When you receive a shipment, you don’t wait weeks to see whether you got what you paid for — do you? J.M. Stuart Generating Station doesn’t, but it used to.…
O&M
Technical articles on all aspects of power plant operation, preventive and predictive maintenance, planned and unplanned outages
Historically, cyclone-fired boilers have been characterized as big emitters of NOx due to the very high temperatures in their primary combustion zone. Uncontrolled levels from 0.8 to 1.9 lb/mmBtu have…
Layering NOx control technologies can reduce a coal-fired unit’s NOx emissions to levels achievable by selective catalytic reduction alone. Advanced Combustion Technology Inc. (ACT) (www.advancedcombustion.net) has demonstrated that using several…
FIRE PROTECTION Safeguarding coal-handling assets Coal-fired power plants have millions of dollars invested in conveyor systems and train-unloading equipment. Consistent, reliable performance of this equipment is critical to maximizing plant…
INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROLS Upgrading to digital--twice The E.W. Brown Generating Station of Kentucky Utilities (KU) is located in the town of Burgin, about 30 miles southwest of Lexington. The plant's three generating…
Controlling combustion often has been likened to a black art rather than a science. The physics of burning coal are as well understood as the design of steam generators. The…
Noted management consultant Peter Drucker once wrote that "an established company, which, in an age demanding innovation, is not able to innovate, is doomed to decline and extinction." Some say…
U.S. electricity consumption continues to increase almost 2% annually. As the load growth spurs calls for new power plants and transmission lines, it's easy to forget the impact of the…
The visible consequences of sulfuric acid aerosol emissions—opaque stack emissions called "blue plumes"—are merely the tip of an iceberg. In sufficient concentration, SO3 also can increase corrosion and fouling of…
INSTRUMENTATION Level measurement in harsh environment A demanding level measurement application in an extreme environment best describes the conditions that Advance Engineer Rick Mezan faced at FirstEnergy Corp.'s 2,360-MW Bruce…