Life assessment for vintage boilers

The high temperature sections of power and combined heat and power (CHP) boilers are designed for some de facto expected but finite life. Several significant damage mechanisms must be taken into account, particularly in superheaters and reheaters that are designed for creep but also suffer from thermal degradation, external erosion and corrosion, and internal steam oxidation that will gradually increase the metal temperature. As rising temperature tends to accelerate all damage mechanisms, major effects can be expected from the internal oxide growth. The feedback loop is taken into account in procedures to predict superheater life from known tube dimensions, time in operation, and other initial data. The oxide effect can be mitigated by internal cleaning, but in-service spallation of a relatively thick internal oxide can also become significant in old plants. Spallation can create problems but extends the tube life by keeping the wall cooler than with an adherent oxide. Examples are shown for boilers with more than 150 000 h of service.