Plant Design

  • EPA Regulations Accelerate Industry Shift from Wet to Dry Bottom Ash Solutions

    Energy efficient and environmentally responsible dry bottom ash technologies will soon be required by regulation. Progressive companies will bring their plants into compliance early because it’s a good business strategy. Here are your compliance options.

  • Comparing the Value of Single- and Double-Layer Insulation on Boiler Walls

    Boiler insulation practices have moved from using a single layer to a double layer of the same total thickness in recent years. However, this dual-layer trend has a downside: higher installation costs and the opportunity for contractors to cut corners when installing insulation. It’s time to return to using single-layer insulation on power boilers.

  • Power 101: Flue Gas Heat Recovery in Power Plants, Part I

    Every power engineer must have a firm grasp of the rudiments of how fuel is processed to produce electricity in a power generation facility. With this article, we begin a series of Power 101 tutorials that present these fundamentals in a clear and concise way. First up are the essentials of recovering heat from flue gas.

  • New York Proposes Costly Retooling of Power Plant Cooling

    In a move that could cost the state’s electricity generators an estimated $8.5 billion, New York regulators [have] issued a draft policy that would require the installment of closed-loop cooling systems at two dozen large power plants in the state, including oil, coal, nuclear and natural gas generators, to reduce fish kills and other harmful effects to wildlife in the water bodies that supply the plants’ cooling water.

  • Conveyor Upgrades Increase Plant Availability, Reduce Airborne Dust

    The loading and discharge of conveyor belts is the area where many, if not most, of the problems in solids conveying occur. Fortunately, a new technology provides chutes to accomplish conveyor loading and discharge without blockages while minimizing the dust generated: engineered-flow transfer chutes.

  • World’s Largest Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Begins Commercial Operation

    When the Łagisza power plant began commercial operation in late June 2009, it marked the beginning of a new era in the evolution of circulating fluidized bed (CFB) technology. At the heart of this 460-MW plant is the world’s largest CFB boiler, which is also the world’s first once-through unit supercritical CFB boiler.

  • Leading-Edge Conveyor Technologies Reduce Dust Emissions

    Reducing dust from coal conveyors has moved from a housekeeping chore to a safety challenge, especially with Powder River Basin coals. Here’s what you need to know about the latest coal-handling system design.

  • UK Sets Binding Carbon Cuts; Requires CCS at Coal Plants

    The UK has all but doomed new coal-fired capacity by simultaneously setting binding carbon reduction goals and by requiring carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) of carbon emissions from new  mid-size coal-fired power plants. Existing plants will also be required to retrofit their plants when CCS technology is demonstrated, now estimated to happen by 2020.

  • FirstEnergy Retools Coal Plant to Burn Biomass

    FirstEnergy has announced plans to repower two coal-fired units at the R.E. Burger plant to burn biomass. Conversion of the two units, expected to be completed by 2012, gets the utility off the hot seat with the EPA for alleged Clean Air Act violations.

  • A New Era in Power Plant Control Performance

    Recent improvements in the performance of steam power plants have been achieved with advanced computerized controls. These new control schemes not only reduce fuel consumption and make the plant much more responsive, but they also can significantly decrease start-up commissioning time and cost.