Proceed With Caution: Changing the Service Conditions of Your Rubber Lined Vessel
Corrosive chemicals can cause severe damage to your vessels and equipment. Protective barriers, like Blair Rubber’s long-lasting rubber linings can safeguard your assets and keep them in service for decades.
Our rubber linings are described as a durable, versatile and long-lasting solutions for asset protection from chemical compounds. While a lining’s properties may be designed to protect against multiple chemicals, its service conditions should not be changed once in the field.
Using the same vessel to transport different chemicals is tempting in the transportation industry. Driving one chemical commodity across the country and then coming back without another load is a loss for many transporters. Mixing service applications can have damaging consequences to your transportation/storage vessel, the protective rubber lining and to the contained chemical.
Blair Rubber recommends that customers proceed with caution when mixing chemical commodities that are not designed for their rubber lining’s original service conditions.
Impact of Incorrect Rubber Liner Conditions
Rubber linings protect storage, transportation and processing vessels against the harsh, corrosive properties of certain chemicals. When used for their intended service conditions, linings can last for decades with proper inspection/maintenance, offering a superior lifetime value compared to other tank lining solutions.
When rubber linings are exposed to chemicals outside the designed project scope, the lining can soften or become gummy and eventually erode until the vessel’s substrate is exposed. An issue like this can be very costly, halting production and requiring vessel and lining repair. The contained commodity can also be compromised when exposed to the residue of noncompatible chemicals in a tank or vessel.
Chemical Interaction
Changing commodities every load can cause chemical reactions that are extremely dangerous for workers, equipment and the environment.
Some chemicals should never be placed in the same vessel. For example, sodium hypochlorite, more commonly known as bleach, should never be placed in a tank that has carried Hydrochloric acid (HCL). This mixture of bleach and acid can create chlorine gas, which will destroy a rubber lining, and have a toxic effect on those exposed.
Switching commodities without understanding the impact can lead to chemical contamination, equipment damage and a hazardous work environment.
Best Practices
At Blair Rubber, we caution any customer who wants to use their rubber lined equipment for more than the service conditions for which it was intended. As rubber lining experts, we fit a protective solution to the specific field environment of the vessel.
Changing commodities is possible. Linings, like a pure chlorobutyl, have superior chemical, ozone, sunlight, and weathering resistance. Products like Enduraflex VE536BC or Crislip CC4624 are two durable lining examples that can withstand chemical situations and potentially handle different services. Before swapping commodities, we recommend a low-pressure wash of the lining to remove any previous residue left in the vessel.
Do you have a question about what your rubber lining can endure? Please contact us for a no-obligation discussion about our corrosion resistant lining products and how they can better protect your business assets.