5 replies to this topic

[hianbotech]

I would like to know your experience providing direct steam injection.

 

Our cooling water system is installed in a place where the minimum ambient temperature during winter could be as low as -40°C. We are designing a mechanism to add heat in the cooling water system during winter when the plant is down. The proposed design is a direct steam injection in one of the cooling water lines to keep the system in 5°C during this event. One of the cooling water recirculation pumps will be running continuosly. 

 

However I would like to know feedback and different experiences regarding with this type of steam injection. We are worried about the steam hammer effect.

 

As additional information, the amount of steam required will be maximum 1450 kg/h (saturated steam @ 540 kPa).

 

Thanks for your comments

 

 

[Dazzler]

One aspect to keep in mind is that live steam injection will add significant water to the system, therefore may effect the treatment chemical addition needed and the blowdown control.   Perhaps discuss also with your water treatment vendor company.

Dazzler

[hianbotech]

Thanks Dazzled, however the steam flowrate is very low compare with the Cooling water flowrate. The cooling water flowrate is 3000 m3/hr and the amount of steam to be injected in the water is just 1.5 m3/hr. This mode of operation will be for a couple of days, every two o three years.

[katmar]

If you simply connect a 3" pipe directly into your cooling water line you will get serious hammer.  The trick is to keep the bubbles of steam small.  There are proprietary devices available (eg from Spirax Sarco) for direct addition of steam that will do it quietly and without vibration.  The steam rate you require is higher than is usually used for this type of application, and you may need to install several of them.

[breizh]

http://www.pro-sonix...parger_1209.pdf

 

Consider this resource .Principles are described .

 

Hope this helps

 

Breizh 

[hianbotech]

Thanks for your recommendations. The decision in the project was not used direct steam injection, We will use a heat exchanger to provide heat to the cooling water using steam as heating medium.