IIoT and NOx Control: The Opportunity and the Challenge
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) combined with remote operations and
maintenance promise to make the reduction much more cost effective. Luminant and
Duke Energy already have remote centers monitoring the rotating parts at all
their plants. Yara has a remote center monitoring the levels of reagent in
storage and automatically setting delivery schedules for the next truckload when
required. Thermo Fisher has a remote center monitoring the NOx and other
emissions continuously.
MHPS has a remote center in the Philippines and is expanding into monitoring of
combustion in coal-fired power plants. Siemens has licensed tunable diode laser
instrumentation and can determine O2 and CO levels at any point in the
combustion zone. GE has neural networks which learn from burner damper settings
and optimize their location. They have SootOpt which controls cleaning of the
boiler tubes but balances NOx caused by additional energy consumed in the soot
blower vs. NOx resulting from inefficiency from ash laded tubes.
Flowserve has remote monitoring of valves and pumps. Howden has remote
monitoring of fan and compressor operations. These systems can reduce the cost
of NOx control maintenance by being proactive as opposed to predictive or
reactive. Several companies offer remote monitoring of coal flow and insure that
the correct weight (not volume) is introduced into the boiler.
With the new open access platforms and the cloud, it is now possible for
operators and their suppliers to view all the relevant information at any
location. Furthermore, the impacts on balance of plant can be constantly
included in the decision making with inclusion of other centers such as the one
created by Nalco to measure water quality impacts.
The integration of this information for the plant operator is only the first
step. Remote monitoring will enable remote operations and maintenance. This
means that a plant in a developing country can be operated with the same
expertise as one in a country steeped in NOx control experience. Uniper (the
large German utility) and India Power have a joint venture to provide O&M
services to Indian power plants. Luminant is offering to use its remote center
to provide monitoring activities for industrial plants in Texas and other areas.
The cost of sensors is falling while the ability to measure critical parameters
is expanding. Wireless telemetry makes possible communication of vast amounts of
information at low cost. So how does the NOx control industry take advantage of
the opportunity. The answer lies in climbing the pyramid.
Emerson calls the decision pyramid DIKW. At the bottom, you have data. Next is
information, followed by knowledge. At the top is wisdom. Here is how that
pyramid can be applied to NOx control.
Means Parameter
Data Sensors, Instruments, Wireless Telemetry Vibration, Temperature, Pressure,
NOx, NH3, N2O, CO2, etc.
Information Historian, Edge Computing, Permitted NOx and NH3 Emissions Burner
Damper Settings, flow of coal, urea, air Emission Totals
Knowledge Data Analytics
Clean Catalyst
Rejuvenate Catalyst
Regenerate Catalyst Trend in loss of NOx removal, increased pressure drop but
also mercury oxidation.
Wisdom Remote Monitoring, Subject Matter Expertise, Knowledge Systems How do you
schedule catalyst replacement for each layer with both mercury and NOx as
considerations?
Ninety-five percent of the attention to date has been on how to best handle
digital data and information. Data analytics has been addressed from a
methodology standpoint. The conversion of knowledge to wisdom has been left
mostly unaddressed other than acknowledge the need for subject matter experts.
This can be likened to the tiger soup story where the recipe is thoroughly
described but there is no explanation as to how to catch the tiger. Wisdom needs
marquee billing along with IIoT. It should be IIoT and IIoW.
The McIlvaine company conducted nine hours of webinars for PacifiCorp relative
to NOx control options for the Hunter and Huntington plants. As many as 80
people were participating and their input revealed new options which potentially
will greatly decrease the cost of NOx control. The knowledge from other
industries and from the past turned out to be very important. The basis for the
discussions was the NOx Decision Guide which McIlvaine has been working on for
30 years.
Wisdom and subject matter expertise are best achieved by leveraging the worlds
information but also setting up platforms similar to those used with the
software. One is decisive classification of terms. McIlvaine conducted a meeting
with catalyst suppliers and received agreement of a division for catalyst
improvement which included cleaning, rejuvenation and regeneration. Definitions
of each were then published in both English and Chinese.
Another platform is a common metric to measure all harm and good. GE has long
argued that with their low NOx combustor their gas turbines have a better
environmental profile than a turbine fitted with SCR. Even though NOx emissions
are slightly higher, there are no NH3 emissions. So, if a ton of NH3 is worth
only a ton of NOx, the GE argument fails to persuade. But, if it is worth 50
tons, then the argument is persuasive. GE cites the very low NH3 limits as
compared to NOx to justify a much higher harm quotient for NH3.
IIoT and data analytics combined with the harm metric will allow a plant to
optimize all its emissions. There are tradeoffs between NOx, CO, efficiency
(CO2), and fine particulate. NOx reduction can cause higher CO levels, lower
efficiency and, hence, more CO2, and increased fine particulate.
