HEAT-RECOVERY STEAM GENERATORS

Clean fouled HRSG tubes,

G
as-side deposits and corrosion ing gas-side pressure drop. Recall that location and amount of fouling, and
of HRSG heat-transfer sur- gas-turbine (GT) and combined-cycle the rate of deposit formation within
faces are inevitable and are efficiency decrease with increasing the HRSG. This information allows
a common cause of reduced delta p. In cases where HRSG perfor- the owner to determine precisely
steam production, low steam tem- mance is severely compromised, the when an outage for tube cleaning is
peratures, and degraded gas-turbine entire plant may require an extended economically justified. In general,
performance. These effects contribute forced outage to repair corrosion- HRSG cleaning is required when the
to reduced electricity production and induced tube leaks, remove deposits gas-path pressure drop across the
lost revenue. from heat-transfer surfaces, or even HRSG reaches 3 to 4 in. H2O over the
Many factors contribute to deposit replace an entire module. “new and clean” condition.
formation on HRSG tubes—including Once the need for cleaning has
fuel sulfur content, tube leaks, insu- Mitigate deposits, been established and an outage date
lation failures, ammonia injection in determined, the next step is to select
excess of that required for NOx control, corrosion the optimal cleaning technology. The
and condensation caused by low stack Removing HRSG gas-side deposits standard options are high-pressure
temperature. Corrosion also is prob- should be a part of every plant’s water blasting, grit blasting, acoustic
lematic at plants operating in locations annual maintenance program. Effec- cleaning, and CO2 blast cleaning. The
with high humidity, particularly those tive planning can be improved by plant owner should carefully consider
facilities designed for base-load service closely monitoring specific operating the pros and cons associated with each
and required to cycle. Additionally, parameters—such as GT backpressure, cleaning option before making a final
HRSGs equipped with oil supplemen- steam production and temperature selection.
tal firing experience an increased rate (for each pressure level), and stack High-pressure water can be effec-
of tube fouling than when burning only temperature—and comparing the data tive but may also have the undesirable
natural gas. against corrected plant design condi- side effect of a water/deposit interac-
Over time, fouling can bridge the tions. Plant heat rate and output also tion that creates an acidic environment
gap between adjacent tube fins or should be tracked. and accelerates tube corrosion. It also
other heat-transfer surfaces, further Careful review of the data can could turn the water/deposit mixture
disrupting heat transfer and increas- provide advance warning about the into a concrete-like substance when

Air
compressor

Liquid CO2
tank HRSG tubes

Aftercooler

Pellet
chamber Dryer
1. CO2 blast cleaning uses small
cylindrical pellets (approximately 1/8 in.
across) of dry ice to remove foulants, rust,
and scale from tube and fin surfaces CO2 pellets
Nozzle
2. Liquid CO2 is converted to pellets of Portable blast unit
dry ice at the powerplant where the end
product is used for cleaning tubes and fins
(right)
COMBINED CYCLE JOURNAL, Third Quarter 2013 75
 NEM IS A GLOBAL LEADER
IN HRSG TECHNOLOGY
FROM DESIGN TO AFTERMARKET SERVICES

HEAT RECOVERY
STEAM GENERATORS ENGINEERING AFTERMARKET
Large Horizontal and Vertical HRSGs SERVICES SERVICES
Heavy Cycling HRSGs Benson OTSG designs
Quick Start and Lower Emissions HRSGs Turbine upgrades and Field service and aftermarket
DrumPlus design – dynamic alternative to OTSG performance assessments solutions for ALL OEMs HRSGs

VISIT US AT WWW.NEMUSACORP.COM
NEM USA 164 MILESTONE WAY, SUITE 100, GREENVILLE, SC 29615
TELEPHONE 864 400 6200 FAX 864 254 9700 EMAIL INFO@NEMUSACORP.COM
NEM ENERGY B.V. KANAALPARK 159, 2321 JW LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS, WWW.NEM-GROUP.COM

