Product Overview
OmegaBond® Advanced Tubing -- A Superior Solution to Combat Corrosion
OmegaBond® Tubing is a robust, advanced tubing design for use in corrosive chemical processes and other applications. OmegaBond® Tubing technology can be applied to the extremely corrosive urea process. The new tubing designs enable the application of multiple and/or dissimilar metals in a single tube. Allowing you to put the right alloy where you need it most.
The advantages of this new material technology are a solution to corrosion and erosion issues observed in urea stripper equipment. Advantages of OmegaBond® Tubing technology includes:
- Superior corrosion resistance of the zirconium inner-liner (zero corrosion rate)
- Directly weldable into a titanium clad tubesheet without affecting the tube liner bond strength
- No passivation air requirements
- Useful in existing titanium-tubed units
- Eliminates urea solution seepage between the liner and tube because of the extrusion (metallurgically) bonded zirconium inner-liner
OMEGABOND® EXTRUSION BONDED TECHNOLOGY
The extrusion bonded technology utilizes multiple steps of metallurgical processing, which begins by meticulous cleaning of components and assembling titanium billets and zirconium tubes, and subsequent hot extrusion and cold pilgering to produce a metallurgically bonded zirconium-lined titanium tube. This tube can be flattened, formed and welded without damage to the bond layer.
It's Not Just A Tight Fit; It's A Metallurgical Bond
ZIRCONIUM VERSUS OTHER MATERIALS FOR UREA APPLICATIONS
Zirconium has been used in urea applications for more than 30 years. Its alloys are well known as one of the most resistant materials for use in these environments. Urea is currently produced commercially in large quantities from the starting components of carbon dioxide and ammonia. These processes operate at extremely high pressures of 150 bar and high temperatures approaching 230°C. In these conditions, the carbon dioxide and ammonia are combined to form ammonium carbamate, which is extremely corrosive to most materials. Typical materials used in these conditions include duplex stainless steels, titanium and zirconium.
Many of the stainless steels experience significant corrosion where ammonium carbamate is present. Even where the duplex stainless steels, such as 25Cr-22Ni-2Mo, have a "manageable" corrosion rate, they still must continue to be passivated (coated) in operation. This is accomplished using air or oxygen sparged into the unit to ensure formation of an oxide layer, which imparts the corrosion resistance. Air or oxygen in these high pressure, high temperature units can present explosive hazards.
Although the improvement of certain stainless steels has allowed the reduction of passivation air, the total elimination of passivation air has not been achieved. Titanium, which is another typical material in urea strippers, does not require additional passivation air, but will experience erosion/corrosion in these severe conditions. Zirconium, however, has excellent resistance with no corrosion rate in this environment. For more information, visit: http://www.atimetals.com/businesses/business-
