May 18, 2012 REPORT ON DIAGNOSIS OF REPEATED TUBE FAILURES IN HANZHOU MAKE 130 TPH CFBC BOILER By K.K.

Parthiban, Venus Energy Audit System The visit was made to diagnose the boiler tube failures in the Hangzhou make CFBC boiler. At the time of visit the boiler was under shut condition. The tube replacement work was in completed stage. The steam drum was in open condition and offered for inspection. About the plant set up There are 1 x 70 MW TG and 1 x 25 MW TG. Following are the list of boilers available here. 1 x 95 TPH Thermax make AFBC boiler. The parameters are 110 ata and 535 deg C. 2 x 10 TPH Thermax make WHRB boiler. The parameters are 40 ata and 400 deg C. 4 x 52 TPH Thermax make WHRB boilers. The parameters are 110 ata and 535 deg C. 1 x 130 TPH Hangzhou make CFBC boiler. The parameters are 100 ata and 535 deg C.

The 2 x 10 TPH low pressure steam is injected in to 25 MW turbine. The feed water for 2 x 10 TPH WHRB and 95 TPH AFBC boiler is from Deaerator A. Remaining boilers get water from Deaerator B of CFBC unit. The plant uses AVT treatment. Deaerator A is dosed with Eloguard chemical. Deaerator B is dosed with Thermax Chemical Maxtreat 3330. The water side & steam sides are interconnected for both 25 MW TG and 70 MW TG. The return condensate pH is monitored for 8.5 to 9 pH in both treatments. The CFBC boiler is fired with a fuel mix of dolochar, Indonesian coal and Indian coal. Dolochar GCV is about 2800 kcal/kg here. The Indian coal varies from D grade, F grade or G grade. The mix GCV is 3800 to 4100 kcal/kg. The magnetic content in dolochar is 1.5%. In mix feed it is < 0.5%. The CFBC bed ash has magnetic matter to an extent of 8%. Commissioning and failure history of CFBC boiler The 130 TPH CFBC boiler was commissioned in October 2011. Following are the failure dates and the location of failure. 29/12/2011 16.30 hrs Economiser weld joint leaked. 12/02/2012 09.45 hrs Tube near one SA nozzle port eroded and failed. 26/03/2012- 19.38 hrs Tube at target area of cyclone got eroded. 11/04/2012 04.15 hrs Tube had failed at same target area of cyclone which failed previously.

26/04/2012 06.50 hrs Tube leaked at front waterwall just opposite to wing wall SH. 10/05/2012 14.40 hrs Tube leaked at rear waterwall just below the biomass feeder chute opening. Another tube was found cracked at rearwall.

Reason for failures The tube samples were available except for the first failure. In the recent failure, one cracked tube was however available for physical inspection. The failed part of the tubes of front waterwall (failed on 26th April 2012) was taken by boiler supplier. The failed tubes of 10th May 2012 were available. However remaining parts of the failed tubes which were removed from failure location were available for inspection. In the recent tube failure, the cracked tube was available. Economiser weld joint leak can be due to poor welding joint. It can be due to pin hole failure below the dirt trapped at welding joint. Dirt is expected from pipelines, deaerator and due to pH swings during troubled times. In this shut down, lot of iron slurry was removed from economiser headers. The second failure was at SA nozzle. Inadequate SA nozzle projection has caused this failure. Such a failure was experienced in a 470 TPH CFBC boiler at another plant. The tubes at cyclone target area come in steam circuit. The tubes had failed by external erosion. Refractory failures do occur in CFBC boiler due to improper application and curing. Wrong selection can also lead to spalling of refractory. Phoscast 90XR is recommended to avoid failures in future. The studs are to be exposed first and the new casting is to be done. Just an over layer of any refractory will fail. Refractory can fail due to sulfur in fuel. But phoscast does not fail as it has the least CaO. CaO will react with SOx and makes calcium sulfate and thus bond is lost. In failed area we may see only grogs and no cement. On 26th April 2012, the tubes at front waterwall had failed due to water chemistry issue. The tube is seen cracked as seen in the photograph. This is due to hydrogen cracking. The photographs are compiled in annexure 1. On 10th May 2012, the tubes had failed due to low pH situation. The failed tubes have cracked appearance. The available tubes show corrosion products inside. One cracked tube is available the cracked tubes had failed due to water chemistry problems. The failure is due to hydrogen cracking initiated by under deposit corrosion mechanism. The failed tube, findings and other inspection points are presented in annexure 2.

