Processing of chemicals, petrochemicals, and oil & gas exposes equipment to highly corrosive fluids.  Duplex Stainless Steel Columns can be highly corrosion resistant to these extreme environments and very suitable for applications in the chemical processing, pharmaceutical, agricultural, fertilizer, petrochemical, and power industries.

Long-term durability must be considered given the effects of the process chemistry on the materials of construction; otherwise, the conditions in the manufacturing process can rapidly attack the equipment, leading to corrosion and ultimate failure.

Corrosive attack on the equipment will require repair and/or replacement of equipment, as well as expensive and disruptive downtime. Using a Duplex Stainless Steel Column can offer a long-term and cost-effective solution to prevent localized corrosion.

Life Cycle Benefits of Duplex Stainless Steel Columns

Duplex Stainless Steel Columns are highly cost-effective over the entire life cycle of the equipment. Properly maintained, Duplex Stainless Steel Columns can operate for decades, making them a very economical choice over other available metals.

Duplex Stainless Steel Columns can:

  • Deliver many years of economical service life
  • Eliminate expensive downtime due to equipment failure
  • Provide outstanding corrosion resistance
  • Provice excellent stress cracking resistance

Duplex Stainless Steel offers excellent resistant to corrosion along with very high mechanical strength. With this high corrosion resistance, Duplex Stainless Steel provides more up-time than Carbon Steel or conventional 300 series Stainless Steels, and its mechanical strength allows for lighter fabrication and greater design flexibility.

Duplex Stainless Steel the Metal

Duplex Stainless Steel’s beneficial performance is attributable to a combination of austenitic and ferrite alloys in its micro-structure, achieving both strength and high corrosion resistance.

With its myriad applications, the process industries are always in pursuit of highly reliable materials.   Duplex Stainless Steel Columns are widely endorsed by plant operations management and maintenance specialists who appreciate their toughness and ability to withstand the very aggressive fluids inherent in the process.

Compared with some other materials, Duplex Stainless Steel is a less costly material of construction offering high strength even in highly demanding applications. These qualities have led to acceptance and growth of the use of Duplex Stainless in Columns or Towers, Reactors, Storage Tanks as well as Heat Exchangers, Pipe and Piping Systems in sulfuric acid processing as well as the production of urea and other fertilizers.

It should be noted that due the proportions of austenitic and ferrite alloys, the Duplex Stainless Steels require considerably more care in welding preparation and fabrication procedures.  Inexperience or less than vigilant attention to the specific welding needs can result in a weld that is compromised in strength and corrosion-resistance.

Duplex Stainless Steel Column Designs

TITAN manufactures pressure equipment in accordance with all major international design standards and pressure vessel codes.

Manufacturing capacities include diameters up to 120″, 300’ in length and weights up to 200 tons.

Please see the chart on Duplex Stainless Steel Applications for typical mils of corrosion of various materials in hostile environments.

Designs and Accessories to Duplex Stainless Steel Columns include:

  • Solid construction
  • Explosive clad
  • Standard jacket
  • Half pipe jacket
  • Baffles
  • Tray rings
  • Dip tubes
  • Spargers

Duplex Stainless Steel Corrosion Resistance

TITAN’s Duplex Stainless Steel Columns are very well suited to processes using salts, acids and other chemicals which can be damaging to lesser materials. They are also very often specified for highly-corrosive industrial applications where chlorides, potassium or sodium chemistries are present.

To view a list of process materials where Duplex Stainless Steel is commonly used, please visit Applications of Duplex Stainless Steel.

For a general guide on corrosion resistance, temperatures and concentrations please see TITAN’s publication, “Corrosion Resistance of Metals in Various Chemical Media” for additional information.*

*Note: Final selection of material must be based on actual evaluation of the metal in the corrosive medium.

 

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