To comply to federal sulfur dioxide emissions standards, PECO Energy Company’s Eddystone plant employs a scrubbing process using magnesium oxide (MgO). The material is pneumatically conveyed from storage silos to a mixer before being sprayed into the exhaust stacks. Producing electricity is a 24/7/365 operation and the MgO system must always be running. Simply put, elbow failure is not an option.
In reality, however, the standard 316L stainless pipe elbows that made up the pneumatic conveying system were wearing out at an average of every four to six months, resulting in environmentally hazardous and costly spillages. Annual labor costs related to cleanup and repairs soared.
To add insult to injury, any shutdown of the MgO system, however minor, threatened to push the plant out of EPA and OSHA compliance. Violations of EPA and OSHA compliance standards carried substantial costs in fines; plant engineers needed components that were able to withstand near-constant operation in the long term.
You can read the full case study here.
Plant engineer Gavin Heckler went hunting for a solution – and he found it in the Hammertek Smart Elbow deflection elbow.
Six, 3-inch carbon steel elbows were installed to replace the existing stainless steel elbows so prone to failure. Even when operating at full capacity, 24 hours per day, the Smart Elbow products were still going strong a year and a half later, preventing releases of sulfur dioxide and associated cleanup costs. As a result, the Eddystone plant hasn’t been subject to a single EPA or OSHA fine for being out of compliance.
Intelligent engineering and an innovative design is the secret to the Hammertek deflection elbow longevity in even the harshest high-volume and high pressure conveying environment. Conventional elbows rely on impact to change the direction of material passing through them, accelerating wear through friction. In contrast, the Smart Elbow model’s patented Vortex Chamber allows the formation of a slowly rotating ball of material to redirect without contacting the interior surface of the elbow walls.