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Title: Effects of alternate fuels. Report No. 6. Analysis of low-alumina castable refractory degraded by residual oil combustion products

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6691587· OSTI ID:6691587

This is the sixth of a series of reports on analyses of several types of refractories used in industrial furnaces with fuels considered alternate to natural gas. Analyses were performed on a low-alumina castable used for only two months in the roof of a residual-oil-fired boiler. The maximum hot-face temperature during operation was about 1530/sup 0/K. The original microstructure of the castable, which consisted of mullite aggregate bonded with iron-containing gehlenite (2 CaO . Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ . SiO/sub 2/), quartz and cristobalite, was totally altered during service in regions close to the hot face. At room temperature the altered microstructure consisted of corundum and gehlenite in a new oxide glass phase containing the elements Na, K, Ca, Fe, Ti, Al, Ni, and Si. The reactions of the fuel oil impurities Na, Fe, and Ni with mullite, quartz, and cristobalite in the original castable refractory caused the rapid degradation at the hot face during service in the boiler. Increasing the Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ content of the castable by replacing mullite aggregate with alumina aggregate and using gehlenite with less iron impurity as the bonding material should improve the performance of this castable refractory or retard reactions of the castable with fuel oil combustion products including Na, Fe, and Ni.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-26
OSTI ID:
6691587
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-6334
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English