The iron oxides deposit themselves in a porous manner in high heat flux area. The deposits were seen to have generated from the corrosion of Air cooled condenser. Under the deposits, the water chemistry conditions were of low pH situation. The hydrogen released due to normal steel water reaction also aided to hydrogen diffusion in to grain boundaries. The diffused hydrogen consumes the carbon atoms from pearlite in steel and release as methane gas. Methane gases under pressure release out of the steel making a crack. The technical paper attached with this report in annexure 3 explains the mechanism in detail. All the cracks do not exhibit ductility at failed zone. Caustic attack

is prevalent in case the water is alkaline as in phosphate treatment. Caustic gouging failures will be ductile. The metallurgy does not change much. In all volatile treatment, the boiler water pH remains lower and does not have sufficient alkalinity levels. Hence the cracks are seen to be of brittle in hydrogen crack. Findings in inspection of Air cooled condenser, Condensate return tank, Deaerator tower and deaerator water storage tank of 25 MW The air cooled condenser tubes and duct revealed continuous corrosion of tubes at the inlet section. The tubes were inspected from the inside of ACC top duct. Bottom ducts are too small for internal inspection. The pH condition of the condensate varies along the long tube of air cooled condenser. The pH rises from 6.5 to 8.9 along the length of the tubes as the condensation progresses. A volatile amine is generally a mix of amines. Each amine has a steam to water affinity / steam - water distribution ratio. Only when the entire steam is completely condensed, the pH touches 8.9 (as per the present level). The top part of ACC tubes is at less pH situation due to the fact of varying pH. The low pH causes continuous corrosion of ACC tubes. The inspection of ACC duct and ACC tubes reveal that there is corrosion due to low pH. The corrosion product travels to boiler and never returns. Thus the iron oxides are seen inside the boiler tubes leading to under deposit corrosion mechanism. The under deposit corrosion is specific to 88 kg/cm2 cycle and above where the circulation ratio is less. A technical article on ACC corrosion is attached for understanding the mechanism. The condensate storage tank was seen to be corrosion free. But the corrosion product from ACC was seen to be floating over the water. Red color band mark is seen at the tank wall at normal water level. Normally the suspended corrosion products choke up the fine mesh of the BFP strainers. But when the BFP pumps are run alternately, the strainer choking incident may not show up as the strainers are cleaned in routine fashion. Many times strainer choking is not reported even. In the 70 MW circuit the SDI test was done to know the suspended impurities level. It was seen to be 2.8 which is much higher. In a good ACC condensate chemistry, SDI is seen to be less than 1. The deaerator tower was inspected. The reddish water spray from the spray nozzles and the reddish color over the trays proved the contaminants coming from the ACC. The deaerator storage tank was inspected. The protection from amine is seen at the tank. However red color band mark is seen at the tank at normal water level. See photo in annexure 2.

The inspection revealed that the continuous corrosion of ACC tubes and dumping in to the boiler. In situations where the ACC frequently goes offline, the corrosion rate goes up as the oxygen fills up in the moist tubes. ACC corrosion product is the cause for cracked tubes. Tubes in a boiler plant can crack due to corrosion products coming from the process. This happens in high pressure boiler at paper industry. Deviation from design fuel does not cause cracks in tubes. Moreover the as fired fuel GCV is

