Controlling wet abrasion in power plants

Maintenance departments in many industries are continually battling the daily fires that run costs up and productivity down. Many plants have equipment that must operate under wet sliding conditions which can lead to accelerated wear of the equipment. Electric power generating plants, for example, have ongoing maintenance concerns for piping, chutes, hoppers, heat exchangers, and valves. Pulp and paper plants have heavy maintenance on: plate screens, conical bottoms of blow tanks, chutes, and augers. Coal handling equipment is often subjected to wet sliding conditions. Utility and coal prep plants can have serious flow problems if an improper structural or wear material is selected. Vibrating screens, chutes, surge bin feeders, conical distributors, screw conveyors, and cyclones are some of the components that must resist the ravages of corrosion and wear. This paper will address many of the issues that affect the life of plant components under wet sliding conditions. Environmental effects and material effects will be examined. Since the material of construction is most times the easier to change, the paper will concentrate on this subject. Such factors as: hardness, surface roughness, corrodent, and material of construction will be explored. Both controlled laboratory studies and real world service evaluations will be presented.