Corrosion Case Study

Crude Oil Desalter Vessel

Upstream Production Facility

Desalter Repair with
High Velocity Thermal Spray

• Reduced life cycle cost

• Provided effective risk mitigation
• More robust protection system

T/A impact- 42 hrs. savings

Life cycle cost saving $10MM

Process Overview
The Desalter is the second part of a two stage desalting process. Feed to
the desalting process has already had some of the H2S and sour water
removed. The water and oil mixture is piped into the Desalter vessel
through inlet distributor system to pass it through the electrostatic
field. This case study focuses on the use of a thermal spray lining for
corrosion protection of the desalter to produce a dehydrated, desalted
crude oil.

Integrity Limiting Corrosion

The process conditions in the Desalter may contribute to vessel shell
corrosion with generation of hydrochloric acid by the hydrolysis of
the chloride salts present in the incoming crude oil, in particular
magnesium chloride and calcium chloride. The presence of H2S
might also lead to cracking. A novel corrosion-resistant IGS 5620
Metalspray™ lining system acts as a barrier that prevents the
aqueous water with H2S from contacting the base metal, thereby
preventing corrosion and generation of hydrogen.

Prior Mitigation Strategies

The Desalter was built in 2004 and came with an existing organic lining installed. Due to the aggressive
nature of the desalter vessels and high steam-out temperatures, these organic linings required frequent
replacement or repair during the turnaround every four years. The time required for the organic lining
application, together with any potential weld repairs in areas of damage, and subsequent PWHT required
would potentially extend turnaround schedules and associated production losses. The plant decided to
replace the existing Carboline 1209 in the preplanning phase of the 2012 T/A.

Surface Protection Solutions for

Mission Critical Equipment
 Corrosion Case Study

High-Velocity Thermal Spray (HVTS)

Failures of the Carboline 1209 were observed during the 2012 inspection of the desalter vessel. A decision was made
to replace the organic lining (an area encapsulating a total of 192 m2 (2,055 ft2) with the IGS 5620 Metalspray™ on the
bottom portion up to the 4 o’clock to 8 o’clock position of this vessel. This project was part of the original critical path
of the outage schedule, but came off of critical path due to other emergent work discovered during the T/A. IGS
performed the project and completed the work 42 hours ahead of pre-turnaround schedule, thus saving time during
the turnaround. The vessel was handed back to the client for scaffold removal and electrical work.

Turn Around Risk Mitigation

This vessel historically formed part of the critical path for the outage due to the extensive organic lining repairs and
cleaning time needed due to the low steam out temperatures necessary to accommodate the organic lining. The IGS
5620 Metalspray™ was applied to prevent any potential shell thickness loss due to the failure of the organic lining. Due
to opportunity cost savings, an IGS HVTS lining solution was chosen over a weld metal overlay solution due to significant
T/A impact in terms of time savings and the lack of need for post-weld heat treatment. Additionally, the application of
a corrosion resistant thermal spray lining had no impact on the pressure bearing material of the shell, reducing scope
complexity.

Inspection / Integrity Assessment

Final inspection of the work scope involved the generation of a lining thickness record with mapped electromagnetic
stand-off gage readings on a defined reference grid across the area lined. This record will be used for future inspection
and verification of lining integrity. HVTS lining systems can be readily inspected visually for any signs of deterioration
and thickness measurements taken with a magnetic liftoff gauge. The desalter vessel was inspected in August 2016 and
the IGS 5620 Metalspray™ was found to be intact with no apparent thickness loss identified.

Value Proposition
IGS’ ability to protect the vessel shell and limit production losses was a key driver for the client. The use of the IGS 5620
Metalspray™ HVTS process was deemed more economical when compared to weld metal overlay due to time
sensitivity. The cost of the weld metal overlay would have been approximately $12MM more that the cost of the IGS
5620 Metalspray™, thus saving the plant a considerable amount of money on the installed corrosion resistant material
installation. Costs savings of approximately $10MM will be realized over a four-year period versus organic lining due
to reduced outage time related to repairs, inspection and turnaround time savings of repeated re-application/repair of
the previous organic system. (This calculation is derived from the expected duration of the repair/replacement of the
organic system at the inspection intervals and further maintenance due to recurring corrosion). As similar scope was
performed on three other vessels in the turnaround, the use of this maintenance approach shaved 3 days off the critical
path schedule with a saving of $75MM.

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