Clean air to the rescue: 
filter upgrade saves turbines from degradation

Industrial environment case study

Key achievements


Image Case Study Icon Camfil Solution Filter

4X
Greater pre-filter
lifetime


16X
Greater final filter lifetime

Image Case Study Icon Power

100%
Availability,
no unwanted shutdowns
during production

Summary


Customer profile

Global Power Synergy Public Company Limited in Thailand focuses on power generation and renewable energy. Camfil provided solutions for six, 38 MW GE gas turbines in three different plants within the company.

Original installation

The original installation was a two-stage          filtration system. The first stage was equipped with T6 bag-style pre-filters, while the second stage was equipped with T10 v-bank-style final filters with a 300mm depth.

Site conditions

The plants are situated along the coast of Thailand in an industrial area, where they            encounter high dust concentrations. The         annual average for PM2.5 is 34.8 µg/m3 while the PM10 average is 86.2 µg/m3. Both are above the annual average air quality guidelines of 5 µg/m3 and 15 µg/m3 respectively [1]. 

Camfil solution

To reduce fouling and related downtime, Camfil suggested an upgrade to CamGT 3V-600 T12. It is an EPA-class, v-bank-style filter with a 600mm depth, that is optimized for long life in harsh environments with a low and stable pressure drop.

Problem statement

As a result of the high dust concentrations, the gas turbines experienced fouling of the compressor blades. This lead to a drop in compressor efficiency which required shutting down the engines for water washes, as well as high fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

Results

This resulted in a higher and more stable compressor efficiency, lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, as well as total savings of $520,000 per year on operational costs. For more details and information, please consult the next page.

Results


The graph on the left shows that the T10 filter always starts at a compressor efficiency of around 91% before it drops due to fouling, with its lowest efficiency value being 90%. An offline water wash was required to bring this value up each time it dropped. As for the T12 filter, the efficiency remains stable around 91% during the 120 week period. The T12 filters demonstrate improved performance, with a compressor efficiency loss rate approximately 3.27 times lower than that of the T10 filters.

The graph on the right shows that despite its higher efficiency rating, which typically implies a greater pressure drop, the CamGT 3V-600 filter configuration had a similar performance to the T10 efficiency filter. This is due to its 600mm deep frame that allows for greater media area and low velocity, providing the lowest pressure drop and longest available life.

Camfil’s solution saved GSPC 520,000$ and helped reduce fuel consumption of 166,000 MMBtu and CO2 emissions of 8,800 tons each year, the equivalent of taking approximately 1,900 cars off the road!

[1] https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/345329/9789240034228-eng.pdf

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