Fireside Corrosion in Oxy-fuel Combustion of Coal

Oxy-fuel combustion is burning a fuel in oxygen rather than air for ease of capture of CO2 from for reuse or sequestration. Corrosion issues associated with the environment change (replacement of much of the N2 with CO2 and higher sulfur levels) from air- to oxy-firing were examined. Alloys studied included model Fe–Cr alloys and commercial ferritic steels, austenitic steels, and nickel base superalloys. The corrosion behavior is described in terms of corrosion rates, scale morphologies, and scale/ash interactions for the different environmental conditions. Evidence was found for a threshold for severe attack between 10−4 and 10−3 atm of SO3 at 700 °C.