Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100492

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Results in Engineering
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Control of condensate dissolved oxygen in steam surface condenser.

Reconstruction experience
Artem Vodeniktov a, Valeriia Melnikova b, *, Azamat Minibaev a, Nikita Lazarev b
a
Kazan State Power Engineering University, 420066, Kazan, Str. Krasnoselskaya, 51, Russia
b
Bauman Moscow State Technical University, 105005, Moscow, 2nd, Baumaskay St, 5-1, Russia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Dissolved oxygen concentration in the steam turbine condenser significantly influences the failure-free operation
Condenser of the power unit.
Steam turbine Despite the wide range of recommendations and operating experience, there are still condenser working re­
Thermal test
gimes with abnormal dissolved oxygen concentration.
Dissolved oxygen
Deaeration
Taking into account the importance of water chemistry, there is a need to pay additional attention to the root
causes of the described problem.
This paper contains the results analysis of the deaerating tests on the full and part loads before and after
condenser reconstruction. The main reason for the high dissolved oxygen concentration was determined. After
the reconstruction, the average concentration of dissolved oxygen decreased from 174 μg to 22.7. At the nominal
load of the turbine, the average concentration before the reconstruction was 99 μg. After the reconstruction, it
was possible to reach values of 14 μg, meanwhile the increase in electricity consumption for own needs
amounted to 21.6 MW per month.
Despite the test codes recommendations, this study methodology involves changing the drainage input and
studying its effect on the dissolved oxygen concentration over a wide range of changes in steam turbine loads.
This made it possible to evaluate the effect of a specific drainage flow on the dissolved oxygen concentration.

1. Introduction
Despite the growth of renewable energy sources [1–5], steam tur­
bines remain the most important part of the Unified Power System of
Russia [6]. The most important part of the turbines of thermal power
plants (TPP) and nuclear power plants is the condenser. This device,
which is a heat exchanger, ensures the reliability and efficiency of both
the turbine and the power unit. In some cases, the condenser also per­
forms the functions of a mains water heater [7]. As the analysis shows
[8], condensers are often “shell-and-tube” type heat exchangers. The
main tasks in the field of improving heat exchangers remain to reduce
losses and increase the efficiency of heat transfer [9–11]. As practice
shows, during evaluating the condenser operation, little attention is paid
to its deaerating efficiency [12].
Generally, in the case of a steam turbine condenser, condensate could
be defined as steam that has been condensed back into the water by
lowering its temperature. This decrease in temperature is achieved via
cooling water, which runs inside the cooling tubes.
Steam surface condenser could be considered as the first stage of the
deaeration at the feedwater heating system. The deaeration process
occurs during heating the falling recently formed condensate via exhaust
steam. Uncondensed steam moves into, around and underneath the
bundle, whilst condensate (formed within the bundle) cascades down
through the tube bundle and eventually into the hotwell area. Hotwell is
used for condensate storage for a short period (about 5 min). Usually,
other drains are directed into hotwell where it mixes with exhaust steam
condensate, and it all is extracted by the condensate pumps.
In the ideal case, the temperature of the leaving condensate should
be equal to the saturation temperature directly corresponding to the
operating pressure (backpressure) of the condenser. But, in practice, the
condensate temperature is lower, then a saturation temperature. When
the temperature of the condensate is depressed from that of the satu­
ration temperature, this is known as sub-cooling and is detrimental to
cycle efficiency. The ability of a surface condenser to produce conden­
sate, at the saturation temperature without any sub-cooling, is consid­
ered an important efficiency metric.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: vodeniktov@yahoo.com (A. Vodeniktov), melnikovabg@bmstu.ru (V. Melnikova), minibaev-a@list.ru (A. Minibaev).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2022.100492
Received 12 May 2022; Received in revised form 31 May 2022; Accepted 11 June 2022
Available online 16 June 2022
2590-1230/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
A. Vodeniktov et al. Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100492

Once condensate leaves the condenser, it will eventually enter a feed

pump, after which the condensate becomes feedwater; moving onto a
boiler, or a reactor, or a heat recovery steam generator, etc. Rather than
deal with this issue in the feedwater, it is better to reduce the dissolved
oxygen levels within the condensate prior to it leaving the condenser
hotwell and entering the feed pump [13].
Many factors can be the reasons for a high dissolved oxygen con­
centration problem, for example: air leaks, an unsuccessful flow pattern
of steam and exhaust inside the condenser, as well as the quality of
make-up water and drains.

