Date: July9002 ,

KORANGI POWER STATION

CCTG Plant 4 x LM6000 Contractor Document No:

COMBINED CYCLE Engineer Document No:

IEG-1012-OM-TP-RT-00-001

OPERATIONAL MANUAL
Rev: A Page: 381/369

BOILER PRESERVATION

GENERAL PROVISIONS OF BOILER CORROSION DURING OPERATION

Under hot conditions prevailing in the thermal circuit on inner surfaces of most steel components there is formed a
natural protective layers of magnetite protecting the material against aggressive surrounding. Additionally, in the
surrounding with low thermal parameters where it is difficult to create a protective layer, it is introduced a small quantity
of inhibiting means in the circuit (e.g .agents binding oxygen, alkalinising substances, substances creating a film.)
The situation is principally changed when the plant is put out of operation. Then the agent flow stops, the agent cools
down, steam condensates, in the system there is created under pressure, the valves are opened and air enters the
equipment. Due to quite fast changes of temperature, protective layers crack on the inner surfaces of steel equipment
and metal is subject to aggressive action of electrochemical corrosion by oxygen.
Idle operation-less conditions of power engineering units, e.g .shut-down into cold-stand-by, season shut-down, repairs
and reconstruction of plant, etc .are the most frequent cause of corrosion in those unit parts where humidity was not
fully removed or where humidity was condensed.
Damages caused by equipment corrosion under those conditions used to be serious and often mean a serious decrease
of service life of some part of the plant.
Thorough drainage of all the parts of water-steam system is not executable technically in most cases and it is necessary
to protect equipment in other way so that corrosion is minimal, so that it is avoided pit corrosion or excessive creation
of corrosive iron oxides. When corrosion is not sufficiently prevented during shut-down, during the first period after
starting-up it will occur pollution of the condensation and feeding circuits by corrosion products and various defects
can occur as well as corrosion under deposits or adverse operating conditions.

SOME OF POSSIBLE EVENTS

Limitation of flow rate through tube due to corrosive products deposits.
Corrosion under deposits in most thermally exposed points due to entrapped corrosive products and further reaction
under the deposits.
The most frequent event is pit holes in tubes with humidity condensed due to oxygen corrosion at shut-down.
During shut-down corrosion can occur mainly in the places which cannot be drained or where humidity is condensed.
Corrosion after starting-up can occur in the places with deposits of corrosion produces due to increased thermal power
input or changes in the medium flow where due to increase of the material temperature the corrosive processes are
intensified..
 Date: July9002 ,
KORANGI POWER STATION
CCTG Plant 4 x LM6000 Contractor Document No:

COMBINED CYCLE Engineer Document No:

IEG-1012-OM-TP-RT-00-001

OPERATIONAL MANUAL
Rev: A Page: 382/369

CONDITIONS AND CAUSES OF BOILER CORROSION

Existence of equipment made of iron, steel materials and many other metal materials is conditioned by occurrence of a
protective layer on the metal surface. The layer consists of oxides of relevant metal and prevents from material corrosion.
For iron and steel materials the basis of the protective layer is magnetite Fe3O 3which is created without any other effects
with sufficient velocity at higher temperatures (above 150°C.) The magnetite layer if sufficiently compact protects the
metal surface against corrosion.
At equipment shut-down i.e .at idle corrosion trivalent iron in the form Fe7O.3nH7O is thermo- dynamically the most
stable form and it means the final product which is not of protective character and does not prevent from further
corrosion of equipment. It is therefore necessary to prevent creation of trivalent iron oxides, to prevent reaction of metal
surface or the protective layer with air oxygen.
Concentrating or electrode elements are also of some importance at contact with the metal surface (polluted with salt
deposits or with material damages) with condensed humidity. Salts in water used for preservation solutions are of the
same importance. Content of unwilling salts in the circuit is manifested negatively and makes the protection of
equipment and selection of suitable preservation method more difficult.
Material effects are inclusions and impurities, failure to observe the manufacture technology and heat treatment of tubes,
defect welds, tube ovality, additional stress, any other failures to observe the technological or assembly disciplines. The
above mentioned effects along with other factors (e.g .cyclical operation of equipment with a lot of starting-ups) result
in faster corrosion of material during shut-down of the plant.

