice corrosion between the substrate and surface deposits that was enhanced by microbiological-induced corrosion (MIC). Recommendations to avoid similar failures are also suggested in this paper.

show abstract

Microbiological-Influenced Corrosion Failure of a Heat Exchanger Tube of a Fertilizer Plant

Cited by 10 publications

References 7 publications

Assessment of the Impact of Temperature on Biofilm Composition with a Laboratory Heat Exchanger Module

Assessment of the Impact of Temperature on Biofilm Composition with a Laboratory Heat Exchanger Module

Corrosion and corrosion prevention in heat exchangers

Failure Analysis of Duplex Stainless Steel for Heat Exchanger Tubes with Seawater Cooling Medium

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About