Application Recommendation

Total System Attemperator Solutions for HRSGs

Drum
Outlet
Tank

Preheater
M

Drum

Cold
Reheat Line

Drum Outlet Valve

M

Application
Attemperators are utilized in Heat Recovery Steam
Generators (HRSGs) between the primary and
secondary superheaters on the High Pressure
(HP) and the Reheat (RH) lines (Figure 1). In
some designs, attemperators are also added after
the nal stage of superheating.
Attemperators installed in the HP interstage will
typically see pressures up to 130 barg (1900
psig) and temperatures of 550C (1020F), with
steam ow rates in the region of 300,000 kg/h
(660,000 lb/h). Attemperators installed on the RH
interstage will typically see similar temperatures
and ow rates, but pressures to only around
30 barg (450 psig). The control temperature for
these attemperators is adjusted so that the nal
temperature after the nal superheater satises
the start-up and steam turbine inlet requirement.
These attemperators are critical to the overall
performance of the HRSG and provide the
following functions:
Control nal temperature from HRSG
Prevent thermal damage of piping and
downstream equipment, such as the steam
turbine
For start-up and allowing gradual heat rate
to the steam turbine
Control steam temperature to the second
stage superheaters
Prevent overheating of superheater tubes
Prevent over stressing of superheater tubes

Feedwater
Control Valve

Economizer
M
Reheater
Superheater

Attemperator

Spraywater
Control Valve

Spraywater Control Valve

Attemperator

Reheater

IP/LP
Turbine

Superheater
Feedwater Minimum
Flow Valve

HP
Turbine

Boiler Feedwater Pump

Boiler

Condenser
Feedwater Tank

Condensate Pump

Figure 1: Superheat and Reheat Attemperators

Problems and Root Causes

The most commonly encountered problem in the superheater or
reheater interstages is the addition of unwanted water to the steam
line as a result of improper operation of the attemperator, or the
inability of the attemperator control element to remain leak tight.
The failure of the attemperator to control the water ow injected
into the interstage lines often results in damaged hardware and
piping from thermal shock, and in some severe cases has been
known to erode piping elbows and superheater tubes downstream
of the attemperators (1). Problems of this magnitude force
unplanned shutdown and expensive repairs.
Another commonly encountered problem in interstage
attemperators, although not as catastrophic, is an inability to
maintain control of the nal outlet temperature exiting the HRSG
or boiler. This problem will occur when the installed attemperator
lacks sufcient turndown or when the leakage across the
attemperator control element exceeds the spraywater demand.
This failure results in reduced efciency of the steam turbine and a
reduction in generated megawatts.
Additional problems encountered with interstage attemperators
include the water carry over to superheater or the steam turbine
and broken attemperator components causing potential damage to
downstream components.
(1) Approximately 25% of damage to the downstream superheater tubes can be
attributed to the attemperators
780 2/05

The root cause for all of the above problems can be traced
to one, or more, of the following:
Poor attemperator design
Poor design of spray water control element
Poor installation
Poor control of instrumentation

Attemperator Design
The service requirements in an HP or RH interstage
are extremely demanding on attemperators. As the
HRSG cycles, attemperator hardware will remain for
extended periods at elevated steam temperatures without
spraywater owing through it, will then be subjected to
thermal shock when quenched by the relatively cool
spraywater. Attemperators in which the ow control
element resides in the steam ow, such as the multi-nozzle
probe style design (Figure 2), such cycling results in
fatigue and thermal cracks in critical components, such as
the nozzle holder, the nozzles themselves, the lower body
and the piston rings.

Figure 2: Multi-Nozzle Probe Style Attemperator

Multi-nozzle probe style attemperators can be prone to

internal ashing, which can occur when spraywater ow
is extremely low and is allowed to heat up to saturation
temperature before exiting nozzles. This ashing leads to
erosion of nozzles and the nozzle holder.
The piston rings and components in multi-nozzle probe
style attemperators, due to the large temperature swings
inherent in the service, are prone to galling.
Probe style attemperators of any type are prone to
vibration which is created by vortex shedding and the high
velocity head (kinetic energy) of the steam passing the
probe assembly. The vibration induced by these vortices,
in combination with the high temperature, results in
cracking of the weld joint between the probes mounting
ange and its lower body. Thermal cycling can cause
cracking of the seal welds connecting the lower probe
body with the nozzle head leading to potential loosening
on nozzle head resulting in a change of orientation of the
spray angle.

