Cooler material
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The propylene cooler in our company’s refrigeration station is of the shell-and-tube type, made of carbon steel, and leaks occur frequently. Sea friends, what type are your acrylic coolers, and what material are the heat exchange tubes made of? What type of heat exchanger should be used for an propylene cooler? What material is suitable for the heat exchange tubes?
Our cooler is also made of carbon steel, with coiled tubes, and it’s leaking too. Give it a push:P
Since the propylene cooler operates at low temperatures, it is recommended to use a U-tube heat exchanger, with the heat exchange tubes made of austenitic stainless steel, and the shell can be constructed from materials suitable for low temperatures.
Oh, thank you first for your reply. It’s my fault for not explaining clearly; the cooler I meant is the compressor outlet cooler, which cools the gas propylene at 85°C to around 50°C through the first stage of cooling, and then further cools it to below 40°C through the second stage of cooling, causing it to condense into liquid propylene. It is not a low-temperature evaporator.
Propylene does not cause corrosion to carbon steel; grade 10 or 20 is sufficient for heat exchange tubes. If the area is small, grade 304 is a better choice.
How does it leak? Which part? A reciprocating compressor, right? Corrosion can only occur on the water side. It is recommended to use pipe restraint for corrosion protection.
Our original one was made of 20 steel; due to severe leakage, the tubes and tube sheets have been replaced with 304, and it is still a tube heat exchanger. Although propylene is non-corrosive, I have learned that severe leaks have occurred in such heat exchangers at many manufacturers; the leakage sites are mainly internal leaks within the tubes and leaks at the welds between the tubes and the tube sheet, and the causes of these leaks are not clear.
These days, stainless steel is generally used. We have been manufacturing coolers for several compressor manufacturers