Cogeneration Plant Upgrade from F9 to E11 and Eliminates Fouling, Pressure Drop and gas turbine maintenance
THE CHALLENGE
- Heavy fouling required offline water washes every two months.
- Final filter pressure drop reached up to 480Pa. Instead of replacing the filters, which would require an unwanted shutdown, the plant had to derate the engine.
- Corrosion was detected in both the cold and the hot sections of the gas turbine.
The plant requested a solution that would improve their degradation issues, eliminate unwanted downtime, extend the final filter life to 3 years, and stabilize pressure drop.
THE SITE
The plant is located on the West Coast of Singapore, where it is challenged by salt-laden air and year-round humidity ranging from 70-90%. PM2.5 ranges from 50-70μg/m3, which is 130% greater than the national average.1
The main sources of contaminants arise from the plant‘s industrial neighbors, including power producers and refineries. Additionally, every summer a large-scale haze caused by forest fires in Indonesia reaches Singapore. Pressure drop spikes, fouling, and corrosion are therefore prominent consequences under these challenging circumstances.
FILTRATION SOLUTION
The plant’s original filtration system was comprised of 500 M6 bag prefilters at the first stage and 500 F9 static final filters at the second stage.
Due to the harsh environment of the plant, an EPA filtration solution with hydrophobic, self-drainant, and low pressure drop properties was required to protect the turbine. Camfil performed a Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCC) that showed which filter set would generate the most savings. The LCC showed that the plant would save approximately $1.56m USD every three years, per gas turbine, from fouling and pressure drop, with the following solution:
- A two-stage static system with Cam-Flo GT Hybrid F7 bag filters and CamGT 3V- 600 E11 compact final filters.
As a result, the plant decided to upgrade their filters with the recommended solution.
RESULTS
The operational efficiency of the gas turbines greatly improved with the CamGT installation, despite the challenging environment.
Result 1: The plant reported that they no longer experienced fouling. As a result, the plant’s annual frequency of offline water washes went from six to zero with Camfil’s solution. According to ‘Impact of Enhanced GT Air Filtration on Power Output and Compressor Efficiency Degradation’ (2016)2, Figure 1 shows the average compressor efficiency degradation due to the filter upgrade is generally expected to improve by around 1-2%, while the average power degradation is generally expected to improve by 4-5%.
Result 2: Pressure spikes were no longer an issue. Figure 2 shows that pressure drop was more stable between 200-230Pa after Camfil installation.
Result 3: The plant reported that they no longer experienced engine corrosion.
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