Biomass Combustion Systems: Assessing Component Durability and Emissions

Nigel Simms Energy Technology Centre Cranfield University

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Outline
Background Potential biomass fuels Issues Component durability Deposition Corrosion Emissions Summary

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Combustion systems
Biomass only Grate Fluidised bed Purpose built Feed systems Combustion chamber Heat exchangers Steam systems Gas clean-up Scale up to ~30MWe Biomass co-fired Pulverised fuel Designed for coal firing Biomass additions of 5-20% (thermal input) Higher steam temperatures Scale up to 4000MWe (660 MWe units)
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Heat exchanger tubing cross-section through tube wall

Fireside

TUBE WALL

Steam-side

Corrosion Allowance Load Bearing Thickness

Oxidation Allowance

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Component life as f(corrosion rate, corrosion allowance)

100,000 90,000 80,000 70,000 Life (hours) 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Corrosion rate (m/1000 hour) Corrosion Allowance 1 mm 2 mm 3 mm 1.5 mm 2.5 mm 3.5 mm

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Comparison of corrosion data for 347H and 347HFG with coal and straw firing (plant data) and co-firing (pilot plant data)
(median data)
1.4 Corrosion rate (mm/1000hr) 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 400

Straw Coal Co-firing data

450

500

550 Temperature ( C)
o

600

650

700

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Flow Diagram for Component Life Modelling

Component Specification
Component Geometry

Operating Conditions
Inlet & outlet
gas P & T

Fuel Spec. & Reactor System

Thermal Model

Aerodynamic Model
Gas flow rate P & T distributions

Metal surface temperature

Thermochemical Model

Alloy specification

Deposition flux & composition

Transport & Deposition Models

Contaminant levels & species

Corrosion & Erosion/Corrosion Models

Damage rates Component design & life criteria

Particle deposition flux

Mechanical Property Data

Life Predictions Contaminant effects Operating condition effects

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Biomass fuels

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Potential biomass fuels

Specifically cultivated biomass (energy crops), e.g.: coppiced willow miscanthus reed canary grass switchgrass Waste biomass various straws wood waste / forest residues World traded biomass products, e.g.: olive residues pelletised wood almond waste cereal co-product (CCP) Sewage sludge, animal wastes
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Coppiced willow

Miscanthus

Fuel Properties (1)

100
Willow Fir/pine/spruce Poplar Miscanthus Olive waste

10

Wheat Coal

0.1

0.01 Wt% wet Wt% dry Wt% daf Wt% daf Wt% daf Wt% daf Wt% daf Wt% daf Wt% daf Water content Ash Volatiles C H
Fuel parameter

Cl

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Fuel Properties (2): Minor / Trace Element Concentrations

25000 Willow Fir/pine/spruce Concentration (mg/kg dry) 20000 Wheat Coal 15000 Poplar Miscanthus Olive waste

10000

5000

0 Al Ba Ca Fe K Mg Element Mn Na P Si Ti

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Potassium and Chlorine Levels in Selected Biomass

12000 10000 Chlorine (ppm) 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 Potassium (ppm) Sander (1997) Christensen (1998) Review data

Wheat Barley Oil Seed Rape

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Sulphur and Chlorine Contents of Fuels Delivered to Two UK Power Stations Between 1992 and 1994 (Grey is Mean Values for UK Stations in 1983)
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Evaluation of potential heat exchanger operating conditions

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Combustion heat exchanger issues - outline

Gas stream characteristics
Gaseous species e.g. CO2, SO2, HCl, NOX, H2O, O2, N2 Vapour species e.g. Na, K Particles From ash in fuel Condensed vapour species Gas temperature

Heat exchanger characteristics

Water / steam temperature (& pressure) Metal temperature (& heat flux) Deposit rate of formation composition Alloy used corrosion damage rate viable life times ? cost
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Fuel combustion
Fly ash 0.1-1mm

Coagulation Heterogeneous condensation Homogeneous nucleation

Fly ash with surface condensation

Convective transport Mineral inclusions

Vaporisation

Vapour Reaction Fly ash

Pyrolysis

Char burning and fragmentation

Excluded minerals

Mineral coalescence and fragmentation

Fly ash 1-100mm

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Effect of Fuel Composition Variability on Predicted Gas Compositions

1000

UK Coal
800

Willow wood Coal - wood

HCl (vpm)

600

Coal - straw
400

Wheat straw

200

0 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

SOx (vpm)
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Deposition on Superheater Tubing

Vapour species Condensation onto solid particles & aerosols Solid particles & aerosols

Deposition mechanisms:
Particles: Direct inertial impaction Thermophoresis Eddy diffusion Brownian Vapour: Direct condensation Condensation on particles
HCl Condensation into deposit Thermophoresis of fine particles SOx Coarse particles stick Vapours, SOx & HCl diffuse in porous deposits Corrosion Water / steam Heat transfer

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Deposit compositions: Al-Si-O compounds can fix Na, K if particle temperatures high enough Ca/Mg carbonates / sulphates Na / K sulphates / chlorides Fe sulphates / chlorides / oxides / sulphides Phosphates Important factors Minerals in fuels Balance between elements Corrosion aggravated by: Low melting point deposits High chloride deposits
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Fuel derived deposit compositions

Effect of fuel compositions

3.0 Deposit Cl (% dry basis) 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0 Sulfur /2*Max (Alkali chloride)

Dependence of deposit chlorine content on fuel sulphur and alkali chloride contents (US DoE Research)

Appearance of chlorides in deposits as a function of maximum alkali chloride, fuel sulphur and % straw (on thermal basis) (EU research)

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Additives to reduce deposition & corrosion