informed to be 3800 to 4100 kcal/kg. The ID fan rpm is report to be 850 rpm as against the full rpm of 980. This is not a case of erosion failure too. Incidentally the refractory belt provided at erection weld joint can be a problem causing erosion at tubes above the refractory. In many plants the erection welds are left exposed to flue gas - bed erosion. The erosion stops once the extra weld is removed. Failure on 10th May 2012 This failure had an additional cause. There was contamination of hardness salts from bed ash cooler deposits and perhaps some diffusion high TDS, organics from cooling water circuit. On 9th May 2012, the bed ash to condensate heat recovery system was commissioned. Till then, cooling water from cooling tower was used for bed ash cooling. Modifications were done in condensate piping to deaerator so that the condensate could pass through the rotary cooler. The system was hooked at 14.00 hrs on 9th May 2012. The pH had touched 4 at 8.00 AM on 10th May 2012. But boiler was kept at full load and Maxtreat 3330 was dosed more to improve the pH. More blow downs were given. The tubes had failed at 14.40 hrs on 10th May 2012. Reason for pH drop When the hardness salts get dissolved back in to water, on heating, they release hydrogen chloride lowering the pH in boiler water. Organics in cooling water break down to acids in boiler water and lower the pH. It was seen the cooling water from ACC was isolated from condensate line to bed ash cooler by a two valve system. Had there been a drain in between the two valves (as done at condensate line hook up), a positive isolation from cooling water contamination would have been there. The salts deposited previously inside the ash cooler would any how dissolve more in to the condensate as the ash cooler was put in service. Perhaps this is the reason that the pH drop was seen later. Since there was no online pH indication, the pH upset was known only when the sample was tested in the morning shift. The SWAS system is not put in to use yet. Action to be taken on low pH Earlier days before ACC, water cooled condensers were used at all plants. There is online cation conductivity meter to monitor cooling water breach in the event of condenser tube failure. To tackle this situation Tri sodium phosphate dosing is done. TSP works as a buffer to supply OH ions in boiler water. The boiler must be tripped in low pH situation. There was time delay in taking this decision. Hydrogen damage is irreversible. To stop failures, we may end up in replacing the entire water wall panels. This happened at a plant at Durgapur. Photograph is attached in annexure. In another plant, the situation was not that bad. Iron was removed out of the system using iron flocculent keeping the

boiler load less. Action plan1 boiler under shut down There is no way to reverse that the hydrogen diffusion process that occurred in low pH situation. Only deposits can be cleaned. Iron deposits are not scales wherein it can be dissolved and removed. Mechanical cleaning of boiler by flushing through the hand hole plates is recommended. It is possible to flush each tube from top header hand hole plate. A pipe with a 90 deg nozzle could direct the water to each tube. From CEP the water should be taken so that copious water flow can be given. The bottom hand holes are to be removed as the entire water will not drain through the 25 nb bottom header drains provided. While flushing all drain valves are to be in open condition. Action plan 2 Hot water alkali boil out The boiler has to be chemically cleaned using alkalis. During this time iron flocculent can be additionally added to pull the porous iron deposits from the boiler tubes. Water samples are to be taken from bottom drains to confirm the trend in the removal of iron from the system. Alkali boil out is done at around 10 15 kg/cm2 pressure. At the end of alkali boil out, we may find hardness salts coming down. The boil out has to be continued for one more day with the right pH and with iron flocculent to remove the loose iron products. We need to monitor the iron removal. Samples shall be taken from blow down tank. The bottom drains are to be operated with caution not to drain at high rate during sampling. The CBD sample cannot be the representative sample for analysis. At 2 kg/cm2 pressure, and after putting off the fire, the boiler shall be drained. Manual post flushing has to be done at top header and at steam drum to remove the residual sludges. The boiler has to be hydraulically tested and taken in service. Action plan 3 Instrumentation & water chemistry & water treatment 1. SWAS panel has to be made operational. The trends on pH, conductivity of condensate and boiler water are to be brought out in DCS. 2. Lab grade tri-sodium phosphate shall be procured and HP dosing system shall be commissioned. It is recommended to have 2 ppm of phosphate reserve in boiler water so that the situation under any missed out deposits would be alkaline. Phosphates circulate well inside every part with equal concentration. In AVT we may have more pH at boiler drum where the steam has more amines than the boiler water. 3. Regeneration acid & caustic quality shall be checked. The dilution of chemicals by the supplier should be with DM water and not high salt water. The following is a typical recommendation by an expert in abroad.

