This paper is a short report on the Cetamine® Meeting held in Graz, Austria, in April 2014. Brief abstracts of all the papers presented are provided as well as a comprehensive reference list of publications (without any claim to completeness) covering the theoretical bases of film-forming amine application, analytics, and the results of film-forming amine use.

At the first meeting of the European HRSG Forum, held May 12–13, 2014, in Heidelberg, Germany, a number of interesting presentations were given on various aspects of HRSGs and their operation. Ample time was provided to discuss these talks, as well as any topics of interest relating to the operation and maintenance of HRSGs. Abstracts of the presentations are given in this contribution.

An early condensate sampler supplied by Alstom Switzerland AG was employed to investigate the early condensate pH and the concentration of organic anions on Unit IV of the Munich South power station of SWM Munich. A mixture containing a low-volatile film-forming polyamine and volatile neutralizing and alkalizing amines was used for cycle chemistry treatment.
Despite the unavoidable partial decomposition of the tested chemical, the pH of the early condensate is more alkaline than the main unit condensate.

Inhibited hydrofluoric acid has been used in Europe for 35 years for the preoperational and operational chemical cleaning of water- and steam-touched surfaces of steam generators and cycle components. The scientific studies on the dissolution of iron oxides in different acids were begun already in the 1950s; the most significant results, especially for hydrofluoric acid, were achieved in the 1960s.

Chemical cleaning with hydrofluoric acid has proven very successful in combination with the open circuit technique for super-critical once-through boilers. The advantages of the OC technique together with inhibited hydrofluoric acid are the fast dissolution of iron oxides, short application time, low temperatures (50 °C - 80 °C), and the relatively easy handling of wastewater.

The OC technique combined with the use of inhibited hydro-fluoric acid is also used for parts of drum-type boilers and heat recovery steam generators.

A survey of the topics addressed at three major European power plant chemistry conferences has revealed that fossil cycle chemistry, like the neglected stepsister Cinderella, is not getting the attention it deserves. Boiler tube failures are the leading cause of forced outages in the conventional fossil plant utility industry, and heat recovery steam generator tube failures are the major cause of damage in the multiple-pressure combined-cycle plants. While other topics are surely important, more honest and open discussion of chemistry-related problems in fossil cycles is imperative to achieving operational benefits like higher reliability, availability, and efficiency.

A novel EDTA/NH3/N2H4 process has been developed for the chemical cleaning of steam generators and has been successfully applied for preoperational and operational cleaning of fossil-fired steam generators and for the cleaning of the secondary side of steam generators in pressurized water reactors. This publication focuses on the application of this cleaning process in combined cycle units with heat recovery steam generators. The solvent characteristics and the application procedure are discussed. Among other advantages, the process is fast, has relatively low heat and water requirements, and produces a relatively low volume of wastewater.

Maintaining the integrity of the con-denser is the most important goal of power plant chemistry. The excellent biofouling resistance and high thermal conductivity of copper alloys must be balanced against a measurable susceptibility to pitting, crevice corrosion, erosion corrosion, etc.; the brasses, in particular, are quite susceptible to corrosion induced failure. The stainless steels are resistant to most forms of attack, but are susceptible to crevice corrosion and pitting in brackish water and seawater; even the newer, high molybdenum grades of stainless steel have suffered some localized cor-rosion under particularly adverse conditions. For this reason and since all de-posits decrease the heat transfer and cause a marked reduction of the cycle efficiency, keeping the inner surfaces of condenser tubing free of mi-cro-fouling and scaling is a very important task.

Operational principles of a continuous condenser tube cleaning system using elastic sponge rubber balls are explained; characteristics of sponge rubber cleaning balls as well as economics and monitoring of mechanical tube cleaning systems are discussed in detail.