If you’ve experienced duct burner deterioration and failure in your Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSGs), you’re not alone. This is a frequent challenge, especially in the supplementary firing areas where conditions are extremely harsh. The problem becomes even more pronounced in aging plants, where equipment is increasingly vulnerable to wear and tear.
Duct burners operate in some of the most extreme environments, enduring hurricane-force winds and blistering temperatures around the clock. Given these harsh operational conditions, burners are exposed to numerous factors that can cause deterioration.
Inadequate or improperly engineered equipment often leads to issues such as burner failure or fractures. These include inadequate support systems, improper prior repairs, unsuitable material selection, non-uniform flue gas patterns, thermal oxidation, and creep damage.
Unfortunately, some plants opt to replace faulty equipment with identical components, leading to repeated failures, costly shutdowns, and unnecessary replacement expenses.
Buckled Active Runner on Grid Burner
At Tetra Engineering, we believe the focus should be on engineering solutions that address these underlying issues, ensuring your facility operates reliably and efficiently for years to come.
Recently, Tetra Engineering successfully conducted two Root Cause Failure Analyses (RCFA) on duct burners at natural gas-fired power plants, each equipped with a double-pressure HRSG. Our investigations aimed to identify and resolve the root causes of failures in these critical components and resulted in the plant conducting a redesign and retrofit of the burners.
Tetra Engineering has been performing HRSG Inspections for over 30 years with 1000s of Inspections to date. We provide an integrated service that supports Owners and Operators throughout the full HRSG life-cycle. In addition to the HRSG Inspections we also perform HRSG Condition Assessments, in which we review not only the present condition of the HRSG Unit but also how historical operation has affected its integrity.
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Our goal is to protect the value of your investments and improve the performance of your assets.
Since 2007, the ASME B31.1 Power Piping Code has included mandatory requirements on the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) of Covered Piping Systems (CPS), previously called High-Energy Piping. The main concern is that the safety of these systems is very dependent on good O&M, which justifies its inclusion in the Construction Code. There is room for flexibility depending on individual circumstances but the responsibility is squarely laid on the Operating Company.
Tetra Engineering Group can provide your plant with expertise to prepare your NERC EOP-12 Cold Weather Readiness submittal. Our experience in cold weather issues goes back for many years of projects from Alaska to Mexico
Impact of Startup Purge Credit on Combined Cycle Plant Operation
Normal boiler and Heat Recovery Steam Generator Operation have required a complete purge of the boiler by fresh air before startup firing to remove potentially explosive fuels and other substances from the boiler/HRSG. For power plants in daily two-shift cycling (or more frequent starts) this not only adds time to the startup sequence but can impose significant thermal stresses on hot components exposed to cooler purge air.
