Modern Optimization Techniques in Power Plants

06 March 2018
MODERN OPTIMISATION
TECHNIQUES IN POWER PLANT
Layout of the presentation
 Objective
 Problems
 Combustion Optimisation Methods
 Advanced process control
 Sensor technologies
 Software – offline & online
 Current practices
 References
2 © Confederation of Indian Industry
 Objective
 Problems
 Methods to optimize system – current technologies
 References
Objective
 Improving
 Boiler efiiciency
 Heat rate
 Maintaining CO, Nox, SOx, level below certain limits
 Reduction of average excess O2
 Reduction of average FGET, metal temperatures and maintaining

higher temperature homogeneity in the furnace
 Reduction of SH and RH spray
 Decrease operating costs
 Higher availability and service life of the plants
4 Higher profitability of powerof Indian

© Confederation plants
Industry
 Objective
 Problems
 References
Practical problems
 Uncertainities and poor combustion process happens due to

 Fuel quality (GCV, ash content, volatiles, degrees of milling fineness,
blending)
 Fuel flow (non – uniform distribution of the pulverized flow)
 Air flow disturbances (distribution of combustion air on the

individual burner and across burner)
 Inadequate DCS close control loop tuning

Practical problems
 Operating a boiler that is not optimized, can

 Fallout of pulverized fuel, blocked pipes, or high mill pressure
 Erosion of mill, pipes, and burner components
 Poor burner ignition, and flame instability and dislocation
 Incorrect primary and secondary air-to-fuel ratios
 Increased nitrous oxide production
 Increased levels of unburnt carbon
 Increased excess-air requirements
 Increased erosion between furnace and boiler exit
 Reduced boiler efficiency
 Increased slagging, furnace problems, inappropriate SH/RH temperature profiles
 Objective
 Problems
 References
Combustion optimisation

Methods
 Methods for Combustion optimisation

 Diagnostic testing
 Sensor based
 Online optimization
 Modelling based approach for combustion control
 Control loop tuning

Diagnostic tests
 Clean airflow test

 Dirty airflow test
 Isokinetic Coal Sampling
 Air in-leakage survey
 Insulation survey
 Furnace temperature survey
 Flue gas flow measurement
 Boiler efficiency test
 APH performance test
 Boiler tuning & optimisation
 Objective
 Problems
 References
13
Sensors
 Oxygen (O2)
 Electrochemical zirconia-based sensor
 Extractive oxygen analysers
 CO
 Infra-red absorption
 Electronic sensors using catalytic combustion
 NOx
 Chemiluminescence detectors (CLD)
 Ultraviolet (UV) photometry
Sensors
 Gas sensor arrays
 Flue gas in the convective pass remains relatively ‘stratified’
 localised regions of high CO originating from individual
burners

CCM System
 Continuous combustion management (CCM) system
 CO - NDIR
 O2 - Zirconia cell
 Temperature - Thermocouple
 CCM installed at Crystal River Power Plant in Florida

 O2 reduced by 2%
 boiler efficiency gain by 0.5%

Sensors
 Temperature ( T °C)
 Infrared pyrometer
 Acoustic pyrometer
 Lumaspection IR pyrometers
 400°C to 2000°C
 EUtech’s EUflame system
 an array of several pyrometers
 Enertechnix
 multiple transmitters and receivers positioned around the boiler
walls
Sensors
 Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS)

Working principle
 ZoloBOSS

Case study
 284 MW t-fired Gallatin Station in Tennessee
 15 laser paths were installed
 oxygen - set point could be lowered by 0.2%pt
 NOx reduction of 24% and a 1% heat rate improvement
 726 MW Ottumwa Generating Station
 manual balancing of the furnace with ZoloBOSS
 oxygen set point reduced by 0.75%pt, 2.4 MW saving in auxiliary
power, heat rate reduction of 0.9%, 5% reduction in NOx, and 20%
less CO emissions
 sustained operation - integration of the flue gas data into the unit’s
20existing combustion ©
optimisation software
Confederation of Indian Industry
Sensor – Carbon in Ash

Sensor – Coal Flow
 Coal Flow
 need for improved control of individual burner
stoichiometry
 led to increased adoption of online flow sensors on
coal pipes
 PFMaster from ABB and Greenbank employs an
electrostatic method
 Installation of Mecontrol Coal sensors on burner
pipes at the 265 MW Stigsnaes Power Plant in
Denmark
 30% reduction in oxygen set point,
 44% less NOx, and
 1.3 %pt efficiency increase
 Objective
 Problems
 References
Advanced process control

Strategy in advanced control
 Artificial Intelligence - Empirical model
 Fuzzy logic
 Expert system
 Model based optimization - first-principles analysis of

the system (mathematical model)
 Artificial Neural Network (ANN)
 Model predictive control
 Model free adaptive control

