Saving costs by monitoring silica in boiler

feedwater - Power
Continuous monitoring with CA71 SI analyzer

Power industry

Challenge
The high efficiency steam turbines in power
plants face corrosion, erosion and depositing problems. Several factors contribute
in the growing deposition problem. These
problems can be minimized or controlled
by keeping a close watch on the feed water
quality parameters, such as pH, DO, conductivity and silica concentrations.
Although not a source of corrosion, silica
can form extremely hard and dense scales
in the boiler and turbines, lowering heat
transfer efficiency as well as increasing the
risk of mechanical failure such as turbine
blade malfunction. This can result in
expensive repairs or replacement of the
turbine. Thus silica is an important control
parameter that is monitored. Dissolved
silica becomes weakly ionised, and is difficult to detect by conductivity measurement.
Dedicated silica analysers are required to
obtain accurate measurement. Silica in the
condensate can be an indication of entrainment problems or condenser leakage.
Solution used
Stamolys CA71SI is a compact photometric
analysis sytem for the silicate measurement
in ultrapure water and boiler feed water. By
installing a Stamolys CA71 SI, the content
of silicate can be determined and controlled. The standard limit for boiler feed
water is 0.02 ppm silicic acid. For injection
and boiler water, the standard limits are
pressure dependent. For example, at an
operation pressure of 986 psi, the concentration of silicic acid in boiler water must

Running a sample test

not exceed 10 ppb.

Customer benefit
The CA71 SI measures the silicate content
continuously to assure a constant optimum
water quality. This is of special advantage
in the performance monitoring of ion
exchange and reversed osmosis sytems. The
analyzer replaces frequent manual sampling
and exactly determines the silicate break
through of the system.
Low measuring range improvement
Higher accuracy below 10 mg/l
Highly reproducible values even at l mg/l
No automatic cleaning cycles necessary
Low reagent and low sample requirement
New operational sequence, for better
filling of the cuvette
Sample stream monitoring and plain
text error menu
Measure value storage using integrated
data logger
Automatic self-cleaning and calibration
Measurement sequences programmable
with two-channel version
Other applications
Industrial ultrapure water applications often
have many elements in common:
Steam and condensate analysis
Reverse osmosis
Demineralisers
Industries include power and
pharmaceutical

Steam driven turbines

The customer's requirements

Efficient control of feed water deposits
to prevent turbine damage
The Endress+Hauser solution
Stamolys CA71 SI (Silicate) analyzer

Customer benefit
Potential savings: Cost of turbine
replacement or repair
Immediately: increase efficiency and
capacity of steam turbines
Long-term: cuts overall cost of
producing electrical power

The chart below is an example of hourly on-line reading of low level silica. Zero is no sample, and the
spike at 13 mg/L may be the break through of silica in the feed water. As the chart indicates, the silica
concentration came down gradually to 8 due to corrective measures taken.

ISO 9001:2000 Certified

USA

Canada

Mexico

Endress+Hauser, Inc.
2350 Endress Place
Greenwood, IN 46143
Tel. 317-535-7138
Sales 888-ENDRESS
Service 800-642-8737
Fax 317-535-8498
inquiry@us.endress.com
www.us.endress.com

Endress+Hauser, Canada
1075 Sutton Drive
Burlington, ON L7L 5Z8
Tel. 905-681-9292
800-668-3199
Fax 905-681-9444
info@ca.endress.com
www.ca.endress.com

Endress+Hauser Mxico, S.A. de C.V.

Fernando Montes de Oca 21 Edificio A Piso 3
Fracc. Industrial San Nicols
54030. Tlalnepantla de Baz
Estado de Mxico
Mxico
Tel. +52 55 5321 2080
Fax +52 55 5321 2099
eh.mexico@mx.endress.com
www.mx.endress

CS0174/24/ae/02.09