In This Issue
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O&MUpdate: Benchmarking Boiler Tube Failures
Boiler tube failures continue to be the leading cause of downtime for steam power plants. Is your boiler tube failure reduction program showing improvement when compared to programs at peer plants? The EUCG’s recent update of its boiler tube failure study can help you answer that question. The full study is available only to members, but this POWER exclusive presents many of the key results, which could help you improve the operation of your plant.
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CoalCoal-Fired Generators Worried About Getting Burned
The expected renaissance for U.S. coal-fired generation has been more evolutionary than revolutionary: Less than half of the announced plants will likely progress to construction. However, the percentages for coal-fired plants aren’t significantly different from those for combined-cycle plants a decade ago, when dozens were ultimately canceled, leaving developers with warehouses full of unused gas turbines. The difference this time: The threat of carbon control legislation has moved many projects to the “wait and see” category.
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O&MMeasuring Coal Pipe Flow
Once pulverized coal flows have been measured, they can be balanced and optimized. Until then, tuning is simply guesswork. The right way to balance furnace fuel flows is to establish solid baseline performance by proper measurement of fuel flow, fineness, and velocity. Only then can all the coal pipes be accurately balanced and followed by a tune-up of the boiler controls.
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NewsRugged Belt Cleaner
Martin Engineering’s Performance Duty QC#1 Belt Cleaner (PDQC#1) is the latest addition to the company’s line of “Quick Change” belt cleaners. The PDQC #1 Cleaner features a more rugged steel mainframe, a low-maintenance spring tensioner, and a high-volume urethane blade that extends life while maintaining cleaning performance. It also uses a one-piece urethane blade featuring […]
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News
The Big Two
In this column last month I quoted Indian Environmental Minister Jairam Ramesh to represent India’s intention to not agree to any legally binding emissions targets at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December. That conference will start formal negotiations of a follow-on agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. A number of readers wrote to say that they believe India and China, despite their protestations to the contrary, will cave to international pressure and at the end of the day agree to some binding carbon emissions limits. I disagree.
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Commentary
Climate Change Litigation: Ripe for Growth?
For some time, the U.S. energy industry has feared the prospect of large-scale climate change litigation (CCL) that seeks to link emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) to global warming. Thus far though, only a handful of such suits have been filed, and none has yielded any judgments against the energy industry. This begs the question of whether the energy industry can now stop worrying about CCL.
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EnvironmentalPNNL Pioneers New Sulfur and Carbon Dioxide Scrubbing Liquid
A reusable organic liquid developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) or sulfur dioxide (SO2) from power plant emissions could one day replace current scrubbing methods and allow power plants to capture the gases in a cost-efficient way that uses no water and less energy.
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O&MEnsure Your Valve Replacement Parts Meet OEM Specs
When high-temperature boiler feedwater passes through a control valve, the pressure drop can exceed several thousand pounds per square inch, placing extreme stress on the valve body and internal parts. If those parts are not engineered and manufactured to the highest industry standards, there is a very real possibility of the severe conditions damaging or destroying the valve.
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NuclearUsing the Sterling Engine for Solar and Lunar Power
Since Robert Stirling invented the Stirling engine in 1816, it has been used in an array of specialized applications. That trend continues today. Its compatibility with clean energy sources is becoming apparent: It is an external combustion engine that can utilize almost any heat source, it encloses a fixed amount of a gaseous working fluid, and it doesn’t require any water — unlike a steam engine.