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March 2019LARGE TITANIUM CLAD PRESSURE VESSELS: DESIGN, MANUFACTURE AND FABRICATION UPDATE AFTER 15 YEARSDR. EDGAR E. VIDAL, GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING, NOBELCLADCURTIS PROTHE, DIRECTOR OF R&D, NOBELCLADJOHN BANKER, CLAD METAL CONSULTING

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• Large titanium clad pressure vessels, columns and heat exchangers are increasingly used in modern processing plants which involve a combination of:

• Highly corrosive process media

• High pressures and/or temperatures

• “Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels – Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Issues” was presented at the 2003 Corrosion Solutions Conference*

• Much of that work remains highly applicable now, however this presentation focuses on what has changed over the past 15 years

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OVERVIEW

* Available from the International Titanium Association (ITA)

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• Titanium clad equipment design and manufacture began in the 1960’s in support of the emerging Terephthalic Acid industry

• Production of Titanium clad steel was made possible by:

• Discovery of the Explosion Welding Technology in 1959

• Subsequent global industrialization of the Explosion Cladding Process by DetaClad®

• Design and Fabrication methods for ASME Code pressure equipment components were also developed in this era

• Over the following 50+ years

• Titanium-Steel clad manufacture has developed into a highly reliable process for making robust and reliable process equipment

• Design and fabrication technology of simple components has evolved to support manufacture of vessels to the range of 10m diameter x 100m long and weighing up to 1000 metric tons

3/19/2019Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels: Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Update After 15 Years 3

TITANIUM CLAD EQUIPMENT

NobelClad.com3/19/2019Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels: Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Update After 15 Years 4

EXPLOSION WELDING PROCESS - EXW

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• The two industries support 60-70% of Titanium clad production globally

• Terephthalic Acid / PTA / PET production

• Pressure acid leaching of metal ores

• The balance includes supply to a broad range of processes, primarily for chemical process industries

3/19/2019Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels: Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Update After 15 Years 5

PRIMARY INDUSTRIES

CHEMICAL & PETROCHEMICAL

METAL REDUCTION, PROCESSING, &

SMELTING

NobelClad.com3/19/2019Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels: Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Update After 15 Years 6

TITANIUM CLAD VESSELS FOR PTA

Pictures provided by COEK engineering

NobelClad.com3/19/2019Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels: Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Update After 15 Years 7

TITANIUM CLAD PAL AUTOCLAVES AND CPI HEAT EXCHANGERS

Pictures 1 – 2: Pressure leaching autoclaves by COEK engineering, Pictures 3 – 4: Heat exchangers by Titan Metal Fabricating

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2

3

4

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• Explosion cladding is the only proven technology for manufacture of the large, heavy titanium clad plates which are required for the equipment

• Clad plates are manufactured to precise design criteria including – titanium alloy grade, steel alloy, component thicknesses, sizes, inspection criteria, etc.

• It is highly recommended to purchase titanium clad via the chosen fabricator or direct from the manufacturer

• It is advisable that the application and specific technical requirements be reviewed with the manufacturer prior to purchase

• Development of a Quality Inspection Test Plan by designer/fabricator/clad producer as a team is an important piece of Project Planning.

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TITANIUM CLAD MANUFACTURE

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• Titanium clad is typically supplied as flat clad plates and formed clad heads

• Plate sizes to around 4m x 8-10m

• Heads up to 3.8m diameter can be supplied as single piece, sizes are unlimited with segmental construction

• The international titanium clad specification is ASTM B898

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TITANIUM CLAD SUPPLY

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• Due to Ti-Fe metallurgical incompatibility, titanium clad design and fabrication processes are unique.

• Different techniques used for compatible clad materials, i.e. stainless steels and nickel alloys.

• Good, proven experience with both design and fabrication of Titanium clad are critical for a successful project

3/19/2019Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels: Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Update After 15 Years 10

TITANIUM CLAD DESIGN & FABRICATION

NobelClad.com3/19/2019Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels: Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Update After 15 Years 11

TITANIUM CLAD VESSELS FOR PTA

Pictures provided by COEK engineering

Welding of Segmental Head

Titanium Batten Strip Welding

Welded Titanium Batten Strips

Vessel Sub-assembly

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• Explosion clad manufacturing technology, which uses EXW to manufacture industrial size titanium clad products, is highly proprietary

• Virtually no detail about EXW titanium clad manufacturing technology is available in the public literature

• Of the roughly 50+ explosion clad production companies globally, under 10% have demonstrated reliable technology to produce titanium clad of any significant size

• EXW is covered in ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and welds can be qualified per Section IX

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TITANIUM CLAD MANUFACTURE TECHNOLOGY

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• Titanium clad equipment is predominantly designed and fabricated in accordance with the rules of ASME BPV Code. However, this alone provides less regulation and guidance than is frequently assumed.

• Code dis-allows Ti cladding as a structural component and invokes design, fabrication and inspection criteria for the base metal only.

• It does not address anything about design, manufacture, fabrication and inspection of the titanium. The responsibility for defining what is acceptable defaults to the User.

