Metallurgical examinations were conducted on a set of damaged high alloy (Type 310H
stainless steel and Alloy 625 weld overlay) superheater tubes removed from a coastal fluidized bed
biomass power boiler, to better understand the degradation mode. Active oxidation (gas-solid reaction
occurring underneath the chloride-containing fireside deposit) was found to be the mechanism
responsible for the significant loss in tube wall thickness observed on damaged superheater tubes.
There exists a complex, poorly-understood, synergy between the critical factors that affect active
oxidation, primarily tube temperature and the supply of reactants in the flue gas, namely sodium
chloride (NaCl), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and water vapour (H2O). Overall ranking in terms of increasing
corrosion resistance to active oxidation follows the expected trend: T22 < SS310H < A625WO. Despite
the favourable ranking, the Alloy 625 weld overlay can corrode by active oxidation at an appreciable
rate [0.45 mm/yr (18 mpy)] under existing boiler operating conditions. A promising corrosion control
strategy involves reducing the steam temperatures in the outlet tubes of the three superheater sections
to below 500 °C.