Regarding electrolytic hydrogen production plants, the issue of material selection for pipelines and equipment
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As titled: 1. In hydrogen production electrolysis plants, why is corrosion in the oxygen-side pipelines and equipment much more severe than on the hydrogen side? Operating conditions: Temperature of around 90 degrees Celsius, pressure of 1.5 MPa (gauge pressure) ； Medium: Potassium hydroxide (oxygen on the oxygen side, hydrogen on the hydrogen side). 2. Pipelines are made of 304, 304L, 316, 316L, and 32168; equipment is made of 316 or carbon steel (I can’t remember the specific grade – it seems to be Q345R). Which material is better? 3. We plan to switch to carbon steel pipelines in the near future. It is said that some organizations use them and find the results good, but according to the corrosion manuals, carbon steel suffers severe corrosion in alkaline solutions at temperatures above 80 degrees Celsius; therefore we are hesitant to use it. I would like to ask those with more experience – have you seen such applications before?
The pipelines on the electrolytic oxygen side suffer severe corrosion because oxidizing substances are generated on this side, which facilitates electrochemical corrosion; it is better to use high-quality materials such as nickel-based alloys – carbon steel cannot be used, and potassium hydroxide can also cause stress corrosion due to its strong corrosiveness
Potassium hydroxide is an electrolyte. You are alkaline water electrolyzers, right? 310 S can be used.