A primary goal of many a plant manager is maintaining continuous and cost-effective operation of a plant’s turbine engines. When considering this goal, it is important for plant managers to be aware of recent advances in filter designs for turbine air intakes.
Pre-filters can be changed out while turbine engines continue running
A primary goal of many a plant manager is maintaining continuous and cost-effective operation of a plant’s turbine engines. When considering this goal, it is important for plant managers to be aware of recent advances in filter designs for turbine air intakes. The latest-generation filters allow longer waits between filter replacements, while improving energy efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.
Traditional folding, pleated-style cartridge filters have shorter life-spans, consistently lower MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) ratings, less surface-area and higher resistance to airflow, resulting in decreased energy efficiency. With many plants using hundreds of these filters at a time, these drawbacks together can impact plant output.
Traditional folding, pleated-style cartridge filters have shorter life-spans, consistently lower MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) ratings, less surface-area and higher resistance to airflow, resulting in decreased energy efficiency. With many plants using hundreds of these filters at a time, these drawbacks together can impact plant output.
A turbine engine must be completely shut down to replace its intake filters. Replacing 100 filters “costs” as much as $40,000. As a result, turbines are only shut down every 12 to 18 months. During shutdown, other critical maintenance and upgrades also often are performed to take advantage of the rare occurrence.
Valin Corp., San Jose, Calif., is a technical solutions provider for the technology, energy, life sciences, natural resources and transportation industries.
Improved operations were achieved by replacing the turbines’ pre-filters and final filters such that, while initially they may cost as much as 30% more than standard filters, yet over the course of time they deliver better lifecycle value.
After upgrading its turbine intake filters, the plant not only found that the higher-efficiency filters reduced shutdown time and saved money; they also decreased plant annual energy costs and reduced CO2 emissions.
The numbers speak
To compare numbers, the final filters the plant was using prior to the switch cost $75 apiece, so after purchasing the required 180 filters, the cost was $13,500. The newer Koch filters were $110.10 each, costing the plant a total of $19,818 for 180 items. The original pre filters cost $8.80 each, totaling $1,584 for all 180, and the new Koch GT filter they were replaced with cost $11.35 each, totaling $2,043 to replace all 180 filters.
After switching to the Koch high-efficiency filters, the plant was able to operate continuously for a 24- to 36-month period while only spending $18,234 on a one-time filter replacement. In addition, the new Koch Multi-Pleat GT Panel pre filters needed to be changed out every nine months, which cost $8,172 over a 24- to 36-month period. However, the plant was able to keep its turbines running for that entire amount of time, saving money it would have lost by shutting down to replace the final filters. After all was said and done, Valin had saved the plant $11,095 annually, or 16 percent of their entire filter costs.