Europe has learned the hard lesson about applying the common harm metric. Owners
of diesel cars who are only allowed to enter cities on alternate days due to
smog must now question the wisdom of the program to force the selection of lower
CO2 but high NOx producing vehicles.
There is great optimism for the IIoT potential. Proponents cite not only the
greater efficiencies of operation but the potential for IIoT to accelerate
research and development. But this dream will not be fulfilled just by improving
the methods of data acquisition, information gathering and simple analytics.
Converting this knowledge to wisdom will take a special effort. It is the
equivalent challenge of the chef capturing the tiger.
References:
The market opportunities for IIoT are analyzed in The market opportunities for
IIoT are analyzed in N031 Industrial IoT and Remote O&M. (Formerly Air and Water
Monitoring) click on:
http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php/markets/2-uncategorised/106-n031
One NOx Decision Guide is included as part of 44I Coal fired Power Plant
Decisions (formerly PPAQD)
Another NOx market analysis and decision guide is included as part of 59EI Gas
Turbine and Combined Cycle Supplier Program
The NOx market opportunities are analyzed in N035 NOx Control World Market
NOx control activities at each coal fired power plant worldwide are tracked In
42EI Utility Tracking System
The role that valves play in IIoT NOx control systems are covered in N028
Industrial Valves: World Market
An organized program for Berkshire Hathaway Energy is described at 4S01
Berkshire Hathaway Energy Supplier and Utility Connect
A system to measure all harm and good is displayed at Sustainability Universal
Rating System
Classification of products and processes is covered at Decisive Classification
One initiative to encourage subject matter experts is explained at Niche Expert
System .
A system to provide a single identification number to the financial parent of
each company is shown at View and Correct Your Product Listings
Utility E-Alert Tracks Billions of Dollars of New Coal-fired Power Plants on a
Weekly Basis
Here are some Headlines from the Utility E-Alert
UTILITY E-ALERT
#1307 January 27, 2017
Table of Contents
COAL US
Federal Judge rules that St. Louis Power Plant violates Clean Air Act
EPA Rules delayed until March 21, 2017 but What about Long Term?
COAL WORLD
Deals signed for $2.5 Billion Coal-fired Power Plants to be set up in Hub and
Thar under CPEC
Sembcorp Chongqing Power Plant achieves full Operation
Vietnam will substitute Coal for Nuclear
Electricity Ministry contracts with Tractebel to assess offers for $10 Billion
Coal-fired Power Plant
Alcantara starts first 105 MW Block of the 210 MW Coal-fired Power Plant in
the Philippines
Balkan push for New Coal-fired Power Plants raises Environmental concerns
Beijing Coal-fired Power Plants retrofitted with latest APC Equipment
Shenua Guohua achieving near Zero Emissions
The 41F Utility E-Alert is issued weekly and covers the coal-fired projects,
regulations and other information important to the suppliers. It is $950/yr. but
is included in the $3020 42EI Utility Tracking System which has data on every
plant and project plus networking directories and many other features.
Nine Free Webinars on IIoT and Remote O&M
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and remote operation and maintenance
will combine to create a market worth $1.4 trillion in 2030 according to the
latest forecasts in N031 Industrial IOT and Remote O&M Market Report published
by the McIlvaine Company. A series of nine webinars will provide some of the
conclusions from the report. The presentations will be followed by a discussion
period where participants can share their views and ask questions. Each webinar
will be scheduled on a Thursday at 10 a.m. CDT. Participation is free.
Schedule
February 16. IIoT and Remote O&M Markets: Questions to be addressed include: Why
combine IIoT and Remote O&M forecasts? Why will this market grow at 13%/yr.?
What are the major markets segmented by industry, region, and product? What are
the limiting factors to growth? How do suppliers best take advantage of the
opportunity?
February 23: Gas Turbine, Reciprocating Engine IIoT and Remote O&M. This
industry segment has made the most progress in leveraging IIoT for remote O&M
services. Turbine and component suppliers have remote monitoring centers
operating around the clock. This session will explain why a 2030 forecast of $30
billion is predicted. It will answer the question as to how established
technologies such as remote vibration analysis will be combined with analytics
and decision making relative to all components in the balance of the plant.
March 2: Coal-Fired Power IIoT and Remote O&M: This session will build on nine
hours of webinars recently conducted on optimizing NOx emissions, 42 years of
data analysis in Coal-fired Power Plant Decisions and a previous McIlvaine
report entitled Information Technology in Electricity Generation. It will
discuss the basis for an $80 billion 2030 forecast for coal-fired IIoT and
remote O&M with a focus on the potential for utilities in developing countries
to take advantage of the world's expertise through services from international
consortia.
