[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":486},["ShallowReactive",2],{"site-footer-common":3,"resources-blog:scr-catalyst-cleaning-sootblowers-vs-acoustic-horns":45},{"id":4,"extension":5,"footer":6,"meta":40,"navbar":41,"stem":43,"__hash__":44},"common\u002Fcommon.yml","yml",{"tagline":7,"links":8,"sections":9},"Acoustic cleaning intelligence for industrial fouling, soot, ash, dust and build-up.",[],[10,19,31],{"title":11,"links":12},"Product",[13,16],{"label":14,"to":15},"How it works","\u002F#product",{"label":17,"to":18},"Cost assessment","\u002F#hero",{"title":20,"links":21},"Company",[22,25,28],{"label":23,"to":24},"What we build","\u002F#about",{"label":26,"to":27},"Careers","\u002F#careers",{"label":29,"to":30},"Contact","\u002F#contact",{"title":32,"links":33},"Resources",[34,37],{"label":35,"to":36},"Blog","\u002Fresources\u002Fblog",{"label":38,"to":39},"Glossary","\u002Fglossary",{},{"links":42},[],"common","YocmZRy1AYfBbpgGVms-zhdiABlF8VTxHx6h4rDmZBA",{"id":46,"title":47,"author":48,"body":49,"description":443,"extension":444,"meta":445,"navigation":446,"path":447,"primaryKeyword":63,"publishedAt":448,"secondaryKeywords":449,"seo":455,"sources":458,"stem":480,"summary":481,"updatedAt":448,"__hash__":485},"blog\u002Fresources\u002Fblog\u002Fscr-catalyst-cleaning-sootblowers-vs-acoustic-horns.md","SCR catalyst cleaning: sootblowers vs acoustic horns for ammonium bisulphate and ash pluggage","Sylio",{"type":50,"value":51,"toc":430},"minimark",[52,57,65,74,92,100,104,117,135,143,151,159,162,175,179,187,204,212,215,219,227,230,238,241,249,253,256,356,359,363,366,369,377,381,384,387,390,393,401,405,408,411,414,417,421,424,427],[53,54,56],"h2",{"id":55},"the-cleaning-question-inside-scr-performance","The cleaning question inside SCR performance",[58,59,60,64],"p",{},[61,62,63],"strong",{},"SCR catalyst cleaning"," is easy to misstate because an SCR reactor can lose performance for several different reasons at once. Some are cleaning problems. Some are chemistry and temperature problems. Some are permanent deactivation problems that no online cleaning method can fix.",[58,66,67,68,73],{},"That distinction matters before a plant compares a sootblower with an acoustic horn. A ",[69,70,72],"a",{"href":71},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fselective-catalytic-reduction","selective catalytic reduction"," reactor only removes NOx when the flue gas and ammonia can reach active catalyst sites at the right temperature, with enough residence time and with acceptable distribution. If the catalyst face is covered with dry ash, cleaning can help. If the channels are bridged by large particles, cleaning can help. If the catalyst is gummed with sticky ammonium salts, cleaning has a narrower role. If arsenic, alkali or phosphorus has poisoned the catalyst, cleaning is the wrong verb entirely.",[58,75,76,77,81,82,86,87,91],{},"The useful comparison is therefore not \"sootblower or acoustic horn\". It is \"which fouling mode are we dealing with, and what kind of energy does that deposit need?\" A ",[69,78,80],{"href":79},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fsteam-sootblower","steam sootblower"," sends a local jet of steam or air across the catalyst face. It has more direct cleaning force, but it consumes utility medium, has moving parts, and can damage the catalyst surface if overused or poorly aimed. A ",[69,83,85],{"href":84},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fsonic-horn","sonic horn",", the working device in an ",[69,88,90],{"href":89},"\u002Fglossary\u002Facoustic-cleaning-system","acoustic cleaning system",", fills the reactor space with low-frequency sound. It is gentle and non-contact, but it is a prevention tool for dry, friable particulate, not a solvent for sticky salts or a cure for poisoned catalyst.",[58,93,94,95,99],{},"That is the honest position. Acoustic horns are very good at keeping dry ash moving before it settles and bridges. They are weak against ",[69,96,98],{"href":97},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fammonium-bisulphate","ammonium bisulphate",", because ABS is sticky. Sootblowers are still needed where the deposit needs more direct force. Most sensible SCR cleaning strategies use both, with horns reducing sootblower frequency rather than pretending the sootblower is obsolete.",[53,101,103],{"id":102},"how-scr-catalyst-fouls","How SCR catalyst fouls",[58,105,106,107,111,112,116],{},"An SCR reactor is usually discussed as