DISEÑO DE SONDAS PARA ENSAYOS DE CORROSIÓN DE ACEROS EN CALDERAS DE COMBUSTIÓN DE BIOMASA DE LA INDUSTRIA AZUCARERA

Abstract

Increase in the intensity of meteorological events and the rise in sea level are serious effects of global warming that principally affect island countries. These two phenomena, together with the high price of oil, force Cuba to seek renewable sources of energy to replace fossil fuels. Hence, one of the most important efforts in this regard is to take advantage of biomass in the production of energy because its greater availability and its neutral nature to the greenhouse effect. The sugar harvest leaves a significant amount of residues from sugarcane agriculture (named RAC in Spanish) on the field that can be combusted together with the bagasse. An economic effect is sought by increasing the proportion of straw and tops in the biomass, but given its higher content of alkalis and chlorides, this has a negative effect since corrosion increases at the high temperature at which modern biomass combustion plants operate. In order to determine the effect of corrosion on the heat exchanger steel tubes, two in situ corrosion measurement probes have been designed. One for the weight loss test and the other for electrochemical test. By construction, both probes will allow to test the selected steels of the heat exchanger during an entire harvest. Therefore, both probes were designed to maintain the working temperature throughout the test by controlling the flow of water and cooling air