Corrosion in Dyehouses of Textile Mills

摘要

The Mauritian textile industry is, nowadays, facing serious competition on the international market. With the aim of improving its productivity, corrosion has been identified as a major cost for the industry due to the huge amount of chemicals used in the dyehouses. The present study was therefore performed at one of the major dyehouses in Mauritius so as to identify the different types of corrosion occurring, the effect of the chemicals employed on the common metals used in the dyehouse and the cost of corrosion in the plant. The different types of corrosion occurring were assessed through visual inspection on the pipes, accessories and machines in the dyehouse. The effect of the chemicals on the common types of metals used was investigated through electrochemical tests using the Tafel technique. Three different types of metal and seven different types of chemicals were tested. It was found that low carbon steel had the highest corrosion rate among the metals tested and stainless steel UNS 31603 was the more corrosion resistant. Hydrochloric acid was the most corrosive fluid. The cost of corrosion over a yearly period was estimated to be $450,000 and this was 75% of the maintenance cost.