an emissions-control system, but maintenance teams experience it as a gas-path asset. When it fouls, the symptoms are mechanical before they become regulatory: pressure drop rises, gas distribution worsens, the ammonia injection profile becomes harder to tune, and the plant loses margin on ",[69,108,110],{"href":109},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fnox-reduction-efficiency","NOx reduction efficiency",", ",[69,113,115],{"href":114},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fammonia-slip","ammonia slip"," or both.",[58,118,119,120,124,125,129,130,134],{},"The first cleanable failure mode is dry ash pluggage. In a high-dust SCR arrangement, the reactor sits before the particulate-control equipment and often before the ",[69,121,123],{"href":122},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fair-heater","air heater",", so fly ash is still in the flue gas. Fine ash can collect on catalyst leading edges and on support structures. Larger ash fractions can lodge across honeycomb channels or between plate elements. ",[69,126,128],{"href":127},"\u002Fglossary\u002Flarge-particle-ash","Large-particle ash"," and ",[69,131,133],{"href":132},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fpopcorn-ash","popcorn ash"," are especially awkward because a small number of large particles can bridge channels and shield more catalyst area than their mass suggests.",[58,136,137,138,142],{},"That physical blockage is ",[69,139,141],{"href":140},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fcatalyst-pluggage","catalyst pluggage",". It reduces the open area available to the gas, raises pressure drop, and forces more flow through the channels that remain open. The open channels then run at higher velocity, which can increase local erosion and reduce contact time. If the problem is mainly dry ash sitting on the catalyst face or bridging channels, it is a real cleaning target. The deposit is particulate, dry enough to move, and located where cleaning energy can reach it.",[58,144,145,146,150],{},"The second mode is ",[69,147,149],{"href":148},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fcatalyst-masking","catalyst masking",". Here the catalyst may not be fully blocked, but active surface is covered by a layer of ash. Gas can still pass, yet less of it contacts active catalyst. The plant may respond by increasing ammonia, but that can worsen slip and downstream salt formation. Dry ash masking is also a cleaning target, provided the ash has not turned sticky or chemically bonded.",[58,152,153,154,158],{},"The third mode is ABS fouling. Ammonia that does not react with NOx can meet SO3, much of it formed by ",[69,155,157],{"href":156},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fso2-so3-conversion","SO2 to SO3 conversion"," across upstream equipment and the catalyst itself. In a temperature window that is often discussed around roughly 200 to 270 degrees Celsius, but varies with gas composition and plant conditions, ammonia and SO3 form ammonium sulphate and ammonium bisulphate. ABS is not a dry dust. It is a sticky salt that condenses, wets ash, gums catalyst pores and baskets, and can carry the problem into the air heater.",[58,160,161],{},"This is where acoustic cleaning claims must stay narrow. A horn can keep dry ash from settling on an SCR face. It does not dissolve ABS. It does not reverse a sticky salt layer inside catalyst pores. If the dominant problem is ammonium bisulphate, the first controls are temperature, load, ammonia distribution, SO3 management, periodic thermal bake-out where the plant design allows it, and more direct cleaning methods where deposits remain on accessible surfaces.",[58,163,164,165,169,170,174],{},"The fourth mode is ",[69,166,168],{"href":167},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fcatalyst-poisoning","catalyst poisoning",". Arsenic, alkali metals, phosphorus and other poisons can deactivate the catalyst chemically. Cleaning may remove some loose surface contamination, but it does not restore poisoned active sites. At that point the conversation moves to testing, ",[69,171,173],{"href":172},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fcatalyst-regeneration-vs-replacement","catalyst regeneration or replacement",", and the catalyst management plan.",[53,176,178],{"id":177},"how-sootblowers-clean-scr-catalyst","How sootblowers clean SCR catalyst",[58,180,181,182,186],{},"Sootblowers clean by delivering a directed jet of steam