Sulfuric acid Iron Copper Manganese Chloride

< 20 ppm < 0.5 ppm < 0.2 ppm < 10 ppm

Sodium hydroxide Iron Silica Chlorates Sodium carbonate Sodium chloride Sodium sulphate

< 10 ppm < 10 ppm < 100 ppm < 0.5% < 0.5% < 0.5%

4. It is suggested to obtain the recommendations from the DM plant supplier of the new project. This seems to be of important if we have to restrict the acid producing chlorides in the system. 5. The chloride levels in DM water, boiler water and condensate are reported to be 1 ppm. The reason for same level of chloride at both condensate and at feed water must be checked with the chemical suppliers. Ammonium chlorine could be traveling in vapor phase. Chloride at DM plant has to be less than 0.2 ppm if we continue with AVT. 6. Regular monitoring of condensate by SDI test and dissolved iron is recommended. The pH of condensate must be raised to 9.6- 9.8 in order to minimize the SDI to < 1 and the iron to < 0.01 ppm. At ACC duct after the drain tank additional dosing point is to be added for addition of Morpholine. 7. At 20 m3 DM plant, the regenerant water is only degassed RO water. The regeneration has to be done with treated water as in 8 m3 DM plant and as in new project. If required the water quality shall be completely analyzed by comparing three samples for all dissolved elements. 8. On line pH transmitter and on line conductivity meter should be put back in to use in 8 m3 DM plant. Trends are to be added to help in review and diagnosis of problems. 9. On line silica analyser at 20 m3 DM plant to be put back to use. 10. In order to reduce regeneration time at 20 m3 plant, modifications shall be carried out for simultaneous regeneration of SAC, SBC and MB as in 8 m3 plant. This is important to avoid the operators tendency to delay the regeneration. 11. At present over flow hot water from deaerator and from comes to DM tank 1. It is not clear whether the tank is lined with heat resistant epoxy coat. This water shall be checked for iron pick up. Tank shall be inspected immediately. 12. The pH of all DM water storage tank shall be at 8.5 minimum to minimize the corrosion at surge tank. 13. Surge tanks shall be coated with suitable surface protection system to prevent iron pick up and corrosion product. The CRT tank shall be filled from surge tank through control valve only in order to maintain a constant level. On / off operation is not advised as the O2 will surge. 14. Currently the boiler water silica rise is due to contamination from DM plant / DM water storage tank / Surge tank / ACC. It is advised to check silica from each ACC as the iron & SDI will be monitored. 15. Add a pH booster point at turbine exhaust / ACC inlet duct. The AVT chemical can be additionally injected to raise the pH to 9.6 9.8.

