Chemical Engineering February 2023 - 14

Armstrong
Steam-trap optimization
In addition to professional
steam-system assessments and
services, such as steam-trap
maintenance and management
programs, there are a variety of
measuring and monitoring tools
available to ease the burden of
steam-system
management
FIGURE 2. SAGE UMT automatic steam-trap tester from
Armstrong is an ultrasonic tool that can be used to take
acoustical and temperature measurements at each steam
trap and will immediately alert the tech to the condition of
the steam trap and log the information to a mobile app
Steam Solutions
and provide the data necessary
to optimize the system in a way
that
improves both
and functionality.
FIGURE 3. Steam Solutions' project management
software tracks the GPS coordinates of each stream trap
in an interactive map configuration that also displays the
status of each trap
that have failed, the failed traps
are likely to cause heat exchanger
fouling or corrosion issues within
the system, which can lead to system
failure, poor-quality steam and
water hammer, which can be a significant
safety problem. "
The good news is that the challenges
associated with steam systems
can be managed, says Chase
Bean, director of engineering with
Steam
Management,
Inc.
Because one of the biggest
challenges in a steam system
is condensate removal, which
is directly related to steamtrap
maintenance, steam-trap
monitoring tools are a growing
trend. " When it comes to
steam traps, there can be issues
with not having enough
of them, as well as with keeping
track of failures, " explains
Steam Solutions' Bajon.
" Failed traps can have a huge
impact on a steam system. If
a trap fails open, they are just
blowing steam straight out,
which is not only wasting energy
that you've paid to create,
but it's also releasing CO2 into the
atmosphere, which is directly at
odds with efficiency and sustainability
goals.
(Boston,
Mass.; www.steammgt.com).
" There are over one hundred different
types of opportunities to improve
the efficiency and functionality
of a steam system, and because
improving one aspect of the steam
system will often have a positive
impact on the others [just as having
one failed component will lead
to system-wide issues], working to
optimize the system can have many
benefits for a facility, " he says. " And
with the recent attention on improving
the efficiency of steam systems,
more services and tools are becoming
available to help operators
optimize their systems with less effort
than in the past. "
14
" On the flip side, if the trap fails
closed, it can create issues, such as
reductions in heat transfer, which can
lead to freezing in heat tracing applications,
fouling of heat exchangers,
which can create poor-quality steam
and process issues, and water hammer,
which builds up
quickly and can knock
pipes off their supports
or blow out an
elbow which requires
major repairs and can
be a concerning safety
issue, " says Bajon.
The problem with
traditional steam-trap
management is that
there are hundreds to
thousands of steam
traps in most chemical
facilities, so it's difficult
to keep track of them.
Manual assessments
are time consuming,
efficiency
subject to operator error and are
usually only performed once a year,
even in a best-case scenario. Repairing
steam traps that have failed
is also labor intensive and time consuming
and keeping track of it can
be overwhelming in any size facility,
according to the experts. As a matter
of fact, according to Armstrong's
Provot, about 20 to 25% of the
steam traps are failed at any given
time in many facilities. (For comparison,
an optimized facility might have
a 2 to 5% failure rate.) For this reason,
some processors rely on professional
steam experts to maintain and
manage their steam traps, while others
are embracing monitoring tools
and technologies or implementing a
combination of the two.
Currently, a new ultrasonic tool
called the SAGE UMT automatic
steam-trap tester (Figure 2) from
Armstrong can be used to take
acoustical and temperature measurements
at each steam trap and
will immediately alert the tech to the
condition of the steam trap and log
the information to a mobile application
(app). " This makes surveying
steam traps and reporting much
more accurate and efficient because
it removes the human element, " says
Steam Solutions' Jackson, who uses
the technology when conducting assessments.
The hand-held device
can also be paired with Armstrong's
SAGE Smart Utility System Management
platform, which serves as an
online database of steam traps. The
information from the UMT survey can
be directly uploaded to the software,
Steam Management
FIGURE 4. Continuous steam trap monitoring allows processors to
manage their trap population easily while saving them energy and
money and potentially preventing safety and process issues
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
FREBRUARY 2023
http://www.steammgt.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering February 2023

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