4. International VGB Workshop "Operating Experience with Fluidized Bed Firing Systems"

jointly organized by

Institut for Solids Process Engineering and Particle Technology	VGB PowerTech e.V.

The series of International VGB Workshops „Operating Experience with Fluidized Bed Firing Systems“ started 2002 in Cologne. The basic idea was to provide fluidized bed combustor operators a forum for the exchange of operating experience and for the discussion of fluidized-bed-system specific problems.

Subjects like operability of gas distributors, solids separation characteristics of cyclones, refractory maintenance or long-term experience with the ash management turned out to be so attractive that over 120 experts participated in the lecture program and the subsequent technical tours.

A particular characteristic of the workshop is its format: 20 minute presentations followed by 15 minutes discussion ensures detailed information which is not found to such a depth in the usual conferences.

The second workshop of this series took place 2004 in Berlin and was hosted by BEWAG. A particular highlight of this event which saw 140 participants was the technical tour to the Turow power plant in Poland where several very large-scale circulating fluidized bed boilers are in operation.

The third workshop 2006 was held in connection with the 19th International Conference “Fluidized Bed Combustion”, the advantage of this arrangement being that participants from both the workshop and the conference were given the opportunity to attend each other’s sessions.

The 4th International VGB Workshop “Operating Experience with Fluidized Bed Firing Systems” will take place 2008 at the Technical University Hamburg-Harburg in Hamburg. Again the Workshop will be held in conjunction with a major international conference. This time it is the 9th International Conference on Circulating Fluidized Beds where in 140 presentations and 4 plenary lectures the most recent developments of fluidized bed technology will be highlighted. New focal themes are technologies for CO2 capture e.g. oxyfuel combustion and chemical looping combustion. In addition, the Working Party “Fluidized Bed Combustion” of the International Energy Agency (IEA) will organize a session on co-combustion and related ash problems. This will provide attendants of the VGB Workshop unique opportunities to get new insights and meet the experts in the field.