Action plan 4- Monitoring of condensate during ACC start up from cold When the ACC is started from cold, it dumps the low pH and high silica & high iron oxide condensate back to boiler. This contamination is seen to last for 2-3 hours in many plants. It is advised to monitor this from now on. 1. Install the condensate dumping system from CEP discharge to WTP raw water tank so that the initial contaminated high iron and high silica water can be returned back. 2. Turbidity, SDI index, silica and dissolved iron are to be used as control parameters for acceptance of condensate back to boiler. The values shall be same as per the feed water specifications. SDI shall be < 1. Dissolved iron shall be < 0.5 ppm. Silica shall be < 0.05 ppm. Silica should come down to < 0.012 ppm in a day operation. SDI should be brought down by raising pH. Dissolved iron should come down further to 0.01 ppm. 3. Low pH water should never be used in boiler filling / hydrotest. Morpholine must be added to raise the feed water pH to 8.5. 4. Phosphate & AVT treatment should be brought in to stream as early as possible once the steam pressure starts rising during start up. During start up loss of volatile chemical will be high. At this time tri sodium phosphate will be of great use to maintain boiler water pH. Action plan 5- Monitoring of condensate during regular operation The dissolved iron in boiler water, condensate turn should be brought to minimum. This can be done by avoiding low pH & high pH situations. 1. The condensate pH shall be optimized to reduce iron pick up from the ACC. 2. The condensate ammonia and copper pick up shall be checked at LP heater outlet in the 25 MW unit. The composition of the LP heater tube is not known. The metallurgy shall be obtained from manufacturer. Its corrosion rate is to be monitored by testing for appropriate element. If corrosion is experienced, either LP heater is to be bypassed or the tubes are to be changed to carbon steel tube / SS tubes. SS tubes are susceptible to chloride corrosion if there is high O2 and chlorides. Chlorides concentrate at deposits zones and cause brittle failure. Hence chloride monitoring has to be made regular. Chlorides shall be measured to ppb levels by spectrometer. At present only titration method is followed. 3. Make up should be continuous in order to avoid the O2 swings. Ideally the makeup water must be added to deaerator, so that it enters in to system after the oxygen removal. 4. Hydrazine is not required as it would cause very less O2 in the system disturbing the magnetite layer. In boiler water the passivation will be by magnetite. In condensate system, there can be protection by the filming amines. Dissolved oxygen shall be however monitored to check the need for hydrazine / DEHA. It shall be less than 0.1 ppm.

Design sizing of downcomers and risers A design check will be done to check whether the downcomer and riser arrangements are sufficient to avoid trouble in flow. A separate report would be given for this.

K.K.Parthiban

ANNEXURE 1- FAILURE PHOTO ON 26/4/2012 6.50 HRS WATER WALL LEAK NEAR REFRACTORY

Photo 1: The failure took place below the refractory lining provided at the erection weld joint at the panel. The failure was at front wall panel.

Photo 2 & 3: The photo on the left shows the tube failure at waterwall below the refractory. The waterwall tube is seen cracked. A small piece of the tube got blown out as well. The photo on the right shows the secondary damage that occurred at superheater.

Photo 4: The tube as seen after removal from location. This is not a location for erosion failure. Erosion failures are generally above the bottom refractory furnace. At this area, boiler maker has specified hard facing by metal spray.

Photo 5: The failed part was not physically available at plant. The bottom piece of the panel tubes that was removed as checked. There is grooving seen and suspended corrosion products are seen.

ANNEXURE 2- FAILURE PHOTO ON 10/5/2012 2.40 HRS WATER WALL LEAK NEAR BIOMASS FEED POINT. OTHER OBSERVATIONS & FINDINGS ARE IN THIS ANNEXURE.

Photo 1: The photographs of the failed tube on 10th May 2012 in position.

Photo 2: Failed tube location is just below the biomass feed opening.

Photo 3: Inside of the tube is seen corroded.

Photo 4: This is the photograph of a tube, which was found cracked this time.

Photo 5: Inside of the cracked tube shows the corrosion & deposits

Photo 6: This is the tube that failed at SA port area earlier. The tube is also seen with deposits. The corrosion has been going on quite long.

Photo 7: The heat recovery arrangement made for recovering the heat from ash to the TG condensate. The commissioning of this scheme ended with low pH situation in boiler water. A drain valve is required in between the two isolation valves in the cooling water line.

Photo 8: The pH drop in the boiler was the worst thing to happen. The online meter from SWAS is yet to be commissioned. The low pH situation was practically known after 10 hrs.

Photo 9 & 10: Drum photographs taken during the inspection this time. The protecting layer formation by amine is not seen. The reason may be the low pH situation which occurred this time. There is no water mark seen. Only foaming marks are seen.

Photo 11 & 12: Both are the steam drum internals photo taken 28/4/2012. There is no protection at that time as well. The protective layer would be dark grey in color. It is possible that the amine concentration is much less that which is supposed to be.