2. Materials and methods

2.1. System description

During the K-210-130 steam turbine operation, operating modes

with an increased concentration of dissolved oxygen in the condensate
were observed. Although, the increase in oxygen concentration at low
load can be explained by the increase in sub-cooling of condensate due
to low exhaust steam flow, the expansive growth of oxygen concentra­
tion at nominal load remained unclear.
The K-210-130 steam turbine produced by the Leningrad Metal Plant
(LMZ) is a well-studied machine. Since the beginning of production in
the 60s of the 20th century, many tests have been carried out (including
the test of the steam surface condenser 200-KCS-2). However, the
problem with periodically increased oxygen content was encountered
only at the described TPP.
At the first stage of the study, drainage schemes directed to the
condenser were studied from three power plants where K-210-130 tur­
bines are in operation. The main difference between the described
power plant scheme and the other was that the flows from the drain tank
were directed to the condenser, while in other cases, there was no such
pipeline. Obviously, that the operating modes of pipelines can affect the
connected equipment [14].
In the Rules of Technical Operation of Russian power plants, the
chemistry of make-up water sent to the condenser is not regulated.
However, both domestic and foreign documents provide recommenda­
tions on the steam and water flows organization in the condenser. So, if
the drainage needs deaeration, it is necessary to ensure its entry into the
steam space of the condenser, increasing the time and area of contact
between steam and water to ensure maximum oxygen desorption.
In the case of the studied steam surface condenser, the flow of make-
up water equals 10% of the nominal steam flow into the condenser did
not cause an increase in the dissolved oxygen concentration in the
condenser (as it was shown in Ref. [15]). However, the make-up water is
added above the tube bundle, as recommended by the US Heat Exchange
Institute (HEI) standard [16].
The studied 200-KCS-2 condenser has a typical design, like most of
the LMZ steam surface condensers. The condenser consists of two shells,
each of which can work separately, and each shell is made two-path
flow. The total cooling area is 9000 m2. Tube length is 8055 mm, tube
diameter - 30/28 mm. The condenser tube bundle has a tape-type design
[17]. The condenser drawing is shown in Fig. 1. Cooling water is pum­
ped by two circulation pumps (OPV-2-110 KE) with volume flow range
10 800–14500 m3/h. The condenser unit includes two main three-stage
vacuum steam ejectors, type EP-3-750 and one starting ejector, type
EP-1-1100-1. Condensate is pumped from condenser through
low-pressure regeneration system into condenser by three condensate
pumps (KSV 320–160) with a volume flow rate 320 m3/h.
Fig. 1. Scheme of the condenser main elements.
head measurement.
During the study we conducted two series of experiments. The tests
were carried out on a working K-210-130 LMZ turbine. The additional
water flow into the condenser could not be kept constant and varied in
the range from 0 to 50 t/h. This circumstance is explained by the fact
that the station changed the condensate and steam consumption for its
own needs. The relationship between the turbine electric power and the
main, reheat and condenser steam flow is shown in Fig. 2.
The electrical load varied according to the dispatch schedule by
turbine control gear from 87.8 MW to 202.3 MW. There is no thermal
load on the turbine, i.e. the steam flow to the turbine and condenser
varied proportionally to the electrical load. This circumstance made it
possible to evaluate the deaeration performance of the condenser in
different modes.
The concentration of dissolved oxygen at the head of condensate
pumps was measured using stationary oxygen meters. The measurement
discreteness was 5 min. The average concentration value per hour was
taken as the final value. In the first series of the experiment, a design
scheme for draining drains into a condenser was used.
At the next stage of the study, the inspection of the condenser drains
and drain tank was carried out. Drains from the drain tank flow directly
into hotwell, without contact with exhaust steam. Thereby, a violation
of the HEI recommendations was found.
The troubleshooting guide of the Heat Exchange Institute of the USA
recommends that, at high levels of oxygen in the condensate, check the
sources of additional water and drains. However, in the condenser under
consideration, additional water is introduced into the transit section.
Thus, the introduction of additional water cannot cause such a deteri­
oration in the quality of deaeration (especially in nominal modes).
In addition, it is necessary to take into account that the drainage tank
of the power unit is a container into which flows with different

2.2. Experiment description

During the tests conducting the authors were guided by the re­
quirements set out in Refs. [18,19].
At the first stage of the study we carried out the condenser thermal
tests with the dissolved oxygen concentration at the condensate pumps Fig. 2. K-210-130 turbine flow characteristics.

