Wall Colmonoy Ltd.
Wall Colmonoy Ltd. (WCL) is a manufacturing company of specialist and unique alloys providing challenging corrosion and wear solutions for demanding industrial sectors such as steelmaking, power generation and the food industry. WCL must evolve their alloys and technical information to keep pace with the demands of their industrial partners and changing legislation.
WCL needed effective characterisation of alloys targeted for use in ‘Waste to Energy’ (W2E) power generation plants where high temperatures and high corrosive gas conditions require premium alloy performance for corrosion protection coatings.
Our approach
Facilities manager Mike Dowd’s thorough understanding of the field of high intensity corrosion resistance combined with the Sintec facility itself allows the generation of very highly corrosive environment test conditions. This makes our capabilities at SaMI unique.
Mike effectively tested and differentiated WCL’s new corrosion resistant alloy Colmonoy® 686 against the performance of Inconel 625 type materials to indicate a potential protection improvement.
With a stepwise approach to testing with increasing corrosive environment, Mike worked with WCL to identify the point where performance deviation occurs.
The solution / results
Mike Dowd led the testing development in our SINTEC facility to characterise alloy performance at high temperatures and deliver the empirical knowledge WCL needed.
Mike’s understanding of the field of high intensity corrosion resistance enabled the adoption of a range of testing criteria including for example ‘Green Death’ solution, a variation on the more standard testing ASTM G48.
WCL can now embed this information into their technical data sheet that will underpin the deployment of the new product to the W2E sector globally.
Customer benefit
Only working closely with SaMI would this testing be possible for the customer WCL. The progression through to ever higher testing intensity and the staged reviews required are essential for the understanding of the product’s performance.
Accessing the facility and experts at SaMI allows SME organisations such as WCL to have the option to research this data. This capability and expertise would otherwise be unavailable to them.
The increased corrosion performance and the evidence created by SaMI will help WCL allow its customers to run W2E plants without major shutdown for boiler tube replacement for periods up to 5 years. This is an increase from the current two to three years, increasing productivity and cost effectiveness. This allows not just more operational time but also higher temperatures.
Industrial decarbonisation
The use of higher pressure gas turbines returns more energy from the burned waste and consequently reduces carbon emissions from the industrial process.
This makes WCL’s research at SaMI a small but important step on the sector’s journey to decarbonise for a net zero future.
Contribution thanks to Chris Weirman from Wall Colmonoy Ltd.