Incorporate lessons learned into specifications for

new units
By Brent Cosgrove, PE, HRST Inc
Next to the gas turbine (GT), the heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG) has the greatest impact
on combinedcycle system performance. Failure to address industry lessons learned in the
specification for a new unit can put your plant at a competitive disadvantage. In the unforgiving
world of merchant power generation, this can mean a balance sheet with red ink.
For example, if your new boiler is susceptible to fouling and you have not provided a means for
dealing with it, heat rate will increaseand so will gas consumption. Because fuel accounts for
more than 80% of the life-cycle cost of a typical combined cycle, even a relatively slight increase
in fuel use can have a significant impact on the price of power.
Additionally, if your plant is required to cycleas most are todayand the HRSG is not designed
for that service, the risk of unplanned downtime to correct avoidable damage is significant. The
cost of a forced outage and necessary repairs can turn a good year into one with marginal profit.
When developing the specifications for a new plant, there is a temptation to reuse the specs from
the last project. This would save time and money, but it may not be the best idea in the long run.
Regarding the HRSG, theres a good possibility that an existing spec is outdated, at least in part,
and should be revised to incorporate lessons learned.
In the extremely competitive market for powerplant equipment and services, you will get from
the EPC contractor and HRSG manufacturer only what you specify. Any deviation from the spec to
address a legitimate concern will increase plant cost (sidebar). The intent of this article is to bring
to the attention of engineers responsible for preparing and evaluating HRSG specs some
historically overlooked issues.
It is important to specify a unit that will be delivered both fit-for-use and designed for long-term
performance. Incorporating lessons learned that make sense for your particular situation will
increase the purchase price over that for a standard offering. But the payback is in a lower
lifecycle cost. Also important is to ensure that bids are proposed on a level playing field so they
can be compared and evaluated objectively.
What follows are a dozen suggestions that can help you improve HRSG reliability and
performance over the life of the unit. Problems identified at public meetings, such as those
conducted by the HRSG Users Group (www.hrsgusers.org), generally are preventable with a
proper specification and a comprehensive design review before OEM drawings are approved.
1. Flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC). Even assuming high-quality waterchemistry
management, it is important to take additional precautions to minimize the effects of FAC (Fig 1).
This suggests a need to assess FAC risk on the components of the lowand intermediate-pressure
(LP, IP) evaporators and all economizers
Pipe and tube velocities must be specified in conformance with best practices. If these velocities
cannot be maintained within the guidelines for carbon steel, FAC prevention requires use of lowalloy material (P11/T11 or P22/T22) for tubes, headers, and piping. Regardless of the tube
material, industry experience suggests use of piping of generous diameter and an increased
number of evaporator risers to minimize velocities.
Straight tubes have advantages over bent ones, and the design of steam-drum nozzle
connections also should be examined carefully. An independent experts review of the bidders
circulation analysis will help you sleep more soundly.

2. Desuperheater arrangement. When not properly specified, operational and reliability issues
with the desuperheater can cause expensive, progressive damage to downstream piping and
superheaters. It is important for your desuperheater supplier to consider the full range of
operating conditions, and for you to make sure that the design team and powerplant operators
adhere to all of the vendors recommendations and requirements.
To be certain that the spray water evaporates completely, the recommendations should include
maximum velocity, minimum straight-length both upstream and downstream of the
desuperheater, and a minimum distance to the downstream temperature element (Fig 2). For
added protection, consider requiring that the downstream straight-length be increased to a value
above that recommended by the vendor.
Note, too, that unless precautions are taken, a desuperheater with a conventional probe is
susceptible to fatigue failure (Fig 3). To prevent the thermal cycling that causes such failure, the
supplier should specify a minimum spray-water flow rate. Otherwise, if the probe cracks, a flood
of unatomized water can lead to catastrophic failure of the thermal sleeve, the steam piping, or
downstream superheater (Fig 4).
Lastly, to avoid any issues associated with overspray, consider specifying that if the supplier has a
problem maintaining a minimum of 50 deg F of superheat, it will be a make-good warranty repair
item.
Applying industry lessons learned to Northland Powers Thorold project
The power professionals at Toronto-based Northland Power Inc know their business. If they
didnt, the independent power producer (IPP) would not have a 20-yr success story in the
financing, development, engineering, construction, operation, and maintenance of highly
reliable gas-turbine-based, biomass, and wind power projects.
Northlands staff, more than 150 strong, manages and operates five generating facilities in
Canada totaling more than 470 MW of electricity and another 100 MW of thermal energy. In
addition, it is building a 265-MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Thorold, Ont, on
the site of an Abitibi-Consolidated Inc pulp and paper mill, and developing a 150-MW wind
farm with 100 machines.
Four of Northlands five operating plants rely on gas turbines (GTs) for at least part of their
output. The durable LM2500 matches up well with demand in a couple of locations and two
LM6000PDs power a 126-MW combined-cycle cogeneration plant at another Abitibi mill. The
latter was Canadas most efficient facility of its type when it began operation in fall 1996.
Northland also has an active interest in other generating plants equipped with a 6FA and
7EAs.
For Northland, Thorold CoGen LP represents a step up into the world of large frame engines
and triple-pressure reheat heat-recovery steam generators (HRSGs). The 1 1 combinedcycle, on track for a late 2009/early 2010 start, is powered by a nominal 170-MW GE Energy
(Atlanta) 7FA. The 95-MW Siemens Power Generation (Orlando) steam turbine/ generator
features an SST-700 highpressure cylinder and an SST-900 low-pressure module. For details

