6120122, 6:29 PM Condensate polishers add operating reliability and Nexibity
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Aug 15, 2008
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Condensate polishers add operating
reliability and flexibility
Condensate polishers are resin-based ion exchange systems that are commonly used in
power plant condensate systems to remove dissolved contaminants (chlorides and silica)
and suspended contaminants (iron or copper oxide particulates). Polishers maintain cycle
purity and efficiency by controlling the effects of corrosion transport, condenser cooling water
leaks, and condenser air in-leakage. Polishers do not make a system immune to chemistry
issues, but they do lessen the impact of chemistry problems and often allow a plant to
continue operating with a minor condenser tube leak or air in-leakage problem that might
otherwise require an immediate outage.
In addition, condensate polishers are suitable for operation with high-performance chemistry
programs such as all-volatile treatment (AVT) and oxygenated treatment (OT), they may
accelerate plant start-up by minimizing chemistry holds, and they may allow a more orderly
plant shutdown in the case of a significant water contamination.
Two basic types of condensate polishers are commercially available: deep- or mixed-bed
and precoat condensate polishers. The two types have very different designs and are
intended to address site-specific water quality issues found in the power industry.
Option 1: Deep-bed condensate polishers
A deep-bed polisher is typically employed in applications requiring very pure condensate,
where it's vital to remove every trace of contamination. This polisher contains a mixture of
cation and anion resin beads in a bed about 3 to 4 feet deep. The resin mixture can consist
of varying cation-to-anion resin ratios, depending on the amount of dissolved contaminants
expected, with 2-to-1 and 1-to-1 resin ratios being the most common.
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pousner enicency (rigure 1).
1. Going deep. This spherical vessel deep-bed condensate polisher system was installed at
a once-through pulverized coal-fired power generating facility. Courtesy: Bechtel Power
Corp.
Deep-bed condensate polishers are favored in applications where high levels of total
dissolved solids (TDS) are present (such as those using sea or brackish waters), where the
plant must continue operation with small condenser leaks, and at plants that have minor air
in-leakage control problems.
Nuclear power plants normally require deep-bed condensate polishers because their steam
systems are sensitive to even minimal levels of contamination. The extremely low cation
conductivity limits (<0.15 .S/cm) associated with operation on OT chemistry also call for
deep-bed condensate polishers in supercritical and ultrasupercritical plants. Also, EPRI's
latest AVT guidelines recommend condensate polishers on most high-pressure units,
advocating that they maintain steam cation conductivity of <0.15 yS/em.
When the ion exchange capability of a deep-bed condensate polisher is exhausted, the resin
beads are cleaned and regenerated with sulfuric or hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide.
The regeneration process may be external to the service vessels in an on-site regeneration
station, in-situ in the service vessels, or off-site at a subcontractor’s regeneration facility,
depending on site-specific issues.
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restore the resin’s ion exchange capability, rinsed to remove the residual chemicals, and
then recombined.
Resin can also be regenerated in-situ by segregating the cation and anion resins right in the
vessels, although the resulting level of polisher performance is usually lower due to cross-
contamination of the resins. For instance, externally regenerated polishers typically have a
sodium leakage of 3 gil or less, whereas an in-situ regenerated polisher may have a
sodium leakage as high as 10 g/l.
Another deep-bed condensate polisher option, which has been gaining popularity in recent
years because of its reduced capital cost, is off-site regeneration. In this case, a service
company removes the resin from the site, regenerates the resin at its facility, retums it to the
site, and reinstalls the resin, However, costs increase with distance from the service
company, as transportation costs are a major factor in the price of this service. Off-site
regeneration does eliminate concerns with chemical storage and handling and wastewater
neutralization and disposal.
The final option is to rent the polishers. Rental polishers are frequently used during
commissioning and start-up, when the plant doesn’t have a permanent condensate polisher.
