Leakage Causes of Steam Heat Exchanger Tube Bundle in a Coal Chemical Plant

A leakage failure happened in the steam heat exchanger tube bundle in an air separation unit of a coal chemical plant. In order to prevent such accident, observation of macro and micro morphology, analysis by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy combined with chemical process analysis were conducted to find out the failure causes. The results show that the leakage failure of the steam heat exchanger tube bundle was due to pitting perforation caused by alkali corrosion. The reasonable improvement suggestions were given according to the failure reasons of the heat exchanger tubes.