New inhibitor reduces crude-unit corrosion problems at lower pH

Journal Article · Mon May 24 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Oil and Gas Journal; (United States)

OSTI ID:6167271

French, E D ^[1]

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1. Petrolite, Corp., St. Lois, MO (United States)

The crude-unit overhead at a commercial refinery operated for more than 1 year at pH levels of about 5.0-5.5 with very low corrosion. About 20% of this time, the pH was less than 5.0. During this period, a water-soluble inhibitor was added to this large recirculated water wash. The low corrosion rates observed during the test period indicate that, in contrast to conventional wisdom, the inhibitor is effective at pH levels less than 5.0. Furthermore, a reference case study at a commercial refinery demonstrated, more than 30 years ago, that operation of the crude-unit overhead at an average pH of 4.3, in combination with an inhibitor, eliminated failures for 5 years. Current state-of-the-art, water-soluble inhibitors-such as the one used in the first example-are more effective under these more-acidic conditions than the inhibitor used in this older case study. After giving background information on corrosion control technology, the paper discusses underdeposit corrosion, relative magnitude of the problem, controlling deposition, maintaining solubility, the target pH, corrosion at low pHs, oil-soluble inhibitors, water soluble inhibitors, field results, iron counts, vapor-area corrosion, neutralization, and relative corrosivity.

• OSTI ID: 6167271
• Journal Information: Oil and Gas Journal; (United States), Journal Name: Oil and Gas Journal; (United States) Vol. 91:21; ISSN OIGJAV; ISSN 0030-1388
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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PETROLEUM REFINERIES
PH VALUE
SERVICE LIFE
SOLUBILITY
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