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step further
Florent Decultieux and Gilles Verdier, Manoir
Industries, France, look at how to reduce down
reformer tube wall thicknesses a step further.
n the petrochemical industry, there are limited applications where high temperatures
are a real challenge for materials to withstand. Among those are four major
businesses: ethylene production by means of steam cracking, production of ammonia,
methanol, and hydrogen and syngas by means of steam reforming.
In those applications, the ability of materials to withstand creep is really put to the
test as temperatures rank from 870 C 1100 C.
The industry has used tubes produced by centrifugal casting process, cast in what
is commonly called high alloys, or HP modified, namely materials containing at least
25% Cr and 35% nickel and micro additions.
An industry standard
In the 1980s, while most of the industry was still operating
furnace tubes in HK40 material, Manoir Industries came
Latest findings
Figure 1. Comparative 100 000 hours creep rupture data Man.XMR versus
Man.XM.
Min %
0.40
Mn
Si
1.2
Max %
Man.XMR
Min %
Max %
0.45
0.40
0.50
1.50
0.30
1.0
2.0
0.60
1.20
0.03
0.03
0.03
0.03
Ni
32.0
35.0
32.0
35.0
Cr
23.0
27.0
23.0
27.0
Mo
0.50
0.50
Nb
0.50
1.0
0.50
Ti, Zr
Add
Add
+others
1.0
Cu
0.25
0.25
Pb
20 ppm
20 ppm
Modified
Unchanged
Table 2. All thickness and weight per meter impact based on API 530
calculations
Design pressure, P
2.59 MPa
Design temperature, T
1003 C
Tube, ID
114.3 mm
Time to rupture, t
----->
Manaurite XMR
11.36 MPa
----->
13.33 MPa
MSW = (P x ID) / (2 x Sr - P)
MSW (mn)
14.7
----->
12.3
OD
ID + 2 x MSW + 1.6 mm
outside roughness
146.3 mm
----->
141.5 mm
Weight (kg/m)
54.78 kg/m
----->
46.05 kg/m
Third party
laboratory tests
In order to assess the accuracy of
Manoir Industries' internally found
creep test results, a European
laboratory renowned for its long
lasting involvement in creep
research was asked to perform
similar tests. TNO, in the
Netherlands, carried out tests in
order to position the various data
points on the creep curve, the
results of which are shown in
Figure 2.
Table 3. Comparative tube wall thickness and associated tube life options
Man.XMR
Base case Man.XM
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
N/A
Same dimensions
Decreased OD
Increased ID
OD
144.6
144.6
142.2
144.6
ID
121
121
121
122.6
Thickness
11
11
9.8
10.2
Weight
606
606
547
573
Length
13 500
13 500
13 500
13 500
Catlayst volume
100
100
100
102.60%
Calculated life
Price considerations
As Man.XMR remains a 25/35 alloy,
the base price is in line with the price of regular Man. XM. However,
since material (tube croppings, machining chips, etc.) has to be
segregated, there is a slight price impact on a per kg basis.
Nethertheless, all this is compensated for by the lighter weight
of the reformer tube assembly at the end.Furthermore, the price per
meter of tube is significantly lower with XMR due to thinner walls.
Eventually (based on design conditions) a Man.XMR reformer tube
designed for 150000 hours is cheaper than a reformer tube in Man.
XM designed for 100000 hours.
Conclusion
While it is clear that a breakthrough in creep properties could hardly
be achieved as nearly all possible combinations have been tried,
Manaurite XMR provides the industry with a technical solution that
will have a definite impact on capex for engineering companies when
it comes to designing a new plant.
For end users, the creep property gains can be translated by an
extra capacity if they are used to increase the tube ID. In any case, a
decrease in weight and the resultant fall in prices for this item are of
significant note.