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Steam and The Organisation: Block 1 Introduction
Steam and The Organisation: Block 1 Introduction
2
SC-GCM-03 CM Issue 2 © Copyright 2005 Spirax-Sarco Limited
Module 1.2
Steam and the Organisation
Chief executive
The highest level executive is concerned with the best energy transfer solution to meet the strategic
and financial objectives of the organisation.
If a company installs a steam system or chooses to upgrade an existing system, a significant capital
investment is required, and the relationship with the system, and the system provider, will be long
and involved.
Chief executives and senior management want answers to the following questions:
Q. What kind of capital investment does a steam system represent ?
A steam system requires only small bore pipes to satisfy a high heat requirement. It does not
require costly pumps or balancing, and only two port valves are required.
This means the system is simpler and less expensive than,
for example, a high temperature hot water system. The
high efficiency of steam plant means it is compact and
makes maximum use of space, something which is often
at a premium within plant.
Furthermore, upgrading an existing steam system with
the latest boilers and controls typically represents 50%
of the cost of removing it and replacing it with a
decentralised gas fired system.
Q. How will the operating and maintenance costs of
a steam system affect overhead costs ? Fig. 1.2.1
Centralised boiler plant is highly efficient and can use low interruptible tariff fuel rates. The boiler
can even be fuelled by waste, or form part of a state-of-the-art Combined Heat and Power plant.
Steam equipment typically enjoys a long life - figures of thirty years or more of low maintenance
life are quite usual.
Modern steam plant, from the boiler house to the steam using plant and back again, can be fully
automated. This dramatically cuts the cost of manning the plant.
Sophisticated energy monitoring equipment will ensure that the plant remains energy efficient
and has a low manning requirement.
All these factors in combination mean that a steam system enjoys a low lifetime cost.
Q. If a steam system is installed, how can the most use be made of it ?
Steam has a range of uses. It can be used for space heating of large areas, for complex processes
and for sterilisation purposes.
Using a hospital as an example, steam is ideal because it can be generated centrally at high
pressure, distributed over long distances and then reduced in pressure at the point of use. This
means that a single high pressure boiler can suit the needs of all applications around the hospital,
for example, heating of wards, air humidification, cooking of food in large quantities and sterilisation
of equipment.
It is not as easy to cater for all these needs with a water system.
Management level
A manager will consider steam as something that will provide a solution to a management problem,
as something that will benefit and add value to the business. The managers responsibility is to
implement initiatives ordered by senior executives. A manager would ask How will steam
enable successful implementation of this task ?
Managers tend to be practical and focused on completing a task within a budget. They will
choose to use steam if they believe it will provide the greatest amount of practicality and expediency,
at a reasonable cost.
They are less concerned with the mechanics of the steam system itself. A useful perspective
would be that the manager is the person who wants the finished product, without necessarily
wanting to know how the machinery that produces it is put together.
Managers need answers to the following questions:
Q. Will steam be right for the process ?
Steam serves many applications and uses. It has a high heat content and gives up its heat at a
constant temperature. It does not create a temperature gradient along the heat transfer surface,
unlike water and thermal oils, which means that it may provide more consistent product quality.
As steam is a pure fluid, it can be injected directly into the product or made to surround the
product being heated. The energy given to the process is easy to control using two port valves,
due to the direct relationship between temperature and pressure.
Fig. 1.2.2
An important point to note is that when maintenance of the system is required, a steam system
is easy to isolate and will drain rapidly, meaning that repairs can be quickly actioned. Any minor
leaks that do occur are non-toxic. This is not always the case with liquid systems, which are
slower and more costly to drain, and may include toxic or difficult to handle thermal fluids.
Q. Will it look after itself ?
A steam system requires maintenance just like any other important part of the plant, but thanks
to todays modern steam plant design, manning and maintenance requirements and the lifetime
costs of the system are low. For example, modern boiler houses are fully automated. Feedwater
treatment and heating burner control, boiler water level, blowdown and alarm systems are all
carried out by automatic systems. The boiler can be left unmanned and only requires testing in
accordance with local regulations.
Similarly, the steam plant can be managed centrally using automatic controls, flowmetering and
monitoring systems. These can be integrated with a SCADA system.
Manning requirements are thus minimised.
Boiler efficiency
A modern steam boiler will generally operate at an efficiency of
between 80 and 85%. Some distribution losses will be incurred
in the pipework between the boiler and the process plant
equipment, but for a system insulated to current standards, this
loss should not exceed 5% of the total heat content of the steam.
Heat can be recovered from blowdown, flash steam can be used
for low pressure applications, and condensate is returned to the
boiler feedtank. If an economiser is fitted in the boiler flue, the
overall efficiency of a centralised steam plant will be around 87%.