Spray Water Control Element

Installation

The turndown required for HP and RH attemperation

is quite high, and often underestimated. A 20 to 1
turndown requirement in attemperation water ow does
not automatically equate to a 20 to 1 turndown in the
spraywater ow control element capacity, or Cv. The
spraywater control element turndown requirement will be
inuenced by variations in the supply water pressure in
conjunction with variations in the outlet steam pressure in
addition to the varying back pressure from the nozzle(s) as
a result of the variations in ow demand.

Locating the temperature sensor at a point which provides

insufcient time for the injected spraywater to completely
evaporate will result in false readings and inaccurate
feedback to the ow control element.

In some cases, in HP and RH service, the pressure

difference between the supply water and the interstage
steam at low steam ow is much higher than at high steam
ow. In other cases, there are xed speed boiler feed
pumps providing spray water with a pressure that is more
or less constant, but the steam pressure in HP and RH
interstages will slide during start-up and particularly in the
event of 2 x 1 or 3 x 1 GT to steam turbine congurations.
In both of these cases, this variance in differential pressure
may result in an extremely high turndown requirement for
the spray water ow control element.
The turndown requirement of the spraywater ow control
element is also inuenced by variances in pressure drop
across the injection spray nozzles of the attemperator. This
inuence is much less pronounced in attemperators with
spring loaded nozzles rather then those with xed area
nozzles.
In addition to providing high turndown, the spraywater
control element may also experience high P at low ow
and low P at high ow, and thus, must be suitable for
handling the corresponding differential pressure. The
control element must be capable of repeatable tight
shut-off and this would be achieved with a high plug to
seat thrust. Trim exit velocity must be less than 30 m/s
(100 ft/sec) to eliminate cavitation and erosion damage.
All of these requirements can be satised with the DRAG
100DSV (2). Furthermore the DRAG 100DSV will provide
equal percentage characterized trim to maximize the
resolution during low Cv requirements ensuring excellent
control of spray water resulting in tight control of outlet
temperature.

Insufcient distance between the attemperator and the

rst downstream elbow can cause the recollection of water
droplets along the elbow wall, which can result in water
fallout, thermal shock, inaccurate feedback to the ow
control element, and potential eroding of the elbow.
Providing sufcient distance between the attemperator
and any upstream bends and the installation of a liner will
ensure uniform geometry of the steam ow at the point of
spraywater injection.

Control Instrumentation
Temperature sensors, for feedback, must be installed
at a sufcient distance downstream to allow for the
complete evaporation of the injected water ow, even
under transient conditions. Additional algorithms and
specications for temperature sensor will inuence
performance, but is beyond the scope of this article.

Atomization and Evaporation

For an attemperator to provide reliable performance, it is
necessary to consider not just the mechanical construction
of the attemperator, but thermodynamics and uid
dynamics as well. The proper atomization and evaporation
of the spray water supplied by an attemperation system
is paramount, otherwise even the most sophisticated
attemperator will provide poor temperature control and
water carry over.
The complete integration of injected water into
superheated steam involves the following three
components:
Primary atomization
Secondary atomization
Evaporation
2. Further details on the DRAG 100DSV are available in CCI brochure
#316.

Primary Atomization

Primary atomization is the breakdown of water into droplets

which results from the attemperator nozzle or nozzles. In
primary atomization, it is important to create as small a
droplet as possible regardless of the spray water ow. This
can be achieved with a Variable Area Nozzle such as the
OP Nozzle (Figure 3). Characteristics and benets being:

Primary atomization, mechanical/pressure

Provides good atomization regardless of ow

Incorporates swirl to maximize coverage

Figure 4: Droplet Distribution from Primary Atomization

Provides protection to spraywater valve

Self cleaning with regard to debris
Provide good primary atomization down to ow
rates as low as 100 kg/h (220 lb/h)

Figure 5: Magnied Picture of Primary Atomization 15 inches

downstream of Injection Nozzle

Secondary Atomization

Figure 3: Variable Area Nozzle

Fixed orice nozzles are sized for the maximum ow

rate and will deliver poorer atomization particularly
when the ow rate demand decreases. This is due to
the inherent reduction in differential pressure that will
accompany reduced ow rates through xed nozzles. As a
consequence, xed area nozzles are typically limited to 3
to 1 turndown (assuming 10-15 bar/150-225 psi P).
Regardless of the primary atomizing hardware (steam or
pneumatic atomization excluded), all the resulting droplets,
injected into the steam ow, will not be exactly the same
diameter. Rather, there will be some variation in diameter,
as depicted in the distribution shown (Figure 4).
The larger droplets, shown in blue, are subject to further
break-up from secondary atomization. Note that the
volume of injected spray encompassed by these larger
drops is only a fraction of the total volume. This is also
illustrated in Figure 5.

