Power June 2007 Clean Energy Systems, Inc. - (Page 3) GENERATION TECHNOLOGY use were excluded from the scope of the CEC project. However, future activities at Kimberlina may include pilot testing of CO2 sequestration via injection into saline aquifers and/or CO2 flooding of nearby oil fields to enhance oil or gas recovery from them. In late 2004, validation testing and commissioning of the integrated combustor/ control system and its associated feed systems were completed using natural gas as the fuel. In December 2004, engineers diverted some of the drive gas from the oxycombustor to the 5.7-MWe turbo-generator, partially bypassed to the stack, and brought the turbo-generator to synchronous speed. In February 2005, Kimberlina was synchronized to the local grid for the first time. One month later, the plant was operated in pure “power island” mode, disconnected from the grid. Shortly thereafter, permission to connect to the grid was granted and power began flowing from the plant. 6. Binary by-product. The steam turbine exhaust goes into a condenser that separates it into water and CO2. Courtesy: Clean Energy Systems Inc. Excellent early results Between March 2005 and March 2006, CES conducted the durability and performance tests that the CEC program mandated. During this period, the combustor was started more than 300 times and accumulated 1,500 hours of operation. Individual test runs ranged in duration from less than 1 minute to about 105 hours. The plant’s output was varied from 20% to 88% of its full rating. Power was exported to the grid at levels from 0.5 MW to 2.7 MW during 141 runs encompassing 1,243 hours of combustor operation. The combustor operated continuously for longer than 8 hours during 43 of these runs, and for longer than 24 hours during 11 runs. During the tests, the plant was fueled with natural gas, simulated syngas, and liquid fuels containing sulfur. At 50% power, measured CO emissions ranged from 0.02 to 0.31 lb/mmBtu over a wide range of gas generator system operating conditions. (For comparison purposes, a typical gas turbine’s CO emissions range from 5 to 80 ppmv, corrected to 15% O2.) CO emissions tended to increase when the gas generator was operated at higher power levels. At 50% power, measured NOx emissions ranged from 0.003 to 0.019 lb/mmBtu, corrected to 15% O2. These measured CO and NOx emissions levels are considerably lower than those of state-of-the-art combined-cycle power plants fueled by natural gas and using selective catalytic reduction for NOx control. CES has developed strategies for further lowering emissions of CO and NOx from the first-generation gas generator and will experimentally evaluate them in future testing efforts. Unburned hydrocarbon emissions for two different operating stoichiometries were 0.9 ppmv and 1.8 ppmv, corrected to 15% O2. These emissions are only of interest if the noncondensible gases are vented to the atmosphere, but in most commercial installations, these emissions would be sequestered with the carbon dioxide. June 2007 POWER In March 2006, the CEC notified CES that the program objectives had been met and that no further testing was required by the project. Around this time, representatives of two major insurers of power plant equipment toured the Kimberlina plant and reviewed the combustor’s operating records (the number of starts, operating hours, shutdown circumstances, maintenance experience, and inspection findings). Following their inspection and review, the insurers declared that the combustor is insurable, and coverage is now in place. CES considers the insurability of the combustor essential to its commercial deployment. With the conclusion of the CEC-sponsored durability evaluation, CES began configuring the Kimberlina facility for testing the performance and reliability of the oxycombustor when burning lower-cost, lowerBtu fuels such as coal-derived syngas. Evaluating fuel diversity In September 2005, NETL awarded CES $4.5 million to evaluate and develop a coalbased oxy-syngas combustor suitable for a high-efficiency, zero-emissions power plant. Under the same DOE program, Siemens Power Generation received a $14.5 million award to develop high-temperature turbines compatible with the CES combustor. These turbines would be capable of operating at up to 3,200F when fueled by steam/CO2 drive gas. The three-year CES project will be executed in three phases. In Phase I, CES and Nexant Inc. conducted process modeling to evaluate CES power plant concepts that have the potential to produce power from coal at net cycle efficiencies of >40% (HHV), with CO2 capture by 2015. The models incorporate all major process components depicted in Figure 1, including the combustor, turbines, gasifier, the air separation plant, heat exchangers, and CO2 conditioning unit. The information required to model these components was solicited from Siemens, ConocoPhillips, Air Products and Chemicals Inc., G.C. Broach Co., and Kinder Morgan Inc. CES and its partners modeled and evaluated the potential benefits of integrating subsystems into the overall system to maximize overall plant efficiency and electricity production cost. CES and Nexant will also investigate power/hydrogen co-production plants. At such plants, hydrogen will be separated from the coal-derived syngas and marketed as a by-product, leaving hydrogen-depleted 3 |
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Power June 2007 Clean Energy Systems, Inc. Power June 2007 Clean Energy Systems, Inc. Power June 2007 Clean Energy Systems, Inc. - (Page 1) Power June 2007 Clean Energy Systems, Inc. - (Page 2) Power June 2007 Clean Energy Systems, Inc. - (Page 3) Power June 2007 Clean Energy Systems, Inc. - (Page 4)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.