Waterwall Corrosion Prevention

After several years of operation under NOx limits, many utility boilers are beginning to experience increased waterwall failure due to corrosion. This corrosion is most prevalent in supercritical units employing staged combustion of one form or another for NOx control.

Working with Cinergy, ESA engineers have investigated waterwall corrosion and developed a system to prevent it. The system consists of slots cut through the furnace waterwall webbing, between the windbox and furnace, to introduce air along the furnace walls, as shown in the illustration. This air protects the tube surface from the fuel rich combustion products set up under staged combustion.

The corrosion prevention system was designed using ESA's CFD modeling. The waterwall slots are carefully postioned to ensure the incoming air does not penetrate into the furnace, but hugs the side wall,forming a protective coating.

This technology is registered under US Patent Number 5,809,913. Call or email for more information.

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