Condensate Polisher Shipped to Canada

Recently, we shipped a sodium cycle condensate polisher to Ontario, Canada for a combined cycle power plant.  The system was constructed entirely of 304 stainless steel.

Sodium Cycle Condensate Polisher for Ontario Power Plant

The features of this system include:

Company	Combined Cycle Power plant
Water Treatment Application	Condensate Polisher to scavenge trace hardness and iron from returning condensate
Savings and/or ROI	Loss Prevention keeping heat transfer surfaces clean and reliable for years of trouble free operation
Operating Conditions	Return Condensate flow rate is between 30-90 gpm
System Configuration	24” diameter Simplex
Materials Of Construction	304 Stainless Steel, CRN code stamped pressure vessel
Piping Construction	All Welded and Flanged Face 304 Stainless Steel piping
Type Of Valves And Actuators	All Bray valve Lug style-  150 ANSI flanges
Control Philosophy	Customer supplied their own PLC panel. Res-Kem supplied the enclosure with DIN rail mounted solenoids. Enclosure also had room for customer supplied HMI
Options	CRN code stamped pressure vessel Sub-surface wash

 

304 Stainless Steel Sub-Surface Wash and Hub and Laterals Distributors

 

Condensate Polisher Shipped to New Jersey University

Last week, Res-Kem shipped a condensate polisher to a New Jersey university.  This condensate polisher will be installed as part of a new onsite power production facility at the university operated by an independent energy development company.  They will produce power for the university under a DBOM (Design, Build, Operate, Maintain) agreement. Excess power produced gets sold to the PJM.

Dual, Skid Mounted Stainless Steel Condensate Polisher with Headers

Customer	An independent energy development company specializing in the development, engineering, construction, start up, commissioning, operation, maintenance and management, as well as, ownership of Central Energy Centers, Renewable Energy projects and Combined Heat, Chilling and Power  Production Facilities.
General water treatment application	Two large 48”X60” sodium cycle condensate polisher for removal of contaminants in the return condensate and the return condensate from the steam driven chillers on-site
Savings and/or ROI the customer wants to achieve	Fuel and chemical saving related to the removal of iron and calcium from the condensate streams and ultimately the boiler feedwater
Operating conditions	250 gpm max, 150 gpm continuous operating at 180F
System configuration	Twin parallel / Alternating system
Materials of construction	Skid mounted 304 SS pressure vessels Schedule 10 welded /flanged face piping
Type of valves and actuators	Bray valves with Bray actuators
System Control	Allen Bradley PLC operates the system as alternating or parallel
System schematic	Polisher collectively handles two condensate streams – return condensate from campus and condensate from steam driven chillers
Special Features	Sample cooler mounted on skid which can sample the inlet and outlet of each vessel Inlet and outlet headers between each system on skid

Additional Information:
Listing of Condensate Polishers Built by Res-Kem
Online Catalog of Res-Kem Condensate Polishing Equipment
Condensate Polisher Technical Bulletin
Condensate Polisher Application Checklist 
For Technical Help From a Res-Kem Sales and Application Engineer

Condensate Polishing System Shipped to University in Rhode Island

A condensate polisher was shipped last week to a university in Rhode island to treat their steam condensate to save energy, reduce water usage and reduce water treatment chemical usage.

Res-Kem Dual Tank Condensate Polishers Designed to Treat a Maximum of 300 gpm

What is the Res-Kem water treatment application?	Sodium cycle condensate polishing to remove iron and hardness
What are the operating conditions?	Flow: Maximum of 150 gpm/vessel Pressure: 30-100 psi Temperature: Maximum of 200F Continuous
What is the system configuration?	Dual tank, parallel operation 30” in diameter tanks
What ion exchange resin was used?	15 cubic feet of Purolite C-150 highly cross-linked macroporous cation exchange resin in each tank
Materials of construction?	304 SS ASME code with a 100 psig design pressure 304 SS Hub and Lateral Galvanized Schedule 40 Flanged and Threaded Face Piping
Type of Valves?	AquaMatic High Temperature diaphragm valves

Additional Information:
Listing of Condensate Polishers Built by Res-Kem
Online Catalog of Res-Kem Condensate Polishing Equipment
Condensate Polisher Technical Bulletin
Condensate Polisher Application Checklist 
Purolite C-150 Technical Bulletin
For Technical Help From a Res-Kem Sales and Application Engineer

Amazing Craftsmanship of Condensate Polisher from Res-Kem

I need to acknowledge the excellent, American craftsmanship which goes into our condensate polishers!  It may be the engineer in me, because this is an amazing piece of work!  My kudos go to:

• Tony, our Lead Design Engineer who had to design the vessel, the vessel penetrations, pad flanges, internal clips and its internals with amazing accuracy (and I am certain a few sleepless nights!). 
• Shane, our Lead Assembly Person who had to go into this vessel and assemble Tony's creation, piece by piece day after day. 

This attention to detail is particularly admirable when it is likely no one will see ever see these distributors, header and laterals again! 

As we know, the things you cannot see separate the highest quality product from others.     



Condensate Polisher Internal Components in 316 L Stainless Steel from Res-Kem



 You are looking from the top of this photo to the bottom:

• Inlet distributor
• Brine Distributor
• Sub-surface was distributor
• Hub and Lateral underdrain

You have too realize everything you see takes place in a 54 inch diameter tank that is approximately 84 inches tall!  Shane had to squeeze through a 14 inch x 18 inch elliptical manway and Bill, who assisted Shane, had to give each piece to Shane through the same manway!

