FAILURE OF AUSTENITIC STAINLESS STEEL PIPING IN HYDROCARBON GAS PROCESSING PLANT - A CASE STUDY

Saleh Ali Al Sulaiman Sr. Insp. & Corr. Engineer

G. Santhosh Kumar Inspection Engineer

Ripan Kapoor Inspection Engineer

Inspection & Corrosion Team Al-Tameer Building Kuwait Oil Company

The paper discusses about the failure of Stainless Steel piping in hydrocarbon gas processing plant at KOC. The detection methodology is discussed together with inspection, testing and assessment program that was introduced to evaluate the piping. Deployment of advanced inspection technique, Time of Flight Diffraction (ToFD), is also discussed. In the subject case study, the Stainless Steel piping failure mode is typically that of Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) due to chlorides. SCC is as such classified as a catastrophic form of corrosion and unexpected failures of stainless steel piping occur with disastrous consequences. Microstructures and other testing techniques for failure analysis are also discussed along with photomicrographs of failed specimens observed under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The case study shows the importance of monitoring the vulnerable piping by NDT techniques to ascertain the health of stainless steel piping in hydrocarbon gas service which may get affected due to presence of corrodants as the gas stream composition changes over a period of time.

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INTRODUCTION Kuwait Oil Company handles the oil resources of the country and produces approximately 2.0 million barrels per day of crude oil. Natural gas produced along with the oil is separated in the separators installed in the Gathering Centers. The gas from the separators and the compressed tank vapor is sent to the gas booster stations for further compression where they are scrubbed in the inlet gas scrubbers to remove the liquid carry over. The compressed gas is dehydrated and exported to the consumers.

GAS ANALYSIS Over a period of time the oil wells have turned from sweet to sour. This leads to major internal corrosion problems in the plant pressure vessels and piping. Moreover the water content in the gas and oil also has a high amount of chlorides which affects the stainless steel piping installations.

FAILURE AT GAS PLANT On March 9, 2005 minor oozing of gas & oil occurred from the bottom portion of weld joint inlet piping (42dia, stainless steel 321) of a low pressure gas suction scrubber. The suspected welding seam was cleaned and visually inspected for the presence of any surface cracks. Soap Solution and Dye penetrant testing was also carried out. However presence of any surface indication was not revealed. Ultrasonic scanning of the suspected location was carried out, with special calibration devised to detect the presence of indications in the wall thickness of the piping. During ultrasonic scanning several linear indications were observed having characteristics similar to that of Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC). Thereafter radiographic examination was carried out which revealed the presence of several cracks similar to SCC. The radiographic examination also revealed large amount of deposits inside the piping which can be the probable source of corrosion mechanism. Due to the above observation, it was recommended to immediately stop the operation of concerned gas stream piping and replace with new piping. Moreover, all the other piping in the plant and similar piping in another gas booster station was also extensively inspected to detect for similar cracking present at any other location.

INSPECTION METHODOLOGY ADOPTED

Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) is typically characterized by branched & tight transgranular cracks. It is also known that the SCC cracks do not follow a linear path. These features associated with stress corrosion cracks make their detection all the more difficult by applying conventional ultrasonic methods. A specialized calibration was devised to enable the detection of

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such tight cracks in preliminary stages. All the piping of plant was subjected to extensive ultrasonic scanning by using this calibration, due to which a few more areas were identified having similar cracks. These new locations identified in ultrasonic scanning having stress corrosion cracking were also subjected to radiographic examination which however did not reveal any indication. Hence to confirm the presence of indications detected in ultrasonic scanning, it was decided to carry out Time of Flight Diffraction (ToFD). A new calibration notch was devised and used for the calibration of this technique. The ToFD scans confirmed the presence of indications at these locations. A major finding of the ToFD scan was it revealed that one of the cracks was breaking the outside surface also. These piping loops were also immediately recommended for replacement in view of stress corrosion cracking giving sudden catastrophic failures. Some locations in various piping where indications of preliminary nature were observed were also marked for monitoring as per the assessment priority decided based on indication severity.

