Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Erosion Corrosion of the Air Cooler Tube Bundle in a Residue Hydrotreating Unit

Corrosion leakage occurred in the 14th tube bundle in the first row of a residual oil hydrotreating air cooler after operating for two years.The failure location was 0.5 m from the outlet header box.In this paper,the erosion corrosion of the air cooler tube bundle was investigated by experimental and numerical methods.Visual inspection,scanning electron microscopy(SEM),and X-ray diffraction(XRD)experiments were performed,and the failure morphology and material composition confirmed that the damage was caused by erosion corrosion.The shear stress transport k-ω turbulence model(SST-k-ω)was then used to investigate the flow and erosion corrosion characteristics,combined with mass transfer,corrosion rate,and ionization equilibrium models.The numerical simulation results revealed that the water phase volume fraction increased with flow and heat transfer in the fluid,which increased the mass flow rate and concentration of hydrogen sulfide.The mass transfer coefficient and corrosion rate were proposed as important parameters to characterize erosion corrosion.Moreover,the local concentration of wall shear stress was found to increase the risk of erosion corrosion.The predicted high-risk area was consistent with the actual failure area,which verified that this failure incident was attributable to erosion corrosion by the water phase.