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The 300MW thermal power station of Mohammedia in Morocco: Three GE Frame

9E Gas turbines burning a 380cSt HFO

Conference Paper · November 2012

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Proceedings of the PowerGen Africa Conference

Johannesburg, 2012 Nov 6-8

The 300MW thermal power station of Mohammedia in Morocco:

Three GE Frame 9E Gas turbines burning a 380cSt HFO

Rahal Lagnaoui, Mounia Jarir: Office National de l’Electricité, Morocco

Italia Barralon, Karim Kadiri, Michel Molière: GE Energy, France

ABSTRACT:

The economic development of the Moroccan economy drives the National Office of Electricity
(ONE) of Morocco to construct and operate increasingly large production capabilities that are
regularly added to the thermal and hydraulic power plants of the country.

Essential tasks that constitute the planning and commissioning of such network infrastructures, in
rational and efficient conditions, represent a real challenge in any country that does not have
large streams of energy such as natural gas or oil.
During the 1970s, ONE deployed a fleet of 20-25 MW gas turbines (models 5001N and P) across
the country. This was followed by a series of 35 MW machines (model 6001B) that were
installed in several strategic industrial zones, in the 1980s and 1990s. Recently, in the mid-2000s,
ONE has launched a new and very significant program based on 100MW class turbines (9001E
model) used as units for peak generation.

This program includes the 300MW power plant of Mohammedia, a dynamic industrial site
located 25 km to the North East of Casablanca. This advanced electrical installation, which was
commissioned in 2008-2009, includes three 9001E gas turbines that burn, as primary fuel, a
highly viscous, 380 cSt class, heavy fuel oil, a first of the kind in the world.
This project, which has benefited from decades of experience in the use of heavy fuel oil, was the
subject of a detailed preparation, mainly the supply plan, processing and combustion of the HFO.
It demonstrates the feasibility of an alternative power production strategy based on energies other
than natural gas, which successfully ensures the reliability and growth of a large national
network.

This article published jointly by ONE and GE Energy aims to present the main aspects of this
project, with regards to mainly its coordination and its execution, highlighting the technical
measures implemented for the success of this enterprise, especially for trouble-free combustion in
of difficult HFOs.
 2

1. INTRODUCTION:

Heavy duty gas turbines boast of a number of significant advantages as power production tools.
They offer a high level of reliability and maintainability; short installation cycles and versatility
of operation in various applications: peaking; cogeneration; advanced, base/mid-base power
production. For these reasons, Heavy duty machines are frequently chosen for the erection of new
production units.
The primary energy of choice is gas in the majority of cases, but not always... In fact, the
increasing price volatility of conventional energies such as natural gas, or, simply, their non-
existent or insufficient availability in some areas, as is the case in Morocco, drives power
producers to consider alternative energies, while controlling their overall energy mix. In this
context, liquid fuels, and especially heavy fuel oils, can be very useful as extra energy sources.
Fuel flexibility is also a key quality of heavy duty gas turbines.
However, the use of heavy fuel oils not only affects the design and operation of the gas turbine
engine and its auxiliaries but also affects the operation and maintenance of the complete power
plant. Therefore, before embarking on a of HFO program, power generators must analyze a
number of economical, technical, logistical and environmental aspects that underlie the success
of their enterprise.

Since the past 40 years, the National Office of Electricity (ONE) of Morocco set up and actively
pursued a strategy of deployment of a fleet of heavy-fuelled gas turbines, which come as adders,
to the thermal and hydraulic production capacities of the country. The first machines of the
5001LA, N and P type, rating 20-25 MW, were installed in the 1970s in harbors areas of
economic interest (Tangier, Agadir, Tetouan). The first section was followed in the 1980s and
1990s, by a series of 40 MW Frame 6B turbines that were installed on strategic industrial areas
(Mohammedia 1; Tetouan, Tit’Mellil) or to supply the outlying regions (Tan Tan: Al Aiun).

