OPTIMIZATION OF TURBINE STEAM TURBINES TYPES

GOVERNOR PERFORMANCE FOR There are two main types of steam turbines:
IMPROVED PLANT OPERATION backpressure or condensing. Figure 1 shows a
backpressure turbine where, at the outlet of the
steam turbine, the steam is fed to a process
Ben Janvier operating at a lower pressure.

Enero Solutions

ABSTRACT
Cogeneration processes will increase the
profitability and operational flexibility of a plant.
Indeed, with the capability to generate power, a
plant can offset its electrical cost, sell back its
power to the grid, or even separate itself from the
grid into an island-mode configuration. Despite
these many benefits, plants operating turbines
too often experience stability issues due to poor
turbine governor performance. To avoid potential Figure 1: Backpressure Turbine
profit losses, regular dynamic turbine governor
testing is required. These performance tests will Figure 2 shows a condensing turbine where, at the
confirm that the turbine map is properly outlet of the steam turbine, the steam is sent to
configured in the governor system, that the condenser operating under vacuum.
turbine valves have minimum hysteresis, that the
extraction pressure controller are optimized, and
that island/speed mode is properly tuned for large
load rejection. This paper also shows examples
where turbine governor testing resulted in
improved steam system reliability and
profitability.

INTRODUCTION
With the increasing cost of electrical power, process
plants are turning to cogeneration as a mean to
reduce their operating costs. Moreover, because
Figure 2: Condensing Turbine
bark and black liquor are typically the fuel used for
generating steam, the power generated in a mill can Using these simple backpressure or condensing
in some areas be considered as green power and turbines for cogeneration is limited and as a result, a
can be sold at a premium. Unfortunately, it is not turbine with multiple steam outlet is often used.
uncommon for plants with a newly installed steam Turbines with multiple outlet ports are called
turbine to experience steam system variability and extraction turbines and are typically used for
availability issues due to a lack of turbine governor cogeneration as they allow steam to be extracted at
performance. This paper describes the optimization one or more intermediate points in the turbine
work that could be done on the turbine controls to casing. Figure 3 shows an example of a condensing
improve the overall steam plant performance.

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steam turbine with one medium pressure (MP)  Steam is generated by the Recovery Boiler and
extraction point. the Bio-Fuel Boiler, which feeds the high-
pressure (HP) header.

 A pressure-reducing valve (PRV) feeds LP

steam users using steam from the HP header.

 Spraywater is necessary to desuperheat the

decompressed high-pressure steam before it
enters the MP header.

 Changes in MP steam demand are tightly

controlled by the PRV in order to minimize MP
header pressure variations.

 The Bio-Fuel boiler is the swing boiler in this

system and changes in energy demand from the
Figure 3: Example of a condensing steam turbine with MP process are matched by changing the energy
extraction
release from the combustion processa.

The operational characteristics of the condensing

steam turbine with MP extraction, shown in Figure 3
above, are:

 High Pressure (HP) steam produced by the

boilers is fed to the steam turbine.

 The inlet steam flow to the turbine is controlled

by throttling the turbine governor valve.

 Process requirement for Medium Pressure (MP)

Figure 4: Simple dual header steam system
steam is met by extracting steam at the turbine
extraction point.
Figure 5 shows that a single extraction condensing
 The MP extraction steam flow is controlled by turbine was selected for the dual header steam
throttling the extraction valve that restricts the system shown in Figure 4:
steam flow from entering the turbine stages
 The process steam now flows from the boiler to
downstream of the extraction point and opening
the turbine and is extracted from the turbine to
the extraction valve will decrease the extraction
the process—the turbine now controls the MP
flow and vice versa.
header pressure by opening or closing the
 There is virtually no steam production or loss in extraction valve.
a steam turbine hence the inlet steam flow is
 The PRV is now only used for abnormal or
equal to the sum of the extraction steam flow
startup situations and is referred to as the turbine
and the condenser flow; (Fi=Fe+Fo).
bypass system.
 Assuming a perfect system with no loss, the
power generated by the turbine can be
calculated using the following equation:
a
A simple steam system with two steam headers prior If the boiler response is too slow, the energy is
to a cogeneration project is shown in Figure 4: seldom balanced and excess energy is either vented
or condensed.

