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Compared to most pieces of a power plant, refractory costs very little to install. Yet, if improperly manufactured, specified, stored, mixed, installed, cured, or dried, refractory may cause problems that can significantly decrease a plant’s operating efficiency and flexibility. Like Rodney Dangerfield, refractory design and installation deserve more respect.

The 35th birthday of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) passed last December 2 with little fanfare. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson noted at the time that, “Over the last three and a half decades, through the use of innovative and collaborative approaches to environmental protection and a commitment to responsible stewardship, we have made remarkable […]

GE Energy’s latest “first” is in Turkey, where the Frame 6C gas turbine-generator—a younger cousin of the popular Frame 6B—has made its commercial debut. The turnkey 130-MW combined-cycle plant, called the GE206C, comprises two 40-MW Frame 6Cs, one GE steam turbine-generator, two heat-recovery steam generators, and a distributed control system. The gas-fired plant (Figure 1), […]

New Jersey’s gaming mecca is hosting one of the largest hybrid (solar-wind) power plants in the world (Figure 3). The Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm, with 7.5 MW of wind capacity and 0.5 MW from photovoltaic (PV) cells, is expected to generate 20,000 MWh annually. That should be enough to power an adjacent wastewater treatment plant operated […]

The 130-MW Yuncán  hydroelectric plant (Figure 4) has come online in Peru about 210 miles northeast of Lima. To show his support for the project, Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo Manrique attended the inauguration ceremony. Yuncán  was commissioned just 21 months after the Peruvian government awarded a 30-year contract to operate the plant to EnerSur, the […]

The long-awaited 41st edition of Babcock & Wilcox Co.’s (B&W’s) Steam: Its Generation and Use (Figure 5) is now available for ordering on the company’s web site, www.babcock.com. The release of the book is worth noting by power plant engineers for two reasons: The tome is the world’s longest continually published (since 1875) engineering text, […]

In "U.S. utilities driving for a license" (November/December 2005), we wrote that Bechtel Corp. is part of the UniStar consortium. Bechtel Corp. is not a member but is working for UniStar as a contractor.

Now that many U.S. selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems are in their fifth or sixth year of operation, a number of utilities are shifting their attention from implementing the technology to operating and maintaining it. Catalyst management and performance are key to the successful operation of any SCR system.

As an alternative to purchasing new catalyst, technological and economic advantages make a compelling case for regenerating rather than replacing the metal or ceramic that enables selective catalytic reduction systems to capture NO_x.

The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City was the site of the 2005 Platts Global Energy Awards (GEA). The seventh annual black-tie soiree was the most global ever. Some 400 top executives from more than two dozen countries on five continents gathered at the Roosevelt on December 1, 2005, to honor the energy industry’s “Best […]