Abstract: A system and method for presenting the tradeoffs among the sensitivity, false alarms and off-line operation of recovery boiler leak detection systems. For any given recovery boiler, the system and method utilizes prior data from that recovery boiler to provide the operator of that boiler with the ability to balance how sensitive the recovery boiler leak detection system can be along with how many false alarms of the recovery boiler leak detection system will be tolerated and along with how much off-line operation of the recovery boiler leak detection system will be acceptable.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for detection of leaks in boilers containing a temperature control liquid which is supplemented with feedwater and removed as blowdown. The methods include measuring rates associated with the feedwater supplementation and blowdown, adding a tracer to the temperature control liquid, determining the change in rate of the feedwater supplementation, determining the mass of the temperature control liquid, deriving the change in concentration of the chemical tracer in the temperature control liquid, calculating the unaccounted for water rate and comparing this rate with zero to determine if a leak condition is present.

Abstract: A method and system for detecting and estimating leaks in an industrial boiler whereby the method and system formulate the leak detection problem as a least squares fitting problem, where one or more of the fitted parameters estimate leak flows. The method and system create a representation that incorporates a leak model component, a process model component and a noise model component into the representation. This invention provides a variety of leak dotproduct.sub.ij (tCurrent)=exp(-(tCurrent-tPrevious)/Tau.sub.ij)* dotproduct.sub.ij (tPrevious)+(1-exp(-min(t/Current-tPrevious, maxDt)/ Tau.sub.ij))*x.sub.i (tCurrent)*x.sub.j (tCurrent).

Abstract: Two control methods and systems for automatically achieving and maintaining a desired sodium/phosphate ratio and phosphate concentration of the boiler waters in a plurality of parallel industrial boilers linked by a common feedwater line for minimizing corrosion. The first control system uses an adaptive controller that models the boilers which enables the system to predict boiler pH and phosphate concentrations at any future time given the feed rates, feed concentrations of high and low sodium/phosphate stocks, blowdown rate, mass of the boiler water, initial boiler phosphate concentration and initial pH. Once these future concentrations are determined, the controller then determines a common normalized control (target) region among all the boilers and feed rates that will drive at least one of the boilers into that region in the least amount of time. Subsequent iterations of feed rates are made based on updated boiler water concentrations to drive all of the boiler waters into that target region.

Abstract: A control system for automatically achieving and maintaining a desired sodium/phosphate ratio and phosphate concentration of the boiler water in an industrial boiler for minimizing corrosion. The system uses an adaptive controller that models the boiler which enables the system to predict boiler pH and phosphate concentrations at any future time given the feed rates, feed concentrations of high and low sodium/phosphate stocks, blowdown rate, mass of the boiler water, initial boiler phosphate concentration and initial pH. Once these future concentrations are determined, the controller then determines which feed rates will return the current boiler water state to, and then maintain the boiler water at, the desired sodium/phosphate congruency ratio in the least amount of time.