Anodic protection of 316L stainless steel piping in sulfuric acid service: failure causes and remedial actions

Anodic protection (AP) is one of the corrosion control methods that has been widely used in the manufacture, storage, and transport of sulfuric acid. The present paper gives a brief review of the history, some applications, and a case study of failure causes and remedial actions of AP in a sulfuric manufacturing plant. The AP system consists of a direct current source, cathodes, reference electrodes, and signal conditioning electronics. In a sulfuric manufacturing plant, for AP of 316L piping (as an anode), platinized titanium (Pt/Ti) and Hastelloy B-2 were used as reference and cathode electrodes, respectively. After seven years of operation of the AP system in the sulfuric acid plant, a section of the protected pipelines has severely corroded. The study of the system showed that the reference electrodes, which were titanium-electroplated with platinum, lost their stability in the acid with the loss of coating and caused overprotection. However, the system could not control the pipe’s potential in the AP situation. In this condition, accelerated corrosion of the cathodes and pipes has also occurred.

Vanadium removal from spent sulfuric acid plant catalyst using citric acid and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans

Spent catalysts being considered hazardous wastes exhibit a high metal content in mobile forms. In addition, growing demand for circular economy policy applications requires proper utilization of these wastes. This study aimed at the assessment of vanadium leaching from spent desulfurization catalyst derived from sulfuric acid plant dump located nearby a copper smelter. Chemical and phase composition of the catalyst has been characterized. The extraction has been performed using chemical (0.1-M and 1-M citric acid) and biological (biotic solution with Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans) methods, using different experimental parameters (pulp density, particle size, leaching time) to observe V leaching behavior and kinetics. The results revealed that both citric acid and bacteria carried out the extraction process well. The optimal parameters for acid leaching were < 0.2-mm particle size and 2% pulp density, which allowed to leach out 95% of V from spent catalyst within 48 h. The bacterially mediated extraction resulted in 93% V leached out within 21 days with 2% pulp density. The experiments showed that V present in the catalyst is susceptible to bioleaching and organic acid leaching with the latter being a quicker process.

Process features of neutralization of technical sulfuric acid with natural limestone

The work was devoted to the solution of the environmental problem associated with the disposal of sulfur dioxide emissions from metallurgical production at the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant (Norilsk, Norilsk Nickel PJSC). For utilization of sulfur dioxide it is planned to build a sulfuric acid plant. Concentrated sulfuric acid produced at plant is planned to be neutralized with natural limestone. This work presents the results of the study on the neutralization of concentrated sulfuric acid with limestone pulp from the Mokulay deposit (Norilsk). The influence of the following parameters was investigated: limestone consumption, acid dosing rate, limestone pulp density. It is established that the process is limited by the internal diffusion of acid through the layer of gypsum. In order to eliminate internal diffusion process it is advisable to carry out neutralization in a periodic mode by introducing a strictly measured amount of acid into an excess amount of limestone pulp. This process allows one to speed up the process of neutralization in 3-3.5 times and achieve a higher value of the final pH of the pulp comparing with continuous process. Carrying out the process in the periodic way also makes it possible to achieve the complete absence of the release of acidic off-gas during neutralization. The optimal values of neutralization parameters were determined as the following: limestone pulp density was 11-12%, acid delivery time was 40 minutes, neutralization time was 20 minutes, and final pH value was at least 6.5, while the limestone feeding was an excessive by 22-28% from stoichiometry. It was shown that an increase in the limestone pulp density is impractical because it will lead to an increase in the duration of neutralization, as well as to a sharp increase in the viscosity of the gypsum pulp. That, in its turn, makes gypsum pulp difficult to flow from the neutralization apparatus. It was recommended to filter the resulting pulp in order to obtain a gypsum cake with a moisture content of about 55%. It was recommended to store cake on a special site. A flowsheet has been developed and process schedules have been implemented for the design of a neutralization plant with a capacity of up to 2 million tons technical sulfuric acid per year.