IPMA CFBC Seminar 2018 Repertoire
400x300
by Mr. R. Kumar, Boiler Expert in India and IPMA Advisor
The third IPMA Seminar on “Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion Technology- Clean Coal Solutions for Sustainable Energy Production” at New Delhi was convened on February 6-7, 2018 at Le Meridien, New Delhi. The seminar was inaugurated by Mr. P K Mohapatra, Director Technical NTPC Limited, India in presence of Chief Guest & Theme Speaker Mr. P D Siwal, Member Thermal, Central Electricity Authority, India. The key note speaker was Dr. Bo G. Leckner, Professor – Energy and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. The other distinguished speakers were:
- Mr. Kirit Brahmbhatt, Head, Centre of Excellence (Power & Utility), Reliance Industries Ltd., Mumbai
- Mr. Robert Giglio, Senior Vice President, Strategic Business Development, Sumitomo (SHI-FW), USAi
- Dr. L K Maheshwari, Advisor Indian Power Management Academy and Former Vice Chancellor BITS, Pilani
The welcome address & inaugural session was anchored by Mr. Vinod Kumar, Managing Director & CEO IPMA. Mr. Pradeep Deo, Director, IPMA presented bouquet of flowers to all dignitaries.
Mr. Kirit Brahmbhatt called upon the audience to initiate CFBC Technology Forum which he volunteered to render his assistance in cooperation with IPMA. The inaugural session was followed by intensive six technical sessions with twenty technical papers for the rest of the period of the seminar which ended with highly interactive expert panel discussion. The list of panelists are attached. Mr. Kumar had the privilege of summarizing the entire seminar proceedings as a Repertoire.
The Session-I
Korea presented the salient design features of SAMCHEOK 2000 MW plant which was commissioned in 2016. This is the largest 550 MW CFBC unit with two boilers feeding one 1000 MW turbine with Ultrasupercritical parameters of 254 bar/ 603o C/ 603o C. Commissioning issues on DM water shortage for refractory dryout & steam blowing was discussed and how it was met.
RIL presented their first experience on coal fired power plant with CFB boiler operating at Dahej 5x500 t/h and Hazira 4x500 t/h. Being a process industry which requires uninterrupted steam supply, the presentation elaborated on how they have improved the reliability of the boilers, safety measures undertaken, incorporation of state of the art DCS controls to optimize power plant operation. The plant is operating in auto mode.
thyssenkrupp covered the design features of Cold Cyclone CFBC technology, Biomass Co-firing and usage of gravity tubes of finned type to avoid fouling, CFD model studies which predicts that up to 55% biomass firing can be fired along with coal.
Sumitomo SHI-FW presented a review of operating plants worldwide that fire low grade coal, petcoke and lignite such as 2x 255MW lignite fired CFB in Turkey with HHV of 1300 kcal/kg, 30% Moisture and 50% Ash & 2x 315 MW in USA firing Texas lignite, 460 MW in Poland, 4x 550 MW at Samcheok in Korea etc.
The Session-II
GMDC presented O&M issues of Akrimota TPS 2x 125MW in Gujarat covering refractory coating to reduce tube erosion, rectifying valve supports for draining the ash from furnace, nozzle mapping to prevent damage to fluidizing nozzles.
NLC presented the refractory failures and modifications carried out in Rajasthan/ Barsingsar 2x 125MW. Frequent failures were faced in startup burner area, FBHE, Bull nose, cyclone roof, cyclone shell, combustor to cyclone inlet duct, flue gas duct, flue gas duct roof, ash cooler empty chamber. Modifications done in cyclone roof by changing to 2 layers of refractory from 3 layers, reduction of insulation thickness, modification of anchors etc. Method of applying refractory was changed to gunnite method from manual. After these modifications, PLF improved by 3% from 75% to 78%.
BORL presented on the experience of Petcoke firing in 3x 275 t/h CFBC boilers. These boilers fire 70% Petcoke+ 30% Coal. They faced failures in Nonmetallic expansion (NMEJ) joints in various areas, Soot deposition in the second pass. Improvements done by changing to MEJ, enhanced FBHE refractory life by application of new refractory material, change in startup procedure, reduction in startup time.
Dr. Lunbo Duan, Southeast University, China presented on the development of large sized CFBC boilers of 600 MW capacity put into operation in China in April 2013 which were co-firing biomass and petcoke and outlook for co-firing in CFBC boilers.
The Session-III
Sumitomo SHI-FW presented the latest design features of CFBC boilers of 460 MW in Poland, 550 MW ratings (four Ultra Super Critical Boilers) in South Korea which reduces pluggage & pressure drop, minimizing refractory usage with max thickness of 25 mm in current designs, integrated heat exchanger etc. Techno-economics of 600 MW CFBC versus PF was also covered.
Fortum Power, Finland presented on Biomass co-firing with coal in CFBC boilers. 330 MW Vartan KW, Sweden is designed for 100% biomass with coal as backup fuel. This is in operation since 2016. Fortum is presently executing 203 MW plant in Poland firing Coal, RDF, Biomass which is scheduled for commissioning in 2018 and 299 MW in UK which is world’s largest Biomass plant scheduled for commissioning in 2020 with 10 year O&M contract. They have developed unique technical solution for combustion optimization for NOx control.
