Superheater/intermediate temperature air heater tube corrosion tests in the MHD coal fired flow facility (Montana Rosebud POC tests)

摘要

Nineteen alloys have been exposed for approximately 1000 test hours as candidate superheater and intermediate temperature air heater tubes in a U.S. DOE facility dedicated to demonstrating Proof of Concept for the bottoming or heat and seed recovery portion of coal fired magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) electrical power generating plants. Corrosion data have been obtained from a test series utilizing a western United States sub-bituminous coal, Montana Rosebud. The test alloys included a broad range of compositions ranging from carbon steel to austenitic stainless steels to high chromium nickel-base alloys. The tubes, coated with K(sub 2)SO-containing deposits, developed principally, oxide scales by an oxidation/sulfidation mechanism. In addition to being generally porous, these scales were frequently spalled and/or non-compact due to a dispersed form of outward growth by oxide precipitation in the adjacent deposit. Austenitic alloys generally had internal penetration as trans Tranular and/or intergranular oxides and sulfides. While only two of the alloys had damage visible without magnification as a result of the relatively short exposure, there was some concern about Iona-term corrosion performance owing to the relatively poor quality scales formed. Comparison of data from these tests to those from a prior series of tests with Illinois No. 6, a high sulfur bituminous coal, showed less corrosion in the present test series with the lower sulfur coal. Although K(sub 2)SO(sub 4)was the principal corrosive agent as the supplier of sulfur, which acted to degrade alloy surface scales, tying up sulfur as K(sub 2)SO(sub 4) prevented the occurrence of complex alkali iron trisulfates responsible for severe or catastrophic corrosion in conventional power plants with certain coals and metal temperatures.