"Optimization Systems for Fossil Fueled Power Plants” was the Hot Topic Hour on April 30^th

A 3.5 hour marathon was well worth the time as nine speakers provided the latest on improving efficiency at coal-fired power plants. The follow up discussions were just as important. This is the big advantage of a flexible time webinar.

Utility operators have always been interested in improving the efficiency of their operations to reduce cost, but today they are looking at efficiency improvements as part of the solution to some of the other concerns they are faced with. Improving efficiency of the combustion process and heat recovery by only a few percent can very inexpensively reduce the total CO₂ emissions and help meet the new regulations for GHG reduction being imposed by states and soon the U.S. EPA. This can also reduce their emissions of other criteria pollutants. Improving the efficiency of systems designed to remove particulates and SO₃ can help meet the coming PM_2.5 regulations with minimal investment. Improving the operation of fans, pumps and pollution control equipment can reduce parasitic losses and increase output for the same fuel consumption. 

Here are summaries of the presentations:

Bill Rafferty, Vice-President, Sales & Marketing of Clyde Bergemann Power Group Americas, cited the favorable impact that modern intelligent boiler cleaning technologies can have on plant efficiency and subsequently on air quality when retrofit to an existing power plant. There is a cascading effect of problems with inadequate cleaning and there is erosion with over cleaning. So providing the right amount of cleaning is important.

William “Bill” Poe, a Consultant with Invensys Process Systems in Houston, Texas, discussed the benefits of utilizing Dynamic Combustion Optimization to minimize heat rate, reduce tube failures, and maximize ramp rates while honoring emissions and other operating constraints.  Dynamic Combustion Optimization incorporates robust, online predictive modeling with adaptive control complemented with optimization algorithms that respond very quickly to changing conditions.

Post Combustion Optimization pays Dividends:

SCR optimization achieves

• Up to two percent removal efficiency improvement - $50,000 per year in ammonia savings and $20,000 per year for 250 MW plant in NO_x credits
•  Improvement in catalyst life
•  Reduced flyash contamination by ammonia
• Rreduction in air preheater cleaning frequency.

FGD optimization for a 500 MW unit achieved

• Five percent limestone reduction - $80,000 per year or
• One percent removal efficiency improvement - $60,000 per year.

Neil Widmer, Product Line Manager GE Environmental Services’ Boiler Optimization Service Group, presented the latest applications and results of GE’s Zonal™ Combustion Tuning System on coal-fired boilers. The Zonal™ Combustion Tuning System provides tools to measure CO and O₂ profiles in the exhaust of boilers to a degree that hasn't been done before and to advise plant operators on burner and overfire air adjustments, which can maximize performance and reduce operating costs.

GE’s Zonal Combustion Monitoring Application Experience includes

Coal Type – Bituminous or Subbituminous

• Ash < 30 %
• Moisture < 30%
• Sulfur < 3% (up to 4%)

Biomass co-firing to <30%

Gas Temperature: 900°F to 1300°F (1500°F maximum)

Other Considerations:

• Ammonia bisulfate impact from SNCR unknown
• Heavy oil co-firing impacts on filter maintenance unknown
  • Distillate and start-up shown to be acceptable

Ambient Environments

• Electronics rated 0° to 60°C, avoid exposure to severe weather.
  • Installations to 20°C but not recommended.
• Sensor rated - 18° to 93°C.

Dave Early, President of Combustion Technologies Corporation and Manager of AMC Power – a Division of Air Monitor Corporation, had some technical difficulties in connecting. But his power points are available through the links below. These power points describe the use of online coal pipe flow measurement combined with online burner secondary airflow measurement to improve control of combustion to reduce NO_x from 20 to 30 percent, CO and LOI as well as improve furnace temperature and slagging conditions.

Stewart Nicholson, President Primex Process Specialists, Inc., discussed optimization of dry FGD systems. When questioned about the ability of spray drier systems to consistently deliver high efficiency, he cited units in Europe which are averaging 98 percent removal. Stewart listed at least 20 variables which can affect the economics and performance of dry FGD systems. It is therefore a challenge and opportunity to properly address each.

Jeff Williams, Business Development Manager for SmartProcess for Emerson Process Management, Power & Water Solutions, shared the latest in advancements for capturing wind energy (ramp rate improvements), lowering load on SCR equipped units, and optimization of NO_x reductions to support the greening of the power industry.

Michael Tay, Director of Sales Engineering at Pavilion Technologies, a Rockwell Automation Company, described how Pavilion developed nonlinear control and optimization software to provide stable, robust economic performance drivers that provide optimization across multiple, occasionally conflicting objectives to obtain the highest possible performance from existing power plant equipment.  He also described the Pavilion customer engagement methodology and what it means as far as reduced cost of producing a MWh of electrical or steam energy.

Implementation of the Pavilion Solution at four coal-fired boiler installations resulted in

• 5 – 15% NO_x reduction
• 2% reduction in heat rate
• Effective balancing of operational constraints and NO_x
• Improving generating flexibility and up-time
• Maximizing production with all fuel types.

