POWER

The Estick electronic contact temperature indicator provides an instantaneous digital readout of surface temperature at the point of contact with an accuracy of ±1%. Knowledge of the material’s emissivity is not required to get an accurate reading, says the device’s maker, TEMPIL, and it can gauge temperatures of ridged, polished, or nonpolished surfaces. The Estik’s […]

Pulverizer throughput is determined by the coal fineness desired for a given coal. However, compromising on coal fineness when your pulverizer isn’t up to snuff can increase NO _x and cause many furnace problems. Your least costly option for increasing pulverizer capacity is to pay careful attention to key dimensions and critical tolerances during your next overhaul.

The new Dual Pneumatic Spooling Unit allows users to run two different fluids at different pressures simultaneously with complete control and safety, says its developer, Mid-South Control Line. The unit’s pneumatic mechanism uses air, which is then exhausted. Overload and fire hazards are decreased, and unit life is increased. The unit accommodates control lines of […]

POWER published a summary of the flue gas desulfurization system scrubber cost survey conducted by the EUCG’s Fossil Productivity Committee in our July 2007 issue. Although the detailed results of the latest survey are proprietary to EUCG members that participated in it, we are privileged to present the newest summary data. The bottom line: Costs continue to rise but appear to be more predictable.

The Vibratory Ash Extractor (VAX) recently unveiled by United Conveyor Corp. is designed to improve operational efficiencies for dry bottom ash – handling at plants whose operators want to transition away from wet systems. Suitable for pulverized bituminous and subbituminous coal boilers, the VAX can also be retrofitted for lignite-fired boilers. To minimize forced boiler […]

This guide offers suggestions from a control system engineering perspective for protecting power-generating units that are determined to be critical cyber assets

Skirtboard sealing systems are installed on the sides of belt conveyor loading zones to contain material, eliminate spillage, and reduce cleanup expenses. The new Double APRON SEAL Skirting system from Martin Engineering provides two wear surfaces on a single elastomer-sealing strip that’s installed along the bottom of the skirt board. When the bottom side of […]

For decades, it’s been well-known in the country and western (C&W) music industry that "if you’re gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band." The guitars, drums, harmonicas, and piano — they’re all expected on stage. But as the legendary C&W group Alabama recognized, a fiddle is a must when performing […]

Barely a month after the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensed the nation’s first commercial hydrokinetic power station, Houston-based Hydro Green Energy in January completed installation of the first of two turbines at an existing run-of-river hydropower plant on the Mississippi River for the Minnesota city of Hastings. When the second turbine is installed later this spring, the two hydrokinetic turbines will constitute a floating array that will sit on top of a barge at the Army Corps of Engineers’ Lock & Dam No. 2.

Like the airline industry, power generators all over the world have been seeking alternative fuels with which to produce electricity, and the blends are bound to get stranger. One company is looking to make liquid fuels from chicken fat, beef tallow, and pork lard, for example. Here’s a list of innovative fuels that generators could use in the near future.