Secondary atomization is where the spray water droplets

will be further broken up by the dynamic force of the steam
ow. For secondary atomization to occur, the dynamic
forces acting on a drop must be larger than the viscous
forces holding the drop together. This is a function of the
Weber number (We).
We =

Dynamic force
Surface tension

V2D

D = characteristic length (in this case droplet diameter)

= density of steam
V = characteristic velocity (in this case relative velocity
between steam & droplet)
V2 = velocity head of steam
= surface tension (dependent on water temperature)
At a Weber number > 12, the aerodynamic (destabilizing)
force will overcome surface tension (stabilizing force) and
the droplet will break up.

In order to maximize secondary atomization, it is

preferential to inject the spray perpendicular to the steam
ow (Figure 6), rather than parallel (Figure 7). In HRSG
HP and Reheat steam applications, the steam velocity
is always relatively high as there is very little variation in
volumetric ow. Relative velocity is maximized and the
dynamic forces acting on the droplet are sufcient under all
operating conditions to provide secondary atomization.
With the CCI DAM solution (Figure 6), the spraywater is
injected perpendicular to the steam ow and the average
spraywater velocity, in the direction of the steam, is zero.
However, with the traditional probe style attemperator
(Figure 7), the spray is injected in the same direction as
the steam ow, so the velocity difference is minimized
and therefore the dynamic forces may not be sufcient for
secondary atomization with resulting larger droplets.

Evaporation
Following secondary atomization, the resulting droplets will
have to rst boil and then evaporate. The time for complete
evaporation is dependent on the total surface area of the
water volume, and thus, will be proportional to the droplet
diameter squared. (Figure 8)
If any droplets remain un-evaporated prior to the
temperature sensor, wetting of the sensor may occur,
resulting in problems with temperature control. In addition,
if sufcient quantities of large droplets impinge on the
rst bend following the attemperator, erosion and thermal
shock will occur.
During transients, owing to a combination of poor control
and poor atomization of the droplets, there can be
sufcient carry over of water to the secondary superheater
tubes resulting in damage to tubing and headers.
Consequently, allowing sufcient time for evaporation is of
the utmost importance to operation of the attemperators.

Figure 6: Perpendicular Spray Injection

Figure 8: Evaporization of Water Droplets

Recommended Practice
Mechanical design, construction and thermal
considerations are of crucial importance in attemperator
selection. Further, proper installation is imperative to its
proper functioning; it is necessary to consider upstream
distance, downstream distance to the rst bend, and
downstream to the temperature sensor.

Mechanical Design, Construction and Thermal

Considerations
Figure 7: Parallel Spray Injection

Attemperators in HRSG applications will operate during

cold, warm and hot start-ups as well as during load swings
(unload and reload, i.e. 100% - 50% -100%). Under its
normal operating conditions, the HRSG is designed to not

require attemperation. It is only during start-up conditions

and load swings that the attemperators are required to
operate. Consequently, the attemperator assembly will
remain exposed to full steam temperature without cooling
from the injection water for extended periods of time.

In addition, it is recommended that a thermal barrier be

utilized to separate the hot and cold working elements to
mitigate intensity of the thermal cycles experienced by
critical components.

When injection water is required, the attemperators are

immediately quenched from the full steam temperature
to the temperature of the spray water. This temperature
difference can be between 350 450C (630 810F),
and can result in thermal shock. During the life of the
HRSG, these attemperators may experience 10,000 such
quenching cycles. Therefore, it is important to consider the
attemperators resistance to thermal cycling.
Attemperators with integral control valve (Figure 7) have
the following issues with regard to thermal shock:
The nozzle head is downstream of water control/
isolation point
The nozzle head can be at steam temperature when
cool water is admitted
Thermal fatigue may occur after as few as 500 cycles
The control element is prone to cracking, sticking, and
leaking

Thermal Barrier
Figure 9: Thermal Barrier

Liners
Typically, most attemperator suppliers will only provide a
liner to protect the steam pipe wall from thermal shock.
However, a properly engineered liner is capable of
enhancing the attemperator performance. CCI utilizes liners
to provide the following:

In addition to thermal shock, probe style attemperators

are susceptible to bending moments created by the high
momentum steam as well as to ow-induced vibration
caused by von Karman vortex street. If the vortice induced
vibration frequency matches the natural frequency of
the probe, there is a high risk of catastrophic damage
occurring to the probe with a resulting unplanned plant
shut-down.

Protects steam pipe from thermal shock

The multi nozzle type of attemperator with integrated

control valve (Figure 7), which has often been used in the
industry, has an even larger nozzle head than in a simple
xed nozzle probe style, and is even more susceptible to
the effects of thermal shock.

