Sandvik Materials Technology, Sweden, reports that a major Caribbean producer of furfural, an organic compound derived from agricultural byproducts, chose to replace the existing tube in its heat exchangers with hyper-duplex stainless steel by Sandvik. As a result, its tube lifecycles have extended from two to 15 years, with a profound impact on material costs.
Sandvik SAF 2707 HD is a hyper-duplex stainless steel with excellent resistance to pitting corrosion and chloride-induced stress corrosion cracking. It is an alternative to nickel alloys with similar performance, but is more attractive economically in terms of material and lifecycle costs.
“Our hyper-duplex stainless steel was selected for its mechanical strength, which is higher than all the super-duplex stainless steel grades available on the market. Its excellent chloride corrosion resistance is well-suited to much more aggressive service conditions,” explained Marcelo Senatore, global Technical marketing, Sandvik Materials Technology.
After two years of successful operation, the heat exchangers were inspected and found to be as good as new, showing no signs of pitting corrosion. The furfural producer will introduce periodic washing of metal surfaces to keep the equipment free from seawater debris.
