Effect of higher water vapor content on TBC performance
- ORNL
Coal gasification, or IGCC (integrated gasification combined cycle), is one pathway toward cleaner use of coal for power generation with lower emissions. However, when coal-derived synthesis gas (i.e., syngas) is burned in turbines designed for natural gas, turbine manufacturers recommend 'derating,' or lowering the maximum temperature, which lowers the efficiency of the turbine, making electricity from IGCC more expensive. One possible reason for the derating is the higher water vapor contents in the exhaust gas. Water vapor has a detrimental effect on many oxidation-resistant high-temperature materials. In a turbine hot section, Ni-base superalloys are coated with a thermal barrier coating (TBC) allowing the gas temperature to be higher than the superalloy solidus temperature. TBCs have a low thermal conductivity ceramic top coating (typically Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}-stabilized ZrO{sub 2}, or YSZ) and an oxidation-resistant metallic bond coating. For land-based gas turbines, the industry standard is air plasma sprayed (APS) YSZ and high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) sprayed NiCoCrAlY bond coatings. To investigate the role of higher water vapor content on TBC performance and possible mitigation strategies, furnace cycling experiments were conducted in dry O{sub 2} and air with 10% (typical with natural gas or jet fuel) or 50 vol% water vapor. Cycle frequency and temperature were accelerated to one hour at 1100 C (with 10 minute cooling to {approx}30 C between each thermal cycle) to induce early failures in coatings that are expected to operate for several years with a metal temperature of {approx}900 C. Coupons (16 mm diameter x 2 mm thick) of commercial second-generation single crystal superalloy CMSX4 were HVOF coated on both sides with {approx}125 {micro}m of Ni-22wt%Co-17Cr-12Al either with 0.7Y or 0.7Y-0.3Hf-0.4Si. One side was then coated with 190-240 {micro}m of APS YSZ. Coatings were cycled until the YSZ top coating spalled. Figure 2 shows the results of the initial phase of experiments. Compared to dry O{sub 2}, the addition of 10% water vapor decreased the lifetime of MCrAlY by {approx}30% for the conventional CMSX4 substrates. Higher average lifetimes were observed with Hf in the bond coating, but a similar decrease in lifetime was observed when water vapor was added. The addition of Y and La to the superalloy substrate did not change the YSZ lifetime with 10% water vapor. However, increasing water vapor content from 10 to 50% did not further decrease the lifetime of either bond coating with the doped superalloy substrate. Thus, these results suggest that higher water vapor contents cannot explain the derating of syngas-fired turbines, and other factors such as sulfur and ash from imperfect syngas cleanup (or upset conditions) need to be explored. Researchers continue to study effects of water vapor on thermally grown alumina scale adhesion and growth rate, and are looking for bond coating compositions more resistant to oxidation in the presence of water vapor.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- FE USDOE - Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1040752
- Journal Information:
- Advanced Materials and Processes, Vol. 170, Issue 5; ISSN 0882-7958
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
03 NATURAL GAS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CERAMICS
COAL
COAL GASIFICATION
COATINGS
FURNACES
GAS TURBINES
GASIFICATION
HEAT RESISTING ALLOYS
LIFETIME
MONOCRYSTALS
NATURAL GAS
OXIDATION
POWER GENERATION
SUBSTRATES
SULFUR
SYNTHESIS GAS
THERMAL BARRIERS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
TURBINES
WATER VAPOR
Thermal barrier coatings
water vapor
oxidation
superalloys
thermal spray