Condensate polishing is one of the most technically demanding filtration applications in power generation. The condensate treatment system must maintain strict water quality standards across multiple distinct operational phases, each of which places different demands on the filtration and ion exchange equipment. For subcritical coal-fired generating units, where condensate quality directly affects boiler reliability and the longevity of turbine internals, any compromise in filtration integrity carries serious consequences for plant safety and efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huaneng Group’s Gansu Power Plant operates subcritical, direct air-cooled coal-fired generating units configured with a single-powder fine treatment system for condensate polishing. Each unit’s fine treatment system is equipped with two powder-coated filters operating in a membrane-laying mode, with a maximum throughput capacity of 999 t\/h per unit. Each filter housing contains 380 wound filter elements, with a membrane-laying capacity of 106 kg of resin powder per cycle. This configuration provides the combined iron and salt removal functions necessary to maintain condensate quality through the full range of operating conditions, including unit startup, deep load regulation, and normal load operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The central challenge presented by this system design is that the demands on the filtration media differ significantly between these operational phases. During startup and deep load regulation, condensate chemistry is less stable and pressure transients are more pronounced, creating conditions under which resin powder retained on the surface of the wound filter elements is susceptible to breaking free and migrating downstream. Resin powder leakage from powder-coated filters during these phases poses a direct risk to downstream equipment and the overall safety of the condensate treatment circuit. Resolving this risk while preserving the system’s iron and salt removal performance across all operational phases required a filter element design that was not available as a standard product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We developed a custom composite wound filter element specifically for this application. The design addresses the functional requirements of each operational phase individually, incorporating a two-layer construction that combines media optimized for iron removal with media selected for effective salt removal and resin powder retention. The stainless steel porous centre core provides the structural rigidity required to withstand the instantaneous pressure impacts generated during resin membrane bursting and backflush cycles without deformation, while the inner layer construction prevents polypropylene fibre migration into the condensate stream. This structural integrity is critical to maintaining operational safety in the condensate treatment system over extended service periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The composite filter element fully resolved the resin powder leakage issue that had posed a safety risk during startup and deep load shedding, while maintaining the water quality standards required during normal operation. The solution demonstrated that addressing the distinct filtration demands of different operational phases within a single custom element design is technically achievable and operationally advantageous in high-criticality power plant condensate applications.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"class_list":["post-10684","case-study","type-case-study","status-publish"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"trp-custom-language-flag":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"marc","author_link":"https:\/\/www.staging.pullnerfilter.com\/ar\/author\/ecomexperts\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Condensate polishing is one of the most technically demanding filtration applications in power generation. The condensate treatment system must maintain strict water quality standards across multiple distinct operational phases, each of which places different demands on the filtration and ion exchange equipment. For subcritical coal-fired generating units, where condensate quality directly affects boiler reliability and…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.staging.pullnerfilter.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case-study\/10684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.staging.pullnerfilter.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case-study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.staging.pullnerfilter.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case-study"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.staging.pullnerfilter.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.staging.pullnerfilter.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}