or compressed air across the catalyst face or between ",[69,183,185],{"href":184},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fcatalyst-layer-module","catalyst layer modules",". In a boiler pass, this same principle is used to shear deposits off tubes. In SCR service, the objective is more delicate: remove ash and surface deposits without damaging the catalyst elements.",[58,188,189,190,111,194,198,199,203],{},"The strength of a sootblower is local force. It can disturb material that a gentler method cannot move, especially when ash has consolidated on the face of a ",[69,191,193],{"href":192},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fhoneycomb-catalyst","honeycomb catalyst",[69,195,197],{"href":196},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fplate-catalyst","plate catalyst"," or ",[69,200,202],{"href":201},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fcorrugated-catalyst","corrugated catalyst",". It is also a known technology for operators, with established controls, inspection routines and maintenance practices. If the SCR is suffering from sticky or heavier surface deposits, the sootblower is often the online cleaning tool with enough direct energy to matter.",[58,205,206,207,211],{},"That force has costs. Steam used for sootblowing is a parasitic load, and where steam is taken from useful plant duty it shows up as a ",[69,208,210],{"href":209},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fheat-rate","heat rate"," penalty. Air blowing avoids steam loss but still needs a compressed-air system sized for the event. Either way, the energy is concentrated on a finite sweep pattern. It cleans where the jet reaches, not every pocket, support edge or channel mouth. The lance, valves, drives and packing also become maintenance items.",[58,213,214],{},"The bigger operational concern is catalyst wear. SCR catalyst is not boiler tube. Repeated jet impact can erode leading edges, damage fragile channel walls or strip protective ash in a way that exposes the catalyst to more mechanical attack. One aggressive cleaning event may be acceptable. Hundreds of unnecessary events over a campaign are a different matter. The plant wants enough sootblowing to maintain pressure drop and catalyst access, but not so much that the cleaning system becomes one of the causes of catalyst loss.",[53,216,218],{"id":217},"how-acoustic-horns-clean-scr-catalyst","How acoustic horns clean SCR catalyst",[58,220,221,222,226],{},"An acoustic horn works differently. ",[69,223,225],{"href":224},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fcompressed-air","Compressed air"," drives a diaphragm in the horn body, producing a low-frequency, high-intensity sound wave. Industrial sonic horns commonly operate around 125 to 250 hertz, with sound pressure often around 140 to 150 decibels measured close to the bell. Those numbers are typical ranges, not universal specifications. The right frequency, mounting and cycle depend on reactor geometry, gas velocity, ash behaviour and the space available around the SCR.",[58,228,229],{},"The cleaning mechanism is distributed. Sound energy enters the gas volume and creates rapid pressure fluctuations around particles and weak deposits. Fine ash is kept mobile. Loose ash on the catalyst face is disturbed before it consolidates. Dry particles that might otherwise settle on a ledge, bridge across a channel or mask the top layer are less likely to stay there long enough to become a problem.",[58,231,232,233,237],{},"That makes acoustic horns a good fit for dry ash pluggage and surface masking. In ",[69,234,236],{"href":235},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fhigh-dust-low-dust-tail-end-scr","high-dust, low-dust and tail-end SCR"," arrangements, the fit depends on the amount and character of dust reaching the reactor. A high-dust unit with friable fly ash at the catalyst face is the most obvious candidate. A tail-end unit with little particulate but temperature or condensation problems is a different case. The horn is not a general SCR cure. It is an ash-mobility tool.",[58,239,240],{},"The strengths are practical. The horn has no lance travelling through the gas path. It is non-contact at the catalyst surface, so it avoids the erosion mechanism that limits aggressive sootblowing. It runs on short air bursts rather than diverted steam. It can reach around obstructions better than a line-of-sight jet, provided the installation couples sound into the right