In 2008, ONE started a new plan of 300 MW plant additions, each based on 3 Frame 9E
machines, the first one being located at the Mohammedia site (figure 1), in the nearby suburb of
the economic capital of the country. Since it represents a large power plant, this project has called
a particular preparation to cover all the important aspects that constitute the fuel supply, its
treatment and its combustion. This has been based on several decades of experience acquired by
ONE in the field of HFO gas turbines. This advanced power plant whose construction and
commissioning were conducted between 2008 and 2010, was quickly followed by the launch of
an additional project, of equivalent capacity, on the Kenitra site whose commissioning has been
recently completed ( June 2012).
The Mohammedia project is worth of interest, mainly from the technical standpoint, because it
exemplifies a type of advanced power plants using non-conventional primary energies to ensure
the reliability of a national electrical network. This publication, co-authored by ONE and GE
Energy is a testimony to the feasibility of 300MW class plants using heavy duty gas turbines as
prime movers. It describes the key design of the Mohammedia plant, reviews the main aspects
and steps of this project and underlines the positive experience of several years of operation.
 3

2. WHY A HEAVY FUEL OIL GAS TURBINE POWER PLANT?

2.1- Specificities of HFOs:

Generally, the family of petroleum fuels that generate ash during burning includes: atmospheric
or vacuum residues (heavy fuel oils or HFOs) and crude oils whose potential use for electricity
production, is in practice, reserved for producing countries. Although the following
considerations apply to all of these petroleum products, HFOs represent by far the most
widespread and economically interesting candidates to fuel power plants.
A detailed technical discussion of the properties of heavy fuel oils is provided in the following
paragraph. However, it is important to point out that heavy fuel oils, besides hydrocarbons
accounting for about 95% of their composition, also contain a number of metallic impurities such
as: vanadium (V), nickel (Ni), alkali metals (sodium: Na and potassium: K), alkaline earth metal
(calcium: Ca), iron (Fe) and possibly aluminum (Al) and silicon (Si) in the form of oxides or
salts. Some of these impurities are potential threats in terms of erosion, corrosion and fouling of
the noble, super alloy based, materials of hot gas turbine parts. Therefore, when one wishes to
burn an HFO, he must remove all these risks of damage, by adopting specific measures at the
design, operation and maintenance levels.

2.2 Advantages of HFOs:

Despite these drawbacks, there are many incentives for using HFOs in a power plant.
The main one lies in its very moderate cost, the primary energy representing around 60% of the
cost of the kWh produced. There are in fact additional, significant advantages like:
- The safety inherent to the use of HFO in the power plants, thanks to their high flash points
- The diversified possibilities of supply, which contribute to a larger energy independency
- The existence of conventional transportation logistics, at a large scale, mainly by sea.

Economically, the differential cost between petroleum products of the distillate (diesel oil) type
and HFOs has always been substantial and may increase significantly due to economic tensions
that come from the transportation sector and continuously weigh on the oil market.
This cost differential makes HFOs competitive despite the fixed and variable costs that are
entailed by HFO specificities in terms of design, operation and maintenance.
These benefits explain the success of this energy in a number of countries such as: Morocco;
China, Sri Lanka; Jordan; Lebanon; Bangladesh; Pakistan...

3. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MOHAMMEDIA PROJECT:

The assignment for the construction of the power plant was issued by ONE on 4th May 2007 and
the coming into force of the contract between ONE and the GE/SOCOIN Consortium took place
2007 September 26th.
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The light-off and first fire of the first unit of heavy fuel oil was carried out on 20th September
2009. Therefore, between the coming into force of the contract and the light-off of the first unit of
the heavy fuel oil, there was a lapse of only 2 years. It is a remarkable performance, as the supply
and assembly of the entire fuel line (“FOTP” as described below) is a critical and particularly
delicate path in the implementation of this type of plant.
Other key dates of the project are as follows:

 20 September 2007: Building permit

 27 September 2007: Start of civil work
 June 2008 : Arrival of the 3 GT generator units on site, with their auxiliaries
 August 2009 : Light-off of the first unit on gas oil
 September 2009 : Light-off of the first unit on HFO
 March 2010 : Provisional acceptance of the power plant

An overall view of the Mohammedia power plant can be seen in the figure 1.

4. SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE HEAVY FUEL OIL POWER PLANTS

4.1- Gas turbines: the “master-pieces” of the plant

The combustion of heavy fuel oils imposes from the mechanical, metallurgical, and chemical
standpoints, severe constraints on gas turbines, which must be able to maintain their intact
performance over operation hours. Therefore, all gas turbine technologies are not in a position to
burn HFO in a satisfactory way and reliable conditions.
Figure 2 shows a cross-section of the 9001E gas turbine with its combustion system, transition
pieces and three-stage expansion turbine.
First, the design of the « impulse type turbine » implemented in the GE heavy duty models, has a
considerable advantage as they feature fewer stages, at equal power, than the equivalent reaction
turbines; on the other hand, in a 1st stage of pure-impulse type, the gas expansion is concentrated
on the first row of turbine nozzles (or “partition vanes”), so that the temperature of the stage-one
buckets is around 55°C lower than that encountered in a reaction design. Thus, the impulse
design, on one hand, has a design that is more economical and requires less maintenance (fewer
turbine stages) than a reaction design and, on the other hand, faces lower risks of corrosion and
deposit sintering thanks to their lower metal temperatures. Another significant consideration is
the capacity to burn HFOs which, because of their viscosities and high C/H ratios tend to degrade
the quality of combustion; there is a potential for the emission of black smoke or formation of
coke deposits on fuel nozzles and inner liner walls. Here, the can-annular design of the
combustion system that prevails in all GE heavy duty gas turbines ensures a remarkable
combustion quality: in a 9001E gas turbine, this design implies 14 diffusion flames that inject
their combustion gas through 14 transition pieces that are arranged symmetrically at the turbine
inlet. This also ensures a uniform temperature distribution on the first turbine stage.
 5

A final important aspect regards the ash particles generated in the flames, which tend to settle and
foul the hot gas path (HGP) parts during their travel across the combustion chambers, transition
pieces and the turbine. Here also, with the GE design, the flow patterns of the gas stream and
streamlines followed by ash particles are practically linear within the flame tubes and transition
parts. This leads to a strong containment of ash deposition and avoids any local accumulation of
hard deposits that would be difficult to remove. This enables the user minimize performance
losses associated with the fouling of the HGP parts during operation. Nevertheless, periodic
cleanings are necessary based on the cleaning methods that are described below.
It must be recalled that certain impurities contained in the heavy fuel oils like sodium, potassium,
calcium and vanadium have harmful effects on the hot gas path parts:
- Alkaline metals can generate high temperature sulfidation corrosions of HP parts but they are
removed by water washing of the fuel.
- Vanadium is conducive to high temperature corrosions and cannot be removed from the fuel: it
must be inhibited by injecting a magnesium based « corrosion inhibitor ».
In short, an appropriate gas turbine design is a pre-requisite to ensure a suitable operation on
HFO. However, this does not exempt from the using a convenient set of measures and auxiliary
equipment pieces, as described below.

4.2 Fuel selection: a strategic aspect

The fuel specification enacted by the gas turbine manufacturer provides the minimum
requirements that the fuel must fulfill in terms of physical/chemical characteristics and
contaminants to ensure proper operation of the turbine. The fuel supply is studied and established
by the operator on the basis of this specification and other criteria related to the economics of the
project, including logistics constraints. A fuel purchasing specification is issued, which lays down
the upper and lower limits of the essential HFO parameters such as: metal contaminants
(particularly the alkali metals, vanadium and lead); total ash content; density; viscosity at 50 and
100 °C; the Conradson residue; water and sediments; pour point and flash point. A mechanism
regulating the conformity of the delivered fuel is implemented before unloading the fuel in the
plant. National or international standards such as ISO / TR 13739, ISO 8217 can be used for this
purpose.
4.3 Fuel oil treatment: a peculiar of heavy fuel oil power plants

As stressed above, the satisfactory use of HFO in a heavy duty gas turbine requires that some pre-
treatment steps be performed. This is carried out in a dedicated “Fuel Oil Treatment Plant” or
“FOTP”. Figure 3 shows a typical HFO flow-sheet, which involves the functions of pumping,
heating and desalting of the HFO prior to its inhibition and injection in the turbine.

- Desalting by water washing: an essential HFO duty is to reduce the concentration of (sodium +
potassium) down to less than 1 part per million in the fuel. For this purpose, the HFO is mixed
with a certain proportion of good purity water in order to extract and dilute the water-soluble
alkali metals. The aqueous phase thus enriched with sodium and potassium is then separated from
the oil and treated as an aqueous effluent. This water/fuel separation is very carried out using
 6

centrifuges or electrostatic separators. Oil thus washed and free of alkali metals is transferred to a
“Treated fuel Tank” via a “Certification Tank » in which its purity is controlled. It is important
that the FOTP is properly dimensioned to provide the required flow rates during full load
operation of the turbines, taking into account the downtime caused by maintenance operations.
Conversely, over-dimensioning is not desirable because it can lead to the plant operating “in
batch” rather than continuously, with repeated start-ups and shutdowns leading to significant
consumption of utilities and the risk for non-optimal operating conditions.

