Refinery overhead air cooler tube bundle chemical cleaning
Thread Content
The picture below shows the air cooler at the top of the atmospheric tower of the atmospheric and vacuum unit of a refinery. Due to long-term operation, it is corroded by corrosive media in oil and gas, causing metal corrosion and more rust in the tube bundles, which affects the cooling effect of the equipment. Mechanical methods cannot remove rust on the inner wall of the tube bundle, but chemical cleaning methods are very effective. Extends the service life of the equipment and improves the cooling effect.
How is extended equipment service life defined? .
We know that the corrosion at the top of the oil refining atmospheric and vacuum tower is due to the corrosion of the H2S-HCl-H2O system. The corrosion of the tube bundle is mainly the uniform corrosion of the tube bundle and the production of a large amount of rust. Metal surfaces corrode quickly if they are not cleaned thoroughly. Experience shows that the service life of a tube bundle without cleaning is about 3 years if the tube bundle leaks, and if the tube bundle is cleaned, the service life of a leak is at least 5 years. The principle is that general metal corrosion goes through the corrosion stage and the corrosion stage. The corrosion stage is a relatively slow stage, while the metal corrosion stage is a relatively fast stage. If the tube bundle is not cleaned, the metal can only continue in the corrosion stage, and the metal surface corrodes quite quickly under the scale. After cleaning, there is very little rust on the metal surface, and the corrosion of the metal surface proceeds from the onset stage, which is much lower than that of the metal surface that has not been cleaned.