Mercury contaminated crude & Corrosion in Refinery 2

[Q4K]

Any experiences regarding mercury contaminated crude oil processing from corrosion point of view?
Is there any mercury limit in crude to avoid overhead fractionator trays (made of Alloy 400) LME corrosion by mercury?
What is the best metalurgy solution for HCl overhead corosion and mercury induced LME corrosion on CDU?
Is CS susceptible to LME under some conditions?

 

[btrueblood]

Low alloy, or un-alloyed, iron or steel is what was used historically for (e.g.) mercury amalgamation of silver ore. Any iron alloy, esp. with nickel content, is supposedly more susceptible to LME.

from the wikipedia article on amalgamation: "Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, the notable exception being iron."

 

[SJones]

Almagam corrosion is NOT LME - one is wastage, the other is cracking

http://www.ipieca.org/publication/mercury-management-petroleum-refining

The attachment also has some helpful information. The important first step is to characterise the form of the mercury in the process fluid.

Steve Jones
Corrosion Management Consultant

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/8/83b/b04

All answers are personal opinions only and are in no way connected with any employer.

 

[Q4K]

Thank you a lot SJones. The file is helpful.
In the one process stream (lighter one) Hg level is cca 80 ppb (acording Randman analysis) and I am afraid that that level is to high.