During a major turn around at a sour gas treating facility, routine vessel entry revealed that a high- pressure amine contactor was apparently cracked. Follow up detailed ultrasonic inspection revealed severe cracking of the vessel, which was removed from service. A detailed failure investigation showed that the vessel had experienced severe hydrogen induced cracking ( HIC ), the cause of this cracking has been traced to high hydrogen fluxes brought on by a combination of operating conditions, poor metallurgy for the service and a tendency for the alkanolamine to charge hydrogen at very high acid gas Ioadings.
Key Words: Hydrogen induced cracking, alkanolamines, sulfinoI-M, hydrogen permeation, sour service, pressure vessels