When common sense is suspended, people and the environment are endangered. Just like that - because everyone should or wants to look the other way, and from the point of view of some protagonists, this is also what is wanted.
In the picture we see parts of a gas engine from a European market leader, customers are combined heat and power plants or regional energy producers; so-called "cogeneration" is used to generate electricity and heat, and there are already models that run partly on hydrogen. The signs are pointing to green energy, and that's a good thing.
The latest technology, decentralized control, digital monitoring and increasing efficiency - the technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, because energy is a valuable commodity.
Everything is of high quality, the engine manufacturers emphasize the performance of their energy-generating machines, and they are also prepared for the new savior, green hydrogen; there are already engines that can be operated at least partially with hydrogen without any problems.
Manufacturers and municipalities alike are investing a lot of money to generate power and heat in an environmentally friendly way.
Everything of high quality? Maybe in terms of engine technology, maybe also in terms of components, but otherwise?
The technology of thermal insulation of the most modern engines comes from the last century and has not changed since the 1980s
Engine technology in itself is not new, you might say, but engines have been and continue to be developed further.
However, this does not apply to the mostly gray and rarely properly fitting insulating elements and is visibly becoming a problem, as this article shows.
When it comes to regular maintenance or short-term replacement work, the insulation is often dismantled and then put back on again, and that's how the problems start, with consequences that no one expected, but which are now here because the whole industry's "we've always done it this way" is now falling pretty heavily on its feet.
As already noted, the so-called "state of the art" in removable insulating elements emerged in the 1980s. As a rule, the "pillows or jackets", as they like to be called, are made of glass fabric and glass fiber mats, mainly E-glass products.
A look at the technical properties of E-glass is enough to find out that E-glass should actually be used only up to 450°C-500°C. If these temperatures are exceeded, the glasses become brittle and lose a large part of their textile properties.
To slow down this process, the fabrics are coated with all kinds of high-temperature coatings to prevent the aging process or wear.
With these coatings, the application temperature is certified as "up to 600°C for short periods", thus qualifying these materials on paper for use in larger gas and diesel engines.
However, these materials are less suitable for very hot continuous applications; the measurement of temperature resistance for the suppliers' data sheets is carried out in calm and time-limited furnace heat, but not on strongly vibrating drive parts.
Paper is patient and always has been.
According to the technical specifications, the materials are therefore suitable and usable, and so the thermal decay begins with the commissioning of the energy-generating plant.
To this day, for example, we find polyurethane coatings as an additional cut-resistant finish even on the inside of the insulation elements, knowing full well that the polyurethane "outgasses" at temperatures of over 250°C.
The outgassing didn't bother anyone in the 1980s, it just smoked a little, smelled a little, and "it is recommended that fire alarms be turned off during machine startup."
What was released when polyurethanes were outgassed?
It was just the 80s, but today we know more:
"Disposal is also problematic, when PU is burned, numerous hazardous chemicals such as isocyanates, hydrocyanic acid and dioxins are released, even in landfills it has a toxic effect, it decomposes into substances that are harmful to the climate," writes Greenpeace Austria.
The "recycling is difficult," is also the assessment of BUND and incineration due to toxic gases also.
Anyone who thinks that the current state of knowledge has led to thinking about polyurethane as a coating will be disappointed; although fabric manufacturers have "reacted" by offering other coatings, what do you take when "old and proven" is also a little cheaper and PU is in the tenders anyway?
Even better and more effective high-temperature coatings, which would be available by now, are not provided for, because again the sentence "we have always taken that (material)" comes up.
But we don't want to digress, we are a trade magazine for dusts and not for vapors, so let's come back to the dangerous dust, the carcinogenic and environmentally harmful chromium (VI) compound calcium chromate (CaCrO4) on CHP and cogeneration engines, as well as gas and steam turbines:
If you now look at an insulating element of a gas engine after a certain period of use, the extent of the "chromate disaster" (#TheChromatedisaster) quickly becomes clear, although most people are not even aware of the consequences for the owners and operators:
After only a few months of use, the seams that were supposed to keep the segments of the insulation element in shape have already ruptured, but as can be seen from the above picture, this has not been successful.
