Full Description

This technical report covers results of a survey of the petroleum refining industry concerning the use of duplex stainless steel (DSS) in hydroprocessing reactor effluent air cooler (REAC) systems. The API Committee on Refining Equipment Subcommittee on Corrosion and Materials (SCCM) commissioned this survey after several industry reports of weldment cracking failures with DSS REAC system components, including REAC header boxes, tube-to-tubesheet welds, and associated piping. REAC component weldment cracking has been addressed in SCCM documents, including API Recommended Practice 932-B and API Technical Report 938-C, in published conference papers, and in a report issued by the Materials Technology Institute (MTI).

Survey results and information from prior studies are used to summarize the weldment cracking issue and to prepare an approach for assessing the likelihood for in-service weldment cracking of DSS REAC system components.