New Coating for Biomass Firing

Biomass contains highly aggressive species, which cause severe corrosion of heat exchangers (superheaters) in boilers at stream temperatures higher than 540°C. This is a major challenge for biomass fried combined heat and power (CHP) plants.

State of the art superheater materials in biomass fried boilers are 18% Cr austenitic steel. The current project aims to develop and demonstrate new innovative coatings which can significantly reduce corrosion rates in biomass fried power plants. This could enable:

• Prolong heat exchanger lifetimes and improved reliability of existing biomass fried CHP plants
• Avoiding reduction of steam temperatures in large central advanced power plants as a consequence of their conversion from coal to biomass
• Construction of new biomass plants with higher operation temperatures and improved efficiency

Coating materials and coating processes will be optimized at DTU Mechanical Engineering to produce tube samples for demonstration installations in biomass fried boilers at Maribo – Sakskøbing (Refa Energi) and Randers (VERDO) CHP plants.

In collaboration with the boiler manufacturer Burmeister & Wain Energy and the consultant Added Values the demonstration tests will be evaluated in order to identify the necessary technological steps to make the coating materials commercially available within five years from project start.