Reducing maintenance costs, extending filter life and ... - GE Energy

GEA19789 TS1000_LR 3/12/12 3:36 PM Page 1
GE Energy
Reducing maintenance costs,
extending filter life and delivering
better performance for gas turbines
operating in harsh environments
TS1000 coalescer engineered for
moisture-rich environments
Tim Nicholas – Lead Development Engineer
Etienne Jarrier – Development Engineer
Pete McGuigan – Senior Engineer
Przemek Nikolin – Product Line Manager

GEA19789 TS1000_LR 3/12/12 3:36 PM Page 2
Reducing maintenance costs, extending filter life
and delivering better performance for gas turbines
operating in harsh environments
Introduction
Coalescers help to remove moisture from the air stream, which protects the
downstream filters and the turbine. This is essential in environments with high
levels of ambient moisture; humidity, rain, fog and mist. Coalescers can also help
to remove liquid phase corrosives, reducing the likelihood of them reaching the
turbine and causing damage.
Coalescers remove moisture by agglomerating water droplets,
making them larger and heavier. This allows a large proportion of
the droplets to drain away rather than continue in the airstream,
which helps avoid these two problems:
• Small liquid droplets allowed to travel downstream can
become embedded between the filter ‘pleats,’ which are the
current standard design for high efficiency filter product. This
impediment to the air can lead to differential pressure ‘spikes.’
For environmental conditions such as fog, that can lead to an
accelerated differential pressure increase and gas turbine alarm
and trip levels being rapidly reached.
Fog, fine
water particles
Air flow direction
Coalescer media fibers
Coalesced droplets
• In addition, small liquid droplets can help form ‘mud.’ This
can happen because of: 1) the associated increase in residence
time, due to the small liquid droplets being embedded within
the pleats rather than flowing vertically down and away;
and 2) the high total droplet surface area associated with
a large quantity of small liquid droplets provides for greater
interaction with any accumulated dust.
In either case—and especially with mud—it’s common to see a
differential pressure ‘spike.’ Unfortunately, the use of a compressed
air pulsing system has a limited effect. The system would have
to exceed normal operating limits to obtain the inertial forces
required to overcome the surface and frictional effects present
and adequately remove the embedded liquid and/or sticky dust.
Fine water droplets
coalesce into
bigger droplets
Gravity force
Dust particles
Figure 1. Coalescers remove moisture by agglomerating water droplets, making them
larger and heavier, droplets then fall from the airstream protecting the downstream
filters and the turbine.
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GE’s TS1000 Low-Maintenance Coalescer
Whether the trouble stems from dust, fog or sand, power plants in moisture-rich
environments need a low-maintenance solution with coalescers to protect both the life
of the high efficiency filters and the performance of the gas turbine. That’s why heavyduty
gas turbines can benefit from a new, low-maintenance coalescer—GE’s TS1000.
The TS1000 delivers good overall coalescing performance with low pressure drop, low maintenance and long service life. In recent tests,
the TS1000 lasted about three times longer than other coalescers before needing to be cleaned. When it does need a cleaning, the work
is much easier and quicker because it can be done without removing the TS1000. And when cleaned correctly, the TS1000 should return
to its original efficiency and pressure loss.
Compare the GE TS1000 with other coalescers:
TS1000 Coalescer with Moisture Separator
Sand and dust pass through the TS1000 coalescer with the
moisture separator after 12 months in operation
Coalescer does not clog with dust and sand as quickly due to the
patent pending media
Other Coalescers
This coalescer was clogged with dust and the filters were forced
out of place, air was then passed through without being coalesced
Filters clogged with sand and dust get forced out of place, air
passed through without being coalesced
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Here’s more on how the TS1000 is superior to today’s coalescers,
and how tests show it works better:
The problem with today’s coalescers
Coalescer media have historically been similar to those employed
for dust filtration. As a result, while wishing to capture only liquid
moisture, they also naturally tended to capture dust. This often
causes block up, a differential pressure increase and, in high
dust environments, three other problems: constant monitoring,
frequent maintenance and frequent coalescer replacement.
For example, in a typical, self-cleaning filter house, the high
efficiency cartridge filters are protected from the elements by
weather hoods. (See Figure 2.) This arrangement, though, provides
Transition
Evaporative
cooler
Filter house
Weather
hood
basic protection only against big, heavy rain droplets. It does not
protect filters against exposure to fine and light fog droplets.
Exposure of the filter elements to fine water particles in the form
of fog will lead to wet filters and reduced filter life, manifested
as high differential pressure across the filters and/or the gas
turbine alarm being reached. If the high efficiency filter is not
hydrophobic (not moisture repellent), then in addition, moisture
droplets (potentially containing salts) will leach through the filters.
The end result may be power output reduction, unplanned
shutdown and eventually damage or even catastrophic failure
of compressor and turbine components.
Coalescers on the market today exhibit problems such as:
• They require frequent replacement, and the downtime involved
in replacing can be extensive.
• They are very difficult to clean and do not return to their original
efficiency and pressure loss.
• Often the dust and sand deposits become so great, they increase
the pressure loss across the coalescer. When that happens, it
triggers a “pressure release” mechanism, and the coalescer pops
up. This allows air to pass through without being coalesced –
removing the protection against fine droplets.
Figure 2. Self-cleaning filter house without moisture separator and TS1000 coalescers
What’s different about the TS1000?
To reduce the risks mentioned in the previous section, GE
recommends that all sites within 12 miles from any body of
water should use weather hoods with two stages of water
removal system. (See Figure 3.)