on this machine, access www.combinedcyclejournal. com/archives.html, click 4Q/2006, click

Walnut on the cover (p 67).
The IPP approached Thorold as it had previous projects. For example, Northlands
engineering group, managed by Dino Gliosca, prepared a functional specification for the
HRSG. It gave the EPC contractor qualitative guidelines for procurement such as daily
cycling service. Critical items of concernsuch as flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) were
noted.
But as anyone who has been involved in a project of this magnitude knows, schedule and
cost are paramount in negotiations and once the EPC contract is signed things move forward
quickly. The response to some specific concerns of the owner/operator often is best industry
practice, to keep the project on track. Thats the way the industry works; so you wait for
vendors to respond to the RFQ (request for quote) to see what theyre offering.
The OEMs are challenged as well. They have had to standardize, to the degree possible, on
HRSG component designs. In the unforgiving world of price/schedule, price/schedule,
price/schedule, if youre not competitive, youre toast. And any changes to what the OEM is
offering at a fixed price can be expensive.
Along with Project Manager Greg Lennox, Project Engineer Paul Kaminski and the Northland
engineering department did their homework and knew of the potential problem areas
associated with F-class HRSGs from conversations with colleagues, reading the HRSG Users
Handbook (for more information, visit www.hrsgusers.org), etc.
As experienced powerplant developers and operators, Northlands engineers also knew you
never were going to get all the features/enhancements youd like on any project. Not having
direct F-class HRSG experience, Gliosca and his team called in HRST Inc, Eden Prairie, Minn,
to review the boiler proposals and to help the IPP decide on upgrades worth paying for.
HRST, which was familiar with the designs submitted by all vendors bidding, specializes in
developing solutions for HRSGs that dont behave the way the owners would like.
After reviewing HRSTs vendor evaluations and reflecting on Northlands experience, Gliosca,
Lennox, Kaminski, and others in the organization recommended the following
enhancements, among others:
3. Drain-system design. Drains should be treated as a significant, functional part of the HRSG,
not an afterthought. All drain piping should be designed to have a downward slope when the unit
is hot. Stagnant water retained at low points can lead to corrosion problems. Specify that the
blowdown tank be located below grade to allow every portion of the HRSG to drain completely by
gravity alone; otherwise, an additional drain trough and sump may be required.
Drains from different rows (harps or panels) of superheaters, reheaters, and economizers should
remain separated until after the first isolation valve; upstream and downstream harps should
never be connected through drain piping during operation (Fig 5). Drains from different pressure
levels must never be connected. Continuous and intermittent blowdowns and superheater drains
all should have separate connections to the blowdown tank.
In addition, specify that superheater drains be designed with a capacity to handle worst-case
condensate flow plus some extra margin. Even one occurrence of condensate back-up into an
operating superheater can be very damaging. If the drain system scope is split between the
HRSG supplier and a balance-ofplant contractor, take steps to ensure they are properly
coordinated. If the supplier provides a recommended drain layout, the contractor should be
compelled to follow it.
4. Economizer shock resistance.
Ensure that multi-pass economizers are designed for low-stress pass-topass temperature
differences under all operating conditions; additionally, that the economizer design considers
velocity criteria to maintain continuous flow stability. Under certain conditions, failure to do so

