A corrosion test program was conducted by exposing probes on the furnace wall, in the superheater, and at the precipitator inlet of a 65 MW pulverized coal boiler during both coal firing and cofiring of refuse derived fuel (RDF) and coal. Carbon steel, low alloy steels, and stainless steels were exposed for periods of 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 hours. The corrosion rates of carbon steel and low alloy steels in the furnace zone were slightly lower during cofiring with RDF than during coal-only operation. There was an increase in corrosion rates of low alloy steels in the superheater during cofiring as a result of attack by sulfur, but there was no evidence of chlorine corrosion. The cofiring of RDF had little effect on the stainless steels. Alloys exposed at the precipitator inlet also showed little effect of RDF. Integral tube sections installed in the furnace wall, the superheater, and the reheater and exposed to cofiring for more than a year showed only minor metallurgical changes, except for sulfidation attack on one reheater tube. The absence of chlorine corrosion during RDF firing was attributed to the high sulfur/chlorine ratio in the fuel. Long-term effects of RDF burning at the average level used (10 percent of heat input) would be small.

Subject
Sulfur, Corrosion rate, Probes, Tubes, Walls, Furnaces, Firing, Boilers, Corrosion probes, Chlorine, Coal, Deposit corrosion, Stainless steel
© 1989 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1989
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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