After the 2019/20 Christmas break, the research continued. There were many ends to tie up or understand, but also a new type of virus began to spread and seemed to be getting closer and closer, who thinks of carcinogenic and environmentally harmful heavy metal compounds at such times?
But whenever a window of opportunity arose, I searched for explanations and in English the following terms individually, or also in context:
hexavalent chromium
chromium (VI)
calcium
calcium oxide
insulation
I found the oldest entry from (!) 1993.
The "B & W Babcock Wilcox power generation group" warned in the downloadable safety warning about (freely translated) "...chromium-containing insulations, whose chromium content could change to hexavalent chromium compounds in the course of applications...". Further, B&W disclosed the insulation materials that could result in the formation of chromium (VI) compounds.
If you come from the industry, you know the names and so I also looked up the material safety data sheets for the materials, which I have attached to the document.
The unredacted document can be viewed here:
The safety data sheets of the critical materials designated by B&W can be found, for example, by entering the name of one of the products in Google and adding the term "safety data sheet".
If we take a closer look at these safety data sheets, we find "chromium (III) oxide" as one of the ingredients.
But what we don't find is "calcium" - so another dead end? More on this later.
However, searching for "calcium", "chromium (VI)", "insulation" also leads to the following document:
"Hexavalent Chromium Safety Bulletin Summary" von "Energy UK"
you can find the original link here: https://www.energy-uk.org.uk/files/docs/EnergyUKHexavalentChromiumSummary.pdf
or you can download it here:
Here, one of the passages states quite clearly:
"...
Where is Hexavalent Chromium Cr(VI) occurring?
Chromium is present in power stations as it is added to alloy steel to increase hardness and reduce corrosion. In the electricity generation sector, it has been identified that Hexavalent Chromium Cr(VI) is present on coal-fired and CCGT generating sites.
There is the potential for Cr(VI) to be present in areas such as; HP steam pipework, Gas Turbine combustor components, and Gas Turbine exhausts if calcium-containing insulation or anti-seize products are used. This can occur on CCGT or coal-fired plants.
What is causing Hexavalent Chromium to occur?
(*) The root cause is currently under investigation, and Energy UK understands that various manufacturers, operators and Operation and Maintenance (O&M) providers are collaborating to ascertain this.
Initial views are that its presence occurs when three specific parameters are simultaneously satisfied:
1. Calcium based product is present
2. Temperatures greater than 300°C
3. Chromium Steel is present.
Calcium can be present in various forms but the most common are anti-seize lubricants and calcium-based insulation blocks.
personal comment to the text marked with (*) respectively italic:
Energy UK "assumes" that educational work is being done and that there is probably also interest in solving the obvious problem, ultimately the important points of occupational health and safety and environmental protection are affected.
My subjective impression is different, I will go into this in one of my next posts with the title "Quandary (Summer 2021)".
Finally, I would like to anticipate briefly, but in order to remain in the retrospective chronological framework, I will go into this in a later post "the next warning (summer 2020)".
If you don't want to wait, you can have a look at the link to a warning of the company Eneria, France:
Eneria.fr writes "about us":
Eneria , a subsidiary of the Monnoyeur Group , is a specialist in power generation and engine systems . As the exclusive Caterpillar dealer in France and in several foreign locations, Eneria is known for its expertise and know-how in the maintenance, installation and servicing of Caterpillar gensets, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and engines.
At the beginning of this post there were warnings from the USA (B&W), then I went into the UK (Energy UK), the preview on "Eneria" refers to France and other European countries. You wonder where this leaves Germany?
Germany is a bit late, here we have to wait for a presentation from Siemens Energy (post: "the German outing and a side hustle (October 2020)").
For those who would like to take a look at the slides (I attended the presentation myself):
I will translate the slides into English for the follow-up post.
Because this is a preview, I would like to translate only the third last slide
However, the conditions are by no means exclusive to turbines.
The use of calcium-containing insulations and assembly pastes on chromium steels is widespread in industry and reflects the state of the art.
This sentence will be analyzed as a "side hustle"
At the top of the text I ask about the possible dead end.
In the safety data sheets of the products described, one finds chromium (III) compounds, but actually no calcium, or perhaps one does?
Here you have to dig a little deeper and look at the concept of the main ingredient of the materials listed:
"Refractories, fibers, aluminosilicate" - CAS-No.: 142844-00-6
.."Amorphous glass fibre produced from silica dioxide and aluminium oxide and a range of oxides such as zirconia, ferric oxide, titanium oxide, magnesiumoxide,
calcium oxide, other alkaline earth oxides including sodium oxide,
potassium oxide, barium oxides
So the calcium(oxide) is only visible at second glance, but is there, once again. And so we come soon to my post "Francesca (March 2020)".
Quelle: echa.eu
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