Control penetration of spray pattern by ow proling

In order to avoid these thermal fatigue issues, it is

necessary to separate the spraywater ow control element
from the hot steam ow. In doing so, the spraywater
control ow element becomes unaffected by the
quenching, and remains at the same temperature as the
water. CCI has determined through such methods as nite
stress element analysis, in house testing, in eld testing
and experience that attemperators with integral control
valve element should not be used where the differential
temperature between steam and water exceeds 250C
(450F). For differential temperatures higher than this,
separate control valves must be utilized.

Increase velocity to improve secondary atomization

Generate vortices to further improve atomization and
enhance mixing
Assist with heat transfer and evaporation of water
Improve cross sectional coverage

0.025 x V

L = 0.067s x V max

L = 0.2S x V max

Figure 10: Liner Details

Thumb Rules: The minimum length of straight pipe

upstream of the liner should be 3 pipe diameters.
Depending on the application conditions, the liner length
downstream of the spray nozzles should be between 1 to
1.8 m (3 6 ft). For attemperators in HP and RH interstage
lines, typically, the downstream distance from the end of
the liner will be equivalent to 0.067s residence time.
The downstream distance to the temperature sensor will
be equivalent to 0.2 s residence time from the end of
the liner. Should the spraywater-to-steam ratio be greater
than 15%, the residence time should be increased to 0.3 s.
Precise estimates for these distances can be derived from
detailed calculations for all the physical processes.

CCI Solution
Model DAM: Wall mounted variable area nozzles
CCI solution is the DAM attemperator which satises
all mechanical and thermo-dynamic & uid dynamic
considerations.
Control valve element separate from attemperator
Nozzles minimally protrude into the steam ow

CCI Total System Solution and On-going

Attemperator Development
CCI, with each attemperator application with the aid of
their Coolsiz program, can verify such aspects as:
Droplet size
Spray pattern coverage
Penetration of the spray into the steam ow (Figure 11)
Calculate the required allowable distance to the rst
bend
Calculate the required allowable distance to the
temperature sensor.
Coolsize can furthermore calculate these parameters for
any concept of attemperator.

Spray
Penetration
Test

Eliminates damaging vibration from von Karman

vortex street
Eliminates damaging bending moment from high
velocity steam
Incorporates a thermal liner for pipe wall protection
and improved performance
Good primary atomization ensured regardless of
spray water ow
Maximizes secondary atomization
Less than 125 micron droplet diameter assured
Each nozzle engineered to provide optimum spray
pattern penetration and cross sectional coverage
A well designed spray water valve can take the
majority of P thereby extending nozzle life

Figure 11: Visualization of spray in a cross-ow of gaseous

stream

Recommended Specications for Attemperators

The following recommendations apply to interstage and
nal-stage attemperators for HP and Reheat, where the
differential temperature between inlet steam and injected
water exceeds 250C (450F).
1.

Spring loaded variable area nozzles required

Justication:
a. Provides excellent nozzle exit spray pattern
regardless of steam ow, i.e. good primary
atomization. Fixed nozzles will provide poor
atomization at low ow

BTG Attemperator DA-M with Liner

b. Control components in the steam ow, such

as with integrated multi-nozzle type, will be
subject to full steam temperature when there is
no water requirement. The control components
are then subjected to full thermal shock

b. Provides protection to spraywater valve from

ashing during start-up conditions and sliding
pressure conditions when steam pressure is low
and spraywater temperature is relatively high
c. By keeping the back pressure as constant as
possible, the water valve turndown is minimized
thereby giving the attemperator better turndown
capability
2.

5.

A liner is required
Justication:
a. Protection of pipe under severe pressure and
thermal stress from impingement of relatively
cool spraywater, particularly in transient
conditions

The minimum clearance of the spray boundary

from the pipe wall shall be 12% of the pipe
diameter, measured at a distance of one pipe
diameter downstream of the spray injection point.

Justication:
To prevent thermal stresses resulting from the direct
impingement of spraywater onto the hot steam pipe
wall or thermal liner.

6.

b.

Provide improved performance owing to

higher steam velocity and thereby providing
better secondary atomization

c.

Provide improved performance by ensuring

any unevaporated water on thermal liner is
atomized by resulting vortices created at the
end of the liner

d.

Provides geometric proling of the steam ow

pattern to maximize the performance

Nozzles protrusion into steam shall be minimized

Justication:

3.

a.

Reduces thermal shock of attemperator

components

Circumferentially, wall mounted nozzles are

required.

b.

