Mikko Hupa

Chemical-looping combustion (CLC) of biomass has the potential to facilitate negative CO₂ emission in heat and power production when combined with a carbon capture technique. However, typical biomass contains alkali metals and chlorine compounds, such as potassium chloride, which can lead to corrosion of heat-transfer surfaces in the reactors. The combined influence of potassium chloride, hydrochloric acid, and oxygen on the corrosion of five typical heat-transfer materials, which are potential candidates for use in the fuel reactor in a CLC process, was studied using one-week laboratory-scale experiments. The results suggested that potassium chloride, especially in the presence of HCl and O₂, greatly affects the corrosion of lower-alloyed heat-transfer materials. The outcome of this study can provide valuable information for selecting suitable heat-transfer materials for CLC.

This work was part of the activities at the Åbo Akademi University Process Chemistry Centre within the Finnish Centre of Excelence Programme (2000–2011) by the Academy of Finland.