Explosive cleaning - now there's a subject! I hadn't heard much about this particular technique until recently when I was reading an article about largescale, industrial boiler cleaning options (aka boiler deslagging).
The technique of explosive cleaning, also referred to as explosive deslagging, makes for interesting reading.
Question 1: How does explosive deslagging work?
Answer: Well, let's take boiler deslagging as an example. As I understand it, a form of lance with a balloon at the end of it is the key piece of equipment used. The lance is inserted into the boiler, the balloon inflated with a type of explosive gas and then the gas is ignited (by remote control). This controlled explosion of gas produces shock waves which resound throughout the boiler and thus, in a similar way to sonic soot blowers, any ash build up is dislodged.
The technique of explosive cleaning, also referred to as explosive deslagging, makes for interesting reading.
Question 1: How does explosive deslagging work?
Answer: Well, let's take boiler deslagging as an example. As I understand it, a form of lance with a balloon at the end of it is the key piece of equipment used. The lance is inserted into the boiler, the balloon inflated with a type of explosive gas and then the gas is ignited (by remote control). This controlled explosion of gas produces shock waves which resound throughout the boiler and thus, in a similar way to sonic soot blowers, any ash build up is dislodged.
Question 2: What type of industrial plant would use explosive deslagging to clean boilers?
Answer: According to claims made by explosive deslagging specialists, this technique is successful in cleaning boilers in a variety of situations, but primarily in coal-fired power generation plants and waste to energy plants.
Question 3: What is the range of industries that might use explosive cleaning?
Answer: Again, according to what I've read, it's claimed that many of the industries that use soot blowers and sonic soot blowers, also consider explosive cleaning as an option. In addition to power plants and waste to energy plant operations, there are oil refineries and chemicals & plastics manufacturing plants.
Question 4: What individual pieces of plant equipment and machinery might use explosive cleaning?
Question 4: What individual pieces of plant equipment and machinery might use explosive cleaning?
Answer: Again, the range would appear to be very similar to that of steam soot blowers and sonic soot blowers, eg. superheaters, economizers, ash storage silos, coal silos, baghouses.
The biggest question of all, in my view, must surely be:
How effective is explosive cleaning or explosive deslagging compared to the other options available such as sonic soot blowers?
Let's face it, industries such as power generation and waste to energy are crucially important to any country's infrastructure so they need to be maintained as efficiently as possible and with as little downtime as possible.
I wasn't sure about the answer to this so I did some further reading., 3 key points came up, as follows:
1. Some plant operations find explosive deslagging to be too slow and expensive as a cleaning process which requires a good deal of careful pre-planning;
How effective is explosive cleaning or explosive deslagging compared to the other options available such as sonic soot blowers?
Let's face it, industries such as power generation and waste to energy are crucially important to any country's infrastructure so they need to be maintained as efficiently as possible and with as little downtime as possible.
I wasn't sure about the answer to this so I did some further reading., 3 key points came up, as follows:
1. Some plant operations find explosive deslagging to be too slow and expensive as a cleaning process which requires a good deal of careful pre-planning;
2. Covering a whole boiler effectively can be quite slow so operatives can be on site a long time which in turn can upset the day-to-day operations of the plant as a whole;
3. When deslagging a boiler with this technique, the boiler has to be off line (it is far too dangerous to conduct explosive deslagging whilst the boiler is in operation). A shut down boiler does not make money!
To my way of thinking, if you're looking for minimal downtime and interference with plant operations as a whole, then this type of technology is sadly just a little too invasive to be the best option.
Given that sonic soot blowers can do the job just as well (some would say better) whilst the plant is in actual operation, that they work all the time to prevent material build-up in the first place and that there's no need for outside contractors to be on site whilst the cleaning process, then they have to be the primary choice for industrial boiler cleaning.
3. When deslagging a boiler with this technique, the boiler has to be off line (it is far too dangerous to conduct explosive deslagging whilst the boiler is in operation). A shut down boiler does not make money!
To my way of thinking, if you're looking for minimal downtime and interference with plant operations as a whole, then this type of technology is sadly just a little too invasive to be the best option.
Given that sonic soot blowers can do the job just as well (some would say better) whilst the plant is in actual operation, that they work all the time to prevent material build-up in the first place and that there's no need for outside contractors to be on site whilst the cleaning process, then they have to be the primary choice for industrial boiler cleaning.
