COOLING WATER ISSUES – CAUSE AND SOLUTIONS TO MICROBIOLOGICAL INDUCED CORROSION

摘要

In the 2007 turnaround at the BASF FINA PETROCHEMICAL L.P. Ethylene SteamCracker, severe damage was discovered in the cooling tower to process exchangers. Over 41exchangers had been replaced or required total tube bundle replacement within the first sevenyears of operation. Several of the units had been in service for less than five years, and manyrequired immediate replacement. The damage was determined to be microbiologically inducedcorrosion (MIC).As the result of inspections performed during this scheduled plant outage, themicrobiologically induced corrosion damage mechanism was identified in the cooling watersystem. The purpose of this paper is to describe damages found and solution methodsimplemented. This experience offers a basis for establishing best practices considering timeand service expectations of cooling water systems.