Steam Systems

Table I3-3. Recommended Limits for Total Suspended Solids

OPERATING PRESSURE PSIG 0-300 301-450 451-600 601-750 751-900 901-1000 TOTAL SOLIDS PPM 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1250 SUSPENDED SOLIDS PPM 300 250 150 100 60 40

System Fundamentals
A controlled orice valve is used to allow a continual, yet controlled, ow of concentrated water. Periodic adjustments are made to the valve in order to increase or decrease the amount of blowdown in accordance with test analysis. There are a few considerations when designing a blowdown system: Local Code Requirements: If necessary, a blowdown aftercooler should be incorporated to bring the blowdown water temperature to a level acceptable to the sewer system and local code requirements. Blowdown Heat Recovery: Since the blowdown water is discharged at the saturated steam temperature, a signicant amount of energy may be expelled during blowdown. A well-designed blowdown heat recovery system can control blowdown rates and dissolved solids concentration while recovering heat for make-up water preheating. When selecting a blowdown heat recovery system, two factors should be considered: (1) tube materials and construction, and (2) blowdown owrate control. The high velocities and abrasive nature of blowdown water necessitates quality construction materials such as stainless steel, as well as design for vibration damping. Secondly, it is important to control blowdown rate so as to match makeup water ow rates for optimal heat recovery. In most cases, the intermittent nature of bottom blowdown will preclude recovery of the blowdown energy losses. Moreover, the bottom blowdown can contain suspended matter or sludge that will tend to clog a heat exchanger. With a continuous blowdown system, heat may certainly be recovered, transferred to make-up water, before the blowdown is cooled and sent to sewer. Flash Tank Heat Exchangers: Flash tank heat exchangers are also designed to recover heat from blowdown water, but provide an added feature of producing low-pressure steam for deaeration. The portion of blowdown water which is not ashed either enters a blowdown heat recovery system for make-up water preheating or is discharged to sewer.

ing surfaces. Internal chemical treatment is therefore required in order to keep harmful scale and sludge from forming. Scale has a low heat transfer value and acts as an insulating barrier. Insulation retards heat transfer, which not only results in lower operating efciency but, more importantly, can cause overheating of boiler metal. Overheating of boiler metal results in tube failure or other pressure vessel metal damage. Scale is caused primarily by calcium and magnesium salts, silica, and oil. Any calcium and magnesium salts, along with organic materials in the boiler water, are generally precipitated by the use of sodium phosphate in order to maintain these precipitates or sludge in a uid form. Solids, such as sodium salts and suspended dirt, do not readily form scale. However, as boiler water boils, forming relatively pure steam, the remaining water becomes increasingly thicker with solids. If the concentration is permitted to accumulate, foaming and priming will occur and the sludge can cause harmful deposits that potentially result in overheating of the metal. Therefore, lowering or removing concentrated solids requires the use of boiler water blowdown. Types of Blowdown There are two principal types of blowdown: manual (intermittent) bottom blowdown and surface (continuous) blowdown. Manual (Intermittent) Bottom Blowdown - Bottom blowdown is necessary for the proper operation of the boiler. Bottom blowdown removes sludge and controls the level of TDS. On a manual system, the blowdown tappings are located at the bottom or lowest part of the boiler, so that the dissolved solids in the boiler water are lowered, and a portion of the sludge that accumulates in the lower portion of the boiler is removed. Surface (Continuous) Blowdown - Surface blowdown involves a continuous, low ow of boiler water extracted from the surface of the water level in order to skim off sediment, oil and other impurities. The blowdown is regulated by a ow control valve, which is adjusted as needed to control the TDS level. The surface blowdown opening is on the top center line of the pressure vessel and is provided with an internal collecting pipe terminating slightly below the working water level. I3-16

