Caustic injection into crude oil has been used for more than 50 years to combat crude tower overhead corrosion. After certain problems surfaced, however, many refineries stopped using caustic and instead relied on proprietary organic neutralizers and corrosion inhibitors to handle excessive corrosion. Recently, contamination of crudes with organic chlorides from a variety of sources has sparked new interest in caustic injection as a means for reducing the amount of hydrogen chloride (HCl)that causes crude tower overhead corrosion. This review offers some general guidelines for refineries that are interested in returning to caustic injection.
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