Abstract: Corrosion of copper heat exchanger is a serious threat to the stable operation of production equipment. In view of the over-standard corrosion of copper strip in the circulating water system of a petrochemical enterprise in north China, the corrosion characteristics, ammonia, organic phosphine, microorganism and other factors of the circulating water quality were comprehensively analyzed. Among these factors, low alkalinity, over-standard ammonia content and high concentration of chloride ion were the main reasons for the corrosion of copper strip. Measures such as increasing the M alkalinity and the concentration of corrosion inhibitor were taken, which could effectively reduce the corrosion rate of copper equipment and avoid the safety risk of copper heat exchanger corrosion to the production unit.

Key words: circulating water, copper heat exchanger, corrosion, mechanism