Ash deposits cause accelerated corrosion of waterwall boiler tubes in waste to energy (WTE) incinerators. To study this effect, a series of experiments were planned to determine the mechanism of corrosion of carbon steel boiler tubes under ash deposits. Results reported here were for carbon steel tubes exposed to an environment consisting of 02, CO2, N2, and water vapor. Future experiments will include HC1 and SO2. Test procedures included both isothermal and thermal gradient tests. Temperatures ranged from 300°C to 510°C for the isothermal tests and a metal/gas temperature of 450°/670°C for the thermal gradient test. Initial results indicated that increasing temperature caused the isothermal corrosion rates of ash-covered samples to increase. A shakedown test of a thermal gradient test apparatus was conducted at a metal/gas temperature of 450°/670°C, a more severe environment than normally encountered in WTE waterwalls. Results showed that the corrosion rate under those conditions exceeds the isothermal corrosion rates at the same metal temperature by a factor of 2 or more.
Keywords: waste incineration, WTE, isothermal, thermal gradient, carbon steel