Aspects of alkali chloride chemistry on deposit formation and high temperature corrosion in biomass and waste fired boilers

Combustion of biomass and waste has several environmental, economical and political advantages over the use of fossil fuels for the generation of heat and electricity. However, these fuels often have a significantly different composition and the combustion is therefore associated with additional operational problems. A high content of chlorine and alkali metals (potassium and sodium) often causes problems with deposit formation and high temperature corrosion. Some different aspects of these issues are addressed in this thesis. The overall objective of this thesis was to study and highlight different means by which operational problems related to alkali chlorides can be overcome, reduced or prevented. The most important results of this thesis are: (1) A full description of the in-situ alkali chloride monitor, its operational principles, the calibration procedure, and an example of a full-scale application was made public in a scientific publication. (2) Efficient sulfation of gaseous alkali chlorides in a full-scale boiler was achieved by injecting ammonium sulfate in a water solution into the hot flue gas. (3) Reduced deposit growth and corrosion rates were achieved by lowering the alkali chloride concentration in the flue gas by sulfation. (4) Evidence of decreased deposit growth and chlorine content in deposits during peat co-combustion. (5) Results are presented from high temperature corrosion tests with different superheater steels in two different combustion environments. (6) Controlled KCl and NaCl condensation under simulated combustion conditions resulted in deposits which consisted of mostly pure phases, in contrast to the solid solution that would be expected under the prevailing conditions at chemical equilibrium