The first stage is a moisture separator (Figure 4) with coalescing
efficiency down to 50 microns. The second stage is a TS1000
coalescer (Figure 5) that has a 99 percent coalescing efficiency
for water droplets down to 10 microns. It captures and coalesces
Weather hood
Coalescing filter
Moisture separators
Figure 3. A weather hood with two stages of water removal
Figure 4. Moisture separators, efficiency
down to 50 microns
TS1000
Figure 5. TS1000, efficiency for water
droplets down to 10 microns
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GEA19789 TS1000_LR 3/12/12 3:36 PM Page 5
moisture, but has limited dust removal capabilities. Combining the
stages within the weather hood help the coalescing and pressure
loss characteristics of the TS1000, which remain optimized in both
wet and dry conditions.
The reason the TS1000 works better is that the GE team developed
a new technology that uses a different media—100 percent
synthetic high performance woven mesh—and gets different results.
It has very low dust removal efficiency. Even as it catches small
liquid droplets, combines them with larger ones and then drops
them out of the airstream, the TS1000 allows bypass of sand
and dust.
The TS1000 is also easily cleaned. Without being removed, low
pressure cold water or compressed air should restore the filter
to near original efficiency and pressure loss. This helps maintain
output and excellent service life performance.
Figure 6. TS1000 can be washed in place, decreasing maintenance time dramatically
“The TS1000 has excellent fine mist/fog removal effectiveness
with significantly low dust removal efficiency,” said Tim Nicholas,
GE Energy’s Lead Development Engineer. “It provides superb
performance during the fog season with low risk of clog during
a sand storm. In the end, it requires much less attention from the
operator and helps reduce the maintenance to a minimum.”
Field tests
The TS1000 offers a simple design, robust construction and it fits a
range of new and retrofit configurations. To gauge its effectiveness,
GE sent it to the Middle East for 12 months, where it was exposed to
natural contaminants, extreme fog and dust storm conditions.
Afterward, GE further analyzed high efficiency final filters returned
from the field to see how they would react to mist in a laboratory
test chamber. Throughout the laboratory testing, measurements
of differential pressure were taken across the high efficiency filter.
Different configurations of filter protection were added and the test
was re-run, showing the filter reaction with moisture separator
upstream and the effect of the TS1000.
The chart in Figure 7 reflects the results of the filter performance
testing.
• Line one shows the reaction to mist of a final filter without
a moisture separator or coalescer.
• Line two shows a reduced reaction with the addition of a
moisture separator upstream of the final filter.
• Line three shows performance with the TS1000 coalescer
and the moisture separator upstream of the final filter
across seven hours of fog exposure. The differential
pressure immediately begins to trend upward when the
TS1000 was removed. (See the orange line.)
Pressure Loss (inch w.g.)
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Returned Field Filter vs Mist
1 2
Turbine Alarm Point
Removal of TS1000 coalescing
filter showing filter reaction to mist
1. Dirty Filter without TS1000 and Moisture Separator
2. Dirty Filter with Moisture Separator
3. Dirty Filter with TS1000 and Moisture Separator
3
Figure 7. Gauging effectiveness in the Middle East
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On-site monitoring
GE also ran two units side-by-side on site, the TS1000 paired with a
competitor’s coalescer. The installed high efficiency filters were
aged similarly; the only difference—the coalescing technology.
7
6
TS1000 vs Competitior B in Sand Storm Conditions
Competitor Replacement Competitor Replacement
Turbine Alarm Point
TS1000 Wash
A sand storm ripped through the area during July 2011, and as
the system differential pressure was monitored, it showed how
well the TS1000 performed.
• GE’s TS1000 coalescer lasted 2.5 times longer than its
competitor during the event.
Filter House Dp (inch w.g.)
5
4
3
2
• The turbine with the competitor’s coalescer reached the Turbine
Alarm Point twice, and the coalescer needed to be replaced.
• The TS1000 needed to be washed with water only once—just
before the competitor’s coalescer was about to be replaced for a
third time.
1
0
TS1000
Competitor
NOTE: The dotted blue line in the chart indicates a prediction based on performance prior to
time of removal. Actual data not available because the coalescers were removed and needed
to be replaced.
Figure 8. GE’s TS1000 demonstrated longer life in recent tests
• When the TS1000 reached the Turbine Alarm Point, it was
washed in place without being removed.
Fog event
In December 2011, GE went to the same site in the Middle East and
paired the TS1000 with a competitor product during a fog event.
Again GE ran two units side-by-side for both pulse filters and 3rd
stage filtration with similar numbers of fired hours on the filter set.
The only difference: the coalescing technology.
And again, the TS1000 performed much better than its competition.
Table 1 shows change in pressure drop in inch water gage and
shows an increase in pressure loss during the fog event on each
filtration stage. The measurements were taken at the same point
in time, during the fog event, at the most dramatic levels.
“For both pulse filters and 3rd stage filtration,” said one customer,
“it was clear the TS1000 was more effective than the other
coalescing filter. This is what we need in order to have less
maintenance, to have a longer operating life and, in general,
to be more effective.”
Differential pressure during fog event December 2011
Unit with
TS1000
Unit with
competition
Coalescer
inches WG measured across each filter stage
coalescer
Table 1. Performance during the fog event
pulse
filters
3rd stage
system
0.3 0.3 0.2 0.8
0.9 0.8 0.1 1.8
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Summary
The TS1000 helps maintain gas turbine inlet air quality,
whether the harsh environment produces dust, fog
or sand. Not only does it improve overall coalescing
performance, it also delivers low pressure drop, requires
low maintenance and extends service life. In recent
tests, the TS1000 went about three times longer than
other products tested before needing to be cleaned, and
when it did need a cleaning, the work was quicker and
extended the life of the coalescer for up to 12 months.
For more information, please call 1-800-476-9912,
visit http://www.ge-energy.com/gtis or email
filtration@ge.com.
©2012, General Electric Company. All rights reserved.
GEA19789 (02/2012)