51312-01716-Materials Selection for Designing SAGD Plants

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Product Number: 51312-01716-SG

ISBN: 01716 2012 CP

Author: Dilip Kumar

Publication Date: 2012

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SAGD (Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage) is one of the most important processes being used for extracting oil from Alberta’s Oil Sands field. A typical SAGD facility in Alberta has several units that require careful potential corrosion evaluation and materials selection to ensure safety and integrity of the plant for full design life. These are (but not restricted to) well pads bitumen treatment deoiling produced gas and evaporator systems. Many of these units are typical of SAGD and enough data on corrosion rates and materials performance may or may not be available. The major concerns that affect material selection in SAGD operations are CO2 and H2S corrosion high chlorides and total dissolved solids (TDS) oxygen ingress and operating temperature. For example both well pads and bitumen treatment units are likely to see significant amounts of CO2 and H2S (with variation in percentages) high temperatures as well as considerable content of water and oil. High chlorides may also be present. Produced gas unit will also have high levels of CO2 and H2S. Hence these units can witness high corrosion rates for carbon steel components particularly wherever conditions of two phase flow and/or high temperatures exist. High velocities may further complicate the condition. Deoiling system may also have high levels of CO2 particularly where there is a possibility of gas breakout due to pressure drop. Oxygen ingress in deoiling system can also cause increased corrosion rate for carbon steel components. Evaporator system poses another challenge in material selection due to presence of extremely high levels of total dissolved solids (TDS) up to 100000 ppm and very high chlorides up to or greater than 40000 ppm and normal materials of choice such as austenitic stainless steels may not survive for long. This paper discusses some of the corrosion risks involved in various units and elaborates on authors’ experience in materials selection for several new projects on designing SAGD plants.