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Case Study |
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"We saved
DuPont $100,000 with their own coating!" |
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Forward-thinking
manufacturer, Fab-Tech, Inc., of Vermont, USA |
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solves corrosion
problem in a DuPont plant using its PSP® exhaust |
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venting system and a
proprietary DuPont fluoropolymer resin. |
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In
the manufacturer of Oxone® monopersulfate com-
pound,
DuPont uses oleum, or fuming sulfuric acid.
Oleum
is highly corrosive and reacts violently with
water.
It is playing havoc with the stainless steel pipes
in
most plants.
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In a pleasant twist of fate, it turned out
that one of DuPont's coatings, a fluoropolymer resin, developed
exclusively with Fab-Tech for their unique coating system, was
the solution. And thanks to this forward thinking
customer, DuPont saved more than $100,000 on the project. |
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"They knew they needed
a better solution." |
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"They were
eating up stainless steel. The 316L pipes were pitting and
leaking because of the corrosive nature of the Oleum,"
explains Giles Wagoner, of Fab-Tech, Inc. "They had
been using stainless steel pipe for about 10 years and they knew
they needed a better solution." |
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DuPont Engineering
thought they basically had only a couple of options," says
Jay Kempf, Tehcnical Representative, Fab-Tech, Inc.
"They could keep using stainless steel but have to change
it out every six to twelve months, with additional replacement
costs and downtime." DuPont had also considered FRP
(fiber-reinforced plastic), some exotic alloys and lined
pipe. "In this application, the pipe has to be heated
to keep moisture from condensing and reacting with the Oleum,"
Kempf says. "Epoxy and phenolic resins don't have
good heat transfer and don't hold up well to that kind of
heat. The other options that perform better than standard
stainless steel are prohibitively more expensive." |
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Fluoropolymer coated pipe
was the answer. |
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Fab-Tech is the
leading worldwide manufacturer of coated stainless steel exhaust
solutions for the Semiconductor Industry. "After more
than a decade of experience in corrosive environments, we know a
lot about the outstanding chemical resistance of the
fluoropolymer in our PSP® coating system," says
Wagoner. "Our proprietary process for internally
coating stainless steel pipe seemed to be a natural fit.
We figured our PSP® venting system would save DuPont $100,000
in reduced material and labor costs, compared to the next
closest option." |
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How is such a
significant savings possible? Kempf explains:
"In exhaust applications, lined pipe is a heavy-duty, brute
force approach to taming chemical attacks, and consequently very
expensive compared to our solution. At a fraction of the
cost the lifespan of our PSP® product is comparable. We
have an exclusive primer that makes a rock solid base for custom
coating stainless steel. In corrosive environments it just
won't peel, and just won't blister." |
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Material savings
were just the beginning. |
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"So we saved
DuPont $100,000 with their own coatings! And in addition
to saving on material costs, DuPont also saved on installation
costs because the stainless steel pipe PSP® system is much
lighter and easier to install using the unique EZ clamping
system." Wagoner stated. He went on to say
that, "They told us they had budgeted three days to do the
job, they got the work done in less than one day." |
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And it doesn't end
there. "Cost is important," cites Pradip
Khaladker, of DuPont Engineering, "but at DuPont safety
comes first and product quality is a close second. The PSP®
system from Fab-Tech fills a big gap in materials engineering
because it lets us meet all three requirements." |
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