POWER August 2021 - 35

CONNECTED PLANT
is for operators in the control room to
monitor and control primary processes.
These include checking operation criteria
(such as parameter settings and sensor
data) to see if they are correct.
RCS is used for remote inspection
of DCS operation screens at each EfW
plant. By connecting to the DCS operating
screens at each EfW plant's control
room, the company management
staff can remotely monitor the process
settings of all plant DCS systems, parameter
curves, and equipment operation
status. This helps the management
level to have timely understanding on
how each plant is performing by analyzing
the causes behind operational
irregularity, and looking at the trends
and changes.
DHL. A handover log is a tool that
describes the details happening during
each shift. Traditionally, logs are written
on paper. This poses several drawbacks.
For one, poor legibility and indexing difficulty
hinder work efficiency during job
handovers. For another, the process
and equipment (such as the water system,
boiler system, flue gas treatment
system, and steam condenser system)
across EfW plants are not necessarily
identical, thus their work record and
handover details may differ. For any operator
that operates more than one EfW
plant, having a consistent, yet flexible,
management tool is critical.
DHL is designed to tackle these
problems based on staff interviews. By
digitalizing and systemizing the whole
handover log, and connecting maintenance
worksheets in MMIS, operators
now have a digital handover tool that
incorporates the common core features
across all plants and yet can still cater
to individual differences in terms of
equipment and process. Operators can
more effectively and timely view key announcements,
equipment operation status,
to-do lists, and work safety issues
when handing over jobs to the next staff.
They can also do keyword searches to
backtrack target information speedily.
Intelligent Plant Management
These tools allow EfW plant operators
to make O&M decisions faster, more efficient,
and more accurate, which saves
time and cost. Based on our experience,
these tools have helped us achieve much
better operation rates, far less unexpected
shutdowns, and more power generated
per unit of waste.
Government figures from 2020 show
that among all 24 EfW plants across Taiwan,
the operation rate of plants operated
by ECOVE was 90.3%, compared to
87% from other operators; unexpected
shutdowns that occurred in 2020 averaged
30 hours per furnace line, far less
than the 259 hours per furnace line operated
by other operators; and power generated
was 605 kWh per a ton of waste
in EfW plants operated by ECOVE, compared
to 487 kWh per ton as operated by
other operators.
Managing EfW plants with intelligent
tools have proven to bring satisfactory outcomes
that in the long run outweigh initial
investments. To date, ECOVE has also applied
intelligent management to other areas,
such as managing water resources,
electrical and mechanical facilities, waste
solvents recycling, and solar power to enhance
operational performance. ■
-Jui-Tung Hsu is a technical manager,
and Ping-Yao Yeh, Yen-Chih Wang, and
Yu-Chih Chen are engineers, all with
ECOVE Environment Services Corp.
August 2021 | POWER
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POWER August 2021

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