In the bottom part of a continuously operated distillation tower fabricated from Type 2205 duplex stainless steel, severe corrosion was found after a total operation time of 4 years. The attack appeared in the form of gross pitting in the sheet material of the wall, and as stress corrosion cracking in the welds. Laboratory tests performed in the corrosive liquid, an acidic chloride containing deaerated aqueous solution of about 125°C, reproduced SCC on specially prepared specimens. In the tests and in the original part, cracking took place almost exclusively in the austenite. Corrosion morphology is explained by the orientation of the austenitic phase relative to the direction of the operating stress.