- Fuel filtration and heating: these steps are required respectively to remove any remaining solid
impurities in the washed heavy fuel oil and reduce its viscosity for pumping and injection in the
turbines.

4.4 Vanadium inhibition: a key factor of longevity of the machines:

Vanadium contained in the HFO is transformed in the flames in vanadium pentoxide “V2O5”
which has a very low melting point (675 °C) and proves to be very corrosive at high temperature.
Its inhibition is necessary as soon as its concentration in the oil exceeds 0.5 ppm by mass. The
risk of vanadium corrosion is then controlled by injection of a magnesium-based additive in the
fuel, which forms a non-corrosive and refractory salt with vanadium: magnesium orthovanadate
(Mg3V2O8) which has a melting point of 1170 °C. A minimum dosage defined by the mass
(Mg/V) ratio of 3 is recommended. In flames, magnesium also reacts with the sulphur of the fuel
to form magnesium sulfate (MgSO4). This water-soluble salt is beneficial because it enables the
periodic removal of the ash that have deposited on the HGP parts, by water washing the turbine
after it has been stopped and cooled down. However, at high temperature, magnesium sulfate
tends to “desulfate”, losing an SO3 molecule and gets transformed into magnesium oxide (MgO)
which is no longer water soluble. This makes the water washing of the turbine inoperative. This
is the reason for which one needs to “derate” the gas turbine i.e. reduce its flame temperature, as
explained more in detail below. Inhibitor injection involves a storage tank, a dosing pump and the
related controls. The flow of injected inhibitor must be adjusted according to the vanadium
content in the heavy fuel oil and the flow of the fuel being burned.

4.5 Outstanding process aspects:

The following aspects are important pre-requisites for the proper operation of a HFO fuelled gas
turbine:
 Heating:
Heavy fuel oils require heating between c.a. 80 and 135°C to maintain the viscosity in the proper
range for correct atomization in the combustion chambers; namely below 20 cSt.
 Filtration :
Special attention must be paid to the fuel filtration, especially, in the determination of the
filtration area and the mesh size of the filters; one must take into consideration the high viscosity
of HFOs. The use of a duplex filter system enables changing of filter cartridges without operation
interruption.
 7

 Pumping:
Generally, “screw type positive displacement pumps” are used. Their lubrication must be
correctly performed in consideration of their significant load due to the high HFO viscosity and
high temperature.
 Flow divider:
The flow divider that is driven by the auxiliary reduction gear of the gas turbine acts as a multiple
head pump which delivers identical flows to all combustion chambers and ensures a uniform
temperature the turbine inlet. A suitable cleanliness of the fuel, including a very low content in
sediments and the absence of abrasive particles is a guarantee of longevity of these sophisticated
mechanical components.
 Air atomization:
Air-assisted atomization is used by GE to finely spray the fuel through each fuel nozzle of the
combustors and enable minimizing any soot emission and coke deposits around them. Whilst
“low pressure” atomizing air is used to spray light distillates (No 2 diesel-oil), ‘high pressure
atomization’ is recommended for the HFO applications.
 Vanadium inhibition:
Magnesium based inhibitors must fulfill well defined physical and chemical requirements that are
listed in the GEK 28150 specification, in order to ensure they perform their anticorrosion
function and do not impair turbine availability:
- Purity: chemical purity (mainly the absence of alkali metals or other corrosive elements)
is important for anticorrosion performances.
- Reactivity during combustion: the fast reaction of magnesium with vanadium in the
flames is influenced by: (i) the nature of the magnesium compound (magnesium oxide
and hydroxide are more reactive than the sulfate), (ii) the particles and size and specific
area; a finely divided additive is more efficient than an additive containing coarse
particles.
- Physical stability: the stability of the additive during storage and when mixed in the fuel,
as well as its good dispersion in the same, are necessary to ensure a proper distribution of
magnesium in all the combustors. At this level also, a finely divided additive is preferable.
Oil-soluble inhibitors, i.e. products that are completely miscible with the fuel, are
preferred as they meet these criteria.
- Chemical stability: the chemical stability of the anticorrosion additive is defined mainly as
its resistance to the hydrolytic effect entailed by traces of water that are present in the hot
HFO as a result of the previous water wash operation. It is important to choose an additive
that is resistant to this hydrolysis and does not tend to form « gels » in the presence of
water. This is to avoid the clogging of filters, fouling of flow dividers and fuel nozzles.
 8

4.6 Power plant auxiliaries or « Balance Of Plant » equipment:

The proper engineering of the BOP must take as input data the quality and volume of HFO to
be handled and the operation mode of the machines. The HFO storage tanks must be of
sufficient capacity and soundly managed. In addition, it is necessary to foresee the storage of
some diesel-oil that must be used for GT start-ups and shutdowns. Furthermore, one must
keep in mind that inadequate heating of the fuel may limit its forwarding if its viscosity
remains too high.

