Application of a design code for estimating fouling on-line in a power plant condenser cooled by seawater

A study of the data that allows us to carry out heat balances as well as other important data needed to estimate fouling evolution for a seawater refrigerated condenser in a 550 MW power plant is presented. The data was collected during several months and subsequently analyzed. The goal was to test the utilization and reliability of indirect methods, such as those proposed by The Standards for Steam Surface Condensers (SSSC), to estimate fouling by means of the cleanliness factor in a condenser cooled by seawater. A review of the working conditions of the power plant was carried out, as well as of the conditions prescribed by manufacturers for the condenser evaluations. Most of the conditions were maintained to select the points or the times to be analyzed for the on-line evaluation of the cleanliness factor. The use of additional criteria for point selection was analyzed. These criteria are useful in order to obtain a clearer representation of the evolution of the cleanliness factor. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.