Rubber Lining for Corrosion Protection in the Chemical Industry

It is a fact of modern society that many ordinary items of everyday use are obtained from complex chemical processes. Life-saving drugs, capsules and tablets, as well as perfumes, are derived from coal. From crude oil and petroleum gases, we obtain fertilisers, plastics, synthetic rubbers, pesticides, detergents, fabrics and coatings and paints. From seawater we can produce vital heavy chemicals including caustic soda, sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid and so on. 

The main chemicals transported in bulk in tankers are heavy chemicals. These include substances that are produced in large quantities. The most common heavy chemicals are  

Rubber lining is one of the best known and proven methods employed to protect chemical process equipment against the corrosive and abrasive attacks of the fluids. One of the most important characteristics of both natural rubber and synthetic rubber is the remarkable resistance to corrosive chemicals, fumes, acids, alkalies and other salt solutions. Without protection, corrosion would be so extensive that most products of modern technology could not exist. The variations and large percentages of corrosive impurities have little influence on the rubber lining up to temperatures as high as 100 °C to 120 °C. 

Rubber lining by the Cold Bond System three of the four phosphoric acid storage tanks, rubber lined for Madras Fertilizers Limited. These three tanks are each 24 metres diameter and 14.4 metres high perhaps the largest in the world ever to be rubber-lined. 

The technical advantages of a long-term nature are supplemented by considerable economic advantages. The combination of mild steel and rubber lining as materials of constructions in a chemical industry is much cheaper than stainless steel. An example is given by Heinrichs as [8]  

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Rubber Lining for Corrosion Protection in the Chemical Industry... 

The Indian Standard for lining of vessels and equipment for chemical processes, IS 4682-1 [22], mentions that the use of linings with rubber for protection against corrosion has been the normal industrial practice for more than half a century. The lined vessels and tanks are quite suitable for use either under vacuum condition or high pressure conditions. The appropriate thicknesses for rubber linings are recommended in this standard for various corrosive and abrasive conditions as follows ... 

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