Breakthroughs in Corrosion Control and Materials Engineering in the Pulp and Paper Industry—Lessons from History

A review of milestones in the understanding of the corrosion of process equipment materials in the pulp and paper industry indicates seven as being most important.  The causes of thinning and cracking in pulp digesters, of corrosion and cracking in recovery boiler furnace tubes, of localized corrosion in bleaching solutions and of corrosion fatigue cracking in suction press rolls were all identified by focused research and all enabled new approaches to corrosion control.  The last milestone was the realization that lean duplex stainless steels, developed to replace galvanized steel, are ideal for handling pulping liquors.  Because pulp and paper industry corrosion research has largely been eliminated, future advances will rely mainly on the application of research performed elsewhere or by equipment suppliers.