SYSTEM INTEGRATION AND OPTIMIZATION

The discussion in this section attempts to provide to the reader assistance to approach in designing and integrating various equipment into a workable system. A workable system is one that meets the requirements and purposes of the system, has satisfactory life and maintenance costs, and abides by all constraints such as pressures, temperatures, footprint, noise, emissions, etc. In summary, a workable system performs the assigned duty, given the imposed constraints and requirements. System optimization, on the other hand, is the process of determining system conguration and state point conditions which provide a maximizationsome of objective as net suchthe

System Fundamentals
present value of overall life costs. Optimized design may offer the steam-user signicant savings over the life of the steamgenerating facility. It is the design which maximizes protability for the owner over time. For a given application, there are many workable designs, but only one optimal design. The discussion in this section entails a search method to approaching the optimal design. Components/equipment are added arbitrarily and evaluated for effect on system performance and ultimately cost/benet to the steam system owner. Obtaining the optimum design is more involved than that presented in this section and is beyond the scope of this discussion. $68.04/month service charge $0.833/ccf consumption charge

Steam Systems

8. Water Discharge Max. Temp: 120 F 9. Sewer Charges: $13.72/month service charge $0.573/ccf use charge 10. Types of Fuel: Natural Gas Light Oil considered as a back-up 11. Fuel Analysis: Natural Gas Methane: 86.0% (vol.) Ethane: 7.2% (vol.) Nitrogen: 6.8% (vol.) SG: 0.619 HHV: 21,100 Btu/lb (1000 Btu/scf) No. 2 Oil Carbon: 85.8% (wt.) Hydrogen: 12.7% (wt.) Sulfur: 0.2% (wt.) HHV: 19,420 Btu/lb 12. Fuel Costs: Natural Gas: $4.50/MMBtu ($3.50 MMBtu interruptible) No. 2 Oil: $4.20/MMBtu 13. Combustion Air Conditions: Avg Temp1: 80 F Rel Hum: 60% 14. Stack Gas Temperature Limits: N/A 15. Emission Regulations: There are none currently, but requirements are in the expected future. Site is located in a non-attainment zone. 16. Stack/Breeching Physical Attributes: A new single stack is to be designed by the boiler supplier. 17. Electrical Power Demand: Not applicable in this case ______________
1. Boiler room combustion air temperature ranges from 60 F to 100 F.

EXAMPLE - STEAM SYSTEMS

The following is an example of a relatively simple low pressure steam heating system. The entire steam-generating facility of an existing heating system is evaluated for replacement. An application/energy-use audit results in the following information. 1. Type of Application/Load: Heating 2. Nominal Steam Pressure: 10 psig 3. Steam Load Characteristics/Prole: The steam system operates 5 months/year. During 3 months (2160 hours) Minimum load: 0 Maximum load: 5,600 kBtu/hr Average load:650 kBtu/hr During 2 months (1440 hours) Minimum load: 0 Maximum load: 8,100 kBtu/hr Average load: 2,500 kBtu/hr Transient loads, instantaneous demand, and sudden load swings do not exist. 4. Steam Quality Requirements: 98% steam quality at boiler pressure vessel exit 5. Condensate Return Conditions: Temperature: 200 F Pressure: 2 psig % Return: 90% 6. Make-up Water Requirement: 10% 7. Water Charges:

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Steam Systems
18. Electrical Power Costs: $0.0345/kWhr on-peak $0.0245/kWhr off-peak 19. Physical Limitations of Facility: None 20. Noise Level Requirements: <90 dBA When designing a steam generating facility, necessary system capacity and approximate fuel costs need to be considered. This will for allow both qualitative and quantitative economic analyses of different installation alternatives. First, required system capacity should be calculated. This is the maximum load. A total capacity of 241 horsepower is required for this applica8100 kBtu hour hp hour ( 33.475 kBtu ) = 241 hp

