Case Studies

Overview

These Case Studies are only examples of the several hundred success stories where Deep South personnel have assisted our customers in becoming leaders in their industry. In fact, in 2006 Deep South performed over 750 jobs with over 108,000 supervised man hours.

Southeast Power Plant

In the Fall of 2005, Deep South was contracted by a large power plant in Georgia to remove excessive slag inside the furnace of an 880 megawatt coal fired boiler using Powder River Basin Coal (PRB).

The slag was so severe that it threatened to take the unit off line. The concern was the unit was 7 days from setting a continuous operating record of 18 months (company record).

The Deep South team employed two techniques continuously over a 7 day period to remove slag buildup in the critical boiler areas allowing the unit to remain on line until the scheduled outage.

The First Technique: On-Line Explosive Deslagging
The Deep South team used explosive charges placed strategically at heated slag that was building up at the throat of the furnace, allowing additional walls of slag to build over 4 stories high. The use of explosives reduced excess water deslagging in the boiler and reduced the potential for over-cooling boiler tubes.

Through a confidential method Deep South is capable of placing charges inside of boilers 25-30 feet. Allowing us to reach most critical areas. This can be accomplished at full load or reduced load.

The Second Technique: High Pressure High Volume Deslagging
Deep South on line deslagging used high pressure high flow water blasting techniques to remove slag buildup on the furnace walls, superheat section and throat of the boiler. Deep South used a 2250HP waterblaster capable of generating 10000PSI at 00gpm to remove slag. The waterblaster is capable of shooting a stream of water 1/2 inch in diameter over 70 feet with water cutting force capable of peeling slag from tubes.

Texas Power Plant

Deep South was contracted by a large utility producer in Texas to discuss their need for reducing the cleaning time during outages. The Texas utility producer had two significant outage issues to overcome.

The First Problem
Slag build up in the superheat section of the boiler would be several feet thick and would harden upon cooling making it very difficult to remove after the unit had cooled. The producer had been told by their current contractor that there was nothing that could be done using on-line explosives.

The Fix
The Deep South team presented a plan to utilize explosives on-line prior to the producer bringing the unit off line. The plan was accepted and the Deep South team utilized confidential methods to place charges on-line in the superheat section of the boiler. When the boiler was brought off-line the customer was very pleased with the result. The Deep South explosive team was able to shave 2 shifts off of the outage schedule for this task.

The Second Problem
The Texas utility producer wanted to reduce the prep time for NDT testing of boiler tube x-ray. The producer fueled its boiler with Lignite and it would stick to the tubes several inches thick.

The Fix
The Deep South team presented a plan to provide boiler profiling utilizing 40K PSI water blasters running multiple guns. This method would allow other contractors to work inside of the boiler while profiling work is conducted.

Typical grit blasting does not allow other boiler work to be performed due to the hazardous dust. This method was accepted by the customer. Deep South performed the work two shifts ahead of schedule and received a letter of commendation from the customer for an excellent job.

In addition to completing the job ahead of schedule, the Deep South team used a proprietary anti-rusting formula on cleaned tubes. This formula saves NDT personnel valuable time because it prevents flash rusting minimizing the need for additional grinding or cleaning.

Carolina & Florida Utility

Deep South was contracted by a utility producer in Western Florida to remove pyrite and gypsum solids.

The Problem
The gypsum tank holding approximately 350000 gallons of water had become filled with pyrites and gypsum because of pump clogging due to over sized pyrites. The pyrites and gypsum had become hardened and restricted all flow from the tank. Further, the customer was environmentally sensitive to any water or sediment hitting the ground and insistent that provisions be taken to prevent any environmental hazard.

The Solution
The Deep South team designed a system that allowed water blasting of the lines and vessel from the bottom up while concurrently pumping product to on-site dewatering boxes. Boxes were filled and allowed to dewater and taken to an on-site landfill for recycling. The job was originally estimated to take 21 days, however, Deep South was able to complete the job in less than 10 days. The Deep South method of removal was significantly more efficient than standard vacuuming and it is anticipated that Deep South saved the customer over $75000 in comparative costs.