Olivier Hamart - VALLOUREC
Javier Piron - VALLOUREC
New grade P9Mod has been developed in order to improve resistance to coke deposit comparing to widely used P5 or P9 grades in refinery furnaces.
Specific chemical analysis based on Cr, Si, Cu and Ni contents has been specified after laboratory testing on different heats. Thermogravimetric analysis has been performed to differentiate materials (ferritic to austenitic grades) in terms of coking level and coking rate. Alloys have been classified versus their coking resistance in function of temperature showing the efficiency and enhanced resistance of P9Mod solution.
P9Mod tubes have been installed in European visbreaker during one year for field testing. Even if the process parameters were not the best one, results are showing the efficiency of P9Mod as coke resistant material and highest mechanical properties (thanks to alloying elements ) comparing to P9.
Javier Pirón studied Chemistry at the University Complutense of Madrid and earned a PhD degree at the Research Center Jülich (Germany) in the field of high temperature corrosion. He completed his post-doctorate (7 years) at IEK-2 at the Research Center Jülich working on different high temperature corrosion topics, mostly linked to coal fired power plants. Since 2009 he has been working at the Vallourec Research Center Germany (VRCG) as a Senior Research Engineer for the development of high temperature materials for coal fired power plant applications and leading the high temperature corrosion laboratory at VRCG.
Olivier Hamart is the project manager for the P9Mod development in Vallourec. He has been with Vallourec for 10 years, mainly for the Powergen market as a technical customer manager. Previously, he worked for a steel maker company as an R&D manager and for an automotive Tier 1 supplier.