The Pop & Swing Of Economiser Cleaning Success
Most successful outcomes in industry are the result of the ‘appliance of science’. The success story I’d like to share with you today is a great example of that, except that it has one more ingredient - the ability to pop and swing!
One of my earliest blog posts recalled a trip to London to visit London Waste, a rather special power generation plant which converts household waste to energy. They were struggling with material build-up in one of the boiler economisers. Steam soot blowers, water sprays, manual cleaning and grit blasting had hitherto been their adopted methods of economiser cleaning but were not proving effective enough. Also it was not cost effective with periodic downtime of up to 3 days and a cost implication of circa £70,000. So the plant manager was eager to try our acoustic cleaners. Naturally, he needed to discuss the idea in detail to be sure that it was the right choice, hence my trip.
However, the success story that resulted might never have happened had I declined the invitation to take a closer look at the economiser section itself. The plant manager was lithe and fit whereas I …. well, let’s just say I was in a different class, so several leaps of faith were required.
His instructions of “Just pop through that hatch up there” and “Just swing your legs round here” still echo in my mind with a sense of fear and trepidation – and that’s five years on!
The reward for my endeavours? The following year saw 1 x PAS 60 curved acoustic cleaner and 2 of our PAS 75 units installed at the plant.
Two years further on and the plant was so pleased with the improved efficiency of the struggling economiser that a further 4 x curved PAS60 and 8 x PAS 75 were purchased and installed to help the remaining 4 boiler economisers.
Another two years later (early 2013), I was invited to return to the plant to look at the problems caused by fine ash in their filter bank (blocking of the filter bags). Following my recommendations, a series of our acoustic cleaners was installed in all these units. (Another story in itself, details of which will come later!)
I am most grateful to London Waste for entrusting their business to my company and also for granting permission to publish a detailed case study which is now available on our website. You can read and download the pdf by visiting our case studies page.
One of my earliest blog posts recalled a trip to London to visit London Waste, a rather special power generation plant which converts household waste to energy. They were struggling with material build-up in one of the boiler economisers. Steam soot blowers, water sprays, manual cleaning and grit blasting had hitherto been their adopted methods of economiser cleaning but were not proving effective enough. Also it was not cost effective with periodic downtime of up to 3 days and a cost implication of circa £70,000. So the plant manager was eager to try our acoustic cleaners. Naturally, he needed to discuss the idea in detail to be sure that it was the right choice, hence my trip.
However, the success story that resulted might never have happened had I declined the invitation to take a closer look at the economiser section itself. The plant manager was lithe and fit whereas I …. well, let’s just say I was in a different class, so several leaps of faith were required.
His instructions of “Just pop through that hatch up there” and “Just swing your legs round here” still echo in my mind with a sense of fear and trepidation – and that’s five years on!
The reward for my endeavours? The following year saw 1 x PAS 60 curved acoustic cleaner and 2 of our PAS 75 units installed at the plant.
Two years further on and the plant was so pleased with the improved efficiency of the struggling economiser that a further 4 x curved PAS60 and 8 x PAS 75 were purchased and installed to help the remaining 4 boiler economisers.
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| PAS75 acoustic cleaner installed on economiser |
Another two years later (early 2013), I was invited to return to the plant to look at the problems caused by fine ash in their filter bank (blocking of the filter bags). Following my recommendations, a series of our acoustic cleaners was installed in all these units. (Another story in itself, details of which will come later!)
I am most grateful to London Waste for entrusting their business to my company and also for granting permission to publish a detailed case study which is now available on our website. You can read and download the pdf by visiting our case studies page.
Labels: acoustic cleaning, boiler cleaning, economiser, london waste, pas-60, pas-75, waste to energy
posted by Don Cameron at
8:00 AM
