Rates of fireside corrosion of superheater and reheater tubes: making sense of available data

Interpretation and use of a body of field data for corrosion of superheater and reheater (SH/RH) tubes in coal fired boilers was found to be unsatisfactory without some indication of how the corrosive environment encountered differed when different coals were burned. A new factor intended to represent the relative corrosion potential (RCP) of the coal burned is suggested, based on the accepted mechanism of accelerated corrosion of SH/RH tubes by the development of low melting complex sulphates beneath ash deposits. Initial testing of the RCP concept was encouraging, given the difficulty in some cases of ensuring accurate representation of the actual coal burned during the corrosion exposures. However, some data suggested that new boiler operating modes, such as various approaches to emissions reduction through staging of the combustion process, appeared to be capable of causing significantly more rapid corrosion of SH/RH tubes than would be expected from the RCP value for the coal. Although increased corrosion with some emissions control systems has been recognised in practice, understanding of the particular corrosion process involved is lacking. Some degree of mechanistic understanding of the key features of this form of corrosion is needed to provide a firm basis for application of concepts such as RCP or development of improved versions.