This results in a direct heat flow from the inside to the outside because the insulating layer that is supposed to keep the temperature in the system is no longer present in the ruptured seam area.
Since it is a calcium-containing insulating fabric with stainless steel wire reinforcement, the formation process of the chromium (VI) compound calcium chromate can begin, yellowish powder is formed, best indicator of the presence of the carcinogenic compound, which as we already know is classified as H350 (may cause cancer) and H410 (acutely harmful to the environment with long-term effects on aquatic organisms).
Calcium chromate is on the REACH list and is considered a "substance of very high concern" (SVHC) worldwide.
In the European area, the occupational exposure limit for chromium (VI) compounds in some is one microgram per cubic meter of air.
A microgram is one millionth of a gram, so it is not visible to the naked eye.
Such a small spot can't be bad, some will surely think now.
But if the limit value at the workplace is one millionth of a gram (per cubic meter of ambient air/eight-hour shift), then these visible dusts in this form during engine operation when swirling (or through the removal and installation of the insulating elements) in the narrow containers ensure that the limit value is exceeded thousands of times over immediately.
These dusts must not be allowed to enter the groundwater under any circumstances, because a limit value of between one and five micrograms of chromate/l applies to drinking water as well, i.e. one millionth of a gram or one two hundred thousandth of a gram here as well.
But it doesn't stop at just the one spot, and looking at the rest of the insulation, the question arises as to how it is possible that this phenomenon, which we refer to as "the chromate disaster," has still not received the attention it deserves.
How the situation deteriorates over time is shown in the following photos, taken, mind you, this year, somewhere in Europe:
Especially in the last picture on the right, you have to look twice to figure out if it's the inside or outside of the insulation.
The lucrative business with completely overpriced spare parts on the part of the engine manufacturers prevents a sustainable care of the engine insulation. For the money of a complete set of new insulation, you can sometimes buy a used car in good condition!
How can it nevertheless happen in 2022 that perfectly maintained engines are equipped with insulation that one would rather expect to find in developing countries?
To understand this deplorable state of affairs, one must question the spare parts business in the CHP/CHP engine sector, because good money is made from the replacement of components due to wear and tear, a lot of money, because new parts are often sold with margins between 200-400% markup.
From reliable sources we know, for example, that an original set of insulating elements for engines, supplied by the original equipment manufacturer at, say, around 3,000€ to the engine manufacturer, is made available by the latter for over 10,000€ (!) as a spare part.
This is quickly earned money and there are certainly companies that pay these sums, but a smaller operator will consider several times whether he invests a five-digit amount for a spare part, which in the original was already heavily worn after about two years, and so it often comes to insulation "solutions", which you can possibly find once in the hardware store, as the following picture shows:
However, #theChromateDisaster becomes really bad and negligent when insulating elements that show large chromate contamination on the outside are sent to the service company by freight forwarder and the question is actually asked whether the insulation can still be reworked.
Held in place only with a bit of stretch film, insulation elements contaminated with chromates are transported across the republic, allowing the carcinogenic chromium (VI) compounds to be released in many places, and often with human contact:
In the shipper's outgoing goods
During loading of the goods
In the logistics hub of the carrier
During loading in the delivery vehicle
At the unloading of the service company
In addition, the shipping documents still have to be managed, and so the shipping documents, which unfortunately were also located between the contaminated insulation elements, end up with calcium chromate on the copier and on many a desk, because order is a must, at least in the office.
While this article was being written, we got new pictures from another site. This time, it's insulation from an engine manufactured in Bavaria and shipped thousands of times around the world; with calcium-containing textile insulation from the factory.
Stay connected with us, we will keep reporting!
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