African Fusion November 2015

SAIW Member profile: Hydra-Arc Fabrication for hygiene

Fabrication for processing In this article, Tony Paterson of the Wits School of Chemical and Metal- lurgical Engineering describes the special welding requirements for stainless steel piping in plant applications where bio-film build up on pipe contact surfaces has to be avoided. Amathematical algorithmwas developed to assess interconnecting pipes against the criteria of a point- by-point minimum overlap of 80% around the pipe circumference.

I ndustrial plants subject to health and environmental regulations in- clude food, dairy, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, andbeverage plants process- ing drinks such as beer and wine, where bacteria can be directly associated with bio-film build-up on product-contact surfaces. Tomeet the demand for great- er plant hygiene, stainless steel plants were built in the mid-1960s, which had an intended life expectancy of 30 years and more. Hygienic processing plants are typi- cally fabricated from polished 304L or 316L austenitic stainless steel, although duplex stainless steels have recently been introduced. In linewith regulations, plant design philosophy requires: free product flowwithout stagnation; protec- tion fromthe external environment; and cleanable plant interior surfaces. When fabricating plants, standard plates and pipes are formed and con- nected together, often by welding, into systems. Welding, an enabling tech- nology, facilitates stress alignment of components and thus lighter structures. Whilst traditionally welding has always focused on structural integrity, hygienic welding introduces new challenges.

Thesemay provemore demanding than structural integrity, and are an addition to other operational requirements in- cluding environmental pressures. Welded processing plants Plants generally comprise a closed system of tanks, heat exchangers, mixers, distillation columns and inter- connecting thin-walled pipes. Two par- allel systems operate in tandem, one product-related, and the second to fa- cilitate cleaning of the internal surfaces of pipes, vessels, equipment, filters and fittings without disassembly, known as clean-in-place (CIP). Up to the 1950s, closed systems were disassembled and cleanedmanually but with CIP, cleaning is faster, less labour-intensive andmore repeatable, posing less of a chemical exposure risk to people. The welded area in a plant is a very small part of the total area of the instal- lation. Fabrication and design detail, however, influence plant performance and cleaning processes, and can result in lost productive time. Realistically, hygienic welded fab- rication will be both challenging and costly. Although this puts capital bud-

gets under pressure, well-designed and executed fabrication should ease operational costs. Factory and site welding Whilst themajor components inprocess- ing plants are factory built, many of the small-bore pipe inter-connections are made on site. Factory conditions are easier to con- trol as both sides of aweld are generally accessible. During welding of products accessible fromboth sides, protectionof the tool side and the opposite side of the weld by an inert gas is required to avoid sensitisation. If carried out properly, the need for post-weld treatments (grinding, polishing, pickling and passivation) will be minimised. Site welding is more difficult as, after fabrication, the system is closed as access compromises sterility of the equipment. The interiors of pipes are only accessible to fabricators for clean- ing, gas purging and NDT inspection purposes. On-site welding is inherently more difficult to control, more difficult to monitor and more difficult to repair. Inadequate welded joints compro- mise product quality in an otherwise hygienically designed plant because poor joints and/or welds will trap bio-film, thus encouraging bacterial growth. Bio-film volume increases with surface roughness, increased tempera- tures, lower flow speeds and stagnant areas. Bio-film formation on inside contact surfaces of a plant can also exacerbate local galvanic activity andmicrobiologi- cally induced corrosion (MIC). Alongside bio-film, MIC can significantly impact capital equipment life. Welding effects include: • Welding process-related roughness in the heat affected zone (HAZ). • Possible sensitisation leading to roughness and corrosion attack (low carbon stainless steels overcome this).

Plants generally comprise a closed system of tanks, heat exchangers, mixers, distillation columns and inter-connecting thin-walled pipes. Photo courtesy BOC and A&G Engineering.

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November 2015

AFRICAN FUSION