Incessant trivial alarms can drown out important warnings and cause headaches for control room operators. In this installment of Marnie Surfaceblow, our fearless heroine wades through all the noise to identify

The ability of a coal power plant to accommodate significant changes in fuel quality is often limited by many constraints. When faced with a challenging goal to test torrefied biomass fuel at its Boardman

Many coal power stations have recently been operating at historically low capacity factors or have even undergone extended economic shutdowns. This can result in coal stockpiles that are exposed to the elements for much longer times than anticipated, resulting in a loss of usable coal energy by several mechanisms. This article explores the severity of […]

Inexpensive natural gas, increased renewable energy utilization, and ever-tightening environmental regulations have limited the use of waste feedstocks for power generation. But while often dismissed out of hand, with proper planning and understanding of the market, power producers can realize benefits from waste-to-energy projects. It was a tropically hot day at the plant, and it […]

While having lunch at a downtown café with my friend the biology professor, the subject of animal extinction arose. “When it comes down to it, we really don’t know exactly why most prehistoric species

Sometimes overlooked and underappreciated, a power plant condenser can make or break your efficiency and power delivery goals. Understanding how important a role your condenser plays is a good step toward greater heat rate awareness. As part of a university class on power generation systems that I teach, I show my students a Sankey diagram […]

Proposed U.S. standards for reducing carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants rely heavily upon generation-side efficiency improvements. Fuel, operations, and plant design all affect the overall efficiency of a plant, as well as its carbon emissions. This review of the fundamentals of coal plant efficiency, frequent problems that reduce efficiency, and some solutions for […]

Back in the “good old days” of the power industry, fuel was cheap, fuel supplies were fairly constant, air emissions regulations were loose, and power plant coffee was as dark as sin and worse for you

If there is one truth to the power industry, it is that environmental regulations will only proceed down one path—that of stricter limits. Although legislatures and courts may argue over the issue for years

It seems as if each week brings further bad news for coal power plants. Recently, Consumer’s Energy sought relief to close three power plants, South Carolina Electric & Gas announced it would cease

Table 1. Change in furnace and air heater temperature as a function of the ratio of coal and gas fuel use in a typical steam plant. If natural gas supply prices fall below the delivered cost of coal, a unit