Superheater tube corrosion in wood gasifier ash deposits

The upper operating temperature of tubes in heat exchangers/steam generators is strongly influenced by the degradation that can occur because of the reaction of the exchanger/generator tubing with the deposits that accumulate on the surface of the tubes. In fact, severe corrosion has been observed in some biomass fired systems, particularly with elevated potassium and chlorine concentrations in the deposits. Wood gasifiers have recently been and are currently being constructed at several sites in North America. In these systems, the syngas is burned to produce steam and the performance of the heat exchanger tubes under ash deposits is of great concern. As temperatures of the heat exchangers are increased in an effort to increase their operating efficiency, the performance of the tubes is of greater interest. The corrosion behavior of alloy steel tubes as a function of temperature has been investigated by exposing samples of selected alloys to ash collected from the steam generator fired by syngas produced in wood gasifiers. This study compares corrosion rates from laboratory exposures of synthesis gas and ash at 500°C and 600°C.