Impact of Contaminants on Furnace Performance

Sodium is a known contaminant in feedstock to ethylene furnaces. This paper describes an incident involving the contamination of a natural gasoline feedstock with sodium. The incident resulted in aggressive hot-salt corrosion which impacted the radiant tubes and convection tubes.  Analysis of coke at different locations showed the presence of hexavalent chrome, which led to implementation of several health and safety precautions as well as environmental monitoring during the clean-up process. Metallurgical failure analysis and subsequent repairs are also discussed.