IMPACT DAMAGE TO TUBES

When you take a look at a boiler under construction, it is clear that all parts are not
created equal. This is particularly true with the boiler tubes that make up the
furnace and convection sections. Just as a chain is no stronger than its weakest link,
the failure of a single tube with a value of only a few hundred dollars can easily
require the shutdown of a multimillion dollar boiler facility.

When you consider that the tube thickness for the pressures commonly associated
with many industrial boiler plants is often 0.120", 0.095", or less, it is easy to
visualize how easily these tubes can be damaged.

Common Causes of Tube Damage

Impact the tube with a sharp object - The tube material is fairly soft and even a cold
chisel dropped from a few feet away can result in a gouge and a localized thin spot
on the tube. Any added stress can cause the unit to fail when it is pressurized and
can also serve as a point of concentrated corrosion. This type of damage is common
when boiler convection sections are mechanically cleaned of hard buildups, or when
refractory repairs or repairs to other tubes are made. The simple drop of a hand tool
can result in thousands of dollars in repairs as well as potential downtime of the
unit.

Sootblower alignment - Sootblowers use high velocity jets of steam to blow the soot
from the tubes. One of the pre-start-up checklist items for any boiler should be to
verify the proper orientation and alignment of the sootblower lance to insure that
the jets are blowing between the tubes and not blowing directly on the tubes during
sootblower operation. Sootblower alignment is done when the unit is cold.
Therefore, when aligning the sootblower lance, the thermal expansion of both the
boiler and the sootblower lance must be taken into consideration.

Sootblowing with wet steam - Although a direct jet of steam striking the tubes as a
result of out-of-alignment sootblowers is bad enough, the damage is compounded if
wet steam is utilized. A direct blast of high pressure condensate can quickly cut
through the thin tube surfaces, resulting in tube failure. The most common cause of
wet steam is inadequate warm-up and draining of the sootblower lines. Proper

sootblowing techniques require that the entire steam line supplying steam to the
sootblowers be preheated to remove all condensate from the lines.

Corrosion - Fireside corrosion damage often occurs on a boiler that is in cold standby
and that has previously fired sulfur-laden fuels. There are, inevitably, areas of the
boiler where ash is not removed from the tube surface during normal sootblower
operation. One of the most vulnerable areas is the interface where the tubes enter
the drum at tube-baffle interfaces and refractory-to-tube interfaces. When the boiler
is hot, corrosion is generally not a problem since moisture is not present; however,
upon shutdown, this ash and refractory can absorb moisture and concentrated
corrosive attack will occur over time in these areas. This will commonly cause
boilers, which are subject to extensive periods of cold storage, to be damaged to
the point that retubing is necessary. Localized pitting can be quite deep, rendering
an otherwise sound tube in need of at least partial replacement.

Preventive Measures

Make sure that all personnel who interact with boilers understand that thin tubes
are quite fragile. Encourage workers to report any accidental damage so that it can
be inspected or repaired as necessary.

When possible, store a standby boiler in a hot condition to prevent fireside

corrosion of the tubes.

Hot storage techniques, such as utilizing mud drum heaters or routing the
blowdown from an operating boiler through the inactive unit, are generally sufficient
in keeping the temperatures of the tubes above the corrosion dew point.

SEVERE OVERFIRING

One doesn't have to spend much time in manufacturing plants to realize that
maximizing production availability and output are some keys to profitability. This
mindset requires that every piece of equipment be pushed to its maximum

capability right up to the point of its self-limits or failure. Most equipment simply will
not run any faster or produce any more product due to physical limitations.

The operation of steam boilers beyond their Maximum Continuous Rated (MCR)
capacity has long been an issue of heated discussion. For many years, boiler
manufacturers have rated their equipment to have a specific MCR on a continuous
operating basis with a two- to four-hour peak rating, often times at 110 percent of
MCR. The $64,000 question that is always raised is, "If the boiler will operate at 110
percent of MCR for 4 hours, why can't it operate at 110 percent continuously?" The
answer to this good question is complex and is somewhat like trying to answer the
question, "How high is high?"