volume. It also suits continuous prevention: many small cleaning events before a deposit becomes a campaign problem.",[58,242,243,244,248],{},"The limit is just as important. A horn has low surface shear. It will not strip a sticky ABS layer from catalyst pores. It will not correct poor ammonia distribution from the ",[69,245,247],{"href":246},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fammonia-injection-grid","ammonia injection grid",". It will not recover chemically deactivated catalyst. It works when the deposit is dry, friable and loosely bonded, and when the plant starts from a surface clean enough to keep clean.",[53,250,252],{"id":251},"head-to-head","Head to head",[58,254,255],{},"The comparison is clearest when the tools are put beside the fouling mode, not beside each other as generic equipment.",[257,258,259,275],"table",{},[260,261,262],"thead",{},[263,264,265,269,272],"tr",{},[266,267,268],"th",{},"Question",[266,270,271],{},"Sootblower",[266,273,274],{},"Acoustic horn",[276,277,278,290,301,312,323,334,345],"tbody",{},[263,279,280,284,287],{},[281,282,283],"td",{},"Cleaning action",[281,285,286],{},"Directed steam or air jet",[281,288,289],{},"Distributed low-frequency sound",[263,291,292,295,298],{},[281,293,294],{},"Best SCR deposit",[281,296,297],{},"Heavier surface ash and deposits needing direct force",[281,299,300],{},"Dry, friable ash before it settles or bridges",[263,302,303,306,309],{},[281,304,305],{},"ABS fouling",[281,307,308],{},"Can help remove accessible surface deposits, but does not solve the chemistry",[281,310,311],{},"Poor fit: ABS is sticky, not dry ash",[263,313,314,317,320],{},[281,315,316],{},"Catalyst wear",[281,318,319],{},"Erosion risk if overused or misaligned",[281,321,322],{},"Non-contact and non-erosive at the catalyst face",[263,324,325,328,331],{},[281,326,327],{},"Coverage",[281,329,330],{},"Line-of-sight sweep pattern",[281,332,333],{},"Whole-volume effect where sound can propagate",[263,335,336,339,342],{},[281,337,338],{},"Running cost",[281,340,341],{},"Steam or air consumption, moving-part maintenance",[281,343,344],{},"Short compressed-air bursts, few moving parts",[263,346,347,350,353],{},[281,348,349],{},"Primary role",[281,351,352],{},"Removal and recovery support",[281,354,355],{},"Prevention and sootblower-frequency reduction",[58,357,358],{},"The table shows why the rivalry frame is weak. The sootblower wins when cleaning needs direct force. The horn wins when the task is keeping dry ash from becoming a blockage. ABS belongs mostly outside the rivalry because the root problem is temperature and chemistry. Poisoning belongs outside it altogether because no online cleaner restores poisoned active sites.",[53,360,362],{"id":361},"the-cost-comparison-handled-carefully","The cost comparison, handled carefully",[58,364,365],{},"There is one widely cited SCR comparison that explains why acoustic horns keep coming up in retrofit conversations. In a documented SCR catalyst-cleaning duty at a 250 MW US power station, acoustic horns were reported to run at about $3.76 per day compared with about $40.50 per day for steam sootblowing on the same duty. The acoustic capital cost was also reported at roughly one quarter of the sootblower installation.",[58,367,368],{},"Those numbers are useful, but only if they are treated as a case example. They are not a universal benchmark. The real economics depend on steam value, air availability, ash loading, reactor geometry, catalyst type, required cleaning frequency, outage history and what the cleaning method is being asked to do. A plant with dry ash pluggage and high sootblower use may see a strong case for horns. A plant dominated by ABS condensation or chemical poisoning will not fix the business case by buying a cheaper horn.",[58,370,371,372,376],{},"The correct cost question is therefore narrower: can acoustic cleaning take over enough prevention duty to reduce sootblower firing, protect catalyst surface, stabilise pressure drop and avoid manual or outage cleaning? If yes, the saving is not just the daily running cost. It includes less steam use, fewer moving-part interventions, less catalyst-face wear, and lower risk of a forced outage caused by pluggage. The logic is the same as the broader ",[69,373,375],{"href":374},"\u002Fresources\u002Fblog\u002Facoustic-cleaning-roi-payback","acoustic cleaning ROI"," case: count the avoided fouling cost, not just the device price.",[53,378,380],{"id":379},"where-each-method-wins","Where