March 9: Pump IIoT & Remote O&M. The potential for pump suppliers to add $20
billion of annual revenue and create new market routes for pumps valued at $25
billion will be discussed along with the evolution from vibration and lube oil
monitoring to maximizing efficiency and minimizing maintenance costs. Based on
the research in N019 Pumps World Market the session will discuss the various
routes to market (system suppliers, third party O&M providers, and direct to end
users).
March 16: Industrial Valve IIoT & Remote O&M. The role industrial valves will
play in expanding the market to $1.4 trillion while generating $20 billion in
additional valve revenues and carving new routes for valve sales worth $30
billion will be explained. Insights from N028 Industrial Valves: World Market
will be leveraged to predict the evolution of smart valves, valve inventory
management programs such as being offered by GE, integration with third party
programs and the role for subject matter experts.
March 23: Oil and Gas IIoT and Remote O&M. McIlvaine predicts this market will
grow to $168 billion by 2030. Insights from N049 Oil, Gas, Shale and Refining
Markets and Projects will be used to describe the present disparate programs and
the eventual amalgamation to interactive systems using open platform software.
Safety, security, maintenance, environment, and efficiency will be considered.
The webinar will include uses in the upstream, midstream and downstream segments
of the industry.
March 30: Filtration and Separation IIoT and Remote O&M. The basis for a $350
billion 2030 market will be provided. The broad range of applications as
delineated in many market reports "MARKETS" will be analyzed. This includes
thousands of applications including ones as diverse as vibration monitoring and
polymer dosage for centrifuges to filter condition monitoring for stationary IC
engines. Clarcor already provides a total filtration solution package which
includes replacing of all filters in a plant as needed. Donaldson offers a
filter program for off road engines.
April 6: Water & Wastewater IIoT and Remote O&M. Municipal water and wastewater
treatment systems are challenged by long pipelines subject to leakage,
corrosion, odors and blockages as well as by maintaining valves and pumps in
remote locations. New wireless technologies are already enthusiastically
embraced. McIlvaine will provide insights based on several of its services: 62EI
North American Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facilities and People Database and
67EI North American Public Water Plants and People as well as on ongoing private
studies on subjects such as aeration compressors. This market is projected to
reach $168 billion in 2030.
April 13: Air Pollution Control. The basis for a $60 billion 2030 IIoT forecast
will be explained. Continuous emissions monitoring systems are now required in
many industries in many countries. Typically minute by minute emissions of each
pollutant are transmitted to owners as well as enforcement agencies. There is a
huge potential to integrate the information from these systems with combustion
and other process optimization systems to operate plants based on both total
economic and environmental cost of ownership. McIlvaine will be providing
insights based on included in N027 FGD Market and Strategies, N035 NOx Control
World Market, N021 World Fabric Filter and Element Market, N018 Electrostatic
Precipitator World Market. Remote operation and maintenance of electrostatic
precipitators is well established and successful. This success is a model for
other IIoT initiatives and will therefore be examined in detail.
Subsequent webinars. The following subjects will be included in future IIoT
webinars:
Subjects: cleanrooms, ultrapure water, water & wastewater treatment chemicals
Industries: chemical, pharmaceutical, mining, semiconductor, pulp & paper,
food
Brief analyses of these opportunities are found at:
$125 Billion/yr. Power Plant IIoT Instrumentation, Software and Service
Opportunity
IIoT and the Stainless Steel Industry
http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/SS_world_article_1-19-2017.pdf
$5 Billion Cleanroom Market will be Increasingly Impacted by IIoT Technologies
Industrial IoT and Remote Operations and Maintenance Will Generate Revenues In
Excess Of $1.4 Trillion
Recorded Interviews. Periodic recorded webinars with suppliers, consultants and
end users will be linked from this page as well as being displayed in Hot Topic
Hour recordings. Much of the future sensor input will be related to
environmental performance. This in turn is tied to the regulations. Recently we
conducted an interview with Patricia Scroggin of Burns & McDonnell. You can view
it at Meeting the new ELG and CCR requirements- options explained by Patricia
Scroggin (Interview Dated: 1/20/2017).
To register for the webinars, click on: Hot Topic Hour Schedule and Recordings
For details on the report click on: N031 Industrial IOT and Remote O&M
The analysis and forecast of IIoT instrumentation, software and service
opportunities in Power Generation is included as a special report in N031
Industrial IIot and remote O&M.
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You can register for our free McIlvaine Newsletters at:
http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php?option=com_rsform&formId=5.
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You can register for our free McIlvaine Newsletters at:
http://home.mcilvainecompany.com/index.php?option=com_rsform&formId=5.
Bob McIlvaine
President
847-784 0012 ext. 112
rmcilvaine@mcilvainecompany.com
www.mcilvainecompany.com