Evaluation of a Candidate Material for a Coal-Fired Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) High Temperature Recuperative Air Heater

Abstract

In order to achieve the desired efficiency in the MHD cycle, one of two procedures must be employed. The first is to inject pure oxygen during combustion in order to achieve higher combustion temperatures which will yield better conversion efficiencies. The other is to preheat the combustor air through the use of high temperature air heaters (HTAH). A recuperative air heater heats the combustor air directly by passing it through tubes which are in the exhaust gas flow before sending it into the combustor. The procedure of passing air through the furnace requires a material for the tubes which will withstand the high temperatures and corrosive environment of the furnace and should have a high heat transfer coefficient. All of the necessary properties seem to exist in ceramic materials, so ceramics have begun to be studied for high temperature air heaters as well as other high temperature applications. The present project outlines one such effort to evaluate the performance of a ceramic composite tube in a coal fired MHD facility in order to determine any changes in the tube material after exposure to high temperature and a highly corrosive environment. A recuperative high temperature air heater (HTAH) would be positionedmore » in the radiant furnace, because the radiant furnace provides conditions comparable to an actual MHD facility and is adequate for testing HTAH materials. The temperature conditions in the furnace range from approximately 1600{degree}C to 1890{degree}C, and velocities of approximately 12 m/s to 100 m/s have been measured depending on the location in the furnace. The evaluated tube was placed in the furnace in a reducing environment with approximately 14 m/s velocity, 1650{degree}C gas temperature, and 1230{degree}C tube temperature.« less