Ultrasonic Techniques for High Temperature Hydrogen Attack
Well-trained NDT technicians using the right combination of ultrasonic techniques can improve plant reliability and worker safety.
It’s been nine years since a heat exchanger burst at an oil refinery in Anacortes, WA, fatally injuring seven workers and bringing renewed attention to the risks of high-temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA).
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board determined that HTHA caused one of six carbon steel pressure vessels in the refinery’s naphtha hydrotreater unit to weaken and rupture, leaking a mixture of hydrogen and raw naphtha into the air. The gas combusted almost immediately, producing an explosion and fire that burned for more than three hours.