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 Additional power is generated by feeding steam  Turbine trips will disturb all boiler steam flows
into the condenser. causing potential boiler shutdown due to excess
drum-level variation.
 The condenser provides an additional degree of
freedom as the amount of energy produced can  Turbine valve performance will lead to high
exceed the power generated by the extracted steam pressure variability.
steam flow. However, a minimum amount of
 Turbine governor setup could lead to degraded
condensing steam flow is required at all time in
amount of power generation capability.
order not to damage backend of the turbine.
 Poor turbine speed and pressure tuning will lead
to high process variability.

Turbine Bypass Logic for Turbine Trip and Island

Operation
The goal of the turbine bypass logic is to position
PRVs after a turbine trip or island mode operation.
The positioning of the PRVs has to be done rapidly
and accurately so that the steam flows passing from
Figure 5: Dual header steam system with cogeneration
one header to another are not altered. Any poor PRV
modulation of the turbine bypass logic often leads to
Figure 6 shows the complexity of a more realistic
significant steam-flow disturbances and boiler-drum
integrated Kraft mill steam system:
level trips. Figure 7 shows a simple bypass logic for a
 Three steam headers: HP, MP, and LP. dual-extraction condensing turbine:

 Four steam turbines (two backpressure and two  The MP bypass PRV will position itself to
condensing). compensate for any uncontrolled LP extraction
flow disturbances (blue).
 LP Vents and HP-MP and MP-LP bypass valves.
 The LP bypass PRV will position itself to
compensate for any uncontrolled LP extraction
flow disturbances (red).

 A condenser bypass valve is used to redirect

excess steam generation to the condenser.
Another option is to use vent valves has a heat
sink after a turbine trip or island mode operation.

Figure 6: Complex cogeneration system

PROCESS CONTROL CHALLENGES OF A

COGENERATION SYSTEM
Adding steam turbines can lower the steam system
availability due to poor PRV coordination and turbine
Figure 7: Turbine and associated PRV – bypass logic
controls:
Figure 8 shows process data collected during and
after a turbine trip using a high-speed datalogger:

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 1250# (HP), 170# (MP), and 50# (LP) header Turbine Performance Map
pressure remain stable. Without proper system integration, mill-DCS and
 50# (LP) vent open instantaneously to evacuate turbine governors will compete for the control of the
excess energy. steam header system. This lack of integration,
combined with poor turbine controls, will lower plant
 1250#/170# PRV open to ensure stable boiler availability and profitability:
operation.
 Turbine governor setup might limit the
extraction-flow capability.

 Turbine pressure control performance could lead

to partial opening of PRV and vent valves during
normal operation.

Figure 10 shows the performance map for a single-

extraction backpressure turbine:
Figure 8: Example of a turbine trip recovery
 The minimum and maximum inlet (throttle) flow
Turbine Governor Valve Performance and power generation are two independent
The position accuracy of a turbine hydraulic valve is variables.
frequently assumed to be always good. This
 The extraction flow has a limited range based on
assumption leads to poor valve maintenance and,
the inlet steam flow demand.
over time, can compromise the turbine control valve
performance.  If the inlet steam flow and the power generation
target are defined, the extraction flow is
An annual review of the turbine valve positioning
constrained to a single value.
capability should be conducted to avoid operational
problems:

 High MP and LP variability.

 Difficulty to synchronize the turbine.

 Unstable operation in island-mode operation.

Figure 9 shows process data using a high-speed
datalogger where turbine valve friction is causing the
turbine speed (red) and turbine position demand
(magenta) to hunt.

