Stamet solids pump feeds coal into 210 psig in a DOE supported project

This paper summarizes the efforts of Stamet, Incorporated, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to produce an innovative feed system for pressurized combustion power systems. DOE has been fostering the development of pressurized fluidized-bed combustion power systems which are 45 percent efficient and can deliver electricity at 20 percent below the cost of conventional power systems. A major capital cost factor in pressurized systems is the coal and limestone feed systems. DOE has been attempting to reduce the capital and operating cost of these components for a number of years. In 1995, Stamet, Incorporated, completed a 2-year Small Business Innovative Research grant from DOE and produced a precision metering feeder capable of delivering coal into a vessel at 210 pounds per square inch, gauge, ({approximately} 14 atmospheres). The feeder is an elegantly simple machine with one moving part. The product provides continuous metering of fuel against pressure with instantaneous rate control

Advanced PFBC transient analysis

Transient modeling and analysis of advanced Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion (PFBC) systems is a research area that is currently under investigation by the US Department of Energy`s Federal Energy Technology Center (FETC). The object of the effort is to identify key operating parameters that affect plant performance and then quantify the basic response of major sub-systems to changes in operating conditions. PC-TRAX{trademark}, a commercially available dynamic software program, was chosen and applied in this modeling and analysis effort. This paper describes the development of a series of TRAX-based transient models of advanced PFBC power plants. These power plants burn coal or other suitable fuel in a PFBC, and the high temperature flue gas supports low-Btu fuel gas or natural gas combustion in a gas turbine topping combustor. When it is utilized, the low-Btu fuel gas is produced in a bubbling bed carbonizer. High temperature, high pressure combustion products exiting the topping combustor are expanded in a modified gas turbine to generate electrical power. Waste heat from the system is used to raise and superheat steam for a reheat steam turbine bottoming cycle that generates additional electrical power. Basic control/instrumentation models were developed and modeled in PC-TRAX and used to investigate off-design plant performance. System performance for various transient conditions and control philosophies was studied

Advanced PFBC transient analysis

Transient modeling and analysis of Advanced Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion (PFBC) systems is a research area that is currently under investigative study by the United States Department of Energy`s Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC). The object of the effort is to identify key operating parameters affecting plant performance and then quantify the basic response of major sub-systems to changes in operating conditions. PC-TRAX, a commercially available dynamic software program, was chosen and applied in this modeling and analysis effort. This paper summarizes and describes the development of a series of TRAX-based transient models of Advanced PFBC power plants. These power plants generate a high temperature flue gas by burning coal or other suitable fuel in a PFBC. The high temperature flue gas supports low-Btu fuel gas or natural gas combustion in a gas turbine topping combustor. When utilized, low-Btu fuel gas is produced in a bubbling bed carbonizer. High temperature, high pressure combustion products exiting the topping combustor are expanded in a modified gas turbine to generate electrical power. Waste heat from the system is used to generate and superheat steam for a reheat steam turbine bottoming cycle that generates additional electrical power. Basic control/instrumentation models were developed and modeled in PC-TRAX and used to investigate off-design plant performance. System performance for various transient conditions and control philosophies was studied

Removal of oxides of nitrogen from gases in multi-stage coal combustion

Polluting NO{sub x} gas values are removed from off-gas of a multi-stage coal combustion process which includes an initial carbonizing reaction, firing of char from this reaction in a fluidized bed reactor, and burning of gases from the carbonizing and fluidized bed reactions in a topping combustor having a first, fuel-rich zone and a second, fuel-lean zone. The improvement by means of which NO{sub x} gases are removed is directed to introducing NO{sub x}-free oxidizing gas such as compressor air into the second, fuel-lean zone and completing combustion with this source of oxidizing gas. Excess air fed to the fluidized bed reactor is also controlled to obtain desired stoichiometry in the first, fuel-rich zone of the topping combustor

Performance of a second-generation PFB pilot plant combustor

Second-generation on pressurized fluidized bed combustion (PFBC) plants promise higher efficiency with lower costs of electricity and lower stack emissions. With a conventional reheat cycle and a 3-percent sulfur Pittsburgh No. 8 coal, a 45-percent efficiency (HHV of coal basis) and a cost of electricity {approximately}20 percent lower than that of a pulverized-coal-fired plant with stack gas scrubbing are being projected. This advanced plant concept incorporates three major steps: carbonization, circulating fluidized bed combustion and topping combustion. Foster Wheeler Development Corporation has constructed and operated a second-generation PFB pilot plant at the Foster Wheeler research facility (the John Blizard Research Center) in Livingston, New Jersey. Results of the pilot plant combustor portion of the test program supporting the development of this new type of plant are presented. The fuels evaluated in this test program included several char-sorbent residues produced in a pressurized carbonizer pilot plant and their parent coals. The data confirmed the viability of the PFB combustor concept in terms of both combustion and emissions performance