| Title | Online Steam Purity Analysis for Geothermal Power Generation |
|---|---|
| Authors | I.M. Richardson, D.R. Addison, S.J. Addison, T.J. Gresham and R.J. Lawson |
| Year | 2016 |
| Conference | New Zealand Geothermal Workshop |
| Keywords | Steam purity, online, silica, sodium, conductivity, scaling, turbine, geothermal |
| Abstract | Steam purity can have a major impact on steam turbine performance and reliability. Online steam purity monitoring is considered standard practice in thermal and nuclear power plants with steam turbines to enable the rapid identification of out of specification steam purity that could lead to turbine damage. Steam purity is not routinely monitored in real time in geothermal power plants for a variety of reasons including the difficulty of conditioning samples for analysis with online instrumentation. This is as a result of high levels of non-condensable gases that interfere with analysis techniques, as well as concerns as to whether a steam sample is representative of the bulk steam flow due to the two-phase nature of many geothermal steam supplies. Operators may also have concerns about what actions they have available to them to improve steam purity should it be found to be insufficient. This paper describes the considerations to be taken into account when developing online steam purity monitoring systems for geothermal power plants. A case study demonstrating some of the benefits of geothermal steam purity monitoring is also discussed. |