can result in random vapor-locked tubes and flow reversals, which ultimately lead to thermal
fatigue and stress cracking (Fig 6).
Header-to-tube connections should be designed to avoid creating stress concentrations. Weld
quality must be monitored diligently, especially on bent tubes. Large tube-to-tube temperature
differences (that is, thermal shocks) must be avoided under all operating conditions.
When the temperature difference between adjacent tubes becomes excessive, the tube that is
cooler will want to contract; however, it will be constrained from doing so by the significantly
more rigid headers, risking the possibility of stretching and/ or tensile failure. This is presented
graphically in an earlier article by HRST Inc; Avoid desuperheater problems. . ..
Designs should either be capable of withstanding thermal shocks or systems and controls should
be in place to prevent them altogether. This is particularly important for cycling units, because
the most probable time for a thermal shock event is during startup.
5. Size of IP steam drum. For triplepressure HRSGs with reheat common in F-class combined
cycles, the industry has learned that traditional sizing techniques can result in IP steam drums
that are too small to handle large pressure excursions in the reheat systemfollowing a steamturbine trip, for example. In some cases, drums sized according to the usual practice of fulfilling
requirements on retention time and surge volume have proved incapable of coping with large
reheat pressure swings.
One may well believe that a drum sized correctly for surge volume (swell) should be able to
survive any upset condition. Nonetheless, with the dynamics at play and given the relative size
difference between the reheat and IP systems, even the most diligent tuning appears unable to
prevent all trips.
One approach to mitigating this issue is to provide an extra margin of safety on IP drum volume
by adding a foot to the diameter. Another proven method is to supply a backpressure control
valve on the IP steam outlet upstream of the connection to cold-reheat. Prevention of just one
plant trip should easily pay for either of these solutions.

6. Flow manipulator arrangement. The turning-vane and/or perforatedplate design should be

reviewed and rigorously examined by a third-party expert. Buckling caused by restrained
expansion and cracking from uneven heating are industry-wide concerns that are difficult and
expensive to resolve (Fig 7). As one would expect, these problems are exacerbated by cycling
service.
7. Firing-duct arrangement. For HRSGs with a duct burner, it is essential for operators to
visually monitor flame condition. This requires that burner view ports be provided and that they
allow visual access to all areas of the burner and firing ductincluding all burner components,
sidewall, floor and roof liners, and boiler panels immediately downstream of the burner.
Specify radiation shields for firingduct thermocouples (TCs) to prevent erroneously high readings.
Important, too, is to specify a sufficient number of TCs, as well as an insertion length, to provide
a representative picture of actual conditions inside the duct. Lastly, provide ample space between
the TCs and heat-transfer surface because radiant cooling can result in low readings.

Note that peak firing temperature can be hundreds of degrees hotter than the bulk temperature.
Thus the firing-duct liner material selection ( Fig 8 ) should be based on estimated peak
temperature plus radiation effects (that is, significant margin should be applied to the bulk firing
temperature).
8. Foundation arrangement. Specify that the HRSG foundation be allowed unrestricted thermal
growth; otherwise, the foundation and/or the casing can be damaged as early as the first heatup. Corrective action is much more difficult after installation.
9. Gas-side accessibility. To facilitate timely and effective inspections, cleaning, and repairs,
the spec should provide for a means of entry to all gas-side areas of the unit, including the crawl
spaces above and below the tube headers. All access lanes should have sufficient clearance to
allow scaffold erection from floor to ceiling. It also is advantageous to have headers equipped
with borescope ports (1-in.-diam weldolet connections) to facilitate internal inspections from
inside the crawl spaces.
10. Tube-cleaning accessibility. Be sure to specify access to cold-end tubes for the removal of
ammonium salts and/or corrosion products. A recommended practice is to restrict the number of
rows between cleaning lanes to no more than about 10. Lanes must be sufficiently wide to
manipulate equipment; specify a minimum fin tip-to-fin tip clearance to ensure effective cleaning.
11. Shutdown protection. A shut down HRSG can be more vulnerable to deterioration than an
operating one, making it important to specify cycling units with features to lock-in heat and lockout oxygen and moisture. Include a damper or balloon to seal the stack, and insulate the stack
up to the height of the shutoff device. Specify as well a nitrogen blanketing system and,
especially in cold climates, a well-engineered steam sparging system. Another recommendation:
Request that the floor penetration seal be of a design that minimizes corrosion of the piping
within.
12. Performance testing. Occasionally, an owner errs by trying to specify an unattainable level
of uncertainty for HRSG performance tests. It is important to understand that zero uncertainty is
impossible and that extraordinary measures are required to achieve very low levelssuch as
0.75%-1%. To simplify performance testing and to prevent haggling over procedures,
responsibilities, and results, it may be preferable to specify a more reasonable test uncertainty
for instance 1.5%-1.75%.
Keep in mind that performancetest uncertainty is a measure of the quality of the test, not the
performance or quality of the HRSG. To help minimize uncertainty, minimize the number of
influences on its determination (for example, no duct firing, fuel heating, or blowdown during the
test). It is reasonable to specify an allowable tolerance from a contractual perspective and leave
it up to the supplier to determine how to achieve that. However, to prevent the possibility of
surprises later on, it is advisable to have confidence in the manufacturers strategy from the
beginning. ccj
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