Treated water supplied to hotwell
Whiting Clean Energy
BP
525-MW, gas-fired, 2 × 1 combined-cycle cogeneration facility located in Whiting, IN
Plant manager: Richard Maroney
Key project participants: Full team effort
Challenge.
Water flow from the condenser to the HRSG preheaters must equal export steam flow to the refinery, our steam recipient, to maintain a proper water balance and condenser level. Recent changes in operating envelopes exceed original design specs, requiring excess steam to be bypassed to the condenser. These new operating conditions have created negative impacts on cycle efficiency.
Solution.
An engineering review was conducted and plant personnel installed a 6-in. treated water makeup line to the hotwell. Although this may seem obvious or simple to a casual observer, the undertaking of this project from a design perspective was challenging indeed.To achieve the modification, given the limitations of the existing facility and requirement for reliability, a thorough understanding of the plant design limits, mass balance, and operating procedures was required.
Results.
Installation of a treated makeup water line and control valve to the hotwell effectively reduces the dumping of excess steam by nearly 130,000 lb/hr and saves 175-million Btu/hr of natural gas.