Dry Ice Blasting for Gas Turbines

Keeping natural gas turbines clean and operating at peak capacity is a critical job for power plant managers.

But cleaning methods must be carefully considered in this environment. Some methods used to prepare turbines for essential inspections can cause harm they are intended to prevent. If a process leaves foreign material in a unit’s bottom casing, the damage can be costly and extensive.

Finding the right cleaning process is essential, however, as buildup accumulates rapidly and can interfere with turbine efficiency.

Here is an overview of three cleaning types and their usefulness for natural gas turbine cleaning.

Hand Cleaning

Hand cleaning of natural gas turbines is tedious. It can take up to a week to complete and often does a poor job of thoroughly removing built-up carbon residue from units.

While manual cleaning may save money in the short-term, the process ties crews up for several shifts and can lead to delays in testing and maintenance related tasks, which can result in outages.

Steam Cleaning

Steam cleaning uses pressurized vapor to loosen debris. While often described as a “dry” process, steam cleaning creates condensation that mixes with existing grime and can create mud that requires time-intensive manual clean-up.

Moisture introduced by steam can also leave turbines susceptible to rust and corrosion, which can weaken parts and shorten the unit’s life span.

Steam cleaning, however, does offer a benefit in the form of reduced noise disruption. Unlike other cleaning methods, steam cleaning is relatively quiet and does not interfere with radio traffic used by crane operators. With proper drying techniques, steam cleaning can be effective for gas turbines.

Sponge Blasting

Sponge blasting uses tiny bits of synthetic sponge infused with micro-abrasive particles to remove hard-to-clean residue. While it is useful for dust control, sponge blasting leaves behind foreign material that requires containment and secondary clean-up and is generally not recommended for use on natural gas turbines.

Dry Ice Blasting

Dry ice blasting uses tiny pellets of frozen CO₂ to blast off grime and buildup. Because dry ice sublimates on contact, no moisture or foreign materials are introduced in the cleaning process. The threat of damage from secondary debris or rust propagation is eliminated and no secondary cleanup is required.

Dry ice blasting has other advantages for cleaning gas turbines including:

• Adjustable force for use on delicate components including rotors, turbine discs and blades, compressors, bottom and top casings, windings and stator vanes
• Dry ice blasting can be done without full disassembly
• Dry ice blasting removes carbon buildup from turbine blades faster and more effectively than more manual methods

Many power generation professionals rely on dry ice blasting method to quickly, safely and effectively clean their gas turbines and prepare them for inspections. Dry ice blasting can restore turbines to a like-new clean with minimal downtime.

For bests results, look for a dry ice blasting provider with significant experience working in power generation facilities. It is also useful to find a provider who offers a range of industrial and commercial cleaning solutions since some applications may require a combination of solutions.