Cutting Costs And Maintenance For Silica Analysis

Silica analyzers in modern power plants keep operators aware of harmful silica concentrations in the water-steam turbine cycle. In the boiler silica forms silicate deposits that interfere with heat transfer and are very difficult to remove. In the turbine, silica deposits on the blades and causes drastic decreases in efficiency. Power plants with high pressure boilers closely monitor silica concentrations to avoid these problems.

Plants monitor silica with online analyzers, grab-sample testing, or some combination of the two. Both options are expensive. Online analyzers have high capital and maintenance costs. Just the cost of the reagents can exceed $2000 per year per analyzer. Analyzing grab samples can take 1/2 hour or more of valuable operator time just to test one batch of samples.

In an attempt to curtail these costs, engineers at PPL Generation's newest energy center in Lower Mount Bethel, PA decided to try a silica analyzer recently introduced by ABB Instrumentation, the Navigator 600. This compact analyzer can monitor up to six streams simultaneously. ABB claimed it drastically cut reagent consumption, and virtually eliminated maintenance.