Vo l . 39 N o .

1 F e b r u a r y 2006

Operation Results of IHI Flue Gas Desulfurization System

--- Unit No.1(1000 MW) of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station for TEPCO---

MORI Yusuke : Power Plant Maintenance Engineering Department,

Power Plant Division, Energy & Plant
TSUMITA Yoshimitsu : Manager, Power Project Department,
Power Plant Division, Energy & Plant
MATSUMOTO Ario : Power Project Department, Power Plant Division,
Energy & Plant
SASAKI Yoshiki : Power Project Department, Power Plant Division,
Energy & Plant

The IHI flue gas desulfurization system was completed for the new 1 000 MW coal-fired thermal power plant
in December 2003. The system is now operating smoothly and achieving superior SO 2 removal efficiency. IHI
took charge of designing the whole flue gas treatment (SO 2 and dust removal) system in this project. For this
system, the latest design containing new technologies was applied to cope with the local stringent environmental
regulations as follows. The first feature is the adoption of a non-leakage type Gas-Gas Heater (GGH). The GGH
heat recovery section and reheater section are located separately to facilitate a more effective plant layout. The
second feature is the low-low temperature Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) technology on the No.1 Unit. The third
feature is the adoption of a rectangular type Absorber. This Absorber allows a reduction in installation space and
materials compared with a conventional type.

integrated flue gas treatment system, based on extensive

1. Introduction
The Hitachinaka thermal power station for Tokyo Electric
Power Co., Inc. (TEPCO) planned as a coal fired power
plant and located at the north wharf of Hitachinaka port
was constructed to establish a flexible electric power
source by application of coal as a stable fuel. IHI
delivered an integrated flue gas treatment system
including electrostatic precipitator, flue gas
desulfurization system and gas-gas heater. This unit
started its commercial operation in December 2003
(Fig. 1, Fig. 2).
IHI constructed and delivered the state-of-the art
experience in supplying flue gas desulfurization
equipment for coal fired power plants, constructing
thermal power plants and especially developing boiler
technologies since 1976. (1) This plant achieved the
predicted performance through the commissioning for
approximately one year and has entered into smooth
commercial operation. This paper outlines the system and
reports the results of the commissioning .
2. Outline of Hitachinaka thermal power
station Unit 1
Unit No. 1 of Hitachinaka thermal power station is an up-
to-date thermal power plant of generator output 1 000
,
MW, located in Tokai-mura, the site of Japan s first
nuclear power development, near Mito-shi, Ibaraki
Prefecture.
Its outline is shown below.
Start of commercial operation December 2003

Boiler/DeNOx GGH ESP IDF DeSOx GGH BUF Stack

/GAH

Fig. 1 General view of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station Fig. 2 General layout of Hitachinaka Thermal Power Station

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 Vo l . 39 N o . 1 F e b r u a r y 2006

Fuel used Coal Flue gas treatment process

Boiler Number of lines 2 (GGH, ESP, BUF)
1 (Absorber)
Type Supercritical once-
through variable Electrostatic precipitator
pressure type Type Low-low temperature ESP
Evaporation (main steam) Approx. 2 900 t/h Number of units 2
Electric charge system Continuous or
Turbine generator intermittent charging
Type Tandem compound Desulfurization unit
with reheat, Desulfurization process Single tower,
condensed type simultaneous for
Main steam pressure 24.5 MPa desulphrization
Main steam temperature 600 ; and oxidation
Reheat steam temperature 600 ; Flue gas flow rate 3 400 km3N/h
Electric output 1 000 MW Design desulfurization efficiency 95%
Inlet SO2 concentration 772 ppm (2 206 mg/m3N )
Flue gas denitrifier Selective catalytic Outlet SO2 concentration 39 ppm (111 mg/m3N )
reduction system using Absorber type Rectangular type spray tower
ammonia Number of spray stages 3
Dust collector system Low-low temperature Gas velocity in tower 4.0 m/s
ESP Circulating slurry concentration 20 wt%
Gypsum purity More than 95%
Gas-gas heater Non-leak type Gypsum moisture content Less than 10 wt%
Stack Octagonal spiral 3.2 Design concept of Integrated flue gas process
design with steel tower The heat of the boiler exhaust gas leaving the gas-air
support, 230 m in height heater is recovered by GGH and dust is removed from the
Flue gas Wet limestone-gypsum gas by the electrostatic precipitator. The gas desulfurized
desulfurization system process (spray tower by the absorber and then reheated by GGH and boosted
system) and introduced into the stack by the boost-up fan (BUF).
The features of the system are as follows (Fig. 3).
3. Integrated flue gas treatment system 1 Non-leak GGH
3.1 Design specification Independent configuration for Heat recovery unit and
Compactness and superior performance were achieved for Reheat unit
this integrated flue gas treatment system by applying Forced circulation of heating medium, non-leakage
state-of-the art technologies including low-low type GGH
temperature ESP system, non-leak gas-gas heater (GGH), 2 Low-low temperature ESP
and rectangular type absorber of high gas velocity. The ESP is installed on the downstream of GGH heat
main design specification is shown below. recovery unit