For more information:
Technical bulletin on Res-Kem's Condensate Polishers
Res-Kem's Condensate Polisher Portfolio Page of Recent Equipment
Checklist to Properly Size Your Condensate Polisher
If you need technical help

Composite Fiberglass Softeners Versus Lined Carbon Steel Softeners

Epoxy Coated Dual Tank Water Softener with Optional Stainless Steel Piping

Here are a few pro's and con's for a lined carbon steel softener option and a composite fiberglass softener system

Advantages of carbon steel lined softener system:

• Lined carbon steel system has top man ways and side wall handholes. Having these access points to get to the resin bed and underdrain hub and lateral can be extremely helpful when changing the resin. Changing the resin can take place every 3-8 years and is contingent on chlorine levels in raw water. 
• If the underdrain fails the lined carbon steel tank would stay in place with face piping left in-tact. The repairs could be accomplished from the side wall handholes. 
• Lined carbon steel tank can resist being damaged with a passing forklift or other moving equipment 
• If power fails and water pressure is still available, the unit can be generated manually. This is done by manually turning the pilot stager to each service cycle for the specified time in the step. 
• If a temporary vacuum was ever introduced on a lined carbon steel tank it would likely not have any damages to the liner or tank. 
• Higher flow rates can be achieved with lower pressure drops on 2" inlet/outlet 30" diameter carbon steel softener system versus a fiberglass system same tank diameter using a Fleck 2" 2900 valve

Disadvantages of a carbon steel lined system: 

• Lined carbon steel pressure vessel softeners are more costly and more expensive to assemble
• Longer lead times associated with these systems (4-8 weeks) 
• Lined carbon steel tanks make for a lot of condensation and unlike fiberglass tanks aren't as resistant to corrosion even with a primed and painted exterior
• Longer Lead Time to procure system components and to build the softener system

Manual Fiberglass Water Softener 

Advantages of a composite fiberglass tank softener system:

• Lower cost materials to build the softener system 
• A spare identical multi-port valve and control can be kept as a complete spare and be changed out in kind.
• Shorter lead time. valves and composite fiberglass tanks are readily available. (1 - 3 weeks)
• Pressure vessel is resistant to corrosion from tank condensation

Disadvantages of a composite fiberglass tank softener system: 

• Can't withstand a vacuum being drawn on the tank. A lined composite fiberglass vessel under a vacuum would likely have a polyethylene liner failure. For this reason a vacuum breaker should be installed in a tee on the inlet water piping.
• The piping needs to be supported by framework and the connections to the tank need to be flexible. 
• On a fiberglass tank softener system if the hub and lateral needs to be changed the tank would have to be lowered down to the ground in order to reach in and replace the hub and lateral 
• In order to change resin, the unions on the multi-port valve inlet, outlet and drain would need to be broken and the multi-port valve must be to unthreaded from the top of the tank. If this is done multiple times over a short period of time, the tank threads are prone to leaking
• If seismic specifications are needed on the pressure vessels, fiberglass tanks shouldn't be selected 
• If there is an electrical power failure the multi-port valve is not operable and the unit can't be regenerated
• The commerically available controllers that are available with multi-port valve softeners are local only and integration with a PLC is not possible in most cases

Corroding Condensate Polishers

I have written several posts about Res-Kem's reasons for manufacturing our condensate polishers in stainless steel. Here are two lessons why this is important.

What happened?
Within the past two weeks, we have been contacted by two different facilities managers who purchased sodium cycle condensate polishers from companies other than Res-Kem. The tanks on their systems are corroding through in 16-18 months!

What is the cause?
In an effort to save money on the capital cost of the condensate polishers, the ion exchange resin tanks were purchased with epoxy coated carbon steel. Slight and relatively common imperfections in the lining, coupled with the treatment of hot condensate caused rapid failure of the tanks.

While we understand and live with the same pressures everyone is under to reduce capital expenditures, the decision to use coated steel tanks will cost them much more money in a very short period of time. A stainless steel polisher will operate for many years with minimal routine maintenance.

What is the solution?
Unfortunately, these two systems cannot be salvaged. We have proposals at each of these companies for us to replace these corroding condensate polishers with two new systems fabricated completely stainless steel including the tanks, tank internals, face piping and valves.

What is the lesson?
If you want to maximize the huge energy and water treatment chemical savings a condensate polisher provides, please only buy a polishing system in stainless steel.

Stainless Steel Condensate Polisher with Bray Valves

Res-Kem just completed another condensate polisher manufactured in stainless steel. This system uses our standard design with optional butterfly valves.


The vessel is manufactured from 304L stainless steel with 100 psi ASME code construction. Pipe assemblies are welded Schedule 10 304L stainless steel piping. This single unit condensate polisher has an added feature of automatic bypass. The customer required our optional Bray butterfly valve design.

The actuators are air open/spring return so the valves can work with the GE Aquamatic 962 series stager controller.

Regeneration is initiated by either:

• Gallon throughput


• High differential pressure


• Timeclock

Additional Information:
Condensate Polisher Product Bulletin
The white paper, "Condensate Polisher Savings of 23% Realized Through Value Engineering", shows how a value engineering team yielded the best condensate polishing system for the money.