Failure Analysis of Burner Muffle in Shell Gasifier

The failure of burner muffles in shell gasifiers has been a common problem, which directly leads to unexpected shutdown in operation of the gasifier and huge economic losses for the factory. Therefore, the experiment of the failure analysis to the burner muffle was conducted in the current work. The microstructure of the burner muffle after failure was measured by means of optical microscope, SEM (scanning electromicroscope) and X-ray diffraction. The reason of failure was obtained based on the analysis of experimental data together with the structural study of the gasifier. It is indicated that the failure of burner muffle is accounted for slag overflow and "backfire", which lead to local temperature increasing. Cooling water tubes of Burner muffle were partially melted due to oxidation and sulphidation at high temperature, resulting into water leaks.