AS SEEN IN THE FALL 2006 ISSUE OF...

DESUPERHEATING FOR
ACCURATE STEAM
TEMPERATURE CONTROL
I n the process and power indus-
tries, steam is used both to per-
form mechanical work, such as
THE SEEMINGLY SIMPLE PRACTICE OF
ADDING WATER TO STEAM TO LOWER
driving a turbine, and as a heat
transfer fluid. Unfortunately, both
ITS TEMPERATURE IS ACTUALLY QUITE
functions are accomplished best COMPLEX.THE AUTHOR PROVIDES
with steam properties at opposite
ends of a spectrum—dry super-
GUIDELINES TO HELP OPERATORS
heated steam is at the high end, UNDERSTAND HOW TO CONTROL THE
while desuperheated steam near its
saturation point is at the low end.
DESUPERHEATING PROCESS.
Going from the high end of the
BY JOEL W. KUNKLER
spectrum to the low end involves
steam conditioning, a process typi-
cally misunderstood and often Temperature Setpoint
overlooked. The downstream temperature setpoint should not be too close to the saturation
What complicates steam condi- temperature of the primary steam. This is because as the saturation temperature
tioning is temperature control, or is approached, the steam flow almost always exhibits two-phase characteristics.
desuperheating. This seemingly Injection of spraywater, especially in larger pipelines, can result in uneven distri-
simple practice of adding water to bution of the steam’s temperature. For example, if the desuperheating spraywater
steam to lower its temperature is has not been properly injected, regions of superheated steam can surround a core
actually quite complex because of much cooler steam.
desuperheating leads to a tempo- This situation is compounded when the setpoint is near saturation. If some
rary, two-stage, liquid-vapor flow steam flow is converting to water, droplets will cling to the temperature-sensing
with potential control difficulties. element as the hotter steam passes. This results not only in a false temperature
The three general process rea- reading of the steam saturation, but also a cycling of the desuperheating system.
sons for desuperheating steam are: The temperature controller reading will increase and the controller will decrease
䡲 to improve thermal efficiency the spraywater flow continuously while hunting for the correct temperature.
of heat transfer processes by The general rule is that you should have a setpoint greater than 10° F above
using steam near saturation saturation when using feedback control based on a downstream temperature sen-
䡲 to control unintentional sor. If a setpoint of less than 10° F is absolutely necessary, a feed-forward control
superheat from reducing the strategy must be used. This requires a simple algorithm in the plant’s distributed
pressure of steam control system to calculate the spraywater required to reach the temperature
䡲 to protect downstream equip- needed based on the conditions of entering steam and spraywater. Also note that a
ment and piping from elevat- sufficient pipe drain system should be part of any desuperheating station to pro-
ed temperatures and pres- tect against unexpected overspraying or water fallout situations.
sures.
Spraywater Pressure
The goal of steam desuperheat- The amount of pressure differential between the spraywater and the steam is very
ing is to reduce the temperature important for both water atomization and the rangeability between maximum and
setpoint at the shortest possible minimum water flows. The maximum pressure differential, along with spraywater
piping distance and elapsed time temperature and spray nozzle design, directly affects atomization to the smallest
while avoiding damage from two- droplet size: the smaller the droplet, the more rapid the vaporization. Additionally,
phase flow. A number of critical the greater the pressure differential, the greater the spray nozzle’s rangeability to
installation and application param- reach lower water flow situations through continued acceptable differential levels.
eters influence whether or not this Spraywater pressure ideally is 150 to 1,000 psid greater than the steam pres-
goal is reached. sure. Although desuperheating devices can operate at much lower differentials, a

28 | Valve M A G A Z I N E © 2006 Valve Manufacturers Association. Reprinted with permission.

