Control of erosive wear in corrosive environments using erosion-corrosion maps : Potential applications to fossil fuel environments

Erosive wear by solid particles can occur in a wide range of locations in advanced coal conversion systems. For Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustors, these include the combustion environment, the ductwork linking the combustion process to the gas turbine, and the turbine itself. Erosion-corrosion can also occur (in aqueous conditions), during the transportation of the coal slurry to the combustion site. Significant advances in the understanding of the methods by which erosive wear can be controlled have been made in recent years. Regimes of erosion-corrosion have been identified both in ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ corrosive environments. Erosion-corrosion maps have been constructed, showing the transitions between the erosion-corrosion regimes as a function of the main process parameters. The object of this work is to demonstrate how such maps can be potentially powerful tools for optimizing process parameters and selection of materials in fossil fuel conditions. Deficiencies of current work on the development of maps will be outlined. Future work which needs to be carried out in order to make such maps ‘user friendly’ will also be addressed