Minimizes steam head loss across

attemperator

Justication:

c.

a. Provides even and full distribution of spray

water over the cross section of steam

Reduces the risk of probe breakage as a

result of the high bending moment

d.

Reduces the risk of breakage attributed to

vibration

b. Maximizing secondary atomization by

providing spraywater injection perpendicular to
steam ow
c.
4.

Minimizing exposure of the nozzle assembly

from thermal shock

Spraywater valve and attemperator must be

separate components when the T between
injected water and inlet steam exceeds 450F
(250C).
Justication:
a. Control components will be subject to the
water temperature only

7.

Attemperator should incorporate a thermal

barrier.
Justication:
Will reduce the thermal stress created by
differences between steam and spraywater
temperature.

8. The maximum average water droplet size exiting

from the attemperator shall not exceed 125 microns for
all operating conditions. Supplier shall calculate the
water droplet size for all operating conditions. The
basis and results shall be shown by experiment or
calculations.
Justication:

Justication:
Prevents risk of nozzle leaking water into steam
pipe while feedpump is at full operating pressure
and little or no steam pressure in the pipe
12. For the range of operating conditions, ashing
and/or cavitation shall not be permitted.
Justication:

a. Larger droplets risk falling out onto

downstream pipe wall as they may not remain
suspended and evaporate before falling out
b. Droplets should be sufciently small so that
during evaporation process, the droplet size
will be either fully evaporated or small enough
not to have an effect if they impinge on rst
downstream bend (piping requirements in
terms of space are typically very tight)
c.

9.

Droplets should be sufciently small so that

during evaporation process, the droplet will
be evaporated so as not to impinge on the
temperature sensor and the distribution of the
droplets is such that the overall temperature
distribution over the cross section is equal

Spring loaded nozzles shall be capable of opening

at least 0.08 inch (2.0 mm).
Justication:

Flashing and cavitation will damage control valve,

downstream piping and nozzle assembly leading
to poor performance, high maintenance and
vibration/noise
13. The water control valve trim shall provide a
sufcient number of discrete pressure drop stages
to maintain the trim exit velocity less than 100 ft/s
(30 m/s).
Justication:
Will maximize control of spraywater ow when
demand is low and protect the valve seat from
erosion
14. The spraywater ow control element shall have
a Class V shut-off in accordance with FCI 70-2.
To ensure tight shut-off, the load on the seatcircumference, in the closed valve position, shall
be 8.9 kg/mm (500 lbf/in), minimum.

Will minimize the risk of blocking of spray nozzle

and thereby always ensure good primary
atomization

Justication:
Seat is protected from high velocity thereby
providing extended operating life and repeatable
tight shut-off. Particularly important during sliding
pressure situation when P is high and Cv
required is small

10. Moving parts (spray nozzles, water valve trim

components) shall be easily removable without the
need to cut the steam pipe.
Justication:
Will minimize maintenance cost and the expense
of cutting, re-welding and NDT of steam pipe

15. To optimize performance, the nal steady state

steam temperature shall be within +3C
(+5.4F) of the set point.

11. Water valve must remain closed when there is no

steam pressure in pipe.
CCI World Headquarters
California
Telephone: (949) 858-1877
Fax: (949) 858-1878
22591 Avenida Empresa
Rancho Santa Margarita,
California 92688
USA

CCI Sweden
(BTG Valves)
Telephone: 46 533 426 00
Fax: 46 533 125 00
Box 603
661 29 Sfe
Sweden

CCI Austria
(Spectris Components GmbH)
Telephone: 43 1 869 27 40
Fax: 43 1 865 36 03
Lembockgasse 63
AT-1233 Vienna
Austria

CCI Switzerland
(Sulzer Valves)
Telephone: 41 52 264 95 00
Fax: 41 52 264 95 01
Im Link 11, P.O. Box 65
CH-8404 Winterthur
Switzerland

CCI Korea
Telephone: 82 31 985 9430
Fax: 82 31 985 0552
26-17, Pungmu-Dong
Kimpo City,
Kyunggi-Do 415-070
South Korea

CCI Japan
Telephone: 81 726 41 7197
Fax: 81 726 41 7198
4-15-20 Shukunosho
Ibaraki-City, Osaka 567-0051
Japan
CCI China
Telephone: 86 10 6501 0350
Fax: 86 10 6501 0286
Room 567/569 Ofce Tower
Poly Plaza
14 Dongzhimen South Avenue
Beijing 100027
China

CCI Italy
(STI)
Telephone: 39 035 29282
Fax: 39 035 2928247
Via G. Pascoli 10A-B
24020 Gorle, Bergamo
Italy

780 2/05