BELENUS · Lowering Costs by Improving Efficiencies in Biomass Fueled Boilers: New Materials and Coatings to Reduce Corrosion

The primary objective of BELENUS is to lower bioenergy CAPEX and OPEX by an average of 5 and 60% respectively. This will be addressed by preventing or mitigating corrosion as the main limiting factor through a holistic approach to prevent corrosion in the boiler, in particular in superheater (SH) tubes: a) new surface engineering: biomass corrosion highly resistant coatings on creep resistance materials; b) new strategies of welding and bending for coated tubes improving the quality and efficiency of boiler components; and c) new online corrosion monitoring system specifically designed for biomass CHP plants. In addition, the BELENUS solution will impact on other LCOE parameters by improving efficiency in the conversion (up to 42%), increasing a 5% the operational hours of the plant and plant life time (5 years) and reducing the fuel expenditure of the plant by optimising its use and providing flexibility by allowing the use of different types of biomass. Improved performance for high temperature material systems through the technological breakthroughs, will be evaluated and validated an innovative test protocol. Finally, modelling and lifetime prediction tools will be developed and cost analysis and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) undertaken so the optimum materials and coatings are chosen from the durability, economic and environmental perspectives, maximising the sustainability in economic and environmental terms. BELENUS brings together a multidisciplinary consortium comprising the main stakeholders with leading utilities, steel and tube developers, boiler designer and specialized research institutions from across Europe. This synergy allows a direct transfer of results in TRL5 to be obtained in BELENUS as technical base to go further to higher TRL into commercial biomass electric power plants within less than 5 years.