In the design of a steam generating system, margins are built into the peripheral
equipment of the boiler to ensure the capability of meeting performance
guarantees. These margins include such items as additional fan volume and static
capability, pump capacity and TDH (Total Discharge Head) margins, oversized
material handling systems to accommodate operating logistics, etc. Any good
designer/builder of steam generating systems wants to ensure that no piece of
auxiliary equipment is the limiting factor to the boiler producing the MCR, or peak
capacity, using the worse case contract fuels. Typically, the conservative design of
all equipment results in the capability of overfiring the boiler above and beyond the
peak 110% MCR rating. Without the self-limiting capability of the auxiliary
equipment, management demands put upon steam plant superintendents to
maximize production often result in continuous and sometimes severe overfiring of
the equipment.

Sometimes the physical limitations of the boiler, such as furnace size or steam
piping, will cause sudden and dramatic problems such as emissions or pressure drop
problems that limit the boiler operating capacity. However, other physical limitations
of the boiler itself may not be so obvious. These limitations lead to other problems
associated with severe overfiring, which may include:

short- or long-term overheating damage to refractory, tube metallurgy,

breeching, etc.;
long-term erosion of boiler tubes, baffles, breeching, and particulate clean-up
devices;
long-term corrosion of furnace wall and superheater tubes; and

steam moisture and solids carryover causing problems with superheater tubes,
steam turbine blades, and other process equipment.

Certainly, the fuels being fired have a dramatic effect upon the potential problems
associated with severe overfiring in the list above. Erosion problems are typically
associated with firing solid fuels such as coal, wood, sludge, plant waste, etc., that
have ash and particulate constituents. The overfiring condition increases the gas
weights and velocities which have a square function relationship to pressure drop
and the effects of erosion. Severe eddy effects can be generated in boiler back
passes that result in dramatic localized erosion problems.

Boiler designers carefully consider the heat flux through furnace wall tubing and
membrane as well as the surface operating temperatures of tube walls, refractory,
etc. Overfiring the furnace results in higher heat flux through the furnace walls and
higher surface temperature of the refractory. The total steam flow relates to certain
downcomer flows and pressure drops to ensure adequate cooling of furnace wall
panels, etc. Overfiring the boiler results in higher flow rate demands in downcomer
circuits which raises the pressure drop, thus impeding flow. The combination of
these two conditions can result in a substantial increase in the tube and membrane
operating temperatures. The short- and long-term effects of running at higher
temperatures can result in the degradation of the tube metallurgy and strength.

Corrosion problems can be compounded when undesirable compounds in oil and

solid fuels come in contact with tubes operating at higher operating temperatures.
Also, overfiring oil burners can result in flame impingement on furnace wall tubing,
resulting in localized corrosion.

In summary, most well-designed steam generating equipment is capable of being

operated above MCR. Operating peripheral equipment at their physical limits does
not often create problems. Conversely, operating the steam generator continuously
above MCR may cause long-term maintenance problems resulting in associated
costs that are not easily detectable during the short term. In situations where the
production demand warrants overfiring the steam generating equipment, it may be
a good business decision to suffer the short- and long-term increased maintenance
costs to get the extra production.

CONTAMINATED FEEDWATER

Contaminated feedwater, which is a combination of both make-up and condensate

returns, is a complex issue in this three-part series. Entire books have been written
on this subject and its effects. This article will only try to create an awareness of
some common problems. Common feedwater contaminants include:

Oxygen
Excessive boiler treatment chemicals
Oils
Miscellaneous metals and chemical compounds
Resin

Dissolved oxygen is a common and constant threat to boiler tube integrity. The use
of modern, sophisticated chelant water treatment programs has dramatically
improved the cleanliness of boiler heat transfer surfaces to such an extent that
essentially bare-metal conditions exist. Since only a thin magnetic oxide film
remains on boiler metal surfaces, oxygen control is extremely important. The typical
boiler plant is equipped with a deaerating feedwater heater to remove the majority
of oxygen. In boilers operating below 1,000 psig, the oxygen scavenger, sodium
sulfite, is continuously fed to the storage tank of the deaerator and the scavenger is
necessary to ensure the absence of free oxygen.