the plant is restarted. Important carefully performed by experienced of tube leaks increases in the future.
to remember is that this cleaning technicians. Unfortunately for the Like high-pressure water blasting,
technique is limited to line-of-sight plant owner, thinning of tube walls A large amount of waste material is
deposits and the high-pressure water is not obvious during cleaning but generated, some of which may be clas-
may push removed deposits further will become apparent when the rate sified as hazardous and require special
back into inaccessible regions of (read “expensive”) handling and
the HRSG. disposal.
Unless carefully performed, Owner/operators report mixed
high-pressure water blasting also results when using sonic horns
can quickly damage insulation that for deposit removal, particularly
is extremely difficult to access for in the cold end of the HRSG.
repairs and/or may erode some Sonic blasting is ineffective for
tubes or damage tube fins. Finally, removing ammonia salts and
contaminated water is difficult to baked-on deposits.
contain and may require expensive
waste disposal, if determined to be CO2 blast cleaning
a hazardous waste.
Grit blasting, also limited to line- 3. Nozzle directs the pellets directly on deposits. The remaining option for HRSG
of-sight cleaning, can quickly thin When the CO2 pellet changes phase from solid to a cleaning is CO2 pellet blasting,
the tube wall or damage fins if not gas, the deposit breaks free the only option that is non-

4, 5. Typical fouling and bridging of tubes before cleaning is shown at left. At right, the same tubes have been restored
to “new and clean” condition by blasting with CO2 pellets
76 COMBINED CYCLE JOURNAL, Third Quarter 2013
 Bremco,Inc.
Industrial Contractors For Your Power Generation Needs
Trust Us To Serve All Your HRSG Needs…
• Annual maintenance outages
• Header/panel replacements
• Cowl plenum repairs/upgrades
• Filter house upgrade/replacement
• Filter and media replacement
• Casing penetration seals
• Liner replacement/upgrades
• SCR installations
• Drain line replacements
• Stack damper installations

Bremco, Inc.
Expert Service Since 1976
Claremont, New Hampshire | tel 603-863-9071
sales@bremco.com | www.bremco.com