each method wins",[58,382,383],{},"For dry ash pluggage, acoustic horns deserve serious attention. The goal is to keep the top catalyst face and channel mouths from collecting loose particulate. If the ash is still friable, low-frequency sound can keep it mobile and reduce the rate at which it bridges. Sootblowers may still be fitted as a recovery or backup tool, but their job becomes smaller.",[58,385,386],{},"For ash masking, the answer depends on deposit behaviour. Fresh, dry masking on the catalyst surface is a good acoustic target. A settled layer that has absorbed moisture, reacted with salts or compacted into a harder skin is less friendly. Here the plant may need a cleaning sequence: start with an offline clean or sootblower recovery, then use horns to hold the surface clean.",[58,388,389],{},"For ABS, the winning method is not primarily a horn or a sootblower. ABS is managed by avoiding the condensation window where possible, controlling ammonia slip, improving ammonia and NOx distribution, managing SO3 formation, and using temperature or load strategies that keep the reactor and downstream equipment out of the worst deposition regime. Sootblowing can remove some surface deposits and help maintain access, but if fresh ABS keeps forming, the sootblower is chasing chemistry. Acoustic horns should be described plainly as a poor fit for sticky ABS.",[58,391,392],{},"For poisoning, neither method wins. If catalyst activity is lost to arsenic, alkali or phosphorus, the right work is diagnosis and lifecycle management. That means catalyst sampling, laboratory activity testing, poison analysis, layer rotation, regeneration where appropriate, or replacement. Cleaning the face may reduce pressure drop, but it will not restore the lost chemistry.",[58,394,395,396,400],{},"For downstream ash handling, the SCR decision may also connect to hoppers and the air heater. Material dislodged from the catalyst has to leave the reactor and downstream gas path. If it accumulates in a ",[69,397,399],{"href":398},"\u002Fglossary\u002Ffly-ash-hopper","fly-ash hopper",", or if ABS and ash plug the air heater, the plant has shifted the problem rather than solved it. SCR cleaning should therefore be evaluated with downstream pressure drop, hopper discharge, opacity and air-heater performance in view, not as an isolated top-layer inspection.",[53,402,404],{"id":403},"the-combination-most-plants-choose","The combination most plants choose",[58,406,407],{},"The practical strategy is usually layered. Use sootblowers where direct cleaning force is required. Use acoustic horns where dry ash prevention can reduce the need for that force. Use process control, temperature management and catalyst management for the problems neither cleaner owns.",[58,409,410],{},"That combination starts with an honest baseline. Inspect the catalyst face, record pressure drop by layer if the instrumentation allows it, review ammonia slip and NOx control margin, and look at outage photographs. Identify whether the pluggage is dry ash, sticky salt, hard deposit, structural damage or poisoning. If the catalyst is already heavily plugged, do not expect a horn to perform a rescue clean. Recover the surface first, then ask the horn to keep it clean.",[58,412,413],{},"After installation, measure the right signals. The useful evidence is not that the horn makes sound. It is slower pressure-drop rise, fewer sootblower starts, cleaner inspection photographs, steadier NOx control, lower ammonia slip movement, and fewer manual cleaning events. Where sootblowers remain, track whether their interval can be extended without losing catalyst access. Where ABS is present, track temperature, load, SO3 and ammonia-slip behaviour separately so the horn is not blamed for a salt problem it was never designed to solve.",[58,415,416],{},"This is also where predictive maintenance has a role. An SCR cleaning programme should connect process trends, cleaning history and inspections. If pressure drop rises after a fuel change, a low-load period or an ammonia distribution drift, the plant needs to know which condition changed. Otherwise every fouling mode gets called \"dirty catalyst\", and every cleaner is judged against the wrong failure.",[53,418,420],{"id":419},"the-bottom-line","The bottom line",[58,422,423],{},"SCR catalyst cleaning is not one problem. Dry ash pluggage, ash masking, ammonium bisulphate and chemical poisoning all reduce SCR performance, but they do not respond to the same