re: Chlorine Leak at Olin St Gabriel - 3 Hospitalized

quote:

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Stainless steel dude.....at the right temp for transport dude

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Well there is your answer. I said alloys were used and not carbon steel. But... If that is just plain 316SS that stuff will eventually eat it over years.Usually in the plant IF it could be purchased in hasteloy or some other exoctic that would be the preference for durability.

I still doubt the whole rail cars are SS. They are probably double walled tanks the inner being SS or carbon thats lined.

quote:

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50% Caustic (or less) at ambient temperature (<100F) will not corrode carbon steel.

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I disagree. Ive seen it and this DOW MSDS agrees with me as well.

Pumps
While steel or cast iron centrifugal pumps may be used for caustic
soda solution, such pumps suffer high maintenance and short service
life. For optimal service, Alloy 20 or its equivalent is preferred. All
pumps should have a time-delay high pressure/low pressure switch
downstream of the pump to prevent continued operation when the
pump is dead-headed or running dry.


Piping
If maintaining low iron concentration in the caustic soda solution
is important, use a flanged steel pipe with a polypropylene
lining. Because of the hazardous properties of caustic soda,
unsupported plastic pipe should never be used, and fiberglass
reinforced plastic pipe should be used cautiously only for specific
use conditions.

CS can be used but expect short life span and dirty product as the metal is being eaten away into your product line. Lined pipe is preferred. That and Alloy 20 and or hasteloy. To avoid costly down times plants use the alloys and lined pipe.