Noncontacting dry gas mechanical face seals are being routinely applied to steam turbines to reduce new construction project costs and improve overall plant operating efficiencies. Historically, most of the applications have been in general purpose turbines. On a recent California refinery expansion project, this innovative seal design was selected for two special purpose steam turbines. Concurrently, a similar turbine for another customer had similar operating conditions and design challenges. During turbine testing, the seals failed. An extensive root cause failure analysis determined that material face combination and operating procedures were the sources of the failures. With the change in materials and procedure, both turbines and three sets of revised seals passed a series of API tests, including a partial load test run. In the fall of 1996, the two turbines were commissioned and have been in operation since.
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