Failure of 321 stainless steel heater tube in heavy crude oil

- The paper presents a case study of failure of a stabilized stainless steel charge heater tube in heavy crude oil.
- The paper presents an interesting finding, namely the occurrence of chloride stress corrosion cracking catalyzed by the presence of sulphur-bearing species.
- The precipitation of salts and coke from the heavy crude led to sensitization of the internal surface layer and sulphidation of the crack walls.

Failure investigation was done on a 321 stainless steel charge heater tube which failed in a refinery unit processing heavy crude oil. Crude oil was the charge in the radiant and convection sections; while saturated stripping steam is present in convection section. After a leak was detected, visual inspection revealed that nine convection tubes had black oil/coke deposits on their external surfaces. The deposits were seen on the first three rows of tubes. When one of the tubes was lightly ground at the black colored area, a circumferential crack was visually observed. The investigation revealed that long-term aging, coupled with localized deposition of salts and coke from the heavy crude led to sensitization of the tube surface layers. This in turn resulted in sulphidation of the internal surface grain boundaries, formation of grooves, and cracking of the material. Thus, cracking was intergranular in nature in the initial stage, but became transgranular at later stages. It was concluded that cracking was due to chloride stress corrosion cracking catalyzed by the presence of sulphur-bearing species. It was recommended that the desalter operation be improved and frequent decoking and scale removal be carried out, with emphasis on the convection section at the refinery.