Detailed high-temperature corrosion investigations under well-defined conditions

High-temperature corrosion of power plant superheaters is the single largest obstacle for increased steam parameters and thus also increased power plant efficiency. Especially with the increased use of energy crops, agrofuels and other biomass side streams this issue has grown in importance. The mentioned fuels contain elements which under unfavourable conditions may deposit on superheater tubes and initiate corrosion reactions. True understanding of corrosion reactions and other involved mechanisms can only be achieved through investigation methods under well-defined conditions. In this paper a few different methods will be presented together with some result examples typical for each method.