Coal liquids distillation tower corrosion: chloride analysis of solvent refined coal process samples

Severe chloride corrosion incidents have occurred in the distillation area of major direct coal liquefaction plants. Chloride analyses have been carried out for samples collected at various process streams of one of these plants (the Wilsonville, Alabama SRC-1 pilot plant) in order to define the pathway of corrosive species to the distillation area. These analyses show that the major fraction of the chloride in the atmospheric distillation tower is carried there in the higher-boiling process streams. The chloride level at a particular point in the atmospheric distillation tower may be several times that of the tower feed liquid; this concentration contributes to the catastrophic corrosion experienced in these towers. This chloride concentration provides an explanation for the occurrence of the corrosion in the last distillation tower in the process stream, rather than in the tower(s) first contacted by the chloride containing distillate stream. It also accounts for the observed localization of the corrosion within narrow regions of the atmospheric distillation tower. The chloride concentration and the chloride pathway are factors which designers of coal liquefaction distillation processes need to consider in a design that will keep corrosion to a manageable level.