Power Generation

Machine condition monitoring based on oil analysis is widely practiced by power plants, whether they are nuclear, coal-fired steam, combined cycle gas turbine, medium and low speed diesels, windmills, or geo-thermal. All of these plants have critical turbines, pumps, bearings, fans, compressors, gears and hydraulic systems. Failure of critical equipment may cause plant shut down at great cost.

Many power plants have on-site oil analysis capability although more frequently, power companies have a central lab servicing multiple plants. Many power plants chose to send their samples to commercial oil analysis labs that are likely to be using Spectro Inc. instruments.

Power plant oil samples are typically subjected to:

• Testing for elemental content to determine wear metals, contaminants and additives
• FT-IR analysis to determine lubricant degradation and second phase fluid contamination (i.e., water, fuel glycol)
• Viscosity testing
• Particle counting to determine contaminant and wear particle levels
• Ferrographic analysis if routine tests show problems or for extremely critical components

In the special case of liquid-fired gas turbines, the Spectroil M/F is used to measure fuel contaminants such as alkali metals (Na, K and Li) and other deleterious metals (V and Pb), the presence of which can lead to turbine blade corrosion and greatly shortened service life.

Applicable Spectro Products

• Spectroil M/C-W, Oil and Fuel Analysis Spectrometer
• Spectroil M/F-W, Fuel Analysis Spectrometer
• LaserNet Fines, Particle Counter and particle Shape Classifier
• Ferrography Laboratory
• Spectro FTIR, Oil Analyzer
• Spectro-Visc, Automatic Viscometer
• Fuel Sniffer, Fuel Dilution Meter
• Turnkey Laboratory, Spectro Industrial Tribology Laboratory

Application Notes

• Analytical Tools to Detect and Quantify Large Wear Particles in Used Lubricating Oil
• Machine & Lubricant Condition Monitoring for Extended Equipment Lifetimes & Predictive Maintenance at Power Plants
• Lubricant Analysis for Gas Turbine Condition Monitoring
• On-Site Gas Turbine Fuel Analysis for Trace Contamination
• Measurement of Alkali Metals in Gas Turbine Fuels
• Analysis of Gas Turbine Cleaning Water and NOx Suppression Water
• Naphtha Analysis Procedure
• Sulfur Analysis in Fuel Oils & Lubricants

Sample Spectro Customers

• Arizona Public Service
• Changzhou Changxia Electric Power Co.
• E.G.T.Alsthom
• General Electric Power Systems
• Hanwha Energy
• Kot Addu Power Company
• Ohio Edison Company
• Saudi Electric Company
• Taiwan Power Company
• Tennessee Valley Authority
• Virginia Electric Power Company