Improved materials for heat exchangers for waste-to-energy plants
Project is finished. It was granted from 1st April 2015 to 29th September 2017 (30 months). Project is supported by InnovationsFonden in Denmark.
The vision of the project is to develop new improved materials for heat exchangers in incineration waste-to-energy (WtE) plants allowing an increase of the achievable steam temperature/pressure and thereby to increase the electrical efficiency of the plants.
The efficiency of power production from WtE plants should be increased in future plants to decrease the amount of fossil fuels needed to cover society’s need for power. This is highlighted in the Danish strategy for waste incineration, where a long term goal of increasing the electrical efficiency from 17% to 30% has been formulated. Another benefit of increasing the electrical efficiency is an improved economical balance for plant owners.
High temperature corrosion of panel walls and superheaters is currently the main obstacle for increasing the electrical efficiency of WtE plants. Furthermore, excessive corrosion is also responsible for unplanned shutdown of plants as a result of breakthrough of panel walls or superheaters limiting the plant availability, which is crucial for economy of WtE plants.
High temperature corrosion in waste incineration boilers is caused by chemical reactions between the boiler tube metals and the aggressive components in the combustion gasses. Combustion gases from waste incineration contain more reactive and aggressive compounds than gases from fossil fuels. Among the most critical chemical elements are chlorine, sulphur, alkali metals, lead and zinc.
The overall purpose of the project is to develop new cheap coatings with improved corrosion protection for superheaters and panel walls of WtE plants. The coatings can also be utilized for heat recovery boilers in general.
You can find some info about the project in a news release from Vølund: LINK
The vision of the project is to develop new improved materials for heat exchangers in incineration waste-to-energy (WtE) plants allowing an increase of the achievable steam temperature/pressure and thereby to increase the electrical efficiency of the plants.
The efficiency of power production from WtE plants should be increased in future plants to decrease the amount of fossil fuels needed to cover society’s need for power. This is highlighted in the Danish strategy for waste incineration, where a long term goal of increasing the electrical efficiency from 17% to 30% has been formulated. Another benefit of increasing the electrical efficiency is an improved economical balance for plant owners.
High temperature corrosion of panel walls and superheaters is currently the main obstacle for increasing the electrical efficiency of WtE plants. Furthermore, excessive corrosion is also responsible for unplanned shutdown of plants as a result of breakthrough of panel walls or superheaters limiting the plant availability, which is crucial for economy of WtE plants.
High temperature corrosion in waste incineration boilers is caused by chemical reactions between the boiler tube metals and the aggressive components in the combustion gasses. Combustion gases from waste incineration contain more reactive and aggressive compounds than gases from fossil fuels. Among the most critical chemical elements are chlorine, sulphur, alkali metals, lead and zinc.
The overall purpose of the project is to develop new cheap coatings with improved corrosion protection for superheaters and panel walls of WtE plants. The coatings can also be utilized for heat recovery boilers in general.
You can find some info about the project in a news release from Vølund: LINK
Poster and oral contributions to conferences:
- "Evaluation of protective coatings for superheater tubes for waste to energy plants" oral presentation at 41st International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites 2017, 22-27 January 2017, Daytona Beach, FL, USA.
- "Novel coatings for superheater tubes for waste-to-energy plants" oral presentation at 40th International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites 2016, 24-29 January 2016, Daytona Beach, FL, USA.
- "IMTHEX: Improved materials for heat exchangers in waste-to-energy plants" - poster at HTC-KME Symposium in Lund, Sweden, March 2016.
Other relevant contributions:
- BSc thesis: "High temperature corrosion of superheater tubes for waste incineration plants" - In order to stay active in the research area, a Bachelor thesis at Politechnika Gdańska was performed in the Fall semester 2017. BSc thesis tested corrosion of a superheater tube based on 13CrMo4-5 in air in the temperature range 400C-550C. Each exposure was performed for 200h with intermediate weighing and samples were analyzed post-mortem with SEM and XRD (at Nanotechnology Centre PG).
