A coal and bagasse power plant in Central America measured 2 mm of wear on a ceramic lined elbow after 30 months.
Abrasive ash, a continuous line and one 90 degree turn.
The steel elbow lasted a season, the cast liner is still measuring
At a power plant in Central America that fires coal and bagasse, steel elbows in the pneumatic ash discharge line had to be replaced every 3 to 4 months. A CeraLine elbow with a 20.7 mm cast ceramic liner, installed in March 2023, showed about 2 mm of wear at its most loaded point after 30 months of continuous operation, roughly 10% of the liner, with the 100 mm bore unchanged. That is more than eight times the life of the steel elbows, and the elbow is still in service.
The plant runs a large coal and bagasse fired boiler for power generation. A pneumatic conveying line carries the residual ash from combustion without a break, at 60 to 70 °C.
Bagasse ash is highly abrasive. At the 90 degree elbow in the discharge line, the ash changes direction at speed and hits the outer wall. Steel elbows there failed every 3 to 4 months, and each change meant opening a line that the plant needs running.
At 60 to 70 °C this line asks nothing of a ceramic in heat, it asks only for hardness where the ash turns, and a one piece liner puts that hardness exactly there without seams.
A custom 90 degree CeraLine elbow: a cast ceramic liner of 20.7 mm wall, mortared into a steel body, with the plant's original 100 mm inner diameter. The elbow dropped into the existing line in March 2023. No change to the system was needed, so the plant could test the ceramic under real operating conditions straight away.
| What | Steel elbow | CeraLine elbow |
|---|---|---|
| Service life | 3 to 4 months | more than 30 months, still in service |
| Wear after 30 months | about 2 mm at the most loaded point, about 10% of 20.7 mm | |
| Bore after 30 months | unchanged at 100 mm | |
| Life compared with steel | more than 8 times |
The plant also inspected the elbow after 20 months of service. Blasch expects the multi year performance to continue.
Seven to ten steel elbow changes avoided over the same 30 months, less maintenance downtime on a line that runs continuously, and lower operating cost. The plant plans to keep buying the ceramic lined elbows for replacements and is looking at other high wear points in the same way.
Short and long radius elbows with a one piece liner, 45, 90 and 180 degrees.
CeraLine elbows at 690 °C in a European refinery's FCC unit.
No. The ceramic is a cast liner of 20.7 mm wall, one piece, mortared into a steel body. There is no sprayed or coated layer.
No. The elbow was built to the plant's 100 mm bore and flanges and dropped into the existing line.
At the point of highest wear after 30 months of service: about 2 mm lost from the original 20.7 mm.
Steel elbows lasted 3 to 4 months. The ceramic lined elbow had passed 30 months and was still in service.
Tell us the line size, what the line carries and how long an elbow lasts today. A Blasch engineer suggests a liner thickness and material for your line.