5. DESCRIPTION OF THE MOHAMMEDIA POWER PLANT:

The advanced Mohammedia power plant is based on 3 x 9001E gas turbine units of 100MW
each.

5.1 ID card of the 9001E gas turbine:

The 9001E gas turbine of GE, along with the 5001P, 6001B and 7001E machines, forms the
« E class » of the General Electric range and share large design commonalities.

The PG9171E model (figure 3) which is installed at Mohammedia has an electric power
output of 126 MW (ISO conditions, natural gas operation). It features a single shaft design
and boasts a robust and versatile combustion system having 14 combustion chambers capable
of burning a vast range of gaseous and liquid fuels, including heavy fuel oils.

The main advantages of this model are:

 Access to numerous industrial applications:

This machine is capable of ensuring a wide spectrum of services in numerous applications:

- Mechanical drive: gas compression or fluid pumping (oil) in the industries of extraction,
chemicals, petrochemicals, refining…

- Electrical power generation in simple cycle units (for peak-shaving like at Mohammedia),
in combined cycles (for base or mid-base operation) or in cogeneration units.

The fast start capability which is essential in peak shaving applications can be also significant
in the case of combined cycles equipped with by-pass stacks, since the gas turbine can produce
power alone in simple cycle configuration, if necessary.
In addition, the GE E class machines burning pure fuels (natural gas) can ensure a continuous
operation of 24 hours a day for nearly 365 days a year, which corresponds to the most exacting
availability requirements posed by e.g. petrochemical or refiner operators.

 Environmental performances:

With the class E turbines, « Low NOx » performances can be achieved in two ways:
 9

- the « Dry Low NOx » systems enable you to achieve 25, 15 or even 9 ppm of NOx on natural
gas or with gaseous fuels similar to natural gases, with the possibility of retrofits

- the “diluent injection”, a technique in which liquid water or steam is injected into the
combustion chambers to reduce the combustion temperature and consequently the NOx
emission, especially for liquid fuels

At Mohammedia, the water injection is the option taken for NOx reduction.

 Power augmentation option:

In addition to steam injection in the combustion chambers to reduce NOx, one can also inject
steam in the air stream, between the compressor outlet and the combustors inlet (see the
injection “manifold” shown in figure 2), which allows to increase the power generated and
also reduce the NOx emission.

The various assets discussed above led to the installation of around 430 Frame 9001E turbines
in the world as of June 2012.

5.2 Fuel storage facility:

The fuel tank farm comprises of:

- 2 x 20,000 tons storage tanks for raw HFO

- 3 x 3,330 tons storage tanks for washed HFO
- 2 x 680 tons intermediate tanks for certified HFO
- 1 x 5,000 tons storage tank for DO
5.3 Electrical equipment :

- 4 x 2.5 MVA auxiliary transformer :

- operation voltage MT/BT : 6.6 kV/400V
- YNd11 coupling
- 10 x 6.6 kV cells
- set of 400 V LV cells
- 2 electrical batteries
- additional devices: inverters and rectifiers

6. OPERATION & MAINTENANCE CONSIDERATIONS:

6.1 Gas turbine “Derating”:

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At high temperature, the magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) portion of the ash deposits is likely to
decompose into magnesium oxide (MgO) which is an undesirable component because it tends
to form, hard, impervious, water insoluble layers on the hot gas path parts . They impeded the
penetration of water during the turbine cleaning operations. Consequently, depending on the
content of fuel contaminants, mainly the vanadium content, the temperature of the combustion
gases at the inlet of the turbine (« firing temperature ») is reduced to 1093°C or below. This
reduces the power output but ensures that the ash deposits do not harden on the vanes and
blades of the turbine.

