Hydrogen Degradation of the Refinery and Electric Power Installations

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Hydrogen evolving in corrosion processes in the water containing technological media enters the steel and accumulates there. The possibility of hydrogen induced deterioration of metal and thus the hazard for industrial installations increase in the course of exploitation and affects the estimated life time. The continuous (for 20 years) measurement of hydrogen absorption, corrosion and deposition rates in different locations of the Fluidal Catalytic Cracking, Distillation and Desulphurization units of the Polish Refinery that are under inhibitor protection showed that the correlations between the above parameters differed in the same installation, due to the variation in the technological process. The susceptibility of ferrite-pearlite steels that have been in service for up to 240,000 hrs in different boilers and electric power stations of Poland, Ukraine and Syria to hydrogen induced blistering cracking (HIBC) has been described by critical cathodic polarization causing irreversible change of the microstructure, evaluated in hydrogen permeation tests. The decrease in the resistance to the HIBC in the course of exploitation has been correlated with the change of the structure in the course of service. Since the hydrogen charging of boiler pipes has been determined by the quality of the formed magnetite layer, a special method has been elaborated to determine the mechanical adhesion and the protection ability (penetration porosity) of the magnetite layer. The obtained results confirm the possibility of applying the above techniques to monitor the state of steel and to predict the residual lifetime of equipment.

This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit: