FAILURE ANALYSIS IN TUBING OF AIR PREHEATER OF BOILER FROM A SUGARCANE MILL

The increased demand for energy from sugarcane bagasse has made the sugar and alcohol mills search alternatives to reduce maintenance of the boilers, releasing more time to the production. The stainless steel use has become one of the main tools for such reduction. However, specification errors can lead to premature failures. This work reports the factors that led tubes of AISI 409 stainless steel fail after half season when applied in a air preheater of boiler from a sugarcane mill. In such application, the AISI 304 lasts about 15 seasons and the carbon steel about 3. A tube sent by the sugar mill was characterized by wet chemical analysis, optical microscopy and EDS. Results indicated chloride formation on the internal walls of the tube, which combined with the environment, accelerated the corrosion process. The carbon steel showed high lifetime due to a 70% higher thickness. Due to the work condictions is recommended the use of stainless steels with higher corrosion resistance, such as the traditional AISI 304 or the ferritic AISI 444, the last presents better thermal exchange