Abstracts - VGB PowerTech Journal 6/2012
Flexible operating strategies reduce CO2 emissions
Lothar Balling, Andreas Pickard and Olaf Kreyenberg
Germany’s energy mix is undergoing a turnaround. Boosted by the Government’s incentive programmes for renewables, the installed capacity based on these highly fluctuating energy sources such as wind and solar power is increasing sharply. Today, renewables already meet around 18 % of Germany’s power demand. However, we still will have to rely on conventional power generation to bridge the gap when, just a short time later, the power feed-in from renewables is not sufficient to satisfy current demand. One obvious choice is modern combined cycle power plants which are an environmentally friendly generation technology.
Post-combustion CO2 capture experiments in a 1 MWth carbonate looping pilot plant
Alexander Galloy, Jochen Ströhle and Bernd Epple
Technische Universität Darmstadt is currently investigating the field of carbon capture technology. A promising post-combustion approach is the so-called carbonate looping process. To study carbonate looping among other carbon capture processes a 1 MWth carbon capture pilot has been erected in Darmstadt. Experimental data of more than 650 hours of carbonate looping operation is available. This article addresses an experimental campaign conducted in early 2012.
Proven but new - innovation of hydropower
Herfried Harreiter, Dominik Godde and Richard Zickermann
Hydropower has been utilised traditionally and its technology is being further developed and advanced. Current developments are addressed by outlining the challenges for operators and manufacturers. The case examples show a wide range of possible innovations. This refers to single components up to novel overall concepts like hybrid plants and compact turbine plants as well as run-of-river power plants.
Goldisthal pump storage power plant - from planning to current operation
Joachim Kahlert and Ulrich Geiger
The change in the energy policy decided by the German Federal Government has massive effects on energy generation. Accordingly to the increased expansion of renewable energy sources like wind and photovoltaic, future transmission networks are strongly influenced by the fluctuating feed-in of renewables-based power. Technologies for storing excess electricity are becoming more and more important. By the example of the pump storage power plant Goldisthal, the experiences made are describes, starting with the project idea, over the approval procedure, the erection of the power plant until today’s operation.
Fly ash - availability, logistics, potential
Heinz-Peter Backes, Dirk Brandenburger and Matthias Meißner
The proof of sustainability for construction methods and building materials is increasingly demanded. In this regard fly ash as an industrial power generation by-product from coal-fired power plants is of particular importance, as Germany is still worldwide leading in the sustainable utilisation of fly ash, especially as concrete addition. It is essential to use the potential of the available fly ash, however, it is necessary to develop the construction rules and standards further.
Fly ash for concrete for sliding shuttering technology - special application for a gypsum silo
Johannes Brandl
GDF Suez is constructing an 800 MW coal-fired power station in Wilhelmshavn. The stair-towers and especially the silos have been construction in sliding shuttering technology which is the most economic for the construction of silos. For the storage of wet FGD gypsum, the concrete has to fulfil special requirements regarding sulphate resistance. The construction period lasted from 2009 to 2011.
Intellectual capital statement at the PowerTech Training Center
Our approach to the systematic employment of PowerTech Training Center’s intellectual capital
Manfred Bornemann and Hans-Werner Otte
Intellectual capital has proven to be an essential competitive asset. PowerTech Training Center is now addressing the issue of analysing and evaluating intellectual capital and its impact on operational procedures. The paper describes PowerTech Training Center’s intellectual capital and shows how the current proficiency status of both full-time and part-time faculty members is being evaluated and developed with regard to the strategic challenges facing the school.
Standardised shift change
Heinz-Gerd Blank and Hans-Peter Cremer
In the course of modernising the control engineering systems of RWE Power AG’s power plant at Neurath, Germany, the traditional hard control panel technology was replaced by modern screen-based operating systems. In addition to developing a new standardised operating concept for each screen-based control station, this replacement also required reviewing and adapting the shift change concept to the new setup. Employment of the new standards ensures that the quality of conveying relevant information from one shift crew to another remains consistently high. The new standards can be implemented directly in the control room.
A study of possible sources of water for the FGD project Orot Rabin Power Station
Victor Marcu, Yosef Schechtman, Sara Moscovici, Eli Gal and Michael Mengel
One of the problems of the wet FGD technology is the large increase in water demand per MW. At the Orot Rabin/Israel site, the water demand for the wet FGD would have increased by 50 % for unit 5 and 6 only. Residual water with a higher boron content from a nearby desalination plant could be used. Therefore, experiments have been made on the chemistry of the FGD plant in order to investigate the utilisation possibilities of residual water.
A multi-parameter instrumentation approach to makeup water and cycle chemistry measurements
David M. Gray
The cost of corrosion and deposition in power plant systems has driven research to understand corrosion mechanisms and to establish make-up water and cycle chemistry guidelines to mitigate these problems. Guidance is presented for the successful specification, installation and operation of on-line analytical instrumentation used to achieve compliance with these guidelines. A multi-parameter approach to monitoring is presented which provides a single advanced platform for the most common parameters: specific and cation conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, ORP plus TOC.
Overcoming the steam quality issues from an HRSG for the production of process steam
Frank de Vos, Rob Heijboer and Paul McNicholas
Cation conductivity is the main parameter for steam quality, not only in combination with turbines, but also for the export of process steam. At a steam production plant, for a nearby process plant, the cation conductivity values in the steam were, already from the commissioning phase, difficult to meet, according to the VGB Guidelines. The first investigations showed that a high concentration of CO2 in the steam was to a certain extent responsible for the high cation conductivity values. This paper will discuss the path followed to find the source of the CO2 and other pollutants and how to overcome this issue.
Steam contamination with degradation products of organic matters present in the feedwater of the Lanxess-Rubber cogeneration plant
Roger Ertryckx and Nancy Poelemans
The commissioning of the steam turbine of a GDF Suez cogeneration plant was delayed due to steam purity issues. Following route causes were investigated and excluded poor degassing of the feed water, CO2 ingress in the demineralised water storage tank and thermal degradation in the boiler of leachables from ion exchange resins. The investigations revealed heavy pollution of the anion resins by organic matter. The steam purity could be restored by a post treatment of the demineralised water with reverse osmosis. The post-treatment was stopped once the guideline was adopted.
Characterisation of the interaction between liquid film and flue gas flow at walls and internals in FGD scrubbers
Mario Arnold and Hans Fahlenkamp
The VGB Research Project “Characterisation of the interaction between liquid film and flue gas flow at walls and internals in FGD scrubbers” covers the droplet wall interaction in flue gas scrubbers. In the context of optimised FGD design, especially in fulfilling the increasing requirements on the conventional flue gas treatment by the CCS design, a better understanding of the flow behaviour near the wall is crucial. Within the framework of the research project an experimental setup is designed, built up and run.