• It is broadly accepted that batten strip technology is necessary

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TITANIUM CLAD DESIGN & FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY

*ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Sec VIII, Sub-Section UCL

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• Equipment has gotten bigger, in pursuit of higher process efficiency

• The explosion clad manufacturing base has expanded, globalization and consolidated in some regions

• The fabricator base has change considerably, but grown very little

• Major changes have resulted from extensive globalization of the user community

• There is increasing perception that titanium clad equipment is a commodity product with well documented design and fabrication rules

• There are strong pressures to lower cost via global optimization of the overall supply chain

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MAJOR CHANGES OVER PAST 15 YEARS

*ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Sec VIII, Sub-Section UCL

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• Efficiency improvement goals drive demand for larger, heavier vessels

• Construction of larger, modern, efficient, and expensive fabrication shops have followed the demand, primarily in emerging Asian countries

• Fabricators unwilling to invest heavily find that they cannot compete.

• Transport becomes increasingly challenging, benefiting fabricators with coastal shipping access

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LARGER VESSELS

Pictures provided by COEK Engineering

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• Experienced explosion clad Manufacturers who dominated in late 1990’s: • NobelClad has consolidated 5 experienced smaller facilities into 2 large capacity highly efficient shops in US

and Europe• COEK Engineering in Belgium has added factory and transport capabilities and dominates supply of large

titanium clad equipment for the Non-China world• The two significant shops in Japan and Korea remain relatively small and highly niche with demonstrated

technology• Several smaller manufacturers in US & Europe have closed

• Evolution of new Clad Manufacturers since 2000• It is estimated that 40+ shops have been established in China since 2000. Essentially all are “home grown”

technology. Very few have experience with large plate titanium cladding technology• New operations are breaking out in India. Titanium technology suitable for large equipment is highly

limited and unproven• Return of Korean presence for this equipment appears to be on the horizon• The emerging large fabrication base in the Middle East has yet to develop titanium clad technology

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EXPLOSION CLAD MANUFACTURING

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• Project buyer’s have high expectations of lowest possible price via a global supply chain of Designer-Metal Supplier-Clad Maker-Fabricator

• This typically includes the assumption that the market technology is universally the same as that the 1990’s players and the traditional Western Quality Culture is in place globally

• It often further assumes that quality is assured by simply invoking the ASTM/ASME specifications in combination with very old proprietary specifications which are based upon technology of an earlier era

• Further it commonly includes the assumption that third party oversight by companies typically used for commodity products is adequate for this very niche product. This includes inadequate niche training of inspectors

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BUYER’S, EXPECTATIONS & ASSUMPTIONS

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• M&G PTA/PET Corpus Christi, TX• Owner M&G Chemicals (Luxemburg)• EPC Sinopec (China)• Process Licensor, ALPEK (Mexico)• Design Capacity 1,200 kMT of PTA, the world’s biggest• Original project Startup date- Fall of 2016• Titanium clad supply, Xian Tian Li (China)• Equipment Fabricators, Shanghai Morimatsu & Baosa (China)

• Clad disbonding in production and fabrication delayed delivery by > 1 year

• This was only one of many issues causing project delay and eventual bankruptcy of the owner company

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EXAMPLE OF CLAD PROJECT FAILURE (INFORMATION FROM CLAD METAL SOLUTIONS)

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• Inadequate design and material specifications were invoked by the buyers

• Many clad plates exhibited very low bond strength and dubious ultrasonic inspection results. This is attributed to cladding technology limitations with certain plate sizes

• A weak Quality System allowed release and mis-certification of non-compliant product

• 3rd Party inspection inadequacies resulted in acceptance of non-compliant materials for fabrication

• Plates began disbonding during initial fabrication forming operations, many “small” disbonds were accepted by deviation instead of rejection

• Ongoing disbonding problems late in the fabrication cycle resulted in the eventual need to replace many plates

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PRIMARY CAUSES OF M&G CLAD PROBLEMS (INFORMATION FROM CLAD METAL SOLUTIONS)

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• Quality systems were not adequate at three levels:

• Clad manufacturer

• Clad fabricator

• Independent inspector

• Design and material specifications were minimal, not sufficient for the quality required for the project

• Clad manufacturer’s technology was not appropriate for some of the required metal sizes

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SUMMARY

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• Many of large titanium clad pressure vessels were manufactured in the past 15 years, considerably more than in the prior 15 years.

• Most of this equipment has fully met the Users expectations for On-Time delivery, Quality and Performance Reliability.

• It has also met Users expectations for lower cost.

• However, there have been a relatively small number of high visibility exceptions.

• Greater Project Due Diligence of the Quality Culture and Experience Level will reduce these problems. Focus needs to be at all levels:• Equipment design & specifications• Clad manufacturer• Clad equipment fabricator• Independent inspector training

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OVERALL REVIEW AT 15 YEARS

NobelClad.com3/19/2019Large Titanium Clad Pressure Vessels: Design, Manufacture and Fabrication Update After 15 Years 22

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TelephoneT 303.604. 3902F 303.604.1897

Dr. Edgar E. VidalGlobal Director of Business Development and MarketingE evidal@nobelclad.comT 303.604.3908M 720.768.6544

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