INVESTIGATION

The affected piping (42 dia.) was dismantled and a spool piece was cut from the same where major indications were observed. The internal surface of the piping was subjected to dye penetrant testing which revealed several cracks having typical pattern of stress corrosion cracking. It could be observed that the corrosion damage had initiated at a number of discreet locations in the 6 oclock position by crevice corrosion mechanism which progressively developed into several cracks. The cracks, for the majority of their length appear to penetrate through approximately 80% of the wall thickness (the major crack had penetrated throughout the thickness of piping leading to a leak). The cracking was not confined to any particular direction since the crack orientation was in both longitudinal and transverse direction. The crack had traveled across the weld joint in either directions. Large amount of branching was also visible. The major influencing factors were observed to be; position in pipe where corrosion had initiated, material of construction being stainless steel, chloride content in the gas stream, carry over of large amount of sludge and liquid particles, condensation and accumulation of deposits at the bottom most position.

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NON DESTRUCTIVE TESTING It is pertinent to note that the cracks were not visible on the outside surface of the piping and the plant was on stream at the time of inspection. In view these failures of stainless steel piping, it was decided to conduct the non destructive inspection of the balance plant piping (on stream) to ascertain their health. The ultrasonic flaw detection was carried out on a special notch block of proprietary design, which could ascertain sensitivity good enough to detect fine size cracks typical of stress corrosion cracking. The scanning was carried out primarily near the weld joints in both circumferential and longitudinal directions. During scanning of around 432 joints of various sizes, minor indications were observed in a few joints and some parent metal area also. These indications were further analyzed by using different combinations of probes. As a confirmatory measure, radiographic examination was carried out on the suspected portions. In one joint a large crack was revealed, however several other cracks observed in ultrasonic scanning were not visible. Other locations suspected to have cracking did not reveal any crack in radiographic examination. It may also be noted that a large amount of deposit was also visible in some of the joints during radiographic examination. This piping loop was shutdown and replaced. The dismantled pipe was cut and a spool piece was prepared. The deposits sticking on the inside surface of the pipe were carefully removed and sent for chemical analysis. The inside surface was cleaned and a dye penetrant test was carried out. The dye penetrant test revealed several branched cracks typical of SCC.

METALLOGRAPHY

Subsequently a portion of the failed area in the cut piping spool was identified for microstructure analysis. The macrostructure clearly reveals large branched cracks. Locations were marked for the microstructure examination. One sample was prepared for microstructure examination of inside surface of the pipe and other for the cross section of pipe. The samples were cut by machining. Electrolytic polishing was carried out by 10% oxalic acid. The microstructure clearly revealed presence of transgranular cracks with several branches. The microstructure of the crosssection revealed that the major crack had propagated through 80% of the wall thickness. It is observed that the cracks are initiating from the parent metal crossing the weld metal and propagating on the other side into the parent metal. Large pits are also visible with several cracks originating from the same. It can also be revealed that the severity of cracking is more in HAZ than in weld metal or parent metal. Microphotographs also reveal the cracks to have a transgranular pattern. It can also be seen that the weld is highly sensitized (probably during welding) and an intergranular attack has also occurred with several carbide precipitates seen at the grain boundaries. However intergranular corrosion is not a primary source of failure.

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Another sample from unaffected region was also examined. Where the cracking was not present, the area did not have any presence of corrosion and the microstructure was typical that of SS 321 material.

FRACTOGRAPHY

Fractography of the samples was carried out using SEM-EDX. The fracture surfaces were having corrosion products which were analyzed by EDX. EDX analysis showed the corrosion products to be rich in oxygen and chlorine. Examination of the fracture surface revealed a rough surface

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS AND HARDNESS SURVEY

Vickers hardness test using 10kg load was carried out on the samples at the locations of weld, HAZ and parent metal & all the readings were below the maximum limit of NACE MR0175/ISO15156, which is 22HRC (equivalent to HV 248). An optical emission spectrometer was used to carry out the chemical analysis of the weld and parent metal area of the pipe sample. The chemical analysis confirmed the material composition as SS 321 and weld to be of SS 347.

FAILURE ANALYSIS From the various examinations, tests and analysis carried out it is evident that the primary failure mechanism was chloride stress corrosion cracking. Crack branching was evident secondary to the main fracture. Branch like step wise cracking was evident in dye penetant testing & metallography, which is typical of stress corrosion cracking phenomena. The chloride environment may have been due to either high chloride content of the gas streams on a continuous basis or condensation of liquids on the lowest surface on the weld joint due to the typical weld joint geometry, and concentration of chlorides over a period of time. Though the gas plants are not expected to have high chloride contents, the recent gas analysis revealed the chloride content in the gas streams in the region of around 500ppm, which is very high. The high amount of stresses required for the mechanism were due to the residual stresses in the weld joint. Moreover the operating temperatures must have remained above 60deg C which promoted the failure phenomena. In addition to the above factors it is also pointed out that the joint design of the weld seam was one of the main contributors for this phenomena. After cutting the piping spool piece it was observed that chamfering was done on both the plate edges to prepare the weld joint. The chamfering on each side was around 10mm. This gave rise to a large groove wherein accumulation of deposits and condensation was possible. Due to the accumulation of deposits over a period of time, crevice corrosion and pitting must have started beneath them. This is

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evident from the photograph which shows corrosion of the metal surface on the bottom portion of the weld joint and rest of the area remaining intact.