This is lower than the 100% efficiency realised with an electric
heating system at the point of use, but the typical running costs
for the two systems should be compared. It is clear that the
cheapest option is the centralised boiler plant, which can use a
lower, interruptible gas tariff rather than the full tariff gas or
electricity, essential for a point of use heating system. The overall
efficiency of electricity generation at a power station is
approximately 30 to 35%, and this is reflected in the unit charges. Fig. 1.2.3
Components within the steam plant are also highly efficient. For example, steam traps only allow
condensate to drain from the plant, retaining valuable steam for the process. Flash steam from
the condensate can be utilised for lower pressure processes with the assistance of a flash vessel.
The following pages introduce some real life examples of situations in which a steam user
had, initially, been poorly advised and/or had access to only poor quality or incomplete
information relating to steam plant. In both cases, they almost made decisions which would
have been costly and certainly not in the best interests of their organisation.
Some identification details have been altered.
Case study: UK West Country hospital considers replacing their steam system
In one real life situation in the mid 1990s, a hospital in the West of England considered replacing
their aged steam system with a high temperature hot water system, using additional gas fired
boilers to handle some loads. Although new steam systems are extremely modern and efficient
in their design, older, neglected systems are sometimes encountered and this user needed to
take a decision either to update or replace the system.
The financial allocation to the project was £2.57 million over three years, covering professional
fees plus VAT.
It was shown, in consultation with the hospital, that only £1.2 million spent over ten years
would provide renewal of the steam boilers, pipework and a large number of calorifiers. It was
also clear that renewal of the steam system would require a much reduced professional input.
In fact, moving to high temperature hot water (HTHW) would cost over £1.2 million more
than renewing the steam system.
The reasons the hospital initially gave for replacing the steam system were:
o With a HTHW system, it was thought that maintenance and operating costs would be lower.
o The existing steam plant, boilers and pipework needed replacing anyway.
Maintenance costs for the steam system were said to include insurance of calorifiers, steam trap
maintenance, reducing valves and water treatment plant, also replacement of condensate pipework.
Operating costs were said to include water treatment, make- up water, manning of the boiler
house, and heat losses from calorifiers, blowdown and traps.
The approximate annual operating costs the hospital was using for HTHW versus steam, are
given in the Table 1.2.4.
Additional claims in favour of individual gas fired boilers were given as:
o No primary mains losses.
o Smaller replacement boilers.
o No stand-by fuel requirement.
The costings set out above made the HTHW system look like the more favourable option in
terms of operating costs.
The new HTHW system would cost £1 953 000 plus £274 600 per annum in operating and
maintenance costs. This, in effect, meant decommissioning a plant and replacing it at a cost in
excess of £2 million, to save just over £130 000 a year.
The following factors needed to be taken into account:
o The £130 000 saving using HTHW is derived from £406 400 - £274 600. The steam fuel cost
can be reduced to the same level as for HTHW by using condensate return and flash steam
recovery. This would reduce the total by £65 000 to £341 400.
o The largest savings claimed were due to the elimination of manned boilers. However, modern
boiler houses are fully automated and there is no manning requirement.
o The £37 000 reduction in maintenance costs looked very optimistic considering that the
HTHW solution included the introduction of 16 new gas fired boilers, 4 new steam generators
and 9 new humidifiers. This would have brought a significant maintenance requirement.
o The steam generators and humidifiers had unaccounted for fuel requirements and water
treatment costs. The fuel would have been supplied at a premium rate to satisfy the claim that
stand-by fuel was not needed. In contrast, centralised steam boilers can utilise low cost
alternatives at interruptible tariff.
o The savings from lower mains heat losses (eliminated from mains-free gas fired boilers) were
minimal against the total costs involved, and actually offset by the need for fuel at premium
tariff.
o The proposal to change appeared entirely motivated by weariness with the supposed low
efficiency calorifiers however on closer inspection it can be demonstrated that steam to
water calorifiers are 84% efficient, and the remaining 16% of heat contained in the condensate
can almost all be returned to the boiler house. Gas fired hot water boilers struggle to reach the
84% efficiency level even at full-load. Unused heat is just sent up the stack. Hot water calorifiers
are also much larger and more complicated, and the existing plant rooms were unlikely to
have much spare room.
o A fact given in favour of replacing the steam system was the high cost of condensate pipe
replacement. This statement tells us that corrosion was taking place, of which the commonest
cause is dissolved gases, which can be removed physically or by chemical treatment. Removing
the system because of this is like replacing a car because the ashtrays are full !
o A disadvantage given for steam systems was the need for insurance inspection of steam /
water calorifiers. However, HTHW calorifiers also require inspection !
o A further disadvantage given was the need to maintain steam pressure reducing valves. But
water systems contain three port valves with a significant maintenance requirement.
o The cost of make-up water and water treatment for steam systems was criticised. However,
when a steam system requires maintenance, the relevant part can be easily isolated and quickly
drained with few losses (this minimises downtime). In contrast, a water system requires whole
sections to be cooled and then drained off. It must then be refilled and purged of air after
maintenance. HTHW systems also require chemical treatment, just like steam systems.
