ervice life of these components.

The EPRI Cycle Chemistry Program was established in 1984. The overall objective
s of the
program are to provide guidelines, innovative research and development of the un
derlying
science and technology transfer materials, which together will assist organizati
ons in avoiding
fossil plants availability and reliability losses.
The following program goals have been shown to be attainable in conventional fos
sil plant units:
? No boi
C customized for each unit
? Simeatment systems, contribute to growing interest in alternatives to the conv
entional
polishing approach, where with polishers are facing eventual replacement of exis
ting regeneration and
waste treatment systems, contribute to growing interest in alternatives to the c
onventional
polishing approach, where resin inventorler tube failures related to cycle chemi
stry
? No turbine problems involving the cycle chemistry, specifically:
C no corrosion fatigue in low pressure turbine components
C no stress corrosion cracking in disks
C minimum deposits (no availability losses or performance concresin inventorler t
ube failures related to cycle chemistry
? No turbine problems involving the cycle chemistry, specifically:
C no corrosion fatigue in low pressure turbine components
C no stress corrosion cracking in disks
C minimum deposits (no availability losses or performance concerns)
? Optimized feedwater treatment to:
C eliminate serious flow-accelerated coAvailability and reliability have long bee
n recognized as key factors that influence the
performance and profitability of fossil plant unit operations. Operating experi
ence and industry
statistics reflect the adverse effects of improper water chemistry on fossil uni
t availability and
reliability, as represented in the frequency of chemistry-related failures and a
ssociated
unscheduled outages. Furimum (core) levels of instrumentation for all units and trea
tments
For traditional deep bed polisher designs, the regeneration facility represents
a substantial
portion of the system capital cost. Further, plants are under continually increa
sing pressure to
minimize or eliminate on-site storage of hazardous chemicals and discharges asso
ciated with
waste treatment operationple and reliable chemistry instrumentation and control
C mingeneration chemicals on the plant site. These concerns, in combination with
the observation
that many plants with polishers are facing eventual replacement of existing rege
neration and
waste treatment systems, contribute to growing interest in alternatives to the c
onventional
polishing approach, where resin inventorler tube failures related to cycle chemi
stry
? No turbine problems involving the cycle chemistry, specifically:
C no corrosion fatigue in low pressure turbine components
C no stress corrosion cracking in disks
C minimum deposits (no availability losses or performance concerns)
? Optimized feedwater treatment to:

C eliminate serious flow-accelerated coAvailability and reliability have long bee

n recognized as key factors that influence the
performance and profitability of fossil plant unit operations. Operating experi
ence and industry
statistics reflect the adverse effects of improper water chemistry on fossil uni
t availability and
reliability, as represented in the frequency of chemistry-related failures and a
ssociated
unscheduled outages. Furimum (core) levels of instrumentation for all units and trea
tments
For traditional deep bed polisher designs, the regeneration facility represents
a substantial
portion of the system capital cost. Further, plants are under continually increa
sing pressure to
minimize or eliminate on-site storage of hazardous chemicals and discharges asso
ciated with
waste treatment operations. Another issue for some organizations is that of stor
ing and handling
the regeneration chemicals on the plant site. These concerns, in combination wit
h the observation
that many plants with polishers are facing eventual replacement of existing rege
neration and
waste treatment systems, contribute to growing interest in alternatives to the c
onventional
polishing approach, where resin inventorler tube failures related to cycle chemi
stry
? No turbine problems involving the cycle chemistry, specifically:
C no corrosion fatigue in low pressure turbine components
C no stress corrosion cracking in disks
C minimum deposits (no availability losses or performance concerns)
? Optimized feedwater treatment to:
C eliminate serious flow-accelerated coAvailability and reliability have long bee
n recognized as key factors that influence the
performance and profitability of fossil plant unit operations. Operating experi
ence and industry
statistics reflect the adverse effects of improper water chemistry on fossil uni
t availability and
reliability, as represented in the frequency of chemistry-related failures and a
ssociated
unscheduled outages. Further, deficient chemistry practices reduce the efficienc
y and
performance of fossil plant components in contact with water and steam and short
en the useful
srrosion failures
C minimize iron and copper transport (each to less than 2 ppb in the feedwater)
? Operational guidelines for all unit designs and operating conditions
C selected to protect boiler and turbineies are managed at the individual plant s
ite.
In response to these needs, the concept of OSR was established. It was initially
envisioned that
the off-site transport and regeneration of resins would be performed by contract
ors, such as
service companies that specialize in portable filtration, membrane technology an
d ion exchange
systems. For some organizations, it may be preferable to establish a single OSR
facility for all of
the generating plants that they own, operate and maintain. Guidelines describing
the technical
requirements and costs of OSR were published in 2001.
(11)

A large utility organization in the US is now teaming with a service company for
OSR support
,
and an organization in Canada has built a combined cycle unit that included a po
lishing system
designed to utilize OSR. Other organizations are beginning to evaluate the benef
its and value of
OSR as part of long range plans to retrofit polishers, to avoid replacement of a
ging regeneration
facilities, and to configure future generating units. In 2003, an assessment was
initiated to retrofit
condensate polishing systems on critical units with drum-type boilers
(13)
; this was necessary
since there was interest in improvement of unit availability by operating with o
xygenated
treatment (OT). This effort concluded that deep bed polishers, operated in the a
mmonium form
and regenerated off site, offered the lowest life cycle cost of the various opti
ons covered during
the assessment.
Additional discussion of OSR technical aspects is included in Section 3; cost im
pacts are
considered in Section 5.
(12)