Power Plants
Heavy industrial facilities sometimes are required to meet regulations that involve more than NOx emissions and result in more complex systems and installations. The case studies here examine customer applications and key challenges.
Utility Power Plant
Superheater Upgrade
Sacramento County
Upgrades to boiler superheater system ensures no downstream liquid or condensation in ice making process
One Sacramento County utility power plant that provides over 1.5 million customers with electricity also provides a small portion of dry steam, through a steam turbine, to a neighboring ice manufacturing facility. The industrial ice manufacturing facility purchases the dry steam from the power plant. However, the power plant was not providing enough dry steam to meet its contractual requirements. As a solution, R.F. MacDonald Co. (RFMCO) added a custom-engineered superheater to increase steam output and satisfy all load requirements.
The utility power plant operates a combined cycle system with low or no load when electrical demand throughout the city is low. This stop-start practice weakens steam output from condensation buildup and downstream liquid. To keep consistent steam temperature and output year-round, the power plant needed an additional 40 degrees Fahrenheit of superheat to fire when its normally 85,000pph boiler was only firing at 40,000pph.
To achieve the additional 40 F on their existing Cleaver-Brooks watertube boiler, RFMCO and Cleaver-Brooks pioneered a novel solution by calculating the exact location of a second, higher temperature exhaust flue-gas opening to feed the additional heat. Read more
Keywords: industrial ice plant, how is ice manufactured, convert saturated steam, dry steam, steam turbines, electricity generation
Saguaro Power Company
Burner Retrofit and CO Catalyst
Henderson, NV
Retrofit of dual fuel power generating station to meet NOx and CO emissions
The Saguaro Power Company is a subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc. that operates a power generating station in Henderson, Nevada and provides electricity to the surrounding Las Vegas Area. The company was using an auxiliary Volcano O-Type Watertube Boiler with dual fuel capability to burn natural gas or a combination of natural gas and hydrogen fuels at 249 million BTU per hour. The auxiliary boiler keeps the steam system in a hot standby mode to quickly bring the power plant back online if the main system goes down.
New emission regulations imposed by the Clark County Air District, required reducing the level of NOx emissions to 12 ppm and the CO stack emissions to less than 1 ppm and would require Saguaro Power Company to make changes to their existing equipment. While Saguaro Power Company was faced with the challenge of meeting these tight emission requirements, they were also concerned with minimizing any loss in boiler capacity. Read more
Keywords: burner retrofit, CO catalyst, boiler case studies, boiler projects, auxiliary boiler, power plant boilers, boiler installation