Boiler/DeNOX GAH GGH ESP IDF DeSOx GGH BUF Stack

15 000
Dust concentration (mg/m3N) 30 8

Sulfur oxide (SO2) 772 39

(ppm)
concentration Desulfurization efficiency (95% or higher)
140 93
Flue gas temperature (;) 91 91
46

370;

Dust collecting performance was improved The absorber was made compact, desulfurization and dust removal performance Low dust concentration was secured
by adopting low-low temperature ESP improved, and system simplified by adopting the high gas velocity absorber. by adopting the non-leak GGH.

Fig. 3 Feature of flue gas treatment system

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Vo l . 39 N o . 1 F e b r u a r y 2006
3 Rectangular type spray tower of high gas velocity
Compact arrangement by single absorber treatment
even for 1 000 MW
3.2.1 Gas-Gas Heater (GGH) heat recovery unit
The flue gas discharged from the boiler is separated into 2
lines, passes through the denitrifier and gas-air heater and
enters the GGH heat recovery unit. There are three tube
bundles with fins in the GGH heat recovery unit. The heat
of the hot flue gas leaving the boiler is recovered by the
heat medium water flowing tube inside and becomes
optimum gas temperature for the electrostatic precipitator.
On the other hand, the heat medium water heated by the
flue gas is sent to the GGH reheater unit. The dust adhered
on the tubes is removed by the soot blower and sent to the
ash handling system through the hopper equipped at the
lower part of the GGH heat recovery unit.
3.2.2 Electrostatic precipitator (ESP)
The flue gas from the each GGH heat recovery unit is
separated into 2 lines and enters the electrostatic
precipitator, which consists of 4 rows. Since the
electrostatic precipitators are installed downstream of the
GGH heat recovery unit, the electric resistance of the dust
can be lowered due to extremely low gas temperature.
Both the resulting decrease of the gas volume and the
narrow fluctuation range of the electric resistance of the
ash for each coal type have enabled the compact size of
the electrostatic precipitator. The problem of the back
corona phenomenon was solved in the pursuit of higher
performance because the electric resistance of the ash
greatly decreases in the low-low temperature area as
described above. As the electric adhesion force of the dust
caught on the collecting electrode is weak in electric
adhesion, it is necessary to prevent re-scattering. To solve
this problem, we adopted a closed damper system to
prevent dust from flowing out to the downstream of ESP
when hammering the collecting electrode.
3.2.3 Desulfurization system
The flue gases from the 4 rows of the electrostatic
(a) Rectangular type absorber
Mist eliminator
Gas outlet
Spray nozzle
Gas inlet Gas inlet
Oxidizing air
Agitator
Circulation pump
Fig. 4 Rectangular type Absorber and cylindrical type Absorber
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precipitators come into two lines and are boosted by each
induced draft fan (IDF), and then the flue gases from two
IDF come into one line and enter the rectangular absorber.
In the absorber, desulfurization and dust removal are
carried out, and the spray droplets entrained in the flue gas
are removed by the mist eliminator. The compactness,
lighter weight, and higher performance of the absorber
were realized by both adopting the rectangular type
absorber and applying the following improvements.
Figure 4 shows rectangular and cylindrical types of the
absorber.
(1) Higher desulfurization performance achieved and
absorber cross-section area reduced by increasing
the gas velocity through the absorber.
(2) Absorber reaction tank capacity reduced by
shortening the retention time.
(3) Number of spray stages reduced by increasing the
liquid gas ratio (L/G) per stage.
3.2.4 Gas-Gas Heater (GGH) reheater
The flue gas coming out of the absorber is moisture-
saturated, but as it is heated by the heat medium water in
the GGH reheater white smoke is prevented when it is
discharged from the stack. As some amount of mist flows
in from the absorber stacks to the fin tubes of the GGH
reheater to become scale-like deposits, the soot blower
was provided in the past, but the dust concentration from
the stack temporarily increased when soot blowing was
carried out. For this reason, bare tubes were provided at
the inlet of the GGH reheater to evaporate the mist by
preheating the gas, thus preventing the mist from directly
sticking to the fin tubes.
3.2.5 Boost-Up Fan (BUF)
The flue gas from the GGH reheater is boosted by the
boost-up fan (BUF) and then discharged from the stack.
BUF was installed downstream of the GGH reheater,
thereby reducing the corrosion and wear conditions of the
fan. Since there is no equipment installed downstream of
BUF and its exhaust noise is conveyed directly to the
(b) Cylindrical type absorber
Mist eliminator
Gas outlet
Spray nozzle
Agitator Circulation pump
 Vo l . 39 N o . 1 F e b r u a r y 2006