CONCLUSIONS The most probable cause of failure was due to the combination of several factors like poor weld joint configuration allowing deposits to get accumulated, H2S environment, carry over of liquid and solid particles in the gas stream, condensation of liquids, high concentration of chlorides in gas stream, probable ingress of oxygen during outages, residual stresses in the weld joint, operating temperatures exceeding 60deg C etc. Hence it is concluded that for the operations of piping for gas service having high chloride contents, alternate material than SS 321 should be used. If SS 321 is used then the parameters such as gas composition & temperature should be strictly monitored and maintained so as to avoid any catastrophic failure on account of chloride stress corrosion cracking of austenitic stainless steels. Precise & timely detection of the cracking phenomena in the plant piping by applying special inspection techniques resulted in averting a major piping failure and thereby saving precious human life, plant, machinery and production.

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Figure 1:

Photograph of piping which was detected with SCC.

Crack Location

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Figure 2:

Dye Penetrant testing on the internal surface of the cracked piping.

Figure 3:

Photograph of radiographic examination of the weld joint showing crack.

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BEND 1

BEND 2

BEND 3

BEND 4

BEND 5

BEND 6

BEND -7

BEND -8

BEND -9

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BEND -10

BEND -11

BEND -12

BEND -13

BEND -14

BEND -15

Figure 4:

ToFD scans of Header piping showing cracks in the mid wall.

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Figure 5:

Photomacrograph of the cracked piping.

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Figure 6:

Photomicrographs showing SCC cracks.

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Figure 7:

Photomicrograph of the cross section of weld joint showing crack propagating from parent metal through the weld joint.

Figure 8:

Photomicrographs showing crack propagation near the ID of the pipe surface.

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Figure 9:

Fractography

Scanning electron micrograph showing a detail of fracture face prior to cleaning illustrating the presence of corrosion products

Scanning electron micrograph showing detail of fracture face after chemical cleaning. Note the evidence for crack branching & a generally transgranular fracture path

Scanning electron micrograph showing a detail of fracture face after cleaning. Note the evidence for secondary branched cracking

Scanning electron micrograph showing detail of section taken from weld. Detail of crack tip. Points indicate positions of EDX spectra.

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Figure 10: Fractography & EDX Spectra

Scanning electron micrograph showing detail of section taken from weld. Detail of crack branching and corrosion product within the crack. Box indicates the position of detail shown in figure below

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Figure 11:

Chemical composition of the piping sample.

Element C Si Mn Cr Mo Ni Al Co Cu Nb Ti V W Pb Fe Base Metal 0.032 0.6 0.78 19.3 0.16 9.82 0.022 0.2 0.43 <0.004 0.71 0.065 0.19 0.009 68

Composition % Weld 0.034 0.94 1.87 19.5 0.078 9.82 <0.0002 0.2 0.021 0.75 0.087 0.073 0.097 <0.002 66.3

SA312 TP 321 0.08 0.75 2 17.0-20.0 9.0-13.0

5 x C (min)

Figure 12:

Hardness measurement of failed location.

Identification Weld HAZ Parent Metal

Scale HV HV HV

Load (Kg) 10 10 10

Range 191-224 176-210 198-209

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Figure 13:

Chemical analysis of water samples in Gas Streams.

TEST
PH Conductivity Total Dissolved Solids Suspended Solids P Alkalinity CaCO3 Total Alkalinity CaCO3 Caustic Alkalinity Carbonate CO3 Hydrogen Sulphide H2S Sodium Na Sulphate SO4 Chloride Cl

UNIT mhos ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm

C-101 5.2 2,167 1517 6,212 Nil 9 Nil Nil Nil 248 320 514

RESULTS C-103 6.0 317 222 422 Nil 30 Nil Nil Nil 1.0 42 33

C-203 6.2 147 103 281 Nil 35 Nil Nil Nil 3.0 18 16

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