Dana Maas, Director of Business Development for RMT’s SmartBurn^® Technical Unit, discussed a suite of custom solutions that allows power producers with coal-fired boilers to optimize their systems, keeping existing equipment and marginal facilities running in an environmentally friendly, efficient and cost-competitive manner.   Extensive use and application of advanced and proven computational techniques can identify the optimal balance of cost and benefit utilizing solutions ranging from operational tuning, to custom-designed burners and over-fire air applications, to biomass co-firing.

Peter Spinney of Neuco provided the history of Neuco optimization starting with CombustionOpt but moving on to SootOpt, PerformanceOpt, and MaintenanceOpt. New products are FuelOpt, MillOpt, ESP-Opt and FGD-Opt. Each product enhances the other. FuelOpt specifies the fuel blend to optimize emissions, efficiency and reliability. Some of the major steps forward include reduction of the amount of manual sampling which is needed. Much of this measurement is now achieved with the software.

Fred Buckingham and Jeffrey Russell of MPR Associates asked penetrating and practical questions from the perspective of the specifier. These types of questions add greatly to the webinars. One of the big values of these webinars is to open the door to new ways of doing things. MPR has a history of innovation for its utility clients.

Here is an example:

MPR Associates was selected to be an owner's engineer for a combined cycle power plant in Brazil. In addition to the typical MPR owner's engineer role to provide technical and commercial oversight of the contractor's engineering, procurement and construction activities, MPR was requested to manage the fast-track design and installation of a $40 million gas conditioning system. The system was needed when it was recognized late in the project that the natural gas, provided from Bolivia via pipeline, did not meet the gas turbine specifications. The client also determined that there was a significant local market for Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) that could be extracted from the pipeline gas. Therefore, the project was to be designed to extract NGL products to specification and to enable loading of tank trucks for delivery of the products.

MPR managed the project including permitting, preparing technical specifications and bid packages, qualifying vendors, evaluating proposals, and negotiating contracts. MPR specified a system that would operate in full recirculation mode in order to accommodate gas turbine transients, including turbine trips, without shutting down. After award of the contract to the selected vendor MPR performed design reviews; performed on-site construction, start-up and turnover monitoring; specified and witnessed factory and plant acceptance testing and performed independent evaluations of critical design and construction issues. MPR recognized early in the project that the primary gas conditioning system with full NGL production capacity would not likely be available for combined cycle plant startup. Accordingly, MPR recommended and implemented a novel gas filtration technology solution in a backup system that was considered by MPR to be more certain to be available to support combined cycle plant startup.

The backup gas filtration system was provided in time to deliver in-specification gas to support combined cycle plant startup; thereby avoiding costly contract liquidated damages. Later the primary gas conditioning system was commissioned and successfully met its design requirements.

The bios and abstracts can be viewed as follows: April 30, 2009 Bios, Abstracts, Photos - Hot Topic Hour.htm

The power points are in the NO_x Decision Tree and can be viewed as follows:

Peter Spinney - NeuCo

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Real-Time Asset Optimization Solutions: Availability, Efficiency, Emissions, presented by Peter Spinney. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Peter Spinney - NeuCo 4-30.pdf

Jeff Williams – Emerson Process Management 

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Product

Smart Process Plant Optimization Systems, presented by Jeff Williams. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Jeff Williams - Emerson 4-30-09.pdf

William “Bill” Poe – Invensys Process Systems

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Optimization Systems for Fossil Fueled Power Plants, presented by William "Bill" Poe. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/William Poe - Invensys Process Systems 4-30.pdf
 

Stewart Nicholson – Primex Process Specialists

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Dry FGD Performance Optimization, presented by Stewart Nicholson. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Stewart Nicholson - Primex Process - 4-30.pdf
 

Neil Widmer – GE Environmental Services

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Zonal™ Combustion Tuning System, presented by Neil Widmer. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Neil Widmer - GE Energy - 4-30-09.pdf
 

Bill Rafferty – Clyde Bergemann

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Plants Impact of Modern, Intelligent Cleaning Systems on Boiler Efficiency and Air Quality, presented by Bill Rafferty. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Bill Rafferty - Clyde Bergemann 4-30-09.pdf

Dana Maas - RMT

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Optimization Systems for Fossil Fueled Power Plants: Suite Solutions, presented by Dana Maas. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Dana Maas - RMT - 4-30.pdf

Dave Earley – Combustion Technologies

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Combustion Optimization using Coal and Air Flow Measurement, presented by Dave Early. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Dave Earley - Combustion Technologies 4-30-09.pdf
 

 Michael Tay – Pavilion Technologies

NOx Continuing Decision Process For: Products

Obtaining the highest possible performance from existing power plant equipment, presented by Michael Tay. Hot Topic Hour May 1, 2009.

http://www.mcilvainecompany.com/NOx_Decision_Tree/subscriber/Tree/DescriptionTextLinks/Michael Tay - Pavilion 4-30-09.pdf