The efficiency of Waste-to-Energy (W-t-E) boilers is affected by fireside corrosion of the
heat exchangers that involve unexpected shutdown of facilities for repairs and limit the increase of
steam conditions used to produce electricity. The parameters governing fireside corrosion are
various and mechanisms are very complex, nevertheless, they are relatively well documented in the
literature.
In this paper, a laboratory-scale corrosion pilot, which reproduces MSWI boilers conditions, is
described. The specificity of our approach includes simultaneous simulation of the temperature
gradient at flue-gas/tube interface, the velocity of flue-gas and ashes. Corrosion rates obtained on
Tu37C carbon steel at a metal temperature equal to 400°C and a flue gas temperatures of 650°C and
850°C (1100 ppm HCl, 110 ppm SO2 and synthetic ashes free of heavy metals) are respectively
around 1.6 2m/hour and 5.6 2m/hour. Preferential metal loss, attributed to erosion-corrosion
phenomena, is also observed at low flue-gas temperature (T=650°C) on the face exposed at 90° to
the flue-gas.
The analysis of corrosion scales demonstrates the reproducibility of results and the reliability of
corrosion mechanisms determined from experiments, with degradation observed similar to
superheater tubes from EfW facilities. Thus, the corrosion pilot developed can be used as an
accurate simulator of the environment encountered in MSWI.