Photo 13 & 14: The DM water pH can be seen to be below 7.5 too. The surge tank is made of MS. There is no surface protection in the surge tank for pH corrosion. Hence the pH should be maintained at least 8.5. There has to be epoxy coating to avoid oxygen related corrosion products are not pumped to boiler.

Photo 14: This photo is ash cooler inside, from another plant. Bed ash cooler handles high heat unlike the other cooling water system. This leaves hardness salts inside the tube. The same could have been the situation in this plant which led to contamination.

Photo 15: The above is the reaction of magnesium chlorides in hot water. HCL that is generated will react with Fe3O4 (magnetite layer), Fe2O3 (hematite) and the pure iron in to FeCl2 and H2. H2 leads to attack on steel as per reaction below.

Photo 16: Hydrogen damage is irreversible. Many tubes may crack further. At another plant, the entire 10 m panel had to be replaced. All volatile treatment does not tolerate contamination. Ingress of iron from ACC and chlorides from DM plant, can continuously do the job of Hydrogen release under the deposits. Iron and Chlorine have good affinity.

Photo 17: The above an extract from a book on water chemistry by Brad Buecker. In this case, there is a sudden pH drop due to contamination from bed ash cooler. But the HP chemical dosing was not available for supplying OH ions.

Photo 18: Iron oxides from ACC, surge tank lead to porous deposits inside the high heat flux area. The hydrogen gas generated due to various reactions outlined above led to damage of tubes. In fact this was going on since commissioning. These deposits are not insulating the metal as they are porous. Hence overheating failures are not seen. The above pictures explain it.

Photo 19 & 20: Above two photos are from another plant with hydrogen cracks. The tube piece is blown out and cracked without any swelling.

Photo 21: The present pH and amine level is not sufficient to address the pH corrosion in ACC. The ACC tubes are seen to corrode. This is ACC is attached to 25 MW.

Photo 22: The duct wall of 25 MW ACC is seen with low pH attack.

Photo 23: The closer picture of the 25 MW ACC wall. Corrosion is seen to be taking place. Eloguard is not able to offer the protection. The present pH level is not adequate.

Photo 24: Close view of 25 MW ACC tube & tube sheet, when maintained with pH of 8.6 to 8.9. The grey surface is not seen here.

Photo 25: The closer picture of the ACC tubes & tube sheet at 25 MW unit.

Photo 26: Close view of ACC tube & tube sheet, when maintained with pH of 9.6 9.8. The grey surface is seen here. This is from another unit. This unit is on AVT with pH of 9.6 -9.8. Boiler is water is buffered with 2 ppm of TSP.

Photo 27: The Condition of 25 MW ACC duct. This is seen to be red.

Photo 28: The color of ACC duct at another plant where the pH was raised to 9.6 9.8.

Photo 29: Curve with ammonia as pH conditioner. Ammonia / amine remains partly in vapor space until the entire steam condenses. Hence the high pH operation saves the ACC & boiler from deposit related failures.

Photo 30; Color of deaerator head at spray nozzles zone is seen here. Spray nozzles are seen to be red handling water with corrosion products.

Photo 31: The tray plates of deaerator tower are seen with red marks. This proves that the ACC has been undergoing corrosion.

Photo 32: Inside of steam space of deaerator water storage tank. Here the steel is protected. But there is a tint of red at the water level. The fine iron dust floats in water.

Photo 33 & 34: The CRT was seen with floating iron dust. The paper shows the dust level. This is not alone, there will be considerable iron oxide travelling to boiler. Obviously this is coming from ACC. The mix of the amines is to be reviewed by the supplier. We can practically decide the right pH to be maintained by measuring the condensate for dissolved iron and silica. The SDI test will tell us on particulate iron.

Photo 35: A good steam drum with condensate pH at 9.6 to 9.8. Boiler is dosed with phosphate. The yellow drops are phosphate marks. When the dosing pump is stopped before stopping the boiler, even these marks will not be visible. This photo is from another plant.

