The offshore industry is currently experiencing very impressive growth. This is driven by key things like wind, deepwater drilling, and hydrogen. It’s likely to continue as well, especially green, renewable energy solutions. As a result, there is a lot of attention on infrastructure, including platforms, marine vessels (including FPSOs), and pipelines. To be successful here, it is important to choose the right materials, ensuring they can withstand seawater. We want to have a look, exploring products like coated steel ERW tubes and more.
The danger
Offshore settings are incredibly hazardous. One of the biggest issues is the seawater. It is highly corrosive because of the high chloride content and marine organisms. The fluctuating temperatures have a big impact too.
Ultimately, when you deal with seawater, whether it is for cooling, processing (including pumping and hydrogen production), firefighting, or other applications, you need to be careful. Crucially, you must choose materials with the right combination of properties. Corrosion resistance will likely be the main priority, but you need to think about strength, weight, maintenance requirements, and costs too.
There are several materials and specific products that are common choices for offshore seawater systems. They include coated carbon steel ERW tubes, GRP or GFRP, stainless steel, copper/nickel alloys, and titanium.
What to use?
Titanium has grown into one of the most popular options recently. A big driver is it’s become cheaper and more accessible. While still costly, the extra investment pays off because of the outstanding corrosion resistance, high strength, low density, and low maintenance. It’s a great choice for various applications, such as heat exchangers, desalination systems, and more.
Composites like GRP and GFRP have also grown in popularity for seawater applications. Again they have great corrosion resistance and are lightweight. The cost and service life can be impressive too. However, there are drawbacks to consider. Significantly, they have lower mechanical strength; this limits the applications you can use them for.
The classic option is coated carbon steel tubing, including products like ERW tubes. There are many different types here thanks to the number of potential coatings. Popular choices include epoxy and polyethylene. The key advantages include low costs and high mechanical strength. In addition, the familiarity and knowledge from decades of use is fantastic. The downside is the quality of the coatings has an impact on performance and service life. If they have issues like being too thin or delamination, it can allow rapid corrosion.
Stainless steel can be a viable alternative to carbon steel, as long as you select the right alloy and grade. You need to ensure it will have sufficient corrosion resistance and strength. The drawback though is you need to be careful with welding, ensuring you don’t create sites where localised corrosion can happen.
Finally, copper/nickel alloys are another classic option. Like coated carbon steel, they have a good track record. Advantages include corrosion and biofouling resistance. The big drawback is the high costs; it is more costly for the raw materials and the cost of welding and fabrication is higher too.
A great source of ERW tubes
Union Steel Tubes is a fantastic business to work with if you need quality products. Even better, we understand the ever-growing list of applications for the tubing. We support clients, sharing our knowledge and expertise. We’ll work with you to ensure you specify the right products for your project.
So, contact us and let’s discuss everything about ERW tubes.
