Chemicals Industry Materials of Construction Roadmap Summary
An electronic copy of the roadmap can be downloaded (PDF 370 KB) Download Adobe Reader.
Background
Materials Technology Institute (MTI) of the Chemical Process Industries, Inc., supported by industry and the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), organized a workshop to facilitate the development of a technology roadmap for materials of construction, operation and maintenance. Copies of the roadmap report, Technology Roadmap for Materials of Construction, Operation, and Maintenance in the Chemical Processing Industries, are available online
Vision Linkage
This roadmap supports the Materials Technology's technical area of Vision 2020. High priority opportunities for new materials include materials for high temperature and pressure and corrosive environments; better data for materials reliability and performance; and control, prediction and monitoring technology.
Goals
- Minimize capital costs and energy consumption by 30% by 2020
- Maximize asset productivity by increasing uptime 25% and improving first-pass first-quality yield by 20%
- Protect the environment by containing the process with zero fugitive emissions; eliminating toxic discharges to the ground; and reducing hazardous wastes by 50%
- Provide a safe operating environment with zero on-the-job injuries
Priority R&D Needs
- Alternate alloy systems for high temperatures
- Longer life refractories that are field repairable and ductile
- Cost-effective techniques for covering steel with corrosion-resistant alloys
- Chemical-process-resistant carbon steels
- User facility for acquisition of thermophysical, kinetic and mechanical data
- Study of the metal dusting problem
- Data for materials reliability/performance for ceramics and composites
- Big picture controls/global inspection techniques
- NDE for fracture toughness
- Use of prototypes and simulation of operating environments
- Prediction of materials performance without empirical tests
- Modeling/life prediction of high temperature materials
- Joining/fabrication techniques for ceramics/other new materials
- Design inspection/maintenance practices/codes for non-metallics
- Technology centers for "like" processes
- "How to" guides for inspectors, users, designers to optimize the use of materials
- Methods for non-intrusive inspection of heat exchangers and tanks
- Systems to inspect hidden equipment details (e.g., pipe supports)
- Life cycle cost models for process equipment and piping systems
- Uniform specification system model