Solar Receiver for a Molten Salt CSP plant 1

[jchan11hk]

Hi fellow engineers,

My company is developing solar CSP as Independent Power Producer, this CSP plant is the one that has mirrors on the ground and a receiver at the top of the tower and the medium is molten salt. I have a question of the solar receiver on top of the tower.

In my country, pressure equipment is governed and very similar to the PED in Europe. But our head office requested our supplier to design the receiver to ASME codes. Then the question comes in, which ASME code should we use to design the receiver which has a design temp of 565 degC and design pressure of 20 bar. I would this ASME VIII Div 2 makes more sense then ASME I and ASME B31.1. ASME B31.1 is proposed by the subcontractor, but that is a piping code and not suppose to have heat absorbing considerations, right?

I also attached some similar design on the internet to give you some reference.

Regards

Jeffrey

 

[jchan11hk]

Receiver schematic

 

[XL83NL]

In my country

Which country?

which ASME code should we use to design the receiver which has a design temp of 565 degC and design pressure of 20 bar

My first pick would be ASME VIII-1.

 

[jchan11hk]

I am in South Africa, and our system is very similar to PED. I also thought ASME VIII Div 1 is applicable, but if they want to do Design by Analysis, then I think I should be okay with ASME VIII Div 2.

 

[TGS4]

565°C (or 1050°F) is in the creep regime for most typical materials. There are currently no rules in VIII-2 for doing DBA in the creep regime.

You would be better off using VIII-1 and use the methods in API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 to design in the creep regime via U-2(g).

 

[EdStainless]

565C isn't in the creep regime for the metals used in the absorbers, they are Ni based high temp alloys.
These systems end up being built to many different Codes.
You have the absorbers, the molten salt piping and storage, the steam generators, and the steam power system, each of these will likely have different design and construction rules.
we have also made ferritic stainless tubing for the steam generators.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[jchan11hk]

Ahh, sorry I forgot to mention, yes, those tubes at the receiver is going to be Ni-alloy and the main piping for molten salt to the tanks should be P91.

I supposed there are no set of rules or general consensus on using one approach, right?

 

[MJCronin]

I am a little confused here ....

ASME Section I was developed for Fired Boilers, but is also commonly used for passive boilers such as Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSGs) commonly found in Combined Cycle Power Plant Service.

ASME Section I contains rules for safe design, inspection, acceptable materials testing and certification. Section I contains rules specific to boiler design. Section I considers the destructive effects of thermal transients in recommended design details.

While very similar in many ways, ASME VIII was developed separately just for pressure vessels ...

I believe that ASME Section I would be the correct choice.



MJCronin
Sr. Process Engineer

 

[jchan11hk]

@MJCronin, agreed with you on this, so all the stresses in ASME I should be considered. Isn't the limitation of ASME I is water/steam boiler, which should be exposed to fire?
Also, the medium does not change phases from liquid to gas.

Or PG-2.4 applies?