destructive and produces no second- melt into liquid water before evapo- offsite dry-ice vendor usually are 24 to
ary waste products. This is a dry rating into vapor form. When CO 2 48 hours old before they are used and
process and does not contribute to sublimates from a solid to a vapor, it will have already experienced a loss in
corrosion or erosion of heat-transfer expands 750 times in volume creating density. Lower-density pellets begin
surfaces. Just as important to the a “mushroom” effect inside the deposit to sublimate in the hose and “soften.”
owner, deep cleaning between tubes that lifts and removes deposits from Soft pellets are a less-effective cleaning
can be performed. metal surfaces. A HEPA vacuum sys- medium because they are less able to
CO2 blasting penetrates and com- tem collects the debris. Two typical reach the bundle interior.
pletely cleans modules located deep HRSG tube banks shown prior to and Onsite production of high-density
within the HRSG, eliminating the following CO2 blast cleaning in Figs 4 CO2 pellets is possible by using a com-
time and expense of mechanically and 5, respectively, illustrate cleaning pletely self-contained mobile support
spreading tubes to access tubes not effectiveness. trailer (Fig 6). The trailer houses a
in the technician’s line-of-sight. It 350-psig air compressor, air dryer/after-
has been proven by over 20 years of Making CO pellets cooler (for clean instrument grade air
2
industry experience and is recognized with low moisture content), a liquid CO2
by HRSG manufacturers as a cleaning High-density CO2 pellet production is storage tank, a pellet conversion unit,
best practice (Fig 1). the cornerstone of the cleaning process. and all necessary support systems for
The general cleaning process is illus- Sufficient pellets are manufactured direct connection to onsite power. The
trated in Fig 2. CO2 pellets are fed into onsite to guarantee the quality and trailer also carries all the necessary
a portable machine that is connected to density for maximum cleaning effec- tools, personal protection equipment,
a high-pressure compressor. The pellets tiveness. Pre-made pellets from an and other safety gear to the plant.
are educted into the air stream
and propelled through a hose
to a specially designed nozzle
HRSG tube cleaning shows positive Case studies
that propels them at speeds up
impact on plant performance The true effectiveness of high-
to 1000 ft/sec. The pellets exit Before After density CO2 pellet blast cleaning
the nozzle and penetrate the HRSG performance data cleaning cleaning becomes evident when compar-
debris layer on the surface being HP pinch point, F deg 46.0 35.1 ing pre- and post-cleaning plant
cleaned (Fig 3). HP steam flow, lb/hr 261,100 268,600 performance data—such as pinch
The CO2 sublimates once the IP pinch point, F deg 68.1 35.5 points, steam flow, heat rate,
pellets penetrate the deposit. IP steam flow, lb/hr 73,800 74,600 fuel consumption, pressure drop,
During sublimation at atmo- Nominal steam turbine and unit power. In the first case
spheric conditions, the CO 2 output, kW 81,710 82,830 study, the performance restora-
pellets undergo a transforma- Restored steam turbine tion experienced after cleaning is
tion from a solid directly to a output, kW 1120 presented. In the second, the value
gas, unlike ice that must first of a CO2 blast cleaning allowed
COMBINED CYCLE JOURNAL, Third Quarter 2013 77
HEAT-RECOVERY STEAM GENERATORS
dipped below the dew point. In addi-
tion, ceramic fiber insulation blocks
used in the HRSG combustion zone
were deteriorating with fiber strands
coming lose into the gas flow and
sticking on the economizer’s finned
tubes. The combined effect was a loss
of heat transfer in the economizer and
a rise in the HRSG gas-side pressure
drop that significantly reduced steam
production.
Initially the plant owner thought
to replace the entire economizer mod-
ule with one having a recirculation
6. Mobile support trailer houses all the CO2 blast cleaning equipment, pro-
system to take a portion of the hotter
duces the high-density pellets as needed, and carries support tools
economizer outlet water and return
it to the inlet to ensure tube-metal
the owner to cancel a scheduled major cleaning is a matter of weeks. temperature remains above the dew
outage and avoid purchasing a replace- Another approach to determining point. However, procuring an expen-
ment economizer module. the value of an HRSG cleaning is to sive new economizer module was going
calculate the fuel saving that occurs to require at least 40 days, thereby
Regaining lost when a plant runs at a fixed power putting the plant owner at commercial
output. In that situation, the fuel risk for failing to supply the contracted
performance savings is a function of the plant’s amount of steam.
Monitoring important performance improved heat rate. If the HRSG gas- Alternative approach: The plant
data points at a nominal 500-MW side pressure drop increases by 4 in. owner investigated cryogenic cleaning
combined cycle in the Northeast is part H2O because of fouling, the resulting of the economizer even though there
of the plant’s ongoing HRSG main- heat-rate increase can be determined was no large boiler experience with the
tenance and cleaning program. The from plant-specific design data. technology in the UK at the time. How-
data collected are used to develop per- For this case, the heat-rate improve- ever, dry ice was used to clean small
formance trends and to estimate the ment is approximated as proportional equipment—such as motors and gen-
power output that can be restored by to the power restored (1120 ÷ 500,000) erator windings. The plant owner sent
cleaning. A simple economic analysis or 0.22%. Assuming a typical 500-MW representatives to the US to observe
compares the value of lost power sales combined cycle has a gross heat rate the cleaning process in action and the
revenue when running with a fouled of about 7000 Btu/kWh, the heat-rate decision was made to bring the process
HRSG, with the lost revenue incurred restoration is about 16 Btu/kWh. If to the UK for the first time.
for an outage and the cost of an HRSG fuel is purchased at $3.50/million Btu The CO2 pellet blasting equipment
cleaning. This analysis helps the plant then the annual fuel savings for the was shipped to the UK for a planned
owner decide when a cleaning should improved heat rate is about $220,000. HRSG outage. Figs 7 and 8 show the
be scheduled. state of economizer tube fouling before
Data collected from the plant his- Avoiding an unexpected and after cleaning; Fig 9 shows the
torian before and after an HRSG debris removed from the HRSG after
cleaning is shown in the table. The cost the cleaning was completed.
capacity restored as a direct result of The second case study involves a The cleaning process was very suc-
the cleaning was 1120 kW. This plant combined-cycle cogeneration plant in cessful and at the close of the outage
normally operates at a 90% capacity the UK that produces steam and elec- the plant resumed supply of the con-
factor and sells power into the market tricity for two paperboard mills. The tracted amounts of steam to the cus-
at 3.5¢/kWh off-peak, a conservative plant is equipped with a GE LM6000 tomer. By selecting CO2 pellet clean-
price. Assuming the plant can sell the gas turbine and a Siemens steamer. ing, the owner avoided an unnecessary
additional power generated, the gross Sticky combustion products were economizer replacement, sidestepped
savings resulting from the restored condensing out on the HRSG econo- an extended outage for the economizer
power is about $309,000 annually. mizer tubes as a tar-like substance replacement, and avoided an unpleas-
The owner’s payback for the HRSG because the flue-gas temperature had ant contract discussion. ccj

7, 8. Economizer fouling reduced process steam flow and increased the pres- 9. The sticky material on economizer
sure drop across the HRSG to unacceptable levels (left). A new economizer was gas-side surfaces was reduced to an
believed the only viable solution. Fouling was eliminated (right) during a short main- easily handled waste product accept-
tenance outage and the plant resumed full process steam supply to its customer able for environmentally safe disposal
78 COMBINED CYCLE JOURNAL, Third Quarter 2013