 The second, more subtle reason for such as a steam conditioning or turbine
using hotter water is that at higher bypass valve or a separate pressure-
temperatures, hot water atomizes into reducing valve located within approxi-
smaller droplets due to less surface mately three to five pipe diameters—is
tension. As a rule, water is deemed hot used. Either arrangement can keep
at approximately 180° F and greater. water droplets suspended in average
The higher above 180° F, the better the velocities as low as approximately five
atomization. feet per second because of the turbu-
Note also with caution that poten- lence in the steam flow.
tial flashing issues exist both in the
spraywater control valve and at the Maximum Steam Velocity
Figure 1— nozzle. Flashing of the spray water as Concern about the effect steam
This steam it exits the nozzle is beneficial. Howev- velocity has on desuperheating comes
conditioning er, flashing upstream, in either the from the fact that the faster the
valve assembly valve or just before the nozzle, drasti- velocity, the faster two-phase flow
features an
cally inhibits performance and may moves in the pipe and the greater the
integral
desuperheater damage both pieces of equipment. distance required to completely
section. convert the flow to steam. High
Initial and Final Steam velocity can be beneficial because its
Superheat greater overall turbulence enhances
The initial amount of superheat reduc- the mixing. However, weight the value
tion needed determines the amount of turbulence against the sheer
spraywater flow. The greater the momentum of the steam, which causes
amount of spraywater, the longer it longer distances/time for the
takes for complete vaporization. spraywater to vaporize. Most steam
Equally important, however, is the con- piping velocity guidelines suggest a
verse: the desired amount of final maximum velocity of 200 to 250 feet
superheat. As mentioned above, con- per second to minimize turbulence-
trolling to a setpoint barely above satu- induced vibration.
ration makes the vaporization process
direct correlation exists between dif- more difficult. Pipeline Size
ferentials and vaporization speed per- Also important is the size of the
formance as well as ability to obtain Minimum Steam Velocity pipeline in relationship to the amount
controllable low-flow levels. One cau- One of the most critical aspects of of required spraywater. Large amounts
tionary note: when considering high water vaporization involves minimum of spraywater in small pipelines can
pressure differentials, the spraywater steam velocity. For vaporization to lead to water impingement on the pipe
control valve may need cavitation pro- occur, water droplets must remain sus- wall and subsequent fallout. Still, desu-
tection. pended in the steam flow until they can perheating steam in large pipelines can
completely evaporate. be challenging because establishing a
Spraywater Temperature The type of spray nozzle and the tur- homogeneous mixture of steam and
The temperature of the spraywater is bulence of the steam flow influences injected water is difficult. This mixing
critical to rapid vaporization and con- what velocity is required. In a tradi-
version into steam. Hotter water tional desuperheater-only configura-
vaporizes faster than cooler water for tion, the minimum steam velocity must
two reasons. First, the hotter water is be approximately 30 feet per second or
closer to its saturation temperature so greater. However, lower velocities of
it requires less heat input from sur- approximately 10 feet per second are
rounding steam, and therefore, less possible when special desuperheater
time to vaporize. Note that an increase constructions assist in mixing.
in the amount of “hot” spraywater is The optimum situation, however, is
required compared to “cold” water to have steam pressure reduction
Figure 2—A desuperheater that injects
and the reduction in evaporation is occurring immediately upstream of the spraywater in the outlet of its venture section
more favorable than water flow desuperheater. Such a situation occurs assures excellent mixing and rapid
increase. when a combined function device— atomization.

© 2006 Valve Manufacturers Association. Reprinted with permission. F a l l 2 0 0 6 | 29

D E S U P E R H E A T I N G F O R A C C U R A T E S T E A M T E M P E R A T U R E C O N T R O L

challenge leads to inaccurate tempera- turndown is to view it in terms of the

ture measurements and subsequently, spraywater nozzle’s control rangeabili-
poor temperature control. ty. The driving consideration for tem-
perature control is the nozzle’s ability
Installation Orientation to create an adequately formed, coni-
Orientation of the desuperheater also cal-shaped spray pattern. In turn, that
can affect the speed of vaporization. pattern must be comprised of droplet
Installations in which spraywater is size and shape easily converted and
injected into a horizontal pipe are most maintained over a range of conditions.
common and are used as the baseline. The spray nozzle’s ability to perform
Installations in a vertical flow-up pipe defines the range between controllable
perform slightly better because of the maximum and minimum spraywater
positive effect gravity has on the inject- flow, which in turn determines what
ed water droplets—a longer residence can be accomplished given a certain set
time enhances vaporization. Converse- of conditions.
ly, however, installations in a vertical
flow-down pipe perform slightly worse Strainers
than horizontal because of the negative If the spraywater may include particu-
effect of gravity—reducing residence lates such as weld slag, dirt or other
time. debris or if the spray nozzle has a very
small orifice, the use of in-line spray-
Turndown water strainers is mandatory. These
Turndown is often misunderstood. To a strainers protect the spray nozzle from
user, the term “turndown” refers to the becoming clogged by debris, which can
ratio of the maximum to minimum decrease capacity as well as distort the
steam flow a desuperheater can con- spray pattern droplet size.
trol. However, this view fails to recog-
nize the importance of variations in Steam Pipe Liner
both steam and spraywater pressures, Liners are used to protect the steam
Figure 3—This desuperheater has multiple, temperatures and flows that occur at pipes against water impingement and
fixed-geometry spray nozzles for applications various operating times. thermal shock at the point where
with nearly constant loads.
The correct method for determining spraywater is injected. These pipe lin-
ers are usually high-grade chrome-
molybdenum, which has a greater
resistance to cyclic thermal stress than
carbon or lower alloy steels.
In the past, liners were commonly
used because nozzle design technology
was not as sophisticated and because
we had less understanding of the ther-
modynamic issues involved in desuper-
heating. A problem with liners, howev-
er, is that if spraywater comes in
contact with them, they ultimately dis-
integrate and are released downstream
with the potential for serious damage.
Often, more careful consideration of
installation factors can replace the
need for such a device. However, when
no alternative is available and the
potential for spraywater fallout is too
great, a liner can improve system per-
formance significantly as well as pro-
tect against cracking of the main pres-
sure-retaining pipes. However, the
Figure 4—Types of desuperheating devices increased velocity must be factored