Pressure and flow limitations on rental units normally restrict their use to partial-flow side-
stream applications recirculating treated effluent to the condenser hotwell
Option 2: Precoat condensate polishers
Precoat condensate polishers use a thin coat of powdered ion exchange resin applied to
specially designed retaining elements called septa to treat the condensate stream. To create
the powdered resin mixture, resin beads are ground to about 200 mesh and mixed with a
fibrous fill media. The powdered resin mixture is blended with water to create slurry that is
applied to the septa to form a a....»- to ¼-inch precoat layer (Figure 2).
SS ty
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2. Coat of many layers. In this vessel with multiple internal filter elements, slurry of powdered
ion exchange resin was applied to condensate polisher filter elements. Courtesy: Graver
Water Systems
This thin coat of resin will remove some dissolved contaminants from the condensate, but its
capacity is quite limited due to the small quantity of resin used. However, the elements do
extremely well at filtering suspended particles from the condensate. Once the precoat
condensate polisher is loaded with suspended solids or the ion exchange capacity is
exhausted, the spent material is backwashed off the septa to waste and is replaced with a
fresh layer. Figure 3 depicts a typical powdered resin application system design for precoat
condensate polishers.
Pre
ern,
recat ine UBS.
3, Slurry delivery system. A simplified flow diagram of a powdered resin mix and coating
system. Source: Bechtel Power Corp.
The most common filtration devices used upstream of deep-bed condensate polishers are
precoat-type filters, pleated septa filters, and hollow fiber filters. Precoat filters, also called
candle filters, are very similar to precoat condensate polishers except that a ground cellulose
fiber is coated on the filter elements instead of powdered ion exchange resin. This filtration
approach is relatively inexpensive but quite effective when the suspended solids loading in
the condensate is low. These filters are also able to remove oil and other insoluble organics
from the condensate stream in addition to particulates. Because precoat filters must be
recoated each time the differential pressure limit is reached, high particulate loadings can
make this type of filter expensive. Effectiveness of the filter can also vary depending on the
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‘A condensate polisner can also De invaiuapie on compineo-cycie prams wnere ine steam
turbine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) includes a warranty limit (commonly around
0.2 'S/cm) for the cation conductivity of the low-pressure steam. The cation conductivity of
this stream is typically 0.5 to 0.6 S/cm due to carbon dioxide absorption in the water, which
makes the OEM-imposed limit very challenging to meet. A condensate polisher will remove
carbon dioxide in the form of carbonates and bicarbonates from the cycle.
Combined cycles used as cycling units have special water treatment challenges: They must
balance the EPRI- and OEM-recommended chemistry action levels against guaranteed
start-up times. A condensate polisher can be used on these units to reduce the level of
contaminants in the steam/water cycle and ensure that chemistry limits do not play a major
role in delaying unit start-up times.
Also, any steam plant with a drum pressure greater than 2,400 psia will easily vaporize boiler
water contaminants such as sodium and chloride and carry them over to the steam turbine
system, rather than leaving them in the boiler drum. This tendency will limit the effectiveness
of blowdown as an easy chemistry control practice on drum units and lower the amount of
condenser in-leakage that can be tolerated without rapidly increasing blowdown or shutting
down the unit. Once-through boiler designs with main steam throttle pressures in excess of
3,600 psia must also use a polisher to maintain system cleanliness.
Air-cooled condensers (ACC) also present unique challenges for the water treatment plant
designer. An ACC features a very large surface area to efficiently condense turbine exhaust
steam, but the surface area can also upset the steam/water cycle chemistry balance. New
ACCs are difficult to thoroughly clean and tend to contribute high levels of contaminates into
the condensate during initial commissioning.
Condensate filters are usually included to remove oil and suspended solids from the
condensate before the polisher to prevent the loss of efficiency and bed fouling problems.
Filters are also recommended when high levels of iron are expected in the condensate
return of an export steam system.
Finally, reclaimed wastewater is an attractive option for power plant cooling water systems in
regions with limited freshwater for power plant use. The most commonly encountered
reclaimed or graywater source is municipal sewage that is treated via a secondary and/or
tertiary process. Though the TDS content of graywater is not as high as that of brackish or
seawater, the risk of contaminating the steam/water cycle remains significant. A polisher
provides protection to allow the unit to initiate a safe and orderly shutdown in case of a leak.
