Solving Erosion and Corrosion Problems in Jordanian-Potash Company

Abstract

The amount of surface material eroded by solid particles in a fluid stream depends on the conditions of fluid flow and on the mechanism of material removal. The paper  first analyses the mechanism of material removal for ductile and brittle materials. For ductile material, it is noted that erosion produced by particles striking the surface at shallow angles (  but the maximum erosion in brittle materials at perpendicular impact at ( . In  this paper ductile materials (steel alloys) are studied, then the paper discussed some aspects of the fluid flow conditions which may lead to erosion. Kind of pipe which connect between pumps and factory in Potash Company-Jordan is a carbon steel pipe. Because of large pressure from pumps (10 bar) and huge mass flow rate (about 700(m3 /hr)), particles (KCl, NaCl, ,MgCl) will strike with inner of pipe, erosion will happen, so a pipe will destroyed after many years. This problem considered costly, where Arab Potash Company is changing this pipe every seven years.

Keywords: Erosion, Corrosion, Pipe System, Cracks, Fluid Flow, Steel Alloys, Brittle, Ductile.