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Establishing the Cause of Failure in a Secondary Reformer Nozzle in an Ammonia Plant

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Abstract

In this study, the cause of a severe failure and degradation of a nozzle in a secondary reformer unit in an ammonia plant was investigated. The nozzle was made of Incoloy 800H and exposed to harsh atmospheres containing H2, CO, and H2O vapor at a temperature close to 800 °C. Service life of this nozzle is approximately 20,000 h which is much less than its expected design lifetime (80,000 h). Visual inspections indicated that parts of the nozzle’s surface have been degraded into fine black powders/dust. According to the X-ray diffraction (XRD) result, the dust formed on the surface mainly consisted of carbon, Cr7C3, MnCr2O4, MnFeCrO4, Cr23C6, Mn23C6, and Fe3O4 phases. SEM images from the nozzle’s cross section showed that there are some pits on the surface which are filled with metal, oxide, and carbide particles. Micro-hardness test results showed that in areas adjacent to the surface of the pits, the hardness has decreased from 145 to 89 HV due to the depletion of alloying elements and formation of spinel oxide layers over these areas. Overall, metal dusting was diagnosed as the main cause of premature degradation of nozzles in this plant. A failure scenario and some mitigation strategies were proposed, based on the obtained results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, 84156-83111, Iran

    M. Taghipour, A. Bahrami & R. Rahimzadeh

  2. Pardis Petrochemical Complex, Pars Special Economic Energy Zone, Asaloyeh, 196-75391, Iran

    V. Esmaeili

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  1. M. Taghipour
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  2. A. Bahrami
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Taghipour, M., Bahrami, A., Rahimzadeh, R. et al. Establishing the Cause of Failure in a Secondary Reformer Nozzle in an Ammonia Plant. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 21, 1143–1153 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-021-01182-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-021-01182-y

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