The effect of a nickel alloy coating on the corrosion of furnace wall tubes in a waste wood fired power plant

The use of waste wood as a fuel in power plants is becoming more widespread in Europe, because it is a renewable energy source with a lower cost than forest fuel. However it is more corrosive than coal and corrosion problems have arisen in the furnace wall area of a low NOx heat and power boiler. The furnace walls are made of a low alloy steel which has been coated in some parts with a nickel alloy to reduce corrosion. In this work, furnace tubes coated with a nickel alloy were compared to the uncoated tubes of the low alloy steel 16Mo3 after 3 years of exposure in the boiler. The nickel alloy coating and uncoated material were also compared with more controlled testing on a corrosion probe lasting for about 6 weeks. The corrosion rates were measured and the samples were chemically analysed by SEM/EDS/WDS and XRD methods. The corrosive environment was also modelled with Thermo-Calc software. The corrosion rates measured from the probe and tube samples of 16Mo3 agreed well with each other, implying linear corrosion rates. The results also showed that the use of nickel alloy coatings changes the corrosion mechanism, which leads to a dramatic reduction in the corrosion rate. The results are discussed in terms of the corrosion mechanisms and thermodynamic stability of the corrosion products.