POWER January 2012 - 20

event " for Asian companies that use SBC
coal to produce electricity. " In Asia, we
notice that a number of coal-fired power
stations, like the founding members of
this Asian SBC Users' Group, have been
increasing their consumption of subbituminous
coals due to its low sulfur and
low ash content properties, which have
positive impacts on emissions, " Yuen
said in his opening comments to the
conference. " However, there are some
concerns over the operational risks of
using SBC. Being responsible operators,
we shall all look for best practices in
the industry and keep pace with the latest
technology development in the uses
of SBC.
" In this context, we fully support that
an SBC users' group should be formed in
the Asia region to promote the safe, efficient,
and economic use of subbituminous
coals. The Asian SBC Users' Group
will definitely be an excellent forum for all
Asian operators to learn from each other
through a web-based forum and annual
meetings. "
Yuen then identified the decade of
work by the PRBCUG to develop procedures
for ensuring safe and efficient use
of SBC, and the group's willingness to
share lessons learned, as key reasons
the ASBC was formed. " I was told by my
colleagues who had participated in the
last two conference meetings in Baltimore
and Chicago that the conference
meetings were very good and useful. Our
colleagues were very impressed with the
presentations made by the participants
who selflessly shared their experiences
in handling subbituminous coals, especially
during the session for teachable
moments. Most of the participants
would agree that they were not alone
in having bitter experiences in handling
subbituminous coal, and they could
learn from other generating companies
which had taken preventive measures
proactively to tackle the problems. I am
sure that the good tradition of PRB Coal
Users' Group will be passed on to the
Asian SBC Users' Group, and the Asian
experiences would also be beneficial to
the PRB Coal Users' Group in the years
to come. "
Paul Poon, chief operating officer of
conference cosponsor CLP Power, also expressed
his great interest in forming the
ASBC because there are many users located
across the Pacific Rim that fire the lowsulfur
coal. " The group was formed this
year with the aim of providing a forum for
sharing technical and operational experience
amongst Asian power utilities, " he
20
Condenser Life Cycle Seminar
The November issue of POWER featured
a special section titled " Condenser Life
Cycle. " That set of four articles covered
topics including condenser performance,
operation and maintenance (O&M), failure
mechanisms, and retubing-topics
you will surely find useful at some time in
your career. The authors of those four articles
work for companies that are part of
a coalition that sponsors the annual Condenser
Life Cycle Seminar. Unfortunately,
a notice about the next seminar was omitsaid.
" Currently, we have major subbituminous
coal users from Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Korea, Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia.
The group serves as a platform to
promote safe handling, storage, and use
of subbituminous coal, which is becoming
more popular because of environmental
concerns. "
Poon also noted the technical challenges
facing CLP Power and the other
companies represented at the conference
when making a switch to SBC.
" When switching to subbituminous coal
at a plant not originally designed for it,
enhancement or retrofits may be needed.
The first thing is to improve the
coal-handling system because subbituminous
coal is prone to spontaneous
combustion and is dusty. Preventively,
we can provide more fire and coal dust
control equipment in our system. Proactively,
we can strengthen the coal
plant housekeeping and use fuel additives
to suppress the spontaneous combustion. "
Good
Technical Content
Presenters at the inaugural ASBC meeting
included members of the PRBCUG
and those working with SBC in Asia. For
example, Jasper Tan, manager of coal
storage and supply for Taiwan Power Co.,
presented " The Role of Sub-Bituminous
Coal in the Operation of Taichung Power
Plant. " He discussed the fuel supply system
for his 10-unit coal-fired plant with
a nameplate of 5,500 MW that supplies
about 20% of TPC's total generation.
The 2.3 million metric ton coal pile is
also large scale, covering 170 acres. The
plant has been slowly ramping up its
use of SBC over the past few years. Tan
discussed both challenges (such as air
heater plugging) and successes (including
lower NOx
and SO2
emissions) experiwww.powermag.com
ted
from the first article.
If you are interested in details about
the selection or O&M of steam surface
condensers, then the 2012 Condenser
Life Cycle Seminar is for you. The conference-scheduled
for Feb. 13-15, 2012, at
the Hilton Palacio del Rio in San Antonio,
Texas-is the place to meet and interact
with condenser specialists and get realworld
answers to your tough condenser
questions. For more information, visit
www.condenserseminar.com.
enced during the plant's long-term fuel
upgrade program.
Other presentations included " Lamma
Power Station Units 4 & 5 Improvement
of Boiler Performance and Emission
in 2010 " by Hong Kong Electric
Co., Ltd. and " Experience in Retrofitting
Fire and Dust Control Equipment
for Coal Unloading Equipment " by CLP.
The former presentation discussed the
low-NOx
burners, mills, and boiler control
upgrades added to the plant in
order to burn SBC. CLP's presentation
included two detailed case studies that
described the utility's extensive coalhandling
system upgrades made to accommodate
SBC.
Second Meeting Planned
The ASBC Steering Council is now setting
the date and location for the second
annual ASBC meeting. Meeting information
will soon be posted on the group's
website, www.asiansbcusers.com.
-Contributed by Vice President and
POWER Publisher Brian Nessen.
Marmaduke Award Trophy
Presented
The 2011 Marmaduke Award winner was
CTG Universidad, a two-unit combustion
turbine plant built in the early 1970s in
Monterrey, Mexico. The award was made
to the plant in recognition of its upgrade
of one 14-MW unit to operate as a synchronous
condenser, thus relaxing power
restrictions caused by a lack of sufficient
reactive power production in the north of
the city. More reactive power production
by this urban plant also allows delivery
of more power produced by efficient combined
cycle plants located outside the city,
because it reduces the amount of reactive
power that must be moved over transmission
lines.
POWER | January 2012
http://www.condenserseminar.com http://www.asiansbcusers.com http://www.powermag.com
POWER January 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER January 2012