6.2 Ash fouling and turbine cleaning

Gas turbines operating on heavy fuel oils inevitable suffer a reduction in their performances
not only because of the derating that is applied on purpose but also because of the progressive
fouling by ash deposits. This performance degradation can be recovered regularly by a « dry
cleaning » (by injection of wooden particles) or, the most efficient method, by water washing
of the turbine. This is done after the machine is shut down and cooled. The periodicity of this
cleaning can vary between once a week to once a month depending on the vanadium content
of the fuel, the firing temperature adopted and the profile of the operation (continuous;
discontinuous; with frequent shutdowns or not). For this reason, the gas turbines operating on
heavy fuel oil have lower availabilities than those burning « noble » fuels like natural gas.

Figure 5 illustrates the progressive degradation of the performances and the effect of a turbine
washing and dry cleaning.

6.3 Fuel transfer during start-up and shut down operations:

To ensure that the entire fuel system will not be clogged by cold and viscous heavy fuel oil,
start-ups and shutdowns of the machine are made with diesel-oil. During start-up, the low
viscosity of diesel-oil ensures a correct firing/light-off in the combustion chambers; the
transfer i.e. passage from diesel-oil to heavy fuel oil is done after synchronization of the
turbine to the network. During shutdowns, the turbine is again « transferred » to diesel-oil,
allowing you to rinse and purge the entire fuel system of its heavy fuel oil, till the combustion
chambers. These transfers from the heavy fuel oil to diesel-oil and vice versa must be made
sufficiently gradually in order to avoid thermal shock at the level of the flow divider.

6.4 Maintenance of gas turbines:

Inspection intervals are shorter when firing an HFO not only because it contains corrosive,
erosive or fouling elements but also because of its low hydrogen and high carbon contents
generate longer and more « radiative » flames with, consequently, higher wall temperatures of
the combustion system.

There are three types of inspections:

 11

 Combustion inspections: This relatively short inspection focuses mainly on combustion

parts: flame tubes; transition pieces; fuel nozzles
 Hot gas path inspections: These inspections consist in examining the status of the parts
exposed to high temperatures of the hot gases; they include parts covered by combustion
inspections and, in addition the vanes, the shrouds and buckets of the turbine.
 Major inspections: They affect all stationary and rotating parts from the inlet of the
machine up to the exhaust; including thus parts covered by the hot gas path inspection as
well as all the flange to flange ones.

6.5 FOTP

6.5.1: Effectiveness of desalting:

The effectiveness of the “FOTP”» means its ability to remove the water-soluble salts that are
contained in the HFO. A key factor is its ability to form a water/fuel emulsion and to perform
its subsequent separation. These processes are determined by the temperature, viscosity, the
level of agitation during emulsification, the density difference between water and oil and the
interfacial properties, sometimes complex, of the HFO. The latter properties are influenced by
the presence of some natural constituents of the HFO, such as asphaltenes, naphthenic
hydrocarbons, resins, paraffins or waxes, more or less fine suspended solids (including metal
oxides) and other inorganic compounds. Some of these compounds can act as natural
emulsifiers and oppose to the separation of the fuel and water phases. In most cases, an
increase in temperature favors the separation process and serves three important aspects of the
process:
- it reduces the viscosity of the HFO and leads to an more mobile water droplets

- it weakens the films formed by emulsion-stabilizing (surface-active) agents around the water
droplets which oppose to their coalescence

- it causes the melting of waxes and other natural surface-active agents that stabilize emulsions

In addition, the separation process is also influenced by the density differential between oil
and fuel: a substantial density differential increases the settling speed of the water droplets.
Thus, if the temperature is very high, this density differential can become low and impede the
separation. For this reason, the temperature must be carefully controlled to optimize the
viscosity of the fuel and the density differential.

6.5.2: Selection of demulsifier:

As mentioned above, a small quantity of a chemical « demulsifier » is introduced in the

untreated fuel before the addition of wash water. Its role is to accelerate the emulsion
breakdown via droplet coalescence, thereby creating larger water droplets that settle more
easily from the fuel phase. Demulsifiers are surface-active agents that act on the interfacial
tension between the water and the fuel and enable the neutralization of the natural surface-
 12

active agents mentioned before, which can hinder the phase separation. They are also adjutants
for the extraction and separation of solids and sediments by increasing the water
« wettability » of these materials. Such demulsifiers should be carefully selected according to
the physical/chemical characteristics of the fuel to be treated. For example, a demulsifier
formulated for crude oil treatment can prove to be inefficient in the case of a HFO. In addition,
a correctly formulated and selected demulsifier will improve the quality of the aqueous
effluents of the treatment plant. Typical demulsifier dosage of a heavy residual-grade fuel oil
is 50 to 250 ppm in volume.