stack the silencer was installed at down stream of BUF.
3.3 Desulfurization process
The desulfurization process mainly consists of the
absorption system to generate gypsum by removing sulfur
dioxide (SO 2 ) and dust from the flue gas, gypsum
dewatering system to dehydrate gypsum slurry and
recover gypsum, and limestone feed system to store the
limestone powder, prepare limestone slurry and supply it.
Figure 5 shows the system flow.
3.3.1 Absorption system
The flue gas sent to the absorber is brought into contact
with the absorbing liquid sprayed by the absorber
circulation pump, and then SO2 and the impurities such as
the dust in the flue gas are simultaneously removed. The
absorbed SO2 reacts with limestone (calcium carbonate)
and is oxidized by both of oxygen in the flue gas and
oxygen in the oxidizing air to become gypsum.
Main reactions in the absorber are as follows.
SO 2 + CaCO 3 + 1/2O 2 + 2H 2 O
→ CaSO 4 • 2H 2 O + CO 2 ↑
In the absorber, the limestone slurry supply is
controlled so as to maintain constant pH of the absorbing
liquid for securing the desulfurizing performance and
minimizing unreacted calcium carbonate.
To accelerate oxidation reaction, the side atomizing
system was adopted as the equipment to supply air into
the absorber reaction tank. Compared with the
conventional pipe sparger system, this system can greatly
reduce the amount of oxidizing air and also can decrease
the accumulation of gypsum at the bottom of the absorber.
If the oxidizing air quantity into the absorber is
insufficient, the desulfurizing performance decreases and
BUF outlet damper BUF
M
the generated amount of caused by chemical oxygen
demand (COD) increases. For this reason, the A/S control
(A/S : mole ratio of amount of oxidizing air and amount of
SO2 absorbed) is provided to increase/decrease the inflow
of the oxidizing air in correspondence with the amount of
SO2 absorbed in the absorber.
3.3.2 Gypsum dewatering system
The absorber bleed slurry from the absorber is
continuously sent to the gypsum dewatering system feed
tank and its pH is adjusted to be 7 by adding caustic soda,
and then sent to the gypsum dewatering equipment for
dehydrating. The recovered gypsum with a water content
of 10% or less is transported to the downstairs gypsum
silo by the gypsum conveyor and then stored. On the other
hand, a fixed amount of the filtrate of the gypsum
dewatering system is discharged into the waste water
treatment equipment to keep the chlorine ion
concentration in the system lower than the planned value.
The remaining filtrate is reused for dissolving the
limestone powder and as make-up water to the absorber.
For the gypsum dewatering system, we adopted vacuum
belt filter type gypsum dewatering equipment. This
equipment is structured so that the gypsum slurry supplied
onto the filter cloth is filtered and dehydrated by vacuum
while it moves together with the belt. Since changes in
concentration of the gypsum slurry supplied can be
followed by controlling the belt speed, the equipment of
gypsum dewatering system was simplified by omitting the
concentrating process in the stage before the dewatering
equipment.
3.3.3 Limestone system
The limestone powder is fed from the limestone service
Caustic soda

BUF Mist eliminator

outlet silencer GGH
Stack A
M
Gypsum
By-pass damper dehydrator(G.D.)
GGH G.D. G.D.
Feed tank Feed pump
DeNOx GAH ESP IDF Atmosphere
GGH
G.D.Vacuum
Separator pump Gypsum
DeNOx GAH ESP IDF transfer conveyer
Boiler
Make-up water
Absorber No.1 No.2
Absorber Absorber G.D. G.D.
recirculating pump bleed Make-up water Vacuum Vacuum
pump tank tank Gypsum silo
G.D.
G.D. Wash
Wash water water Waste water
Oxidation air tank pump treatment
system
M M
G.D.Filtrate
G.D.Filtrate discharge pump
recovery pump
G.D.Filtrate G.D.Filtrate
recovery pit discharge pit
Limestone slurry Limestone
pump M
service silo Limestone
main
silo
Limestone slurry
pit

Limestone Limestone
conveyer cargo
Limestone ship
pneumatic pump
Fig. 5 System flow

