Enhancing Corrosion Resistance of Superheater Alloys

The efficiencies of biomass-fueled power plants are much lower than those of natural gas and coal-fueled plants because exit steam temperatures are restricted to inhibit corrosion of superheater tubes. Nexterra needs to raise steam conditions from 403?C to 460?C in future systems in order to satisfy customer demands. The raise in the probability of corrosion issues due to contaminants in the fuel. In order to achieve the more aggressive steam conditions it is necessary to modify boiler design to include selection of the boiler tube materials that are resistant to corrosion. The intern, Danielle Salvatore, under the supervision of Curtis Berlinguette, has recently introduced a facile fabrication method in Science Advances of metal alloy and/or metal oxide layers. The near-infrared-driven decomposition process will be used to coat inexpensive tube materials with corrosion resistant layers. These materials will be used in targeted testing program under model tube and flue gas temperature conditions. A large savings in capital and maintenance costs could be achieved by applying a protective corrosion layer instead of utilizing more expensive tube materials. superheater conditions increases

Faculty Supervisor:

Curtis Berlinguette

Student:

Danielle Salvatore

Partner:

Nexterra Systems Corp.

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

Alternative energy

University:

Program: