Monitoring and in-service experiments as a tool for the life assessment of process components

Chemically demanding process conditions, aggressive gases and liquids often combined with high temperature and pressure, create challenging corrosion environments for metallic process components. The repair actions due to sudden failures are often highly expensive. In extreme cases, corrosion can lead to unexpected failures that are costly in terms of repair costs, environmental damage and potential harm to people working around. Corrosion/On-line monitoring is an important tool in the prevention of corrosion failures. It can provide indications of high corrosion rates and the loss of wall thickness, verify the effectiveness of corrosion control and give valuable information of the operational parameters and thus allows possibly extend the life of tubes and pipings. In-service experiments can be also utilised for wider scope in the life assessment. Systematic monitoring provides a cost-effective way to improve reliability of critical components, reduces unscheduled breakdowns and increases overall business profitability. Examples are shown from waste to energy boilers and water systems.