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A. Vodeniktov et al. Results in Engineering 15 (2022) 100492

indicators of water chemistry is directed. Thus, both low-oxygen and

high-oxygen flows can be directed into the drainage tank. A feature of
the design of this tank is the connection with the atmosphere, which
guarantees the saturation of water with oxygen.
In the standard of the US Institute of Heat Exchange, the recom­
mended location for the introduction of additional water and drains is
above the tube bundle (or between the upper and lower tubes). How­
ever, in the [20], a different version of the drainage and additional water
deaeration system was proposed. It consists of embedding bubbling
chambers and perforated sheets in several tiers into the condenser hot­
well. As a result, thermal deaeration of the entire condensate occurs.
However, given the technological complexity of this solution, a different
option was chosen.
Taking into account the relatively small drainage costs from the
drainage tank, it was decided to install a perforated pipe for spraying Fig. 4. Condenser deaeration performance after reconstruction.
drains with a high concentration of oxygen over the upper tubes. During
operation, another pipeline was installed, allowing water to be sprayed
value of 35 μg.
from the drain tank over the condenser tubes. Due to the difference
between the installation level, this hydraulic scheme is demanding the
4. Conclusions
additional water pump.
The reconstruction of the condenser, although it made it possible to
3. Results
achieve regulated values of the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the
condensate at the nominal operating modes of the turbine, did not
In the first series of tests, a prolonged excess of the regulated con­
eliminate the problem of increased oxygen content in the condensate.
centration of dissolved oxygen was observed in all operating modes.
On the one hand, the presence of an additional pump increases
After directing drains from the drainage tank to the condenser, the
operating costs; on the other hand, the use of the original scheme almost
concentration of dissolved oxygen increased from 13 μg to 113 μg at an
always provided an excess of the dissolved oxygen concentration.
electrical load of 198 MW.
The inclusion of an additional pump during the operation of the
The graph of oxygen concentration changes is shown in Fig. 3. As can
power unit leads to the following costs:where W is the power of the
be seen from the graph, multiple excesses of the permissible oxygen
pump electric engine. The total value of the additional power con­
concentration are observed in all operating modes of the turbine.
sumption will be
With a decrease in the steam flow into the condenser, a sharp in­
crease in the concentration of dissolved oxygen was recorded to the 30 kW * 24h * 30 days = 21 600 kWh
values of 235 μg at an electrical load of 90 MW. This deterioration is due
to the fact that as the exhaust steam consumption decreases, the partial If the utilization factor of the installed capacity of the power unit is
air pressure increases (especially in the lower part of the condenser) due 0.6, then the average annual overspending of electricity for own needs
to the growth of the vapor-air mixture cooling zone. This phenomenon is will be 155.52 MW.
represented in Russian and foreign literature. The economic benefit of reducing the concentration of dissolved
The graph also shows that the concentration of dissolved oxygen in oxygen in the condensate is quite difficult to assess. This is due to the
the feedwater after the deaerator does not exceed the standard values. fact that the concentration of oxygen in the condensate does not directly
This is ensured by the presence of a deaerator in the regenerative heating affect fuel overspending. However, it affects the corrosion rate of the
system. Thus, the high concentration of dissolved oxygen in the equipment. Due to the fact that the corrosion process is quite long, and
condensate leads to the intensification of the equipment located in the its consequences cannot manifest themselves quickly enough, we can
“condenser-deaerator” section, which includes: condensate pipelines, only assume that the number of equipment breakdowns caused by its
low-pressure heaters, condensate pumps. corrosion should decrease over time. I.e. the period of inter-repair
In the second part of the experiment, after the reconstruction of the maintenance of the above-described equipment of the low-pressure
drainage pipeline, the dissolved oxygen concentration values changed regeneration system will increase.
significantly. The results are shown in Fig. 4. At a load of 199.4 MW, the As the results of testing of the condenser have shown, the addition of
oxygen concentration in the condensate was 14 μg. At reduced loads of an additional water flow requiring deaeration to the transit zone does
90.52 MW, there was an excess of the norm of oxygen concentration, on not worsen the conditions of additional water deaeration. On the con­
average, by 1.5 times. The oxygen concentration reached an average trary, such a scheme of water and steam flows provides the necessary
deaeration at modes close to nominal.
However, it is necessary to develop further solutions to reduce the
concentration of dissolved oxygen at low turbine loads.

Credit author statement

Vodeniktov: Thermal tests сarrying, data preparation, original

calculation.; Melnikova: Supervision, literature analysis, Writing and
Editing; Minibaev: Water chemistry analyzation.; Lazarev: Calculation
verification.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

Fig. 3. Condenser deaeration performance before reconstruction. interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence

3
A. Vodeniktov et al.
the work reported in this paper.
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