Abstract
•Corrosion behavior of pipes carrying pulp slurry was studied under turbulent flow.•Pulp fibers exhibited drag reducing properties and decreased the rate of corrosion.•The percentage decrease in the rate of corrosion ranged from 3.6 to 16.1.•Dimensionless equations suitable for corrosion allowance calculation were obtained.
The present study aimed to investigate the corrosion behavior of a pipeline carrying dilute pulp fiber suspensions (0.1–0.3% consistency). To examine the role played by pulp fibers on the rate of diffusion controlled corrosion of metals an accelerated test which involved the diffusion controlled dissolution of copper in acidified dichromate was used under turbulent flow conditions. Different concentrations of pulp fibers at different solution velocities were studied. The rate of mass transfer controlled corrosion of copper was found to increase by increasing solution velocity and decrease by increasing pulp consistency. The data in the presence and absence of the pulp slurry were correlated by dimensionless equations.
The importance of the present results in estimating the rate of corrosion in equipment used in the pulp and paper industry especially pipelines and heat exchangers were highlighted. The decrease in the rate of diffusion controlled corrosion in the presence of the pulp was explained in terms of the drag reducing ability of pulp slurry.