Presented with these explanations, the hospital realised that much of the evidence they had been
basing their decision on was biased and incomplete. The hospital engineering team reassessed
the case, and decided to retain their steam plant and bring it up to date with modern controls and
equipment, saving a considerable amount of money.
Trace heating
Trace heating is a vital element in the reliable operation of pipelines and storage /process vessels,
across a broad range of industries.
A steam tracer is a small steam pipe which runs along the outer surface of a (usually) larger process
pipe. Heat conductive paste is often used between the tracer and the process pipe. The two pipes
are then insulated together. The heat provided from the tracer (by conduction) prevents the contents
of the larger process pipe from freezing (anti-frost protection for water lines) or maintains the
temperature of the process fluid so that it remains easy to pump.
Tracing is commonly found in the oil and petrochemical industries, but also in the food and
pharmaceutical sectors, for oils, fats and glucose. Many of these fluids can only be pumped at
temperatures well above ambient. In chemical processing, a range of products from acetic acid
through to asphalt, sulphur and zinc compounds may only be moved through pipes if maintained
at a suitable temperature.
For the extensive pipe runs found in much of process industry, steam tracing remains the most
popular choice. For very short runs or where no steam supply is available, electrical tracing is
often chosen, although hot water is also used for low temperature requirements. The relative
benefits of steam and electric tracing are summarised in Table 1.2.5.
Table 1.2.5 The relative merits of steam and electric trace heating
Steam Electric
trace heating trace heating
Robustness - ability to resist adverse weather and physical abuse Good Poor
Flexibility - ability to meet demands of different products Excellent Poor
Safety - suitability for use in hazardous areas Excellent Cannot be used in all zones
Energy costs per GJ 0 to £2.14 £8.64
System life Long Limited
Reliability High High
Ease by which the system can be extended Easy Difficult
Temperature control - accuracy of maintaining temperature Very good /high Excellent
Suitability for large plant Excellent Moderate
Suitability for small plant Moderate Good
Ease of tracer installation Moderate Requires specialist skills
Cost of maintenance Low Moderate
Specialised maintenance staff requirement No Yes
Availability as turnkey project Yes Yes
The material and installation costs for steam trace heating were about 30% less than the electric
tracing option. In addition, ongoing running costs for the steam system would be a fraction of
those for the electrical option.
Before the oil company management would commit themselves to a steam tracing system, they
not only required an extended product warranty and a plant performance guarantee, but also
insisted that a test rig should be built to prove the suitability of the self-acting controlled tracer for
such an arduous application.
Spirax Sarco were able to assure them of the suitability of the design by referral to an existing
installation elsewhere on their plant, where ten self-acting controllers were already installed and
successfully working on the trace heating of pump transfer lines.
The oil company was then convinced of the benefits of steam tracing the wax product line and
went on to install a steam tracing system.
Further in-depth surveys of the 4 km pipeline route were undertaken to enable full installation
drawings to be produced. The company was also provided with on-site training for personnel on
correct practices and installation procedures.
Lagging
Wax
Steam
Fig. 1.2.4
After installation the heat load design was confirmed and the product was maintained at the
required 80°C.
The oil company executives were impressed with the success of the project and chose to install
steam tracing for another 300 m long wax product line in preference to electric tracing, even
though they were initially convinced that electric tracing was the only solution for critical
applications.
Questions
1. How does the cost of upgrading a steam system compare with installing a decentralised
gas fired system?
a| It costs the same to upgrade the steam system. ¨
b| It costs twice as much to upgrade the steam system. ¨
c| It costs 75% as much to upgrade the steam system. ¨
d| It costs half as much to upgrade the steam system. ¨
b| Steam gives up its heat at a constant temperature without a gradient along the
heat transfer surface, ensuring consistent product quality.
¨
d| High temperature oils can be directly injected into the product to be heated. ¨
4. A hot water calorifier can occupy much of a plant room. How much floor space does a
modern steam to hot water packaged unit need if it is rated at 1200 kW?
a| 0.7 m² ¨
b| 7.0 m² ¨
c| 1.2 m² ¨
d| 12 m² ¨
Answers
1: d, 2: d, 3: b, 4: a, 5: d, 6: c