remedy. Dry, friable ash is a cleaning and prevention problem. Sticky ABS is a temperature, chemistry and direct-cleaning problem. Catalyst poisoning is a lifecycle-management problem.",[58,425,426],{},"That is why sootblowers and acoustic horns are complementary rather than interchangeable. Sootblowers bring the direct energy needed for heavier surface deposits, but they consume steam or air, add moving parts and can erode catalyst if overused. Acoustic horns bring low-cost, non-contact prevention for dry ash pluggage, but they do not dissolve ABS, remove bonded deposits or reverse poisoned active sites.",[58,428,429],{},"For many SCR reactors, the best answer is a smaller sootblower job and a larger prevention job. Use horns to keep dry ash off the catalyst face and reduce how often sootblowers must fire. Keep sootblowers for the deposits that need direct force. Manage ABS with temperature, ammonia distribution and catalyst chemistry. Manage poisoning with testing, regeneration and replacement planning. That honest split is what keeps the SCR online, the catalyst protected and the NOx margin defensible.",{"title":431,"searchDepth":432,"depth":432,"links":433},"",2,[434,435,436,437,438,439,440,441,442],{"id":55,"depth":432,"text":56},{"id":102,"depth":432,"text":103},{"id":177,"depth":432,"text":178},{"id":217,"depth":432,"text":218},{"id":251,"depth":432,"text":252},{"id":361,"depth":432,"text":362},{"id":379,"depth":432,"text":380},{"id":403,"depth":432,"text":404},{"id":419,"depth":432,"text":420},"How to match sootblowers and acoustic horns to SCR catalyst fouling: dry ash pluggage, ammonium bisulphate, poisoning, cost and limits.","md",{},true,"\u002Fresources\u002Fblog\u002Fscr-catalyst-cleaning-sootblowers-vs-acoustic-horns","2026-07-06",[450,451,452,453,454],"SCR sootblowers vs acoustic horns","SCR catalyst pluggage","ammonium bisulphate SCR","clean SCR catalyst online","SCR catalyst fouling",{"title":456,"description":457},"SCR catalyst cleaning: sootblowers vs acoustic horns","Compare sootblowers and acoustic horns for SCR catalyst cleaning, with honest limits for dry ash, ammonium bisulphate and catalyst poisoning.",[459,462,465,468,471,474,477],{"title":460,"url":461},"Power Engineering - SCR Catalyst Cleaning: Sootblowers vs. Acoustic Horns","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.power-eng.com\u002Foperations-maintenance\u002Fscr-catalyst-cleaningsootblowers-vs-acoustic-horns\u002F",{"title":463,"url":464},"Power Engineering - Tuning in to Acoustic Cleaning","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.power-eng.com\u002Fcoal\u002Ftuning-in-to-acoustic-cleaning\u002F",{"title":466,"url":467},"Babcock & Wilcox - Sootblower and Boiler Cleaning Terminology, Principles and Applications","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.babcock.com\u002Fhome\u002Fabout\u002Fresources\u002Flearning-center\u002Fsootblower-and-boiler-cleaning-terminology-principles-and-applications",{"title":469,"url":470},"POWER Magazine - The Theory and Application of Acoustic Cleaners","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.powermag.com\u002Fthe-theory-and-application-of-acoustic-cleaners\u002F",{"title":472,"url":473},"CORMETECH - How to Manage Your SCR Catalyst Effectively","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.cormetech.com\u002Fhow-to-manage-your-scr-catalyst-effectively\u002F",{"title":475,"url":476},"US EPA - Chapter 2 Selective Catalytic Reduction","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.epa.gov\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2017-12\u002Fdocuments\u002Fscrcostmanualchapter7thedition_2016revisions2017.pdf",{"title":478,"url":479},"Lehigh Energy Research Center - SCR and SNCR Processes Increase Risk of Air Preheater Fouling","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.lehigh.edu\u002F~inenr\u002Fleu\u002Fleu_27.pdf","resources\u002Fblog\u002Fscr-catalyst-cleaning-sootblowers-vs-acoustic-horns",[482,483,484],"SCR catalyst cleaning only works when the problem is genuinely cleanable: dry ash can be moved, sticky ABS must be managed differently, and chemical poisoning is not a cleaning problem.","Sootblowers have the energy for heavier deposits but consume steam or air and can erode the catalyst face.","Acoustic horns are non-erosive prevention tools for dry ash pluggage, so they usually reduce sootblower frequency rather than replace sootblowers outright.","yXsghbuEOImeDigHe8m01Jl2AaceN4kqhQjGRmsiNLk",1783414415788]