High temperature corrosion during waste incineration characterisation, causes and prevention of chlorine-induced corrosion

Sammanfattning: Waste-fired boilers suffer severely from corrosion of critical components such as superheater tubes. In this work the high temperature corrosion of candidate superheater alloys have been investigated by detailed laboratory studies and controlled field exposures in full-scale boilers.In a laboratory study the detrimental effect of gaseous hydrochloric acid (HCl) on three  different ground surface and preoxidised austenitic stainless steels was investigated. Exposures were conducted in an environment comprising N2-10O2-5H2O-0.05HCl at both 400 °C and 700 °C. A positive effect of preoxidation is evident when the alloys are exposed at 400 °C. Oxide layers formed during preoxidation effectively suppress chlorine ingress and lower the corrosion rate for all three materials while accelerated corrosion and chlorine accumulation at the metal/oxide interface is detected for ground surface specimens. The positive effect of preoxidation is lost at 700 °C and corrosion resistance is dependent on alloying level. At 700 °C metal chloride evaporation contributes significantly to the material degradation. Based on the results, high temperature corrosion in the presence of gaseous HCl is discussed in general terms. In two different waste-fired boilers measures for counteracting superheater corrosion were investigated. In a grate-boiler the deposit formation and high temperature corrosion of some candidate superheater materials were studied. Metal loss measurements showed unacceptably high corrosion rates for the lower alloyed ferritic steels 13CrMo44 (Fe-1Cr-0.5Mo) and HCM12A (Fe-11Cr-2W), as well as for the austenitic Super 304 (Fe-18Cr-9Ni-3Cu). The corrosion attack for these alloys was manifested by the formation of mixed metal chloride/metal oxide scales. A different type of behaviour was seen for the higher alloyed austenitic steels and nickel-base alloys, which were able to form a chromium-enriched oxide next to the metal. However, the alloys suffered from localised pitting attack. Since analyses of the deposit revealed appreciable amounts of low melting salt mixtures such as ZnCl2-KCl, PbCl2-KCl, FeCl2-KCl and NaCl-NiCl2, oxide dissolution in these molten salts is the probable reason for pitting attack. In a waste-fired boiler ammonium sulphate solution was added to the flue gas and the effect on flue gas and deposit composition was evaluated. It was evident that the sulphur-rich additive reduced the amount of alkali chlorides in both the flue gas and the deposit. Results also indicated that the initial corrosion rates were lowered with the use of ammonium sulphate. It was concluded that using the additive could be a possible strategy for changing the flue gas chemistry so that superheater corrosion is mitigated.