Stainless steel vs Titanium on H.E. Plates

[Juan82Mec]

Hi,

We are going to buy a replacement kit for our heat exchangers. On the other side, we are having troubles with biofilms and sediments clogging in the HE, so we need to dismount them almost every month to clean up the plates. In the HE runs non-treated water, taken directly from a little dam, cooling the refrigeration water of an electric generator, which is clean water.
Obviously the main problem is the water quality, yet, we need to buy a replacement kit of the plates.
¿Could we buy the plates in stainless steel instead of titanium?. We haven't had any corrosion problems in the piping system, so, ¿is titanium really necessary?.
Does the titanium prevent the biofilms growth?

I'll appreciate your help.

Regards,

Juan

 

[EdStainless]

The only thing that will suppress the biofilm growth is a Cu alloy that is releasing Cu into the water. Neither stainless or Ti have any role in biofilm growth.
Have you considered treating the water? There are systems that use an electrical current and Cu electrodes to put a small amount of Cu into the water. These are often used on board ships. It might be a good alternative to using a chemical treatment.

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Still trying to help you stop corrosion.
formerly Trent Tube, now Plymouth Tube
eblessman@plymouth.com
or edstainless@earthlink.net

 

[Juan82Mec]

Thanks Ed. ¿The electrical current wouldn't cause corrosion problems? We have common steel piping on the circuit. Even the Cu would act as a fuse, ¿it wouldn't be too risky for the system?

 

[EdStainless]

No, the device that I am talking about is a box that the water flows through and it is electrically isolated from your system. There are two sets of Cu bars and a DC power supply. The current forces Cu to dissolve. The polarity is reversed every hour or so to keep the cathodes from fouling and to keep the metal loss rated even among all of the bars.
It is a simple system and reliable.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Still trying to help you stop corrosion.
formerly Trent Tube, now Plymouth Tube
eblessman@plymouth.com
or edstainless@earthlink.net

 

[castmet13]

There are stainless steels that have alloyed copper and do much hetter in Microbially Induced Corrosion (MIC) attack, if that is of concern. I would look into something like Ferralium (duplex stainless steel with Cu) as an option if you want to look into Ferralium.

 

[Juan82Mec]

Thank you castmet!

We're going to make a water-quality analisis to determine the chloride ions and pH. According to the supplier, those values determine if we can use stainless steel instead of titanium (resistance to corrosion). Yet, i don't know if the material change (except by the roughness) could change the biofilm rate of growth. ¿Any idea?.

Regards,

Juan