Figure 10: Single-extraction backpressure ST map

Figure 11 shows historical data from a plant historian

overlaid on the turbine map. In this example:
Figure 9: Unstable speed control due to HP valve

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 The turbine could not reach its maximum governor tuning parameters compared to the the
designed extraction flow capability of 115 tons/hr new calculated Lambda-tuning parameters.
and the maximum recorded steam extraction
flow was 80 tons/hr (orange datapoints).
Original governor tuning
 The limited extraction flow resulted excessive
PRV bypass and lower-mill profitability.
Lambda tuning
 Further investigation proved that extraction flow
limitation was caused by an incorrect setup of
Figure 12: Governor Response to a small steam load
the turbine governor programming. Later disturbance on the MP header, Original tuning vs. Lambda
changes to the governor calibration allowed the tuning
turbine extraction flow to reach its maximum
design capacity.
CONCLUSIONS
An accurate turbine map and the proper tuning of the
governor pressure controllers will have a profound
impact on the stability of the future steam system
and on the plant’s capability to maximize the power
generated by the steam turbine. In order to increase
the return on investment of a cogeneration project,
tests on the turbine governor should be conducted
during the turbine startup. These performance tests
will allow the mill to confirm that the steam map is
properly modelled and that the tuning of the speed
and extraction pressure controllers are optimized.

Figure 11: Extraction flow data versus Performance Map

Speed and Pressure Controller Tuning

The tuning of the turbine controllers will determine
the future stability of the steam header system. Also,
since the steam turbine valves are electrohydraulic
with good accuracy and speed, the steam header
system should be more stable in turbine-controls
compared to when in PRV pneumatic controls.
Using the near-integrating rule for tuning the steam
turbine, governor controllers will help reduce the
peak-to-peak pressure variations as this tuning
methodology will result in a faster controller
response.
Figure 12 shows a process example where the
response of the turbine governor was optimized: the
dynamic response of the MP governor controller to a
disturbance was much slower with the original

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REFERENCES

1. B. Janvier, W.L. Bialkowski. On Lambda

Tuning—the How and Why. PAPTAC 2005:
Montreal, 2005.
2. Ron Platz. Industrial Steam Turbine Control.
Woodward Tech-Talk: 1992.
3. Fisher Controls. Control Valve Handbook, Third
Edition, 2003.
4. Enero Solutions. Process Control and
Optimization Course, Course Notes: 2006.
5. Enero Solutions. Process Control and
Optimization of Energy, Steam and Combustion
Systems, Course Notes, 2006

6
TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS FOR
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Optimization of turbine governor

performance for improved plant
operation
Ben Janvier
Enero Solutions

PEERS Conference 2018, Portland

TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS FOR
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Presentation Overview
A.Introduction to steam turbines.
B.Turbine integration to existing steam plants.
C.Process challenges with cogeneration:
1. Turbine trip bypass system
2. Turbine speed control (island mode)
3. Extraction Pressure Control.
4. Turbine instrumentation.
D.Conclusions
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A‐ Introduction to steam turbines

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Steam Turbine Applications

There are four main types of steam turbines:
• Backpressure turbine [One inlet on HP header, one outlet on LP
header]
• Condensing turbine [One inlet on HP header, one outlet on
condenser]
• Backpressure turbine with extraction [One inlet on HP
header, one outlet on LP header, 1+ intermediate outlet extraction
to users at different pressure]
• Condensing turbine with extraction [One inlet on HP header,
one outlet to the condenser, 1+ intermediate outlet pressure
extraction to users at different pressure]
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Backpressure Steam Turbine

A backpressure (non‐condensing) turbine takes high
pressure steam and reduces its pressure to that of a
lower header pressure.

EPower= FS*(hI ‐hO)

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Condensing Steam Turbine

• A condensing steam turbine takes high pressure
steam and discharges it to the condenser that
typically operates under vacuum.
• The power generated per tons of steam is the
highest of all steam turbines since steam at vacuum
has a low specific enthalpy.

