FAILURE ANALYSIS OF CARBONATE REBOILER HEAT-EXCHANGERS

Unacceptably high leakage rates from a large number of type 304 stainl ess steel tubes forced the scrapping of two carbonate reboiler heat ex changers from the carbon dioxide removal system of a fertilizer plant. Extensive failure investigation carried out on the failed heat exchan gers established that the main factor responsible for premature failur e of the heat exchangers was partial expansion of the stainless steel tubes into the carbon steel tube sheet as against the design specifica tion for the expansion of almost the full length of the tubes inside t he tube sheet. Partial expansion of the tubes into the tube sheet left undesirable tube-to-tube sheet gaps, which subsequently acted as crev ices and led to localized corrosion of the tube sheet as well as the t ubes.