October 30th, 2010
Until relatively recently we have lived in a world where energy has been plentiful and cheap. However, we are fast realising that our current fuel sources are running out fast. Not only that but the use of some of them is actual causing other problems such as carbon emissions, which scientists say is a cause of global warming and can lead to future environmental problems.
We also know that petroleum as a fuel is a limited resource and although the search is on for new reserves these are becoming harder to find and more difficult to extract especially as a lot of these new oil fields may be under the sea bed in deep water locations.
The search is therefore on for alternative fuel sources and one of these is methanol, also known as wood alcohol, and this can be produced from any carbon based material including wood waste and seaweed.
Methanol has some advantages over petroleum as it not only has lower emissions but can actually yield higher energy performance. However it does have some serious disadvantages. When used as a fuel for vehicles it has to be used in a richer mix than petroleum which means that the fuel consumption is significantly higher. Methanol is also very toxic and highly corrosive to pipes and pipe fittings so handling this material in bulk and requires special materials.
At Chemipetro we are ready for the future and manufacture pipe fittings, pipes and flanges in a range of specialist metals and alloys which are able to cope with the problems of these new fuels.
Tags: alloys, Flanges, Pipe Fittings, Pipe Flanges
Posted in Pipe Fittings | No Comments »
May 3rd, 2010
There has been much concern over environmental cracking in pipe fittings used in gas and oil plants, leading manufacturers to develop new alloys that are resistant to galvanic and chemical corrosion. We at Chemipetro supply pipe flanges and other fittings in a range of alloys, including Super Duplex, to minimise the risk of cracking. Provided these pipe fittings are correctly installed, and the usual maintenance and checking procedures are in place, corrosion is not usually a problem.
However, corrosion can be a problem in older petrochemical plants, where outdated metals are married to new, noble alloys. Then, galvanic or bimetallic corrosion can occur, owing to the electro conductive nature of the process fluids. The increasing interest in marginal oil fields i.e. fields with uneconomical reserves has made the problem more acute.
Marginal fields are of little interest to major oil companies, but are attractive to entrepreneurs because of their low operating costs and overheads. These low costs are often down to the poor quality of the flanges used in the original plant design. In addition, the process fluids used in marginal fields are often highly corrosive. If these are tied in to older pipelines, with pipe fittings that were designed for more mildly corrosive processing fluids, corrosion can occur at the joints.
Seawater (or “sweet” brine) still poses a big threat to pipe flanges, and many studies have been conducted over the years on its corrosive effects. The effects of “sour” brine, i.e. seawater contaminated with acidic chemicals, are especially of concern.
Tags: alloys, Flanges, Pipe Fittings, Pipe Flanges, Super Duplex
Posted in Flanges | No Comments »
