Crude unit overhead corrosion has been a problem for most refineries worldwide. A number of different
corrosion mechanisms can result in damage to the crude unit overhead. These mechanisms include low
pH corrosion, under deposit corrosion due to salt formation in the overhead, and velocity accelerated
corrosion. Hydrogen permeation has been successfully used to monitor crude unit overhead corrosion.
A correlation was developed to calculate the corrosion rate based on the hydrogen monitoring technique
readings. This paper will discuss the usefulness of the hydrogen permeation correlation in different
crude unit overhead troubleshooting scenarios. The correlation corrosion rate showed very good
agreement with corrosion rates calculated from ultrasonic thickness measurement (UT) data. In addition,
a case history of using the hydrogen permeation monitoring technique to map salt formation areas in one
overhead line is discussed.