Photo 36: Compare the color of steam drum in CFBC with top photo. There is no sufficient amine to form any protective layer. If the alkalinity is raised by HP chemical, the iron transported to boiler would at least become Fe3O4.

Photo 37: This photograph of CFBC steam drum was taken on 28th April 2012. At this time also the condition of steam drum is same.

Photo 38: This photograph of FBC steam drum was taken 10th May 2012. The steam space is seen with magnetite layer. But the water is seen with brownish dust due to ACC corrosion product.

Photo 39: A check on SDI was made in 70 MW condensate. SDI of 2.85 is a high value, indicating the suspended impurities. The table below shows the effect of chemical dosing at TG exhaust duct of another plant. The iron level is least. Also seen that the SDI is < 0.9. Condensate Turbidity Dissolve (SDI) pH (NTU) Iron (ppm) 0.60 0.80 0.9 0.01 Chemical Used Morpholine DT -131 (AVT) Dosing Quantity 1.0 Ltr / day 1.0 Ltr / day

Description

After Chemical Dosing in 9.40 9.60 Exhaust duct

AVT+Morpholine started in turbine extraction duct on dated 16/07/11.

Photo 40: The chloride levels are high. DM plant needs attention. If chlorides cannot be brought down immediately, Phosphate treatment with morpholine should be done. With phosphate also we will end up with caustic attack, if ACC is allowed to corrode. Incidentally the chloride is same in all. It could be travelling as ammonium chloride everywhere as amines are used in the treatment.

Photo 41: The above is an excerpt from a book in water chemistry. It is about the permissible chloride levels.

Photo 42: The DM tank is connected to Deaerator overflow. This is a hot water. It is not advised to check the inside status of the tank. Rubber lining / epoxy protection has to be there. Otherwise this tank can be contaminating the boiler feed water.

Photo 43: The pH sensor / transmitter and conductivity sensor / transmitter are out of order. This needs to be replaced. On line indication / trend is advised to check deviations.

Photo 44: The silica analyser at 20 m3 plant is not working. The trends on silica would tell us the deviations in water chemistry. This must be brought to service at the earliest.

Photo 45: Trends shall be provided for pH, Silica and conductivity of DM water in the DCS system.

Photo 46: The flow meters in acid & alkali feed lines are broken. They shall be replaced.

Photo 47: The regeneration time is more in 20 m3 plant. The reason is that simultaneous regeneration is not possible for SAC / SBC / MB. It is learnt that the 8 m3 is flexible on this and the regeneration takes less time. This system needs modification to avoid delay in regeneration.

temperature at right CPH outlet is predicted to be 104.1 deg C at load. a control Photo 37: 48: The Thegas makeup water is now from surge tank to CRT. This is full through valve. The surge tank shall be provided with protection against iron pickup. The lines should have been SS.

Photo 49 & 50: The boiler water pH is always lesser as compared to feed water pH. If we Photo 38: The gas temperature at CPH outlet is very less. At this temperature thermal fatigue sample at bottom header, the pH may be even lesser. It is advised to take samples at downcomer failure would not happen. or at bottom header drains.

Photo 51: This is a tube failed due to ACC corrosion product dumping in to boiler at minute levels. This is from another plant with ACC and with AVT. The outer surface shows thick edged crack which is typical of hydrogen crack. This is not an overheating failure by any other strongly adherent deposits.

Photo 52: The AFBC boiler tube is showing deposition of corrosion products and the crack originated due to hydrogen. The tube is blown out. This unit was with also with AVT. The boiler pressure is 88 kg/cm2.

Photo 53: This is a good write up on optimizing the pH for minimizing the corrosion. This exercise is advised here. The iron, silica & SDI shall be tabulated with load on turbine for different pH in condensate starting from 9 to 9.8. The phosphate at boiler water shall be 1 -2 ppm. The treatment can be AVT or with Morpholine. The table below shows the volatile nature of different amines. Since ACC is a long tube, a mix of morpholine and Cyclohexylamine may be mixed.