Pressure vessels and columns are capital intensive equipment and probably the longest-serving equipment in the hydrocarbon processing industry (HPI) and chemical process industry (CPI). Their life often exceeds the designed life of the rest of the plant and the facilities and a vessel is passed on to the next generation. Even though a facility may cease oil and gas production, a well-maintained pressure containing equipment would survive and is a strong candidate to move to a new location.
Due to prolonged life usually projected and obtained from the static equipment, pressure vessels are often fabricated from solid or cladded stainless steels (SS), where carbon steels may prove to last not long enough. This usually happens for services with excessive corrosion. Excessive corrosion allowance is not considered a permanent solution to fight corrosion for the fabricated equipment. Typically for fabricated carbon steels, a corrosion allowance in excess of 6mm (1/4) is considered uneconomical. Stainless steel and its derivatives step-in and are a proven solution. Stainless steels are also needed where purity of product is of paramount importance. There are cases, where the pressure vessels are fabricated from solid or cladded stainless steels due to the severity of the process, while the adjoining plant piping may stay as carbon steel.
To read the full version of Gopal Murtis article Consider the precautions while designing solid or cladded stainless steel equipment please contact Candace Allison at c.allison@kci-world.com.