System Fundamentals Boiler Selection

As this steam generating facility is replacing an existing one, pressure is already set at 10 psig. This system operating constraint allows the use of a 15 psi boiler which falls under Section IV of the ASME code. In addition to pressure requirements, steam quality requirements need to be met. The customers system/application requirement is 98%. Most boilers offer 98.5% steam quality at low pressure; therefore this is not a limitation. The large amount of idle time and low-load ring apparently suggest a two boiler installation (boilers operate most efciently near their rated capacity), with a large boiler for winter and a smaller model for spring and fall. Reviewing the fuel bill, however, indicates that an improvement in efciency would not justify increased installation, maintenance and capital costs that the customer wishes to minimize. Furthermore, there is no need for back-up in this application. Therefore, the recommendation is to install a single boiler. However, highturndown would be desirable to prevent excessive cycling. With the necessary capacity calculated, and the number of boilers to be installed decided, several boiler types can be ruled out immediately. Neither the Vertical Firetube nor the Model 4 Watertube Boilers are available in sufcient size for this system. At the opposite extreme, the load is far too small for an industrial watertube boiler. Remaining boilers include the rebox, retube, extube, electric and cast iron boilers. The cast iron boiler may be ruled out because of its higher initial cost; the electric may be ruled out because of higher operating costs. The remaining boilers, the rebox, retube and extube all are good choices for heating loads requiring low pressure steam. Instantaneous load is not an issue with a heating load. Likewise, there are no large load swings to consider. An application under federal emission regulations (NSPS) needs to be submitted because this installation is capable of using over 10 MMBTU/hr. There are no federal emissions requirements for this boiler because of the fuels selected. Local permits for construction and operation will also be required. Furthermore, it is desirable that the boiler be UL listed. There are no current local emission requirements, although they are expected to occur in the near future as the site is located in an ozone nonattainment area. To minimize maintenance, a boiler with 5 square feet of heating area per horsepower should be selected. The large water chamber and surface area reduce the need for cleaning, and minimize upsets caused in water treatment. A turndown capability increased from the standard 4-1 would further reduce maintenance and prolong boiler life. A 10-1 turndown, standard on the CB and CB (LE) [low emission] Firetube Boilers (250-800 hp), would result in signicant fuel savings in this

tion. Next, approximate fuel costs are calculated using the following:2

total load =

(loadi) (hoursi)

total load = 2160 hrs 650 kBtu/hr + 1440 2500 kBtu/hr = 5,004,000 kBtu total fuel cost = (total load) ($/MMBtu)
h

where h = system efficiency (decimal) 1 $4.50 (5,004,000 MBtu) 0.6 MMBtu

( ) = $37,530

__________
2. Efciency should be set to 80% for process loads and 60% for heating loads. In a heating application such as this one, the operating efciency of the system may be much lower than the stack efciency of the boiler. The reason for this is that the boiler may re for only a few minutes in the morning. During the long off-cycle, heat is transferred from the boiler to its surroundings, allowing the steam contained within the boiler to cool and condense. When steam is again required, this lost heat must be replaced through several minutes of operation before steam may be supplied. Typical efciencies for this type of operation range from 50 to 75%.

I3-18

System Fundamentals
application. In a heating system such as this, eight to twelve cycles per hour are common. The 10-1 turndown drastically reduces such excessive cycling and decreases purge energy losses and cycling wear on components. Both the CB and CB (LE) Firetube Boilers guarantee steam quality above the system requirements. The certainty of a future tightening of emission regulations leads to a decision in favor of the 60 ppm CB (LE) Firetube Boiler3. Although both the rebox and extube boilers may be retrotted with low NOx burners, it is done at considerable cost. The CB (LE) Firetube Boilers ability to meet all future emission regulations, along with its fuel savings, 10-1 turndown, and low cost for emissions reduction, make it the best choice. The customer currently carries uninterruptable gas service, paying $4.50/MMBtu. The customer has the opportunity for savings by switching to a dual fuel burner, which would allow for interruptible service. With the gas cost reduced to $3.50/ MMBtu, and assuming that light oil at $4.20/MMBtu would be used 20% of the time, the resultant fuel bill is $30,490, or a $7,040 savings. The nal choice in this example will be a 250 horsepower 60 ppm CB (LE) Firetube Boiler with a dual fuel burner. As this is a heating load, and no expansion is foreseen, the 20% oversizing used in boiler selection for some systems is not necessary here. In this application, the CB (LE) Firetube Boiler was selected due to high turndown capability and the ability to meet future emissions regulations. These features compensate for the higher capital costs of other boiler choices which could meet demand.

