Naphthenic Acid Corrosion in a High TAN Condensing Overhead System

摘要

Naphthenic acid corrosion (NAC) has been well documented in the petroleum refining industry as a corrosion mechanism that manifests at process temperatures at or greater than 200°C (392°F). Although the concept of this mechanism manifesting at process temperatures lower than 200°C (392°F) has been proposed and debated, to date, real life examples have not been widely documented in peer reviewed literature. This paper presents a case history where an ethoxylated thio-phosphate ester was successfully used to mitigate low temperature NAC in a high TAN condensing overhead system in which a traditional imidazoline corrosion inhibitor failed.