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Vo l . 39 N o . 1 F e b r u a r y 2006

silo by the limestone feeder and prepared to be limestone Table 1 Results of FGD performance tests
slurry of 20 wt% in the limestone mixing pit. This
Design value Test result
limestone slurry is supplied into the absorber by flow
Generator output (MW) MCR 1 000
control using the absorbed SO2 amount as advance signal
Type of coal Performance guaranty coal Rio Tint coal
and pH in the absorber as feedback signal.
Flue gas flow rate (m3N/h) 2 906 000 (wet) 2 810 000 (wet)
4. Results of trial operation Inlet SO2 concentration (ppm) 404 299
Outlet SO2 concentration (ppm) 16 or lower Design value or lower
The installation work of this flue gas treatment system
Desulfurization efficiency (%) 96 96 or higher
was started in April 2001. From the summer of 2002, trial
operations of all equipment and integrated water operation Inlet dust concentration (mg/m3N ) 30 Design value or lower

were conducted, and the trial operation using actual gas Outlet dust concentration (mg/m3N ) 8 Design value or lower

was started in December 2002. Continuous operation, Dust removal efficiency (%) 73 or higher Design value or higher

except when the boiler was stopped, was done until the Byproduct gypsum moisture content (%) 10 or lower 7 --- 8

commencement of commercial operation (December Byproduct gypsum purity (%) 95 or higher 97 --- 98

2003), and desulfurization tests were conducted in line Limestone consumption (t/h) 4.6 3.7
with various tests of the boiler to confirm that the design
functions were satisfied, and the trial operation was
Table 2 Results of GGH performance tests
completed as scheduled.
4.1 Desulfurization system Design value Test result
Table 1 shows the results of performance tests. Through Type of coal Performance assurance coal Rio Tint coal
the performance testing in the rated load conditions of unit Heat recovery unit inlet temperature (;) 140 126.5
output 1 000 MW including partial loads, we confirmed Reheater outlet temperature (;) 91 93*1
that the planned performance was sufficiently satisfied. Heat medium heating steam (t/h) 0 0*1
For the gypsum dewatering equipment, too, we confirmed (Note) *1: Values after correcting by heat recovery unit inlet temperature
that the dehydrating performance was satisfied from the
beginning, and also for the gypsum properties, the
Table 3 Results of ESP performance tests
prescribed properties were satisfied. We also confirmed
that waste water properties such as COD and chlorine Design value Test result
concentration satisfied the prescribed properties. Type of coal ESP design coal Rio Tint coal
4.2 Gas-Gas heater Inlet dust concentration (mg/m3N) 15 000 Approx. 12 500
Table 2 shows the results of performance tests. The Outlet dust concentration (mg/m3N) 30 or lower Design value or lower
results of performance tests in the rated load conditions of Dust collecting efficiency (%) 99.8 or higher Design value or higher
unit output 1 000 MW revealed that the planned Average pressure loss *1 (kPa) 2.21 Design value or lower
performance was sufficiently satisfied. We also confirmed
(Note) *1: Gas-air heater outlet --- desulfurization inlet
through the main inspection that the dust removal effect All dust concentrations are in terms of 6%-O2, dry
by means of the soot blower in GGH heat recovery unit
and the effect of preventing scale sticking on the fin tubes
in GGH reheater by means of the bare tube were Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. Higher performance
sufficient. of the environmental equipment with the flue gas
4.3 Electrostatic precipitator desulfurization equipment as the nucleus is required, as is
Table 3 shows the results of the performance tests. The cost reduction of construction and operation/maintenance,
results of the performance tests in the rated load and we intend to continue our efforts to these ends.
conditions of unit output 1 000 MW revealed that the
planned performance was sufficiently satisfied. We also –– Acknowledgments ––
confirmed that the gas pressure loss when the damper was
closed and the gas distribution of ESP were within the We hereby express our heartfelt thanks to the people
planned values. concerned of Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. for their
guidance and cooperation from the planning to the trial
5. Conclusion operation of this system.
This FGD system resulted in a major project requiring a
period of about 7 years from the start of the trial design. REFERENCE
Through demonstration testing and technical
investigations, we accumulated many results of various (1) Y. Sugita : Operation Results of the IHI-CHEMICO
technical fields to finally complete and take over the Flue Gas Desulfurization System for Coal-Fired
equipment as corpus of our works. These technologies Utility Power Stations, Ishikawajima-Harima
have already born fruit in Taiwan and have been utilized Engineering Review Vol.18 No.2 Mar. 1978
for planning flue gas desulfurization systems in China, pp.167-173
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