Making the best choice
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We believe the answer is "yes" and present a decision tree for selecting condensate
polishing equipment that we find useful in our work, The decision tree uses a series of
primary and secondary technical factors to arrive at a polisher solution (see sidebar). The
decision tree is primarily a screening tool; final purchase decisions must be weighed against
the specifics of a plant site, makeup water, and first-cost and life-cycle cost considerations.
A selection guide for
condensate polishing
equipment
Some plant designs or configurations, by their nature, require a condensate polisher; with
others, condensate polisher may be optional. The decision tree in Figure 4 provides a simple
approach to quickly determine when a polisher is needed and what type of polisher will work
best on a power project. It is based on specific plant configurations and the risks related to
the cycle configuration and steam turbine chemistry limits recommended by EPRI,
regardless of the chemistry control program:
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In our opinion, there are a series of five key factors (presented as questions in Figure 4) that
determine if a condensate polisher is required. An answer of “yes” to any of these questions
suggests that a condensate polisher is absolutely required. In addition, a series of seven
secondary factors influence the decision to include a condensate polisher.
Making the final decision to include a condensate polisher may require a complicated series
of economic analyses and design trade-offs that include plant location, wastewater disposal
issues, acceptability of risk, owner preferences, and start-up considerations. In any case,
this selection guide will get you very close to the right answer, regardless of plant design.
Bechtel Power has been involved in many condensate polisher evaluations during the past
few years. Below, we share five project case histories that illustrate how our condensate
polisher selection guide (Figure 4, in sidebar) was used on particular projects. These case
histories also illustrate how additional plant design criteria and owner preference will enter
into the final selection decision.
Case history #1. Two new 855-MW base-loaded pulverized coal-fired units on a greenfield
site in the midwestern U.S. use a once-through supercritical boilers with a 3,700 psia throtlle
pressure. The units were designed to be commissioned on AVT chemistry and transition to
OT chemistry once the cation conductivity of the feedwater was consistently below 0.15
uS/cm and the units had reached a stable operating load, Cold-lime-softened river water was
the makeup water source for the plant's cooling tower. The plant was designed to internally
recycle as much of its own wastewater as possible, but it has a permit that allows discharge
of some wastewater from the plant to a nearby river.
The selection guide determined that a deep-bed condensate polisher was required. The
plant water balance included significant internal wastewater recycling in the wet flue gas
desulfurization (FGD) system and as ash-conditioning water. The remainder went to an
outfall. External regeneration was selected due to the high-quality condensate required for
OT operation. The final design used 3 x 50% service vessels for each of the two units with a
common, centrally located regeneration station to minimize capital costs.
Case history #2. A new 450-MW base-loaded pulverized coal-fired unit on a site with two
existing units in the southwestern U.S. uses a drum boiler design with a 2,400 psia throttle
pressure. The unit was designed to operate on an AVT chemistry program with phosphate
injection available for emergency use only. Cold-lime-softened well water is the makeup
water source for the plant's cooling tower. All nonrecyclable wastewater is treated in a zero-
liquid-discharge (ZLD) system and disposed of in on-site evaporation ponds.
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100% precoat polisher service vessels.
Case history #3. A 2x 1 combined-cycle power plant with a 1,880 psia throttle pressure
located in the UK was designed for a phosphate chemical treatment program. The plant was
expected to be routinely cycled and was designed for rapid start-up. The turbine exhaust
steam was cooled with an ACC.
None of the selection guide's primary selection factors came into play, and only two of the
secondary factors were present, so no condensate polisher was required. However, based
on the owner's preference, a 1 x 100% precoat condenser polisher was included as part of
the plant design. The precoat polisher was selected because of its ability to handle the high
levels of iron transport associated with an ACC operating in cycling service. The potential for
carbon dioxide in the condensate, due to air in-leakage in the ACC, was another key factor
in its selection.
Case history #4. Two new 750-MW base-loaded pulverized coal-fired units on a site with
one existing unit in the midwestern U.S. use a once-through 3,700 psia supercritical design.
