Sulfur recirculation for increased electricity production in Waste-to-Energy plants
Journal article, 2014

Sulfur recirculation is a new technology for reducing boiler corrosion and dioxin formation. It was demonstrated in full-scale tests at a Waste to Energy plant in Goteborg (Sweden) during nearly two months of operation. Sulfur was recirculated as sulfuric acid from the flue gas cleaning back to the boiler, thus creating a sulfur loop. The new technology was evaluated by extensive measurement campaigns during operation under normal conditions (reference case) and operation with sulfur recirculation. The chlorine content of both fly ash and boiler ash decreased and the sulfur content increased during the sulfur recirculation tests. The deposit growth and the particle concentration decreased with sulfur recirculation and the dioxin concentration (I-TEQ) of the flue gas was reduced by approximately 25%. Sulfuric acid dew point measurements showed that the sulfuric acid dosage did not lead to elevated SO3 concentrations, which may otherwise induce low temperature corrosion. In the sulfur recirculation corrosion probe exposures, the corrosion rate decreased for all tested materials (16Mo3, Sanicro 28 and Inconel 625) and material temperatures (450 degrees C and 525 degrees C) compared to the reference exposure. The corrosion rates were reduced by 60-90%. Sulfur recirculation prevented the formation of transition metal chlorides at the metal/oxide interface, formation of chromate and reduced the presence of zinc in the corrosion products. Furthermore, measured corrosion rates at 525 degrees C with sulfur recirculation in operation were similar or lower compared to those measured at 450 degrees C material temperature in reference conditions, which corresponds to normal operation at normal steam temperatures. This implies that sulfur recirculation allows for higher steam data and electricity production without increasing corrosion.

Corrosion

p-dioxins

Sulfur

combustion

biomass

steel

Superheater

initial-stages

Dioxins

fired cfb boiler

high-temperature corrosion

adding sulfur

Waste incineration

pcdd/f formation

water-vapor

Author

S. Andersson

Götaverken Miljö

E. W. Blomqvist

SP Sveriges Tekniska Forskningsinstitut AB

L. Bafver

Pöyry SwedPower

SP Sveriges Tekniska Forskningsinstitut AB

F. Jones

SP Sveriges Tekniska Forskningsinstitut AB

Kent Davidsson

SP Sveriges Tekniska Forskningsinstitut AB

Jan Froitzheim

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Environmental Inorganic Chemistry

M. Karlsson

Götaverken Miljö

Erik Larsson

Environmental Inorganic Chemistry 1

Jesper Liske

Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Environmental Inorganic Chemistry

Waste Management

0956-053X (ISSN) 1879-2456 (eISSN)

Vol. 34 1 67-78

Subject Categories

Inorganic Chemistry

Environmental Sciences

DOI

10.1016/j.wasman.2013.09.002

More information

Latest update

11/29/2018