Protecting Heat Recovery Steam Generators against corrosion during shutdown
The Challenge
EPUKI acquired the South Humber Bank Power Station site from Centrica in 2017. EPUKI owns and operates a number of other power stations in the UK.
There are five Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSGs) at South Humber Bank in which Lake Engineering Solutions have been involved in the application and re-application of these generators with VpCI® 337 since 2012, during periods of shutdown or when corrosion issues have occurred.
In this instance two HRSGs were offline and needed to be preserved for several months until switching them back online.
The Solution
VpCI® 337 was fogged at different levels in the HRSGs at the required volume to give the required protection of up to 12 months.
Carbon steel panels were hung after the application inside and outside the treated areas for future corrosion reference.
Vapour phase corrosion inhibitors in VpCI® 337 migrate and protect metals surfaces, resulting in time and cost savings. It is a complete replacement for nitrogen blanketing and dry air systems that are expensive to install and maintain. Nitrogen blankets are also a health hazard to personnel entering the interiors.
Customer Testimonial
“As part of a short term preservation issue, two of our HRSG tube banks and header modules within the units required corrosion prevention to get through a cold winter period, which involved partly applying dehumidifiers along with anti-corrosion measures.
This technique had been used by our station some years ago during another long term preservation period and was very successful in reducing any corrosion within the unit and elimination of any corrosion dust prevention at start up.
The service engineers that applied the solutions have worked in this field for many years and as per usual worked very safely, completed the works in a very safe and timely manner, and provided well documented safety information.” Malcolm Fleming – Mechanical Engineer, South Humber Bank Power Station.
