Acid plant - Inlet Quench
Acid plant - Inlet Quench
(OP)
For those of you who are familiar with the Inlet quench of smelter's sulfuric acid plant, as you may expect, we are experiencing corrosion problem on this equipment...
The inlet quench is the area where hot SO2 (300 C) gas coming from Nickel or Copper smelter is quenched by weak acid spraying. Almost everything has been tried in this environment and everything is failing (Hastelloy C276, 904L, Alloy 20 and refractory lined 904L).
In a specific location of this equipment we have the following conditions:
3-10% H2SO4 mist
200-300 °C
No significant buildup
Here are my questions: Could I use lead bonded steel or lead bonded stainless steel for this environment? Will the lead resist the sulfuric acid concentration at the temperature? Has anybody ever tried lead in those concentration and temperature?
Thanks if somebody has an answer, if you don't have a solution, I'll understand as this is a generalized problem throughout all acid plants.
Phil
The inlet quench is the area where hot SO2 (300 C) gas coming from Nickel or Copper smelter is quenched by weak acid spraying. Almost everything has been tried in this environment and everything is failing (Hastelloy C276, 904L, Alloy 20 and refractory lined 904L).
In a specific location of this equipment we have the following conditions:
3-10% H2SO4 mist
200-300 °C
No significant buildup
Here are my questions: Could I use lead bonded steel or lead bonded stainless steel for this environment? Will the lead resist the sulfuric acid concentration at the temperature? Has anybody ever tried lead in those concentration and temperature?
Thanks if somebody has an answer, if you don't have a solution, I'll understand as this is a generalized problem throughout all acid plants.
Phil





RE: Acid plant - Inlet Quench
The essential construction materials were lead and a refractory
RE: Acid plant - Inlet Quench
H.
RE: Acid plant - Inlet Quench
RE: Acid plant - Inlet Quench
There is some fluoride but the actual concentration is unknown. I would say that the fluoride concentration is somewhere between 0 - 500 ppm.
Phil
RE: Acid plant - Inlet Quench
I know this is an old thread but would be interested to know if you found a solution to this problem or have you tried any other material combinations which have subsequently failed.
Regards
RE: Acid plant - Inlet Quench
At two of our operations we are testing brick lined stainless steel. The stainless is first lined with a rubber lining and then brick lined. This is the most promising solution so far. The stainless is only there in case the lining fails. If it does give good service life, the next design would be made out of carbon steel.
At this point I consider this part of the process a consumable that we have to replace every two years approx.
Phil
RE: Acid plant - Inlet Quench
I believe that a correction of the flow profile in the inlet elbow will prevent the back currents and give a well defined interface between hot/cold wet/dry conditions so that the proper materials of construction can be specified.
RE: Acid plant - Inlet Quench
Hope this helps.