Aging issues with saltwater equipment
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After ten years of operation with saline, some of the equipment has aged; for example, the preprocessor cylinder develops leakage points, and there are leaks at the welds of the cones. The reactor cylinder also continues to show leakage points. Apart from adding steel plates to the surface for patch welding, are there any other effective solutions? Are there any peers who have performed internal anti-corrosion treatment on a preprocessor that has been in operation for several years after it stopped functioning? If so, please share your experiences!
In the brine processing section, this situation is quite common; the preprocessor needs to be inspected, welded up, and repaired after a few years when major maintenance is required. Steel plates suffer severe electrochemical corrosion in saltwater, and this is difficult to avoid; even with anti-corrosion measures in place, problems will still arise over time. The Dohl barrel is much better – there’s no inclined plate for sedimentation in the middle; it’s simply empty. Equipment is designed to have a limited service life, and regular maintenance is very important. The problems that arise require thorough repairs; otherwise, there will be blockages, and leaks will occur followed by further blockages. After the weld is completed, a simple flaw detection check is carried out; the anti-corrosion treatment of the reaction tank needs to be done again. Many companies no longer use reaction drums; instead, they use reaction tanks, either underground or semi-underground. Concrete is used for corrosion protection in some cases, while in other cases no such protection is applied, and the tanks are used directly without any serious problems arising.
The design life has expired; it’s time to replace it, haha
We’ve encountered the same situation as well; it’s useless to put a lining in place using the old foundation. It’s better to assess the actual condition and update each device individually, or even just certain parts of a device. Even things like applying patches or welding repairs can’t be considered proper solutions – they are only temporary fixes, in my opinion.
Changing to a brine process can eliminate these devices and solve this problem.