A new stainless steel has been developed by Sandvik Steel, specifically for use in the production of Urea. Produced in operation with leading urea process system designer and operator, Stamicarbon of Holland, the new grade, called Sandvik Safurex, has improved corrosion resistance of carbamate solutions and greater resistance to stress corrosion cracking if chloride content in the process is high. Sandvik Safurex is designed to resist much higher chloride concentrations at higher temperatures than both of the commonly used urea grade stainless steel materials, 316 Urea grade and Sandvik’s own 2RE69. As a result, the higher performance capability of Sandvik Safurex in carbamate solutions makes it an ideal choice for key parts of the urea process such as strippers, high pressure condensers, scrubbers, high prssure piping and reactors. The properties of Sanvik Safurex are already being proved in service. Tubes in the new grade were selected for installation in a high pressure carbamate condenser, fabricated by Schoeller Bleckmann Nooter in Austria and installed at the Police Zaklady Chemiczne plant in Poland Over 22,000 meters of 25 mm outside diameter tubing were supplied by Sandvik from its manufacturing plant in Sandviken, Sweden.
