An adsorbent transport pipeline after a 30° elbow experienced premature perforation and leakage during service. The failure analysis was performed by means of morphology observation, damaged surface analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The results revealed that thickness thinning occurred only on the upper wall, and the severely thinned region exhibited a special striated groove morphology. The main cause of pipeline failure was attributed to erosive wear caused by adsorbent impacts on the wall. Due to the particle redistribution process under the action of multiple force fields in the small bending angle elbow, the straight pipeline after the elbow had a very complex inlet boundary condition, so that the particle concentration at the upper wall was substantially increased. Besides, the sliding motion of the particles on the wall surface was greatly intensified. Cutting deformation became the main form of erosion damage, which induced an alteration in the erosional morphology of the failed pipeline and the backwardness of the leakage site.