Corrosion protection issues of heat exchangers
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I would like to ask: for a heat exchanger between circulating water and crude oil, where the circulating water flows through the tube side and the temperature of the crude oil ranges from 35 to 56 degrees, is it necessary to apply anti-corrosion treatment to the tube bundle?
I’ve been working with equipment for ten years; this is the first time I’ve heard that tube bundles also require anti-corrosion treatment
Circulating water and crude oil are broad terms; what’s important is whether there are any components within them that can cause corrosion. If so, corrosion allowance should be taken into consideration. In general, for the shell side of such heat exchangers, stainless steel can be used, while carbon steel can be employed for the tube side and end caps, and no anti-corrosion measures are necessary.
Decades ago, the overall anti-corrosion treatment of heat exchanger tube bundles was already widely used in practice; for example, overall hot-dip aluminizing, nickel-phosphorus plating, and other ion plating methods were applied to the tube bundles of floating-head or U-type heat exchangers.
I work in the field of processing; I know that there is chemical corrosion and electrochemical corrosion. Chemical corrosion depends on the material used, while electrochemical corrosion can be addressed by using sacrificial cations or anions. The location where electrochemical corrosion occurs remains the same each time.
Crude oil is corrosive; it is best to apply anti-corrosion treatment to the tube bundles
Based on the properties of the raw materials and the quality of the circulating water, decide whether to use single-sided or double-sided anti-corrosion protection. Or consider stainless steel tube bundles; as for the temperature you mentioned, I don’t think it has a significant impact