30 | Valve M A G A Z I N E © 2006 Valve Manufacturers Association. Reprinted with permission.

 SPL
Beyond the Guidelines
It’s important that all the factors that
impact steam conditioning be consid-
ered before applying the separate
guidelines. For example, some recom-
mendations are made based almost
solely on velocity such as the fact that
higher steam velocity causes greater
turbulence, faster mixing and requires
shorter downstream distances. While
greater turbulence is beneficial, the
Figure 5 – Straight Pipe Length (SPL): assumes 80% vaporization and thermal mixing; calculated residence time required by the water
by thermodynamics of system; and without obstruction typically over the first 10 to 40 feet. droplets cannot be ignored.
Water droplet size is sometimes
into the calculation for straight pipe In addition to no obstructions in the promoted as an absolute criterion. In
distance and temperature sensor loca- straight pipe distance, there should be fact, spraywater nozzle technology has
tion. The desuperheater supplier must no piping tees or branches. This is evolved to the point that some nozzle
know liner dimensions to avoid instal- because the water in the steam flow manufacturers publish droplet size.
lation problems. Also, the liner’s con- cannot be divided equally between mul- However, droplet size is also influenced
dition should be checked regularly. tiple flow paths before the temperature by spray water pressure and tempera-
sensor. Modeling, testing and field ture (e.g., hotter water at larger pres-
Straight Pipe Run experience suggest that at least 80 to sure drops provides smaller droplets
Requirement 90% of spraywater droplets should be than cooler water without much pres-
The correct distance for uninterrupted evaporated before the first obstruction. sure drop.)
pipe after a desuperheater can be deter- After that point, elbows tend to Instead of relying on general rules
mined only after careful consideration enhance the vaporization of the of thumb, it’s best to use a prediction
of all influencing factors. This distance remaining droplets through increasing method that takes into account all fac-
should not contain elbows, valves or turbulence in the flow stream. tors, including water temperature,
other steam flow obstructions. If the steam velocity, percentage of spraywa-
straight pipe is not long enough, non- Distance to Temperature ter and the amount of superheat in
vaporized water droplets will contact Sensor determining straight pipe run length
the first elbow pipe wall and fall out of Equally important is how far the point of and sensor location. VM
the steam. This unevaporated water will spraywater injection is from the location
lessen the effect of the injected spraywa- of the temperature-sensing device. The JOEL W. KUNKLER is a senior applications spe-
cialist in the Fisher products Severe Service
ter, resulting in higher temperatures and remaining 10 to 20% suspended spray-
Group at Emerson Process Management in
requiring the addition of more water. water must be vaporized completely Marshalltown, IA. He joined the organization
This will lead to spraywater falling out before it encounters this sensor. Water in 1994 and has more than 28 years
of suspension. Furthermore, the portion that remains in suspension causes inaccu- experience in the process control industry.
of the elbow pipe wall hit by the spray- rate temperature readings from droplets Reach him at 641.754.2533 or at
[email protected].
water will erode. that form on the sensor.

TSL

TE

Figure 6 – Distance to Temperature Sensor (TSL): assumes complete vaporization and thermal
mixing; calculated by thermodynamics of system; and very condition specific—can vary from 40
to 100 feet depending on mass and velocity considerations.

© 2006 Valve Manufacturers Association. Reprinted with permission. F a l l 2 0 0 6 | 31