Local fabricator: Tialoc Shanghai
Location: Shandong province, China
Project Date: 2016
Material: 2.3 mm ECTFE glass fabric backed sheets
Medium: flue gas with HF and H2SO4
Temperature: operating: 95 °C | design: max. 120 °C
Pressure: 0.1 bar
A facility in the Chinese province of Shandong is producing diesel oil, petroleum products, propylene, liquid gas, and further products via alkylation. By processing these chemical high octane compounds large quantities of used catalysts such as hydrofluoric acid (HF) and sulphuric acid (H2SO4) accumulate.
ECTFE is resistant to hydrofluoric acid, sulphuric acid and temperature.
The process requires defragmentation of the catalysts. The alkylation plant required about 120 m of pipes, with diameters ranging from 1.8 m up to 2.5 m to transport the defragmented products into the acid regeneration unit of the plant.
Due to the excellent resistance of ECTFE against hydrofluoric acid and sulphuric acid paired with the material´s high temperature stability, ECTFE is being used as an inside lining of FRP pipes (FRP = fibre-reinforced plastic). In this dual-laminate construction the FRP provides the structural strength and stiffness, while the ECTFE is responsible for the corrosion resistance and the leak tightness of the pipes.
Remarkable is the efficiency and the throughput of the instalment: per year 200.000 tons of gaseous, used acid are being regenerated. For the whole project 600 m2 of fabric-backed ECTFE 2.3 mm and 100 kg of ECTFE welding rod were needed. The final customer was not only pleased because of the quality and easy processability of the products, but also because of the professional design and installation.