Dr. Ravikrishna, IISc, Bangalore presented an overview of the National Centre for Combustion Research & Development for CO2 reduction. It was suggested to install a research facility for OXYFUEL firing to reduce CO2 emission.
Meenakshi Energy ltd presented design features of 2x 150MW Thermax supplied CFBC boilers. These boilers are designed with min. refractory, IR-CFB using segmented U beams, MDC for fine bed temp control which can fire Indonesian coal and mix of Indonesian + Indian coal .These units achieved high availability as high as 93%.
The Session-IV
Special lecture by Dr. Bo Leckner covered the trends in FBC/ CFBC boilers in various applications-utility, co-firing, waste to energy. He emphasized the need for application of FBC/ CFBC technology for utilizing the waste to energy and CO2 reduction.
Sumitomo SHI-FW presented on Biomass, waste and multifuel fired CFB boilers covering the ref list of plants worldwide. There are 101 Biomass fired CFBC boilers, 115 Biomass fired FBC boilers 11 Biomass Gasifiers, 26 Biomass conversion plants. The world’s largest CFB plant firing 100% Biomass is 205 MW operating in Poland firing Wood Chips and Wood pellets. Currently they are designing 299 MW CFB which is the largest Biomass plant located in UK and scheduled for operation in 2020. Current trend shows increasing interest in applying agricultural & biomass waste and it is projected that installed capacity of such type CFBC boilers is expected to touch 200-250 GW in 2010-2030.
IIT, Bombay covered the biomass pretreatment methods that can reduce alkali & Cl content before firing in CFB .Pretreatment methods like grinding, leaching, Torrefecation etc.
Doosan Lentjes, Germany presented detailed concept and design features of 300 MW CFBC reference plant utilizing low grade coal with LHV of 9.9 MJ/kg and ash up to 50% with parameters of 258 bar/ 570o C/ 597o C. Also they touched upon experiences with biomass co-firing on utility size CFB boiler covering 5 units in California, USA, Gardanne 250 MW plant in France. This 250 MW plant was originally designed for coal+ lignite was also later on converted to biomass firing. Biomass addition to large scale CFB is more amenable than small scale.
The Session-V
Harbin Boilers, China presented salient design features of 350MW CFBC SC boiler with parameters of 1190 t/h, 25.4MPa /571o C/569o C which will be put into operation in 2018. Further 660 MW CFB boiler with USC parameters 29.4 MPa/ 605o C/ 623o C is in development and 660MW with double RH is also contemplated with USC parameters 32.5 MPa/605o C/623o C/623o C.
thyssenkrupp presented their ref list of CFBC boilers with 3x 55 MW in Philliphines, 2x 30 MW in Indonesia, 90 t/h low pressure CFBC boiler etc. CFBC boiler supplied to Navabharat Ferroalloys ltd made a record run of 540 days continuous operation with very high availability. They can offer up to 300 MW subcritical CFBC boilers. Shanghai Boiler Works, China presented salient technical features and innovations of CFBC boilers of 50-300 MW supplied by them in the subcritical range. First 350 MW supercritical CFBC boiler put into operation in Nov, 2015. In Angul, Orissa they have commissioned 10x 135MW CFBC boilers for JSPL. Currently, 2x 250 MW boilers are being supplied to NLC for their project in Rajasthan.
Calderys India Refractories Ltd touched upon the issues with present application of insulation methods. With mechanized operation and form work, water quality, proper mixing etc. human error can be minimized and faster installation can be done. For refractory removal instead of manual, hydro-jetting can be used which will require 3-4 men instead of 12-15 men.Expert Panel Opinion and Recommendations:
Today’s CFBC technology is well matured like PF fired units and with advantages of fuel flexibility, scalability (higher sizes, super/ ultrasuper) with lesser pollution of NOx and SOx compared to PF and with very high availability and large size unit ratings as high as 500MW being available in CFBC range ,this technology should be promoted in a big way as this is environmental friendly. Co-firing of bio mass is possible with CFBC units. Up to Dec 2015, when the pollution norms were not stringent, utilities were opting for PF route without FGD and SCR as it was less capital intensive compared to CFBC. Now with stringent norms of SOx, NOx, CFBC can compete with PF fired boilers which has to be necessarily equipped with FGD and SCR systems. It is felt by the expert panel that new environmental norms will drive CFBC Technology in India both in captive and utility power plants with large size having supercritical characteristics comparable with other parts of the world like Europe, Korea, China and USA. CFBC Technology is also being successfully used for municipal solid waste combustion and large size biomass based power plants are coming up in the world. CFBC technology shall be encouraged to promote research on CO2 reduction towards reducing Green House Gas emissions in line with Indian Government resolve towards fighting against climate change.
A need was felt and recognized that Indian academic institutions should take up more research work in CFB combustion for which industry should come forward to offer their supporting hands.
Industry experts opined and emphasized that training and skill development must be given the highest importance in the organization to create capable and competent manpower at all levels at design/ engineering, construction, plant operations and maintenance to shoulder the responsibility in both for captive and utility power plant.
Valedictory address was delivered by Dr. Bo G. Leckner who gave a message that we must protect our environment and earth with best use of technology by optimum usage of our natural resources like fossil and renewables in the right proportion.
Thereafter Dr. S. K. Paliwal, Scientist D, IPC-II together with Dr. Bo G. Leckner, Mr. Robert Giglio and Mr. Pradeep Deo handed over the certificates to all participants including speakers of the seminar.