6.5.3 « Management » of the fuel quality:

An on-site laboratory and a trained staff are valuable assets to ensure a reliable operation of
the FOTP and more generally of the power plant. The HFO quality items to be monitored are
its LHV, density, viscosity, and the levels of metallic contaminants, as well as the magnesium
dosage. These checks are to be done on the HFO entering the plant, washed HFO and inhibited
heavy fuel oil; a regular quality control of the diesel oil is also recommended. The primary
objective is to ensure that the levels of metal contaminants such as sodium, potassium, calcium
and lead are below the maximum values specified by the manufacturer and that vanadium is
properly inhibited by magnesium, i.e. with a (Mg/V) ratio greater than or equal to 3 by weight.
The results can be usefully recorded in a notebook or computer, which will enable the operator
to later establish statistics on the quality of its HFO and its treatment and elucidate possible
causes of malfunctioning. For the analysis of metallic contaminants in the fuel, one uses the
“spark emission spectrometry”; this technique is based on rotating disks and is particularly
well suited for on-site usage. However, it is recommended to regularly perform calibration
checks using an advanced laboratory technique such as the AAS or ICP.

7. LESSONS LEARNED AT MOHAMMEDIA

Thanks to an experience of several decades in the exploitation of the HFO fuelled gas turbines,
ONE has been able to carry out a short planning and a fast and efficient completion of the
Mohammedia project. This plant which is based on three 9001E turbines and boasts a total
electric capacity of 300 MW on HFO has been erected and put in service over a period of 24
months (from the startup of the civil work until the synchronization to the grid).

ONE completed the preparation of HFO logistics on the basis of the GE Energy specifications
and in collaboration with the Moroccan oil company SAMIR.

The commissioning of the power plant was carried out in a timely manner. This
commissioning has covered not only the three 9001E turbines but also the Fuel Oil Treatment
Plant which ensures a key function in this type of power plant.
Since its commissioning, the Mohammedia power plant has served the Moroccan electricity
network according to the vocation that was assigned to it.

Table 1 gives an overview, at end June 2012, of the operation status of this power plant.
 13

Table 2 shows a typical analysis of the fuel used at Mohammedia.

8. CONCLUSION

The planning and construction of the 300 MW power plant of Mohammedia, that the National
Office of Electricity owns and operates, was planned and designed as an advanced production
plant. Its primary energy is HFO, which is burned in three GE 9001E gas turbines.

The experience gained by the ONE and GE in the field of HFO combustion in gas turbines,
which dates back to the early 1970s, has allowed the meet the commissioning objectives in
accordance with the schedule that was assigned.

This experience, which can serve as a useful reference for other electricity companies, has
prompted the launch of a similar project at Kenitra, about 50 km from Rabat. This project is
nearing completion with a similar success.

Acknowledgements: the GE authors wish to thank those of their colleagues who have brought
a decisive contribution to the success of this project, especially: Benoit Gartner; Maher
Aboujaib; Mehdi Rochdabi; François Arnoux; Matthieu Vierling.
 14

Figure 1 : General view of the Mohammedia power plant

Figure 2: Cross section of a Frame 9E hot gas path

 15

Figure 3: Sketch of a Fuel Oil Treatment Plant (FOTP)

Figure 4 : Main features of the Frame 9E gas turbine

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Figure 5: Schematic evolution of performances of a gas turbine operated on HFO

Tableau 1: Operation status of the 3x9000E gas turbines at Mohammedia as of 2012 March 10

Commissioning Fired hours Fired hours on No of starts Tons of HFO

date on HFO distillate oil burnt since
COD
GT A 05/10/2009 10505 356 337 253,000

GT B 20/09/2009 9816 314 256 226,000

GT C 25/09/2009 9032 465 230 215,000
 17

Tableau 2 : Typical HFO quality

Property Unit Typical Value

Density at15°C kg/m3 964

Flash Point °C 99.5

Pour Point °C +3

Sulfur %w 3.35

Kin viscosity @ 50°C cSt 310

Water content %w 0.5

Asphaltenes %w 3.3

Conradson Residue %w 9.9

LHV kJ/kg 42.57

Sodium + potassium ppm w 21

vanadium ppm w 74

calcium ppm w 8

lead ppm w 0.03

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