FABRIC
FILTER       NEWSLETTER   

May 1999
No. 283

B&W Two-Stage Separator Order from SIGECO

Southern Indiana Gas & Electric CO. (SIGECO) has awarded an $80-million contract to Babcock & Wilcox to supply turnkey engineering, procurement and construction services for a new $90-million power plant slated for construction at Mt. Vernon, IN. Under the contract Babcock & Wilcox will supply a 100-MWe circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler. It will be designed to burn high-sulfur bituminous coal and a variety of other fuels.

According to Babcock & Wilcox, the CFB boiler will incorporate the company's state-of-the-art environmental control technologies. Specifically, it will employ a special two-stage particle separation system instead of a more traditional hot cyclone to provide high solids loading and control furnace temperature.

The first stage separates the unburned coal or carbon and unreacted limestone from the gas and returns the solids to the furnace. A device called a U-Beam hangs from the roof of the boiler and is open to the gas. As the gas is diverted around the U-Beam particles hit the back wall and are pulled down by gravity. The low-maintenance U-Beams typically are staggered in several rows across the entire length of the boiler constituting a very compact primary particle separator.

The second stage employs a multicyclone particle collection device which captures particles between 40 and 100 microns. These particles are sent back to the furnace in a controlled fashion for temperature management. The gases then pass on to a baghouse for final cleaning.               

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