EPower= FS*(hI ‐hO)

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Backpressure Steam Turbine with Extraction

• A backpressure (non‐condensing) steam turbine with extraction
takes high pressure steam and discharges it to an medium header
pressure and a low header pressure.
• There can be more than one intermediate pressure.
• An extraction valve regulates the extracted steam flow (open valve
to reduce flow)

EPower= FS*hI –Fe*he‐(FS‐Fe)*hO

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Condensing Steam Turbine with Extraction

• Same as condensing turbine but the steam discharges goes to
the condenser rather than a LP header
• The condensing steam turbine with extraction are complex but
provides an extra degree of freedom where the steam demand
does not have to equal the steam produced (One extra degree
of freedom)

EPower= FS*hI –Fe*he‐(FS‐Fe)*hc

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2. Application of Cogeneration on
existing Steam Plants
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Example 1: condensing turbine with single extraction

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Example 2: condensing turbine with dual extraction

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Example 3: complex cogeneration system with 4
turbines
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Potential control problems in a steam

cogeneration process
1. Turbine trip/island logic should allow the mill to “survive” a
turbine trip without production losses.
2. Turbine valve performance should be verified regularly.
3. Turbine performance map should be verified at startup.
4. Turbine pressure controller tuning should be optimized at
startup.
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1.1‐ Turbine Trip/Island Logic and Bypass
System
A steam turbine bypass system is designed to mimic the turbine
so that boilers are not affected by a turbine trip or island mode
operation:
• The speed of response of the control valves is critical.
• Desuperheaters are installed on all the PRVs.
• Ideally, a spraywater flow measurement would be installed on each
desuperheater to improve the operation of feedforward logic.
• After a turbine trip, the PRVs of the bypass system will open and will
start controlling the plant header pressure
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1.2 ‐ Turbine bypass for Example #2

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1.3 ‐ Turbine bypass response

1250# Pressure

170# Pressure

50# Pressure

170# PRV

170# Vent

50# Vent

TG Trip @ 50 % Load
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Potential control problems in a steam

cogeneration process
1. Turbine trip/island logic should allow the mill to “survive” a
turbine trip without production losses.
2. Turbine valve performance should be verified regularly.
3. Turbine performance map should be verified at startup.
4. Turbine pressure controller tuning should be optimized at
startup.
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2.1 ‐ Turbine limit cycle caused by poor

turbine valve performance
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2.2‐ HP valve dynamic performance test

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2.3‐ Example of HP and LP turbine valve dynamic
performance
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Potential control problems in a steam

cogeneration process
1. Turbine trip/island logic should allow the mill to “survive” a
turbine trip without production losses.
2. Turbine valve performance should be verified regularly.
3. Turbine performance map should be verified at startup.
4. Turbine pressure controller tuning should be optimized at
startup.
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3.1 Turbine extraction flow vs. internal steam
temperature

A maximum extraction steam flow is allowed to

ensure proper cooling of the LP turbine section
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3.2 Performance map summarizes turbine
characteristics

MW (Power Generated)
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3.3 Example of poorly configured turbine
map in governor
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Potential control problems in a steam

cogeneration process
1. Turbine trip/island logic should allow the mill to “survive” a
turbine trip without production losses.
2. Turbine valve performance should be verified regularly.
3. Turbine performance map should be verified at startup.
4. Turbine pressure controller tuning should be optimized at
startup.
TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS FOR
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4‐ Turbine controller tuning should be
optimized at startup for long‐term steam
header stability

Pressure excursion with turbine manufacturer’s

tuning parameters

Optimized tuning parameters

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Summary / Questions?
Potential control problems in a steam cogeneration process
1. Turbine trip/island logic should allow the mill to “survive” a
turbine trip without production losses.
2. Turbine valve performance should be verified regularly.
3. Turbine performance map should be verified at startup.
4. Turbine pressure controller tuning should be optimized at
startup.