Steam Systems
A rule of thumb for tanks is to have a fteen minute water supply for boiler feed systems and a ten minute supply for deaerating systems. A larger tank may be used for systems with high condensate return, and a smaller tank for systems with a high percentage of make-up. In this system, a fteen minute water supply corresponds to 2100 lb, or 253 gallons. A 270 gallon tank will be specied, allowing for the high percentage condensate return. In a heating system with a retube boiler there is neither a large load swing nor a necessity for precise boiler water level control. Therefore, an intermittent operation turbine style pump will be selected to minimize system cost. As the feedwater temperature is well below 215 F, there is no need for high temperature pump seals. Duplex pumps will be specied to minimize maintenance downtime.

Water Treatment
Water treatment options include chemical, deaeration, softening and ltering. A test result yielded the results in Table I3-4 The limits for silica, alkalinity and dissolved solids are all limits for the boiler water itself. These can be controlled through blowdown (described below). The decision to control oxygen through chemicals has already been made. It will be necessary to include a water softener in the water treatment system to remove hardness.

Blowdown
Manual bottom blowdown should be specied. The low fuel bills preclude the option of continuous blowdown with heat recovery. Additional equipment necessary includes a bottom blowdown separator and aftercooler. These are necessary to reduce the blowdown water temperature to the maximum 120F.

Condensate Return And Feedwater System

This system has 90% condensate return. This yields a makeup water requirement of 10%. If we assume a constant specic heat, and a make-up water temperature of 40 F, a direct mixing would result in a feedwater temperature of 184 F. It must rst be decided whether to use a boiler feed system or a deaerating system. In either case, this system must consist of a water reservoir, a stand (to provide sufcient net positive suction head for the pump) and a pump. In this system, the percentage of make-up water is low, and the feedwater mix temperature is relatively high. Oxygen in the system may be controlled by chemicals. These conditions, coupled with an already low annual fuel cost, decide against additional spending for a deaerating system.

Table I3-4. Water Test Results and Limits

SUBSTANCE Oxygen Hardness Suspended Matter pH Silica Total Alkalinity TEST RESULT 6 ppm 86 ppm 0.1 ppm 6.8 10 ppm 100 ppm 500 mho/cm LIMITS <0.007 ppm <5.0 ppm <0.15 ppm 7.0-10.5 <150 ppm <700 ppm <7000 mho/cm

________________
3. The 60 ppm CB (LE) Boiler may be converted to 30 or 20 ppm at low cost. The 60 ppm model has lower electric demands and is predicted to meet all future requirements.

Dissolved Solids

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Steam Systems Efficiency Enhancement

The small annual fuel bills rule out a reasonable return on investment for efciency enhancing equipment such as an economizer, oxygen trim or blowdown heat recovery. On large systems selecting such options may be the wise economic decision.

System Fundamentals

System Schematic
A schematic of the resulting system in shown in Figure I3-5.

MAKE-UP WATER 90% CONDENSATE RETURN 200 STACK

WATER SOFTENER
10 PSIG STEAM

STEAM HANDLING, HEATING AND CONDENSATE RETURN SYSTEMS

250 HP CB (LE) BOILER

PACKAGED BOILER FEED SYSTEM

BOTTOM BLOWDOWN

CHEMICAL FEED SYSTEM

COLD WATER SUPPLY

STEAM SEPARATOR/ BLOWDOWN AFTERCOOLER

TO DRAIN

Figure I3-5. Example of System Conguration

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