One of the most serious types of oxygen corrosion is oxygen pitting, which is the
concentrated pitting and corrosion of a very small area. A tube failure can occur
even though only a relatively small amount of corrosion and loss of metal has been
experienced. Because of the rapid and catastrophic effects of oxygen corrosion,
boiler feedwater should be checked periodically to ensure that the deaerating
heater and oxygen scavenger are eliminating free oxygen in the boiler feedwater.

A chelant boiler water treatment program that is not properly maintained to ensure
proper dosages of chelating chemicals can result in problems with the
consequences that these chemicals are intended to prevent. Chelant corrosion or
attack develops only when excess concentrations of sodium salt is maintained many
times above the control level over a period of many months. The resultant attack is
a dissolving or thinning of metal, unlike oxygen pitting. The attack concentrates on
areas of stress within the boiler such as: rolled tube ends, baffle edges, tube welds,
threaded members, and other non-stress relieved areas. Here again, proper
monitoring of the boiler water treatment program dosages and residuals can
prevent this type of problem.

The inadvertent introduction of acid and caustic can cause the most devastating
immediate damage to a boiler. The presence of either of these chemicals can cause
a multitude of different types of corrosion and destruction of metal integrity. These
chemicals are commonly unintentionally introduced into a boiler for the following
reasons:

Equipment failure or malfunction - A typical problem might be leaking regenerant

isolation valves or failure of an automatic controller that results in an inadequate
rinse cycle.
Poor water treatment system design - Double block and bleed valve systems
should be used wherever any regenerant chemicals are introduced into the water
system to protect against damage due to valve failure.
Poor water treatment system training and operations - If operators are not
properly trained and cognizant of the importance of operating these often
sophisticated systems properly, they could be responsible for pumping concentrated
acid and caustic into the boiler. A less likely problem might be improperly carrying
out the regeneration of water treating equipment such as improper rinsing of
residual acid and caustic.

When operating a demineralized water treatment system, the importance of proper

maintenance and operator training to prevent these types of catastrophic events
cannot be overemphasized.

The undetected contamination of condensate returns is another common problem

that leads to boiler feedwater contamination. Contaminants can vary from metals
such as copper and iron to oils and process chemicals. Heavy metal contamination

is usually a function of the construction materials of the process equipment and the
condensate system. Oils and process chemicals are generally introduced into the
condensate system due to process equipment failures or corrosion-caused leaks in
equipment such as heat exchangers, pump and gland seals, etc. The biggest risk
associated with condensate system contamination is a catastrophic failure of a
piece of process equipment, which results in the introduction of significant
quantities of undesirable chemicals or compounds into the boiler. For this reason,
prudent boiler operations should include continuous monitoring of the quality of
condensate being returned from the process.

Another problem that sometimes causes severe boiler fouling is the introduction of
ion exchange resin into the boiler feedwater system. This is frequently caused by
the failure of the ion exchange vessel internal piping or lateral screens. Depending
upon the operating pressure of the boiler and type of resin, this problem can result
in a severe coating of resin material on boiler surfaces. An inexpensive and very
worthwhile method to alleviate the chance of this type of contamination is to install
a resin trap on the outlet of any ion exchange vessel. Resin traps not only protect
the boiler from contamination, but they also prevent the loss of very expensive resin
in the event of a failure.

Boiler feedwater contamination can be a slow, degenerative process or an

instantaneous, catastrophic event. Routine and efficient maintenance procedures
will greatly mitigate the chances of both types of occurrences. Consistent boiler
water and feedwater quality monitoring and testing provides operating personnel
not only with historical data, but also with timely warning any time feedwater
quality changes dramatically.