The units were designed to be commissioned on AVT and to transition to OT chemistry once
cation conductivity of the feedwater was consistently below 0.15 uS/cm and the units had
achieved a stable operating load. Cold-lime-softened well water is the cooling tower makeup
water source. The plant uses a ZLD system with all nonrecyclable wastewater disposed of in
on-site evaporation ponds. Minimal opportunities for wastewater recycling exist within the
facility because a dry FGD system and production of saleable ash were part of the overall
plant design.
The selection guide determined that a deep-bed condensate polisher was best for this plant.
However, because the plant has a ZLD system and minimizing wastewater was a key project
design goal, off-site regeneration of the polisher resin was selected. The final design used 3
x 50% vessels for each of the two units with a common, centrally located resin transfer and
storage station to minimize capital costs. The resin storage facilities were designed to store
three charges of fresh resin—one spare charge for each new unit plus one extra charge.
Case history #5. Two new 750-MW base-loaded pulverized coalfired units on a greenfield
site in the southwestem U.S. use once-through supercritical boilers operating at 3,690 psia.
The units were designed to be commissioned on AVT, with the transition to OT chemistry
occurring once cation conductivity of the feedwater was consistently below 0.15 uS/em and
the units had achieved a stable operating load. The plant recycles large amounts of internal
wastewater to the wet FGD system and as ash-conditioning water. High-quality well water is
available for plant cooling water on a limited basis. Therefore, a hybrid wet-dry cooling
system was planned for this facility. The hybrid design includes an ACC as well as a wet
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economic sense. The final design used 3 x 50% service vessels for each of the two units
with a common, centrally located regeneration station to minimize capital costs. Because the
design included an ACC, pleated septa condensate filters were included upstream of the
deep-bed polisher vessels to protect the deep-bed polishers from high levels of particulates
during start-up. These filters could be bypassed during normal operation once condensate
cleanliness is established.
—Colleen M. Layman (cmlayman@bechtel.com) is manager of water treatment
engineering, and Lisa L. Bennett (lIbennet@bechtel.com) is a water treatment engineer for
Bechtel Power Corp.
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Jun 1, 2009
by POWER
oam
Focus on Organics in Steam
Organic compounds can enter the steam cycle from a number of sources, including water
treatment chemicals, or as part of a manufacturing process. Regardless of the source of the
organics, their effects range from fouling polisher resins to causing significant steam turbine
damage. Conventional water pretreatment systems are available to remove organics from
water, but removing organic compounds at their source is the best place to start addressing
the problem.
The presence of organic chemicals in feedwater and steam has been a power industry issue
for a number of years and has been the subject of previous POWER articles (see "Organics
in the Boiler and Steam: Good or Bad?" September 2006), as have the effects of organic
compounds on the cation conductivity of feedwater and steam ("Cation Conductivity
Monitoring: A Reality Check" May 2008).
Given the pervasiveness of these concerns, it pays to be aware of the latest understanding
of how organics affect a power plant's steam cycle and how their effects can be mitigated
That was the focus of the third conference on the interaction of organic compounds with
water and steam, held in November last year in Lucerne, Switzerland. The conference was
attended by90 participants from 19 countries and included 30 presentations over two and a
half days on various aspects of the effect of organic compounds on water and steam to
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Three major sources of organic chemicals in utility steam generating systems are:
+ Natural organic matter (NOM), which consists of organic chemicals that pass through
the pretreatment equipment and wind up in the boiler feedwater and steam.
* Treatment chemicals added to the feedwater that volatilize into the steam.
+ Contaminants contributed by equipment such as condensate polishers.
Organic compounds, such as lubricating oils, can also contaminate the boiler, but these
instances are rare. Each of the major sources poses a different risk for plant equipment.