 Objective
 Problems
 References
Combustion Optimisation Software

Combustion Optimisation
 Neuco CombustionOpt

 CombustOpt typical performance improvements
 NOx reductions of 10–15%,
 boiler efficiency increases of 0.5–0.75%
 CO levels are controlled to a desired limit
 700 MW unit at Belle River Power Plant in Michigan
 1.63% reduction in heat rate,
 20% less NOx, associated with almost halving the excess oxygen
 470 MW Gibbons Creek Steam Electric Station in Texas

 20% reduction in CO emissions, slightly reduced NOx, and
 significant reductions in use of sprays for superheater and reheater steam
temperature control,
30overall excess oxygen setpoint lowered
© Confederation of Indian Industry
 ABB Predict & Control
 2094 MW Colstrip plant in Montana in 2008

 15% reduction in both NOx emissions and excess O2,
 40% less spray attemperation of reheat steam

 STEAG Powitec PiT Navigator

Other Combustion Optimisation Softwares
 Emerson Smart Process
 Invensys Connoisseur
 EUtech EUcontrol

Smart Sootblowing

Smart Sootblowing
 NeuCo SootOpt
 an average of over 600 daily operations
reduced to 400
 BoilerOpt at NRG’s Limestone Generating

Station in Texas
 15.4% reduction in NOx emissions and
 18.4% drop in CO

 Objective
 Problems
 References
Other Softwares
 Ebsilon – planning tool
 PADO – energy management
 eSTPE for steam path audit
 Etap – electrical analysis

Ebsilon

Offline / Online simulations

Why PADO ?
 DCS also has the information needed to do the calculation of

efficiencies and heat rates
 But what are the limitations?
 DCS does not give the system wise efficiencies so we do not know
where the losses occur
 Data from I/O points e.g. Temperature, Pressure, Mass flow could be
wrong because of sensor errors, bad connectors, etc. That makes
calculation erroneous.
 DCS does not give advice on what to do

Advantages of PADO
 Improving the quality of measurements by data validation

 Evaluation of boiler, turbine, condenser and other
components
 Optimisation of unit operation (soot blowing, set points)
 Calculation of what-if scenarios

 Generation of daily and monthly reports
 Enhance the efficiency of the power plant !

42
Data validation system
 Data validation to replace data errors due to defective sensor or cable
problems
 Validation – A 3 tier Process
 Plausibility Check using Neural Networks
 Plausibility Check based on range of values
 Data validation / reconciliation based on ‘first principle

thermodynamic’ model

Turbine Performance Monitoring
 Compares the actual values of critical parameters with the best
achievable under current operating conditions
 Shows monetary loss against each sub optimal operating parameter,
defining the scope of improvement

Turbine Performance Monitoring

Boiler Performance Monitoring

Soot blowing optimisation

PADO is commissioned or under commissioning

 Objective
 Problems
 References
References
www.steag.in/system-technologies
www.ebsilon.com
www.eecpowerindia.com
www.usea.org
www.abb.com

Thank You….
Contact:
Swapnil Malewar
Associate Counsellor
Confederation of Indian Industry
CII – Godrej Green Business Centre
Survey # 64, Kothaguda Post
R R District, Hyderabad 500081 INDIA
Direct: +91 8600555685

Email: swapnil.malewar@cii.in
Web: www.greenbusinesscentre.com / www.cii.in

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06 March 2018

 Maintaining CO, Nox, SOx, level below certain limits

 Reduction of average excess O2

 Reduction of average FGET, metal temperatures and maintaining

 Decrease operating costs

 Higher availability and service life of the plants

4 Higher profitability of powerof Indian

 Uncertainities and poor combustion process happens due to

 Air flow disturbances (distribution of combustion air on the

6 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 Operating a boiler that is not optimized, can

9 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 Methods for Combustion optimisation

10 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 Clean airflow test

15 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 CCM installed at Crystal River Power Plant in Florida

16 © Confederation of Indian Industry

18 © Confederation of Indian Industry

19 © Confederation of Indian Industry

21 © Confederation of Indian Industry

24 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 Model based optimization - first-principles analysis of

25 © Confederation of Indian Industry

28 © Confederation of Indian Industry

29 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 470 MW Gibbons Creek Steam Electric Station in Texas

 2094 MW Colstrip plant in Montana in 2008

31 © Confederation of Indian Industry

32 © Confederation of Indian Industry

33 © Confederation of Indian Industry

34 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 BoilerOpt at NRG’s Limestone Generating

35 © Confederation of Indian Industry

37 © Confederation of Indian Industry

38 © Confederation of Indian Industry

39 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 DCS also has the information needed to do the calculation of

© Confederation of Indian Industry

 Improving the quality of measurements by data validation

 Calculation of what-if scenarios

41 © Confederation of Indian Industry

 Plausibility Check based on range of values

 Data validation / reconciliation based on ‘first principle

43 © Confederation of Indian Industry

44 © Confederation of Indian Industry

45 © Confederation of Indian Industry

46 © Confederation of Indian Industry

47 © Confederation of Indian Industry

© Confederation of Indian Industry

50 © Confederation of Indian Industry

Direct: +91 8600555685

51 © Confederation of Indian Industry

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