RECOMMENDED METHODS OF BOILER PRESERVATION

The purpose of plant preservation is to create and to keep in good conditions a protective layer and to prevent corrosive
attack on materials.
Due to occurrence of serious defects in the pressure system caused by neglecting the boiler preservation, in no case it
is recommended to shut-down the boiler without preservation.
Based on practical experience in boiler preservation we recommend to use the following methods:

BOILER PRESERVATION BY OVERPRESSURE IN BOILER AT TEMPERATURE ABOVE 100°C

The method is recommended to be used at boiler preservation for a period shorter than 0week, if it is
concerning scheduled shut-down or shut-down ordered by a dispatcher as it requires the boiler plant to be capable of
work. Heating and keeping the pressure in the boiler above 0,1 MPa shall be secured by occasional heating by means
of a external gas burner.
The boiler shall be shut-down at as high pressure as possible so that preservation lasts as long as possible without any
heating. After boiler shut-down due to accumulated heat, the pressure in the closed pressure system can rise at first. To
avoid the pressure in the superheater to exceed the maximal permitted values, it is controlled by slight opening the shut-
 Date: July9002 ,
KORANGI POWER STATION
CCTG Plant 4 x LM6000 Contractor Document No:

COMBINED CYCLE Engineer Document No:

IEG-1012-OM-TP-RT-00-001

OPERATIONAL MANUAL
Rev: A Page: 383/369

off valve in the starting-up line into atmosphere.

The boiler shut-down is carried out according to the boiler operation instruction “Boiler shut-down to the hot stand-by”.

DRY TYPE PRESERVATION OF BOILER BY DRYING THE INNER SURFACE

This mean of conservation i sused in the case of boiler shut-down to the period cca. 1 - 2 months.
In order to dry the inside surface of the boiler pressure system is used the heat, accumulated in the boiler after its shut-
down. Tis way of boiler conservation is serving for the short time shut-downs, cca until 2 months. In case of this way
of conservation, following method has to be maintained:

Before the shut-down, the boiler operation has to be kept in the steady state in the performance among the nominal and
minima such way that the overheated steam temperature maintained the nominal temperature value.
The nominal performance of the boiler is gradually decreasing to the minimal on which the overheated steam still has the
nominal value.
Before the combustion gas supply switching off, the blowdown fittings will be closed, the water level in the drum will
decrease to minimum.
The combustion gas supply to the boiler is switched off. After its switching off, the closing valves on the steam outlet
from the boiler are closed.
To close reliably the feed water supply to the boiler (it is important to exclude the flow by the fittings leaks).
The flap on the combustion gas boiler input and the rain flap are closed in order to prevent the boiler cooling by the air
streaming.
By the boiler shut-down and after the boiler pressure decrease to the 1MPa the drainage of water from the boiler starts
throught the sludge bleeding fittings to the start-up expander such way, that the boiler pressure decrease was 0.05
MPa/min. After the pressure decrease to the 0.4 MPa the preheater and EKA drainages will opened.
Upon the decrease of the overpressure in the boiler to the 0.0 Mpa all the bleeding valves on the boiler will be opened,
and it will be checked, if the water is drained out from the boiler.After the cooling of the boiler inner space to the
environment temperature and when the boiler is not steaming anymore from the bleeding openings, it is possible to
close completely the boiler, that means to close the bleeding and drainage fittings.
The condition of the sucessful conservation result is that during the whole conservation period it has to prevent the
intrusion of the dampness to the boiler from other sources.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSED CONSERVATION METHOD

It is not necessary to instal the device for the wet conservation (connecting pipings, fittings).
No measures for the preservation of the conservation solution homogenity are needed. (need of service, chemicals and
energy)
It is not necessary to maintain the suitable solution temperature by its accidental filling. (need of service, steam and
energy).
The big advantage of the dry way of conservation is, that during the shut-down, it is possible to carry out the repair
works on the pressure system without the influencing the quality of the conservation.
 Date: July9002 ,
KORANGI POWER STATION
CCTG Plant 4 x LM6000 Contractor Document No:

COMBINED CYCLE Engineer Document No:

IEG-1012-OM-TP-RT-00-001

OPERATIONAL MANUAL
Rev: A Page: 384/369

Upon the boiler start-up after the shut-down end, it is not necessary to carry out the conservation solution flushing.
(treated feeding water economy).

DISADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSED CONSERVATION METHOD

During the conservation it is not possible to carry out the water pressure test after the end of repair works, because such
test may debase the conservation result. In case of this conservation way, it is necessary to plan the pressure test to the
time shortly before the new start-up.
According to experiences, the reliability of the conservation is limited to cca 2 months.
In case of the untightness of fittings, separating the conserved boiler from equipments in operation the conservation
effect is debased.

PRESERVATION BY NITROGEN

The principle of the method consists in preventing atmospheric oxygen at filling the whole inner volume by nitrogen at
a pressure slightly exceeding the ambient pressure (about 0,10 1,05 – MPa.) Applied nitrogen purity shall be at least
99.5 %, otherwise the protection effect would not be perfect. The method does not required previous drying of the boiler,
however, it is necessary to prevent air after shut-down.
It will be achieved by water and steam pressing out of the system at the pressure of 1,5 – 1,7MPa in
the boiler by blowing compressed nitrogen.
The sources of nitrogen can be a tank truck with liquid nitrogen or gas cylinders. Application of gaseous nitrogen from
cylinders in larger equipment is too demanding for handling the great number of gas cylinders.
Application of nitrogen for preservation is possible after pressure test when the whole boiler system is filled with water.
However, there is an adverse effect of not-deaerated water. The preservation process can be automatic when a suitable
source of nitrogen is used. An effect of preservation can be absolute with satisfactory nitrogen purity; a condition is to
ensure pressure-tightness of the system during the preservation and to cover losses due to leakage. Provided air enters
the equipment due to leakage, it will dilute nitrogen. Subsequent pressing out of air will required increased consumption
of nitrogen.
The preservation method does not required operation capability of the boiler, by-pass stations and the vacuum system
and it means it can also be used during not-scheduled shut-down.

PROCEDURE OF PRESERVATION

To shut-down the boiler and to reduce the pressure in the normal way as in case of boiler shut-down into cold stand-by.
The venting valves of superheated and reheated steam shall be connected to the supply piping from nitrogen source
through a pressure reduction valve.
There shall be opened drainage valves of superheaters and reheaters and water from the boiler shall be pressed out until
water stops flowing out from drainage and nitrogen starts flowing in.
 Date: July9002 ,
KORANGI POWER STATION
CCTG Plant 4 x LM6000 Contractor Document No:

COMBINED CYCLE Engineer Document No:

IEG-1012-OM-TP-RT-00-001

OPERATIONAL MANUAL
Rev: A Page: 385/369

Then the drainage valves shall be gradually closed.

The system shall be filled with nitrogen until the over pressure of 0,1 1,05 – MPa is reached in the system. After ending
the filling of the boiler by nitrogen it will be measured oxygen content by means of a portable instrumentation in some
drainage points provided with nozzles once a week. The oxygen content in the measured gas sample may not exceed
1.%
The nitrogen distribution system shall remain connected. The pressure in the boiler shall be regularly monitored twice
a day. Provided pressure in the boiler drops, nitrogen will be refilled.
If pressure drop occurs frequently, or quickly, it is necessary to look for leakage in the pressure system.

CONSUMPTION OF NITROGEN
For calculation of nitrogen consumption it is necessary to consider 1,5 7 – times water volume of the system subject to
preservation. Losses to be added depend on equipment leakage.
The filling period depends on boiler discharging rate. Nitrogen preservation requires modification of the pressure
system.

SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
Nitrogen is not poisonous gas, but created non-breathable atmosphere. If oxygen content drops in atmosphere, a person in
such area will faint and if he is there for a longer period suffocation can occur. Therefore it is necessary to secure proper
venting of all the places where nitrogen can accumulate, all exhausts and venting shall be led outside the enclosed area. At
handling the equipment with nitrogen it is necessary to supervise the workers visually and to keep breathing apparatus
ready. Liquid nitrogen can cause dangerous scorches. It is recommended to insulate the nitrogen piping
 Date: July9002 ,
KORANGI POWER STATION
CCTG Plant 4 x LM6000 Contractor Document No:

COMBINED CYCLE Engineer Document No:

IEG-1012-OM-TP-RT-00-001

OPERATIONAL MANUAL
Rev: A Page: 386/369