Deposition / Corrosion of combustion heat exchangers in biomass-fired systems is regarded as major issue by power plant manufacturers & operators Vattenfalls latest solution: dope flue gas with sulphur containing additive (= Chlorout) ahead of superheater reduces deposition rate, chloride content of deposit and corrosion rate

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Supergen Bioenergy - Pilot Scale Trials

Pulverised coal/biomass/air or natural/fuel gas & air

Topics being investigated include:

Fuel feeding & preparation Characterisation of product streams: Gas compositions Bulk gases Trace species Solids analyses Fuel compositions Ash / char compositions Deposit compositions / deposition fluxes on cooled (heat exchanger) probes Co-firing
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Biomass
Temperature monitoring

Gases to fan and flue

Feed system
Cooling water out Gas out Cooling water out Cooling water in

Cyclone

Gas analysis Temperature monitoring

Temperature monitoring Gas analysis Temperature monitoring

Fluidised bed

Natural gas/excess air pre-heater

Ash removal system

Cooling water in

Heat exchanger corrosion

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Possible corrosion mechanisms in chloride / sulphate rich deposits

Deposit HCl NaCl O2 SO2 + O2 SO2 + O2 + H2O

HCl

Na2O

Cl2 FeCl2 Fe

NaHSO4 Na2SO4

SO2 + O2

Na2S2O7 Fe FeS FeO Fe2O3 O2

FeCl3 O2 Fe2O3

Fe Tube metal

Corrosion products

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Alkali sulphate dominated corrosion regimes in combustion gases

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Corrosion model requirements

Cover wide range of operating environments Different biomass fuel Superheater / reheater, evaporator, water walls, etc Corrosion damage (in terms of metal loss) as function of: Metal temperature Gas composition (e.g. SOx, HCl, O2, CO2, H2O) Deposit composition Na, K Sulphate vs chloride etc Deposition flux (mg/cm2/hour) Time Median vs maximum metal loss Component life criteria
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Corrosion data for model development

Aim: simulation of different specific environments data on materials performance obtained using dimensional metrology Laboratory based corrosion data generation: Deposit re-coat test method Controlled atmosphere furnace Test Variables
Temperatures Time Gas composition: simulated combustion gases Variable SOx, HCl, O2, CO2, H2O, etc levels Deposit composition Simulated ash (Na/K)Cl (Na/K)2SO4 Variable Na/K levels Materials

Dimensional metrology before/after exposure

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Controlled atmosphere corrosion furnace

Mass flow Controller 1 Gas mixture 1 (e.g. N2-HCl) Water bath De-ionised water Mass flow Controller 2 Gas mixture 2 (e.g. N2-O2-SO2) Mass flow Controller 3 Gas mixture 3 (e.g. N2-O2) Alumina reaction tube Samples Trace heating Inert safety gas (N2) Safety gas vent

Vent

Gas clean-up system Alumina tube Alumina heat shields Stainless steel containment vessel

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Sample Metrology & Data Analysis (1)

Alloy A1 To central reference point
Measurements taken at equidistant points spaced = 300m

B1 Surface scale & deposit

8000

A2

Internal corrosion
Y DIRECTION (MICRONS

1-HAA-6
6000 4000 2000 0 -2000 -4000 -6000 -8000 -2000 0

An
Where n = 24

Bn

-8000

-6000

-4000

2000

4000

6000

8000

X DIRECTION (MICRONS) ORIGINAL METAL CHANGE IN GOOD METAL 100 micron contour CHANGE IN METAL DEPOSIT & SCALE

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Sample Metrology & Data Analysis (2)

0 -20 -40 -60 -80 -100 0 90 180
Position around sample () Change in sound metal (um)

270

360

Data ordered and plotted against probability

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Corrosion damage distributions for 2 Cr steel, 347HFG and Alloy 625 all at 560C, deposit D6 and gas 3

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Sensitivity of 347HGF to changes in deposit composition and exposure temperature

(Corrosion Damage Evaluated at the 10% Probability of Damage Being Exceeded)
Corrosion damage (m/1000 hours) 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 Deposit D5 D6 D7 D8

Gas 3, 560C (test 6) Gas 3, 600C (test 3)

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Correlation between Measured Predicted Corrosion Damage Rates (corrosion damage evaluated at the 10% probability of damage being exceeded)
1000
2.25 Cr 1 Cr

Predicted corrosion rate (m/1000 hours)

X20 AISI 347 625

100

10 10
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100 Measured corrosion rate (m/1000 hours)

1000

Emissions
Limits set by regulations vary by: Plant capacity Fuels Policy decisions etc Issues can include: NOX SOX HCl Dust Trace heavy metals Etc Range of technologies developed for: Coal Waste
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Examples of particle removal systems

Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP)
Gas Inlet

Bag Filters

+ -

+ +

+ -

+ -

+ -

Electric field

Cleaned Gas Charged particles

Uncharged particles

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Summary
Range of potential biomass fuels being considered for combustion systems Heat exchanger durability
Care is required in materials selection for biomass systems Balance between fuel compositions, operating temperatures (system efficiency), component life and materials costs Predictive models being developed within Supergen Bioenergy project relating exposure conditions to component lives for biomass fired systems

Emissions
Control measured developed for other fuels (coal, waste) Appropriate technologies need to be selected to match intended fuel / regulation
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Thank you for your attention

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Targets for heat exchanger steam operating temperatures and tube lifetimes from COST522 and COST538 programmes
Target lifetime (hours) 100,000 20,000 40,000 40,000 Desired maximum steam temperature (C) 650 580 580 500 Metal temperature (C) 680 700 610 630 610 630 530 550 Maximum acceptable corrosion rate (m/1000 hours) 20 100 50 50

Fuel

Coal Straw Wood Waste

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