Materials Performance

DEC 2016

Materials Performance is the world's most widely circulated magazine dedicated to corrosion prevention and control. MP provides information about the latest corrosion control technologies and practical applications for every industry and environment.

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6 DECEMBER 2016 MATERIALS PERFORMANCE NACE INTERNATIONAL: VOL. 55, NO. 12 UP FRONT —Ben DuBose Final Report Cites Corroded Tanks as Cause of Chemical Spill Photo courtesy of CSB. The final report by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) (Washington, DC) on the release of chemicals into a primary source of West Virginia drinking water in 2014 con- cludes that chemical storage provider Free- dom Industries (Charleston, West Virginia) failed to inspect or repair corroded tanks prior to the incident. Additionally, the CSB notes that as hazardous chemicals flowed into the Elk River, the water company and local authorities were unable to effectively communicate the risks to hundreds of thou- sands of affected residents, who were left without clean water. On January 9, 2014, 10,000 gal (37,854 L) of crude methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) mixed with propylene glycol phe- nyl ethers (PPH, stripped) were released into the Elk River when a 46,000-gal (174,129-L) storage tank located at the Freedom site in Charleston failed. As the chemical entered the river, it flowed toward the intake of local water utility West Virginia American Water, located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) downstream. The investigation also found that com- prehensive aboveground storage tank laws did not exist in West Virginia at the time of the release. Moreover, while there were regu- lations covering industrial facilities that required Freedom to have secondary con- tainment, the company failed to maintain adequate pollution controls and secondary containment as required, the CSB says. For more information, including a list of lessons learned, visit csb.gov. Team to Develop Supercritical CO 2 Pilot Power Plant The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) (Des Plaines, Illinois), together with the South- west Research Institute (SwRI) (San Antonio, Texas) and GE Global Research (Niskayuna, New York), was chosen by the U.S. Depart- ment of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) (Washing- ton, DC) to receive an $80 million award to design, build, and operate a 10-MWe super- critical carbon dioxide (sCO 2 ) pilot power plant. The goal of this project is to advance the technology development of sCO 2 Brayton power cycles. In these cycles, high-power- density turbomachinery utilizes sCO 2 as the working fluid. Historically, Brayton cycles have only been used in spacecraft applica- tions where compact, lightweight, high- energy-density power conversion is required. But these advantages are now being applied to terrestrial power genera- tion, GTI says, owing to the increase in effi- ciency and corresponding reduction in emissions. GTI plans to develop the test facility at SwRI's San Antonio campus. The project will operate at a turbine inlet temperature of at least 700 °C, aimed at advancing the high- temperature sCO 2 power cycle performance from proof-of-concept to a validated proto- type operational system. For more informa- tion, visit gastechnology.org. New Approach Launched to Manage Risk Assessment Photo courtesy of DNV GL. With an emphasis from regulators to improve safety by addressing uncertainty in risk assessments, industry classification society DNV GL (Oslo, Norway) has issued a new position paper, "Enabling confidence— addressing uncertainty in risk assessments." The new approach was developed in collab- oration with the University of Stavanger (Stavanger, Norway), and it reflects recent developments in the risk science commu- nity. The paper is aligned with the thinking of Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), ISO 31000, and the Society for Risk Analysis (McLean, Virginia). The paper discusses the challenge of understanding, interpreting, and dissemi- nating risk results, and it explores the mean- ing of uncertainty in relation to risk and how to incorporate uncertainty as a means to assert appropriate actions. The research advocates an iterative, top-down approach to risk assessment, where the focus is placed on the decision-making situation. To download the full paper, visit dnvgl.com. Fabricating Palladium- Ruthenium Nanoparticles Could Help Industry The elements Pd and Ru are both used separately in the chemical industry, but researchers have long thought that combin- ing them could lead to improved properties for industrial applications. A study pub- lished in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials reviewed new research into the fabrication of Pd-Ru bimetallic nanomaterials. Early research showed that combining Pd and Ru nanoparticles led to a mixture with better properties for industrial catalytic purposes than either element had alone. The study notes that by varying the fabrication methods and compositions, Pd-Ru nano - materials with different properties can be developed for industrial use. In 2010, Hiroshi Kitagawa from Kyoto University (Kyoto, Japan) and colleagues fab- ricated a solid-solution alloy by adding atoms of one element to the crystalline lat- tice of another in a high-temperature reac- tion with Ag and Rh, elements near Pd on the periodic table. The resultant material had attractive properties for industrial pur- poses, the researchers say, including the ability to absorb hydrogen. In 2014, the team synthesized Pd-Ru solid-solution alloy nanoparticles, finding that the Pd-Ru nanoparticles had higher catalytic activities compared to Ru or Pd nanoparticles alone. More recently, they found these nanoparticles were active in a catalytic process important for purifying harmful gases from exhaust gas. For more information, visit researchsea. com.

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