Titanium And Titanium Alloys: Corrosion Protection And Performance Enhancers in Soda Ash Production

Soda ash, as a basic raw material in the chemical industry, faces serious corrosion problems in its production process. Especially under the action of gas or liquid phase media, cast iron and carbon steel equipment is often difficult to resist localized corrosion and crevice corrosion attack. For this reason, the global soda ash industry has turned to titanium equipment to meet this challenge.
Titanium in the soda ash production of a wide range of applications
In the forging production process of soda ash, titanium is used in large quantities in distillate gas coolers and condensers due to its excellent corrosion resistance. In particular, thin-walled titanium tubes have a service life of up to 20 years. This not only improves the heat transfer conditions, but also ensures that the heat transfer area of the equipment and the cross-sectional area of the tubing stroke are not reduced by corrosion, which is particularly important for distillation condensers.
In the United States, for example, titanium tubes have been used in the soda ash production process to replace cast iron tubes that needed to be replaced every two years. This initiative not only significantly extends the service life of the equipment, but also to increase production capacity by 25%. In addition, in order to further reduce costs, foreign countries have also begun to use pure titanium narrow strip manufacturing seamless thin-walled welded tubes to replace seamless tubes, and the extensive use of titanium plate heat exchangers.

China's titanium in the practice of soda ash production
Since 1965, China has also begun to try to use titanium to solve the problem of equipment corrosion in soda ash production. In soda ash production, titanium is used in a wide range of applications, including key equipment such as crystallization external cooler, ammonia condenser at the top of distillation tower, ammonium chloride mother liquor heater, flat plate heat exchanger, umbrella plate heat exchanger, carbonation tower cooling tube, carbon dioxide turbocompressor rotor impeller, and lye pump.
Among them, the carbonization tower is the core equipment in soda ash production. In the carbonization tower, ammonia reacts with carbon dioxide to produce sodium bicarbonate. However, the cooling water pipes in the cooling water tank in the middle and lower part of the carbonization tower are facing serious scouring corrosion. In the past, despite attempts at various anti-corrosion coatings, none of them effectively solved the problem. The service life of the cast iron pipes was also extremely short. Since the use of titanium pipe instead of cast iron pipe, no corrosion phenomenon has been found for many years, and the economic benefits are significant.
In addition, a large number of titanium pumps also brings many advantages. Experiments have shown that titanium pumps are not only corrosion-resistant, wear-resistant, but also long-term 70% to 80% of the high efficiency operation. This not only saves electricity, but also realizes leak-free operation, thus saving materials and cleaning the environment. What's more, titanium pumps have a service life of 20 to 30 years.
In summary, titanium and titanium alloys in soda ash production have demonstrated excellent corrosion resistance and high efficiency. With the continuous progress of technology and further cost reduction, the application of titanium in the soda ash industry will have a broader future.