The most common problem with organic compounds in the steam cycle is their detrimental
effect on cation conductivity. In essence, heat and temperature in the steam cycle break
down large and sometimes non-ionic organic compounds into shorter carbon molecules, and
often carboxylic acids, which are ionic. Organic chemicals that create anionic species
(acetate, formate, and dissolved carbon dioxide) in the steam or condensate will contribute
Their presence makes it difficult for the operator to know if
contaminants such as chloride or sulfate are in the steam, and therefore pose a risk to the
turbine. It's like driving in a rainstorm with bad windshield wipers — poor visibility prevents
you from identifying a hazard early enough to respond.
to cation conduct
Improvements in demineralized water purity, and the ability to improve the detection of
contamination, have allowed turbine original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to define a
new "normal" for a steam cycle operating with no contamination from chloride and sulfate,
thus lowering the acceptable cation conductivity. These lower limits leave little if any room for
the contributions from carbon dioxide or other organic breakdown products.
For this reason, owners may void their warranty with the turbine manufacturer if their plant
operates above this limit unless they can prove that the cation condu
from chloride or sulfate.
ity is not coming
Limiting organics can be a particular problem during commissioning, when there may be
traces of contamination in the piping that can take a long time to remove.
Complicating matters further, industry studies have examined steam turbines that operate
with cation conductivity that is consistently higher than EPRI and turbine manufacturers’
recommendations, The results showed that these turbines did not have a higher rate of
turbine-related failures than their counterparts that operate at levels of cation conductivity
that are within the current guidelines.
VAIL wa Te Rina. An AAD
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If the water source is treated effluent from a sewage treatment plant or a source of potable
water, it's likely that the water is chlorinated before it reaches the plant. Chlorinated organic
compounds are a particular concern, because they can pass through water treatment
equipment only to break down in the boiler, where the amount of chloride in the steam will
increase the potential for corrosion on the turbine. These halo-organic compounds present a
clear risk to plant equipment.
Documented damage to steam cycle equipment directly attributed to organic compounds is,
associated with various sources of NOM, some of which have included halogenated
organics. Damage has included stress corrosion cracking of turbine rotors, corrosion of
carbon steel anchor strips at the base of the turbine blade in the final rows of a low-pressure
(LP) turbine, tube failures in a steam generator (chlorinated organic compounds), and
corrosion in the LP evaporator tubing in a heat-recovery steam generator.
Many OEM makeup water guidelines give hard limits, such as 300 ppb total organic carbon
(TOC). This kind of hard limit is not helpful in solving many of the water treatment challenges
facing the power industry. First, the TOC value does not differentiate between different
sources of organic compounds. It is important to know the particular source and type of
organic compound, as some pretreatment equipment is more effective at removing specific
types of organic compounds and less effective at removing others. For example, one utility in
the Netherlands saw a jump in cation conductivity when its makeup water source changed,
introducing more polysaccharides into the water that were not effectively removed by its
pretreatment equipment.
For some units, 300 ppb may be far too high, particularly where there is potential for the
TOC to contain chlorinated or sulfonated compounds. For another unit, the pretreatment
equipment required to meet these low limits may be extensive and of questionable benefit.
Many water treatment experts are of the opinion that no single limit on organics in makeup
water should be applied to all units because many factors determine how much of the
organic loading of a steam cycle presents an unacceptable risk. Critical questions to ask
before determining an limit include these: What is the source of the organic compounds?
What are the operating conditions (temperature and pressure) of the unit? Is it baseloaded
or cycling? Will the steam be condensed in the steam cycle, or will most of it go to the steam
host? What is the potential for other ions, such as chloride or sulfate, to be associated with
the organic compounds? These and similar questions should be answered prior to deciding
how and to what extent makeup water needs to be treated for organic removal,
Not only can NOM directly affect a plant, but it also can create problems in equipment, which
in turn ereates many onerations nrahlams: Oraanie molecules have a lana histary af foulina
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compounds, it may cause increased levels of sulfate in the steam.
Conventional wisdom assumed that NOM would quickly break down into carboxylic acids
such as acetic acid and carbon dioxide. Recent testing performed with humic acid at 2,600
psig and 1,022F found that NOM also formed significant percentages of larger and more
complex organic molecules in the boiler, even after 48 hours of exposures at these
temperatures and pressures. It's likely that the presence of oxygen in the steam cycle as well
as the configuration and recirculation rate on the boiler have a significant effect on the
compounds formed and their longevity. Results are likely to be site-specific and may even
depend on current operating conditions.
Removing NOM with Pretreatment
NOM has long caused problems with conventional ion exchange demineralizer trains. In
addition to shortening run lengths and creating silica in the effluent, organic fouling on the
anion beads has been shown to soak up sodium ion during the anion regeneration and bleed
it back during operation, increasing the sodium, pH, and conductivity in anion bed effluent. A
number of conventional treatments have been examined for their effect on NOM removal
(see table).
Pretreatment technologies for removing natural organic matter. Source: M&M
Engineering Associates Inc.
Ultrafiltration (UF) followed by reverse osmosis (RO) has been proven the best treatment
process for removing natural organic compounds in raw water. Although UF does not.
eliminate a significant percentage of the small molecular weight organic materials, it does
remove a significant portion of the particulate organic particles, including the
polysaccharides, microbiologically generated molecules. UF also significantly reduces
fouling on the RO membranes. Whatever organic compounds are not removed by UF are
taken out by the RO. Testing has shown that nearly 100% of all types of organic molecules
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2U% 10 4U7 OF Ne aIsSolved Organic Compounds in ine water. Activated Carbon TMErs also
remove organic compounds, but not for the reason that most believe.
Organic compounds are initially absorbed on a fresh carbon bed, but the carbon quickly
becomes a biofilter supporting bacteria that use the incoming organic compounds as food.
Acting as a "biofilter,” activated carbon beds can remove a significant portion of some
organic compounds. Likewise, multimedia filters can support bacterial growth. Biofilters,
however, are not necessarily stable. A sudden influx of chlorine, an extended stagnant
period, or a change in the water supply chemistry may result in a sudden release of organic
compounds into the water.
The fact that anion resins are so good at absorbing organic compounds has worked to the
plant’s advantage when specialized anion resins are placed ahead of their conventional
demineralizer specifically for organic removal, The demineralizer bed then must be regularly
regenerated with an alkaline brine solution to remove the organics. The combination of an
activated carbon biofilter and specialized organic scavenger bed with anion resins can be a
simple and cost-effective organic removal system.
Traditionally, RO membranes have preceded ion exchange capacity, but in some cases RO
can be used after a conventional cation and anion vessel and before the mixed bed,
specifically to remove any organic compounds.
Care should also be taken that the organic chemicals added to water treatment don't solve
one problem and create another. The wrong type, or high feed rates, of coagulants in the
clarifier may improve clarity but may leave the clarifier and contaminate the resin beads of
the demineralizer.
Organic Feedwater Treatment Chemicals
Currently, the only approved chemicals for boiler and feedwater treatment in the EPRI Cycle
Chemistry Guidelines for Fossil Plants are:
+ Ammonia for feedwater pH control.
+ Hydrazine (Nz H4) for control of the oxidation-reduction potential in mixed metallurgy
units. (All ferrous units typically do not use hydrazine.)
+ Sodium hydroxide and trisodium phosphate in the boiler water of drum boilers for units
using phosphate or caustic treatments.
None of the EPRI guidelines describes suggested chemicals used for water treatment that
contain carbon. EPRI and all the major turbine manufacturers rely on cation conductivity as
the most reliable indication of the presence of part per billion levels of chlorides and sulfates
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However, more and more generating stations do not fit this mold. Combined-cycle power
plants with air-cooled condensers turn to organic amines to provide a higher pH condensate
to prevent corrosion of the air-cooled condenser tubing. There are still many units that have
copper-alloy feedwater heaters that will not be replacing their heaters in the near future.
These units have long benefitted from the use of amines to protect the copper metallurgy.
Amines may also be needed in plants that see some level of NOM in their makeup water to
provide an alkaline pH boost to the first condensate in the turbine.
Remember that over the more than 60 years of using neutralizing amines in all types of
industrial and utility boilers, to date, no turbine failures can be tied directly to the use of these
organic feedwater chemicals. The record includes an extensive history of amine use in
pressurized water reactor nuclear steam generators, where amines successfully reduce the
rate of two-phase flow-accelerated corrosion.
A variety of neutralizing amines also are used to raise the pH of feedwater and steam
condensate. The two most important characteristics of these amines are their basicity and
the volatility of the amine. The basicity of the amine determines how much will be required to
raise the pH of the feedwater to the desired level. This in tum determines the effect of the
amine on cation conductivity. A high basicity amine will be able to produce the desired
feedwater pH with less chemical and less cation conductivity. The volatility of the amine
determines at what point in the steam cycle the amine will begin to condense.
If protection of the first condensate in the turbine were the desired outcome, then a low-
volatility amine would be preferred. If a plant has an extensive network of steam heating
coils or sends steam across the fence and recovers and reuses the process condensate, a
high-volatility amine is preferred so that the amine will stay in the vapor until it condenses at
the end of the pipe. Often, more than one amine is required to cover a plant's needs. Blends
of two and three different amines are common.
Polishers as a Source of Organics in Feedwater
Condensate polishers are the plant's first and best defense against small amounts of
contamination from a weeping condenser tube or demineralizer upset, However, we now
know they can also be the source of organic contamination, Full flow condensate polishers
are the rule in nuclear power plants, fossil-fired supercritical plants, and many high-pressure
drum units.
Leachable organic compound from new cation resins include monomers of styrene and
residuals of organic solvents. As resins age, they leach functional groups from the resin. For
cation resins. this includes sulfonated monomers. These can break down in the boiler or
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The organics left over from the manufacturing process have a far greater potential for
damage. They not only have the capacity to contaminate the process, but they will also foul
other resins that contact them.
For example, compounds that leach out of new cation resins will stick to and foul anion
resins. Therefore, new cation resins should be regenerated and rinsed separately before
they are mixed with anion resins. One expert suggests that new cation resin be regenerated,
exhausted with brine, and then double regenerated before it comes into contact with the new
anion resin
Another method is to soak new separated cation and anion resins in warm (120F)
demineralized water for four hours or more to remove leachable organic compounds. Each
time the strong acid and strong base resins are regenerated, the bead shrinks in the
presence of the regenerant. As the resin is rinsed and put into service, the bead swells
again. Each shrinking and swelling cycle acts to squeeze some additional level of leachable
organic material out of the resin. Extended rinse times may be required not only to reach the
desired conductivity but also to remove the leachable organic compounds.
One area where amines may have a detrimental effect is on the polisher resins. Polishers
remove acetic acid and other organic breakdown products, but they may also contribute to
contamination problems.
Ethanol amine has been a problem with some polisher resins, causing contamination,
particularly if the condensate temperatures are high. Carboxylic acids that are absorbed by
the cation resin are exposed to sulfuric acid during regeneration, become sulfonated, and be
released when the resin is in service. Similarly, organic acids on anion polisher resins can
absorb sodium during regeneration and release it during operation. Every organic
compound, whether it is an amine or a declumping agent, should be assessed prior to use to
see if it will have a detrimental effect on the polisher resins.
To Manage Organics, Know Your Water and
Treatment Chemicals
In the future, as power plants contend with poorer quality raw water as source water for their
demineralizers, attention to NOM will gain importance. This source of organics has the
potential to do damage in the steam cycle, particularly where the organic compounds include
halogens such as chlorine. Fortunately, there are treatment technologies capable of
removing these organic compounds. Each plant needs to know not only the level of TOC in
the raw water but also where those organic compounds originate. This is particularly
important when raw water sources are changed. Often. simple steps can be taken to reduce
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performance, it would be a shame to summarily dismiss neutralizing amines just because
they contain carbon. Properly evaluated and applied, amines and other carbon-based
treatment chemicals have the potential to benefit the steam turbine and other plant
equipment.
—David G. Daniels (david_daniels@mmengineering.com) is a principal of M&M
Engineering Associates and a contributing editor to POWER.
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