Specialised weld overlay cladding from Arc Energy Resources has been specified by Wellman Graham to provide corrosion protection on heat exchanger tube sheets destined for a new methanol plant in Trinidad. Wellman Graham, a manufacturer of process equipment including vacuum systems, condensers, heat exchangers, pressure vessels and distillation columns, uses Arc Energy’s weld overlay cladding services for a range of applications in petrochemical plants, oil refineries and power stations. The base material for the five tube sheets on this most recent contract was carbon steel, which Arc Energy overlaid with a coating of stainless steel to provide corrosion protection from hydrocarbons and other aggressive streams. After considering the size of the components – all around 2m in diameter – and the urgent delivery schedule, Arc Energy decided to use the high speed submerged arc process to deposit the coating material. This is one of a number of processes that enable the company to accommodate the cladding of large components such as these, and bores as small as 50mm. Explaining the advantages of using weld overlay cladding for the contract, Arc Energy’s sales manager Allan Brown says that, apart from the obvious cost savings achieved by producing the tube sheets in conventional carbon steel and cladding only the areas subjected to corrosion, there is also a significant time saving due to material availability.
