E207 Tube Failures & New Design & Manufacturing Solution
Customer: Chemical Manufacturer
Location: International
Published in Heat Transfer
Background
The client had to replace their heat exchanger unit every 3 years due to premature failure.
- Tube contained lethal substance titanium tetrachloride (TiCI4)
- Tetrachloride leaked into water supply
- System had to be shut down decommissioned and cleaned
Glacier Energy carried out failure analysis investigations and found the following:
- Accelerated corrosion of tube due to change in cooling medium not being treated
- Accelerated corrosion caused tubes to delaminate and foul
- Local erosion and flow problems caused tube to fail
Challenge
- Water treatment and quality could not be constantly guaranteed
- Other companies replaced with expensive Incoloy bundles
- Problems with the tetrachloride and stainless reacting
Solutions
Glacier Energy designed and manufactured new heat exchanger units for a fraction of the cost, with the following:
- Bi metallic tubes
- Stainless steel outer / Carbon steel inner
- Engineered methodology using ferrule to guarantee connection and separation of stainless
