| Sulfuric Acid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sulfuric acid is undoubtedly the most
important raw material in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry
today. This fact is not unique to the United States, but is true on a
worldwide basis. One can often look to the production and/or use of
sulfuric acid as an indication of the industrial activity of a nation.
Few chemicals are manufactured without sulfuric acid being involved. It
is a strong dibasic acid and can be a reducing acid, an oxidizing acid,
and/or a dehydrating agent. In the chemical industry, sulfuric acid has
many diverse applications. The largest quantities are used to
manufacture phosphate and nitrogen based fertilizers. The petrochemical
sector utilizes sulfuric acid in alkylation and paraffin refining. The
inorganic branch of the chemical industry uses sulfuric acid in the
production of chromic and hydrofluoric acids, aluminum sulfate and
sodium sulfate. The organic arm employs sulfuric acid in the manufacture
of explosives, soaps, detergents, dyes, isocyanates, plastics,
pharmaceuticals, etc. Everywhere one turns today, we encounter products
which use sulfuric acid in their manufacturing process. Many chemical
plants use sulfuric acid in one or more process steps and this generally
results in severe corrosion problems. Each process has unique minor
constituents that can change the way metals corrode. Zirconium has been
used very successfully in many sulfuric acid applications. The advantage
of zirconium is that corrosion rate will be very small if properly
applied and equipment life of over 20 years is expected. Since there is
no corrosion maintenance, repair, downtime and replacement costs do not
exist and will quickly pay back for the slightly higher initial cost.
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| Acetic Acid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Acetic
acid is one of the basic components in a wide range of organic materials
including acetate esters, acetic anhydride, terephthalic acid, aspirin
and other pharmaceuticals. Zirconium is considered the most corrosion
resistant material in virtually all acetic acid solutions. The few
exceptions include acetic acid containing cupric ions, free chlorine and
solutions with insufficient moisture to allow zirconium to reform its
protective oxide surface layer. Under highly stressed conditions,
>650-ppm water is required in acetic acid to prevent stress corrosion
cracking. If water addition is not practical, stress relieving may be
considered.
View table of of Zirconium Corrosion in various acetic acid solutions TITAN Metal Fabricators |
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