Protective Coatings to Reduce Corrosion Problems of Turbine Rotors

Abstract

Corrosion reduces service life of geothermal turbine components by reducing the efficiency and increasing downtime. Any component in the turbine may be susceptible to corrosion. Failure of the rotating parts can cause a forced outage. These component are subjected to severe corrosive conditions by their exposure to corrosive chemicals in steam. These chemicals include hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and ammonia, as both condensate and noncondensable gases, resulting in several types of corrosion damage, including pitting corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, erosion, and corrosion fatigue. This paper described a research program to identify, test, and evaluate commercially available coatings for reducing the suspect ability of the rotors and rotor components to corrosion related problems and extending the useful life of the rotors.