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Condensate Recovery
Flash Steam
Condensate Recovery
Introduction to Condensate Recovery Layout of Condensate Return Lines Sizing Condensate Return Lines Pumping Condensate from Vented Receivers Lifting Condensate and Contaminated Condensate Flash Steam
Flash Steam
The benefits of recovering flash steam, how it is done and how flash steam can be applied elsewhere in the plant to maximise overall efficiency. Use the quick links below to take you to the main sections of this tutorial:
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Flash Vessel
View technical information on this product.
The formation of flash has already been discussed in Tutorial 2.2, 'What is steam', and a major flash steam application has been covered in Tutorial 3.13, 'Heat recovery from boiler blowdown'. This Tutorial will provide a brief reminder of these earlier Tutorials; discuss how flash steam is formed, and focus on how flash steam can be used effectively to improve steam plant efficiency.
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Fig. 14.6.1 Excess heat in condensate produces flash steam The heat needed to produce 1 kg of saturated steam from water at the same temperature, at 0 bar gauge, is 2257 kJ. An amount of 302 kJ can therefore evaporate:
From each kilogram of condensate in this example, the proportion of flash steam generated therefore equals 13.4% of the initial mass of condensate. If the equipment using steam at 7 bar g were condensing 250 kg/h, then the amount of flash steam released by the condensate at 0 bar g would be: 0.134 x 250 kg/h of condensate = 33.5 kg/h of flash steam Alternatively, the chart in Figure 14.6.2 can be read directly for the moderate and low pressures encountered in many plants. The example shown in Figure 14.6.1 is depicted in Figure 14.6.2 and shows that 0.134 kg of flash steam is produced per kg of condensate passing through the trap.
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Sub-cooled condensate
If the steam trap is of a thermostatic type, the discharged condensate is sub-cooled below saturation temperature. The heat in the cooler condensate will be slightly less, and the amount of flash steam produced would be less. If the trap in Example 14.6.1 discharged condensate at 15C below the steam saturation temperature, then the available heat in the condensate would be less.
Example 14.6.2 Consider condensate discharging at 7 bar g and with 15C of subcooling
Therefore, in this example, condensate discharging at a temperature lower than the saturation temperature has reduced the proportion of flash steam from 13.4% to 10.4%.
Pressurised condensate
Example 14.6.3 Consider the condensate in Example 14.6.1 discharging to a flash vessel pressurised at 1 bar g If the return line were connected to a vessel at a pressure of 1 bar g, then it could be seen from steam tables that the maximum heat in the condensate at the trap discharge would be 505 kJ/kg and the enthalpy of
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evaporation at 1 bar g would be 2201 kJ/kg. The proportion of the condensate flashing off at 1 bar g can then be calculated as follows:
In this example, if the equipment using steam at 7 bar g were condensing 250 kg/h of steam, then the amount of flash steam released by the condensate at 1 bar g would be 0.098 x 250 kg/h = 24.5 kg/h of flash steam. Therefore, the amount of flash steam produced can depend on the type of steam trap used, the steam pressure before the trap, and the condensate pressure after the trap.
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Example 14.6.4 Determine the size of a flash vessel to suit the following conditions:
The pressure onto the steam traps is 12 bar g with a total condensate flow of 2500 kg/h. The flash steam from the vessel is to be supplied to equipment using low pressure steam at 1 bar g.
Method:
1. From the 'Pressure on steam traps' axis at 12 bar g, move horizontally to the 1 bar g flash steam pressure curve at point A. 2. Drop down vertically to the condensate flowrate level of 2500 kg/h, point B, and follow the curved line to point C. 3. Move right from point C to meet the 1 bar g flash line at point D. 4. Move upwards to the flash vessel size and select the vessel. For this example, an FV8 flash vessel would be selected.
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becomes ineffective. Wherever possible, the best arrangement is to use flash steam from process condensate to supply process loads - and flash steam from heating condensate to supply heating loads. Supply and demand are then more likely to remain in-step. It is preferable to actually use the flash steam close to the high pressure condensate source. Relatively large diameter pipes are used for low pressure steam, to reduce pressure loss and velocity, which can mean costly installation if the flash steam has to be piped any distance.
Fig. 14.6.5 Flash steam recovery on a multi-bank air heater battery Depending on operating temperatures, the flash steam will condense at some low pressure, perhaps even sub-atmospheric. If site conditions and layout permit, the flash vessel and the steam trap draining the preheater should be located far enough below the preheater condensate outlet to give enough hydrostatic head to push the condensate through the trap. If this is not possible, pumping traps can be used to drain both the preheater coil and the flash vessel. Steam condensing in the preheater at sub-atmospheric pressure will generally mean that a vacuum breaker is required on the flash steam supply to the preheater. This will prevent the pressure in the battery becoming sub-atmospheric, thereby assisting condensate flow to the trap. Drainage from the preheater trap is induced by gravity flow. Figure 14.6.6 shows an application where the flash steam system is kept at a specified constant pressure by steam fed from a reducing valve. This ensures a reliable source of steam to the low pressure system if there is a lack of flash steam to meet the load.
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margin of output above the normal load to accept this small reduction. Sometimes a problem arises where the use of available flash steam may require more than one heater but less than two. It would be better in this case to connect two heaters to the flash steam supply, rather than vent the excess flash steam off to waste. Two heaters together will usually pull the flash pressure down to a lower level, even to sub-atmospheric levels. To cope with this, the supply of flash steam can be supplemented with live steam from a pressure reducing valve.
Fig. 14.6.6 Flash steam supply and demand in step Another example where supply and demand are 'in step' is the steam heated hot water storage calorifier. Some of these incorporate a second coil, fitted close to the bottom of the vessel adjacent to where the cold feedwater enters. Condensate and flash steam from the trap on the primary coil is passed directly to the secondary coil. Here, any flash steam produced by the drop in pressure across the trap is condensed, while giving up its heat to the feedwater. A typical arrangement is shown in Figure 14.6.7.
Fig. 14.6.7 Secondary flash steam coil in a storage calorifier Another example of this idea is shown in Figure 14.6.8. Here, a normal steam-to-water calorifier drains condensate through a float trap to a smaller shell-and-tube heat exchanger (called a flash condenser), in which the flash steam is condensed to sub-cooled condensate. The unit is fitted such that the secondary flow pipework is in series with both calorifier and condenser. This enables the secondary return water to be preheated by the condenser, thereby reducing the demand for live steam in the first instance. If the condensate in the flash condenser is likely to be sub-atmospheric, a mechanical pump is required to lift the condensate to any higher return line. The motive steam exhausting from the pump is itself condensed in the flash condenser. The pumping of the condensate is then achieved at virtually no cost. Consideration must be given to the pump filling head in that it needs to be greater than the pressure drop across the flash condenser tubes under full-load conditions. A minimum head of 600 mm will usually achieve this.
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Spray condensing
Finally, consideration should be given to those cases where flash steam is unavoidably generated at low pressure, but where no suitable load is available which can make use of it. Rather than simply discharge the flash steam to waste, the arrangement in Figure 14.6.11 can often be adopted. This arrangement can be useful where the condensate receiver vent cannot be piped to outside, and where the presence of flash steam would be detrimental if left to discharge in a plant room. A lightweight stainless steel chamber is fitted to the receiver tank vent. Cold water is sprayed into the chamber in sufficient quantities to just condense the flash steam. The flow of cooling water is controlled by a simple self-acting temperature control, adjusted so that minimal amounts of flash steam appear from the vent. The process will use roughly 6 kilograms of cooling water per kilogram of flash steam condensed. If the cooling water is of boiler feed quality, then the warmed water is added to the condensate in the receiver and re-used. This will continue to make water savings throughout the year. If the cooling water is not suitable for recovery, the spray pipework can be installed as shown by the dotted arrangement. The cooling water and condensed flash will then fall to waste.
What do I do now?
The printable version of this page has now been replaced by The Steam and Condensate Loop Book Try answering the Questions for this tutorial View the complete collection of Steam Engineering Tutorials
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