Indiantown Cogen Improves Plant Performance with CCI Replacement

Indiantown 330 MW Cogeneration plant was experiencing lot of problems with one of the existing feedwater regulators. The valve (a ported cage design) had problems such as binding, trim erosion, frequent packing leaks and leakage through the valve under closed condition. Thus the valve was a continuous maintenance item involving costly manpower, material and downtime. The customer was so frustrated that the valve was more or less abandoned.

Lack of velocity control resulting in trim erosion, leakage and other problems are a result of inadequately designed valves. Factors such as excessive unwarranted leakage and unavailability of the valve result in longer startups, and in some cases limitation on the plant generation capability. The leakage through the valve under closed conditions leads to erratic drum level control affecting the performance and efficiency of the plant.

To avoid this, Indiantown Cogeneration plant will replace the cage valve with an 8-in (200-mm) DRAG® globe valve. This valve has a design pressure of 4450 psig (307 BarG), and temperatures of up to 495 F (257 C). It is CCI’s DRAG® trim technology that will allow for the valve’s ability to handle conditions from the startup (high differential pressure, low flow) to full load (low differential pressure, high flow). This provides a long-term solution by introducing velocity control to eliminate the existing problems of trim erosion and frequent maintenance.

Published in SOLUTIONS Fall 2001