POWER November 2016 - 34

PLANT DESIGN
6. First in Russia. Gazprom recently commissioned Unit 9 (in the foreground) at its Novocherkasskaya
Power Plant. The plant is a subsidiary of the OGK-2 generating company, which
is part of Gazprom Energoholding Group. The supercritical CFB is the first constructed in Russia.
Courtesy: Gazprom
mestically supplied and constructed CFB
projects, reports that its 300-MW-class
CFB is now the dominant technology used
in China today.
The university also reports that foreign
and domestic technologies have been used
to install more than 100 CFB units, which,
incidentally, is significantly more than reported
by the KEPCO Research Institute.
The largest single-unit CFB unit in the
world is the 600-MW coal-fired Neijiang
Baima Unit 5, completed in 2013 (Figure
5). This demonstration plant is China's first
domestically designed 600-MW supercritical
CFB unit. Unlike the KEPCO Samcheok
Green Power Project, Unit 5 produces 600
MW using a single CFB boiler. The Neijiang
Baima Demo Power Station, owned by the
Shenhua Group, consists of five coal-fired
units with a total capacity of 1,500 MW. The
300-MW Baima Unit 4, completed in 2005
and based on Alstom technology with subcritical
steam conditions, entered commercial
service in 2006.
The conceptual design of the 600-MW
supercritical CFB was a joint project of Tsingua
University, Harbin Boiler Co. Ltd.,
Shanghai Boiler Co. Ltd., and Dongfang
Boiler Co. Ltd. and was completed at the
end of 2005. Construction of Unit 5 was
approved in 2007 by the National Development
and Reform Commission (NDRC) at a
projected cost of $530 million (in 2015). In
2009, Dongfang Boiler Co. Ltd. was selected
to supply the CFB. The steam conditions are
25.4 MPa, 571C/569C. Engineering for the
plant was released in 2011, and the erection
and commissioning of Unit 5 was completed
by the end of 2012.
Unit 5 successfully completed its 168hour
full-load test on April 14, 2013, and
34
was released for commercial operation.
Performance acceptance tests of Unit 5
demonstrated its ability to burn coal with
low volatile matter and high ash content.
A sulfur removal rate of 95% was demonstrated
without flue gas desulfurization
using a 1.6 calcium/sodium ratio in the
bed. Unit availability up to 99% has been
recently reported.
After a full year of operation, a boiler
performance test was conducted, confirming
that the unit continues to meet design goals,
including power output, steam temperatures,
boiler efficiency, and emissions. The tests reported
sulfur removal efficiency was 97.1%,
NOx
versus <160), and particulate
emissions were low (9.34 versus 30 mg/
Nm3
The Future of CFB Plants
The futures of solid opportunity fuels and
utility-scale CFB power plants are inexorably
linked for the foreseeable future. Coal
used for power generation is undeniably declining
in North America, with nearly 14 GW
of coal-fired capacity decommissioned in the
U.S. last year alone and only five new coal
plants in the development queue, according
to the Energy Information Administration.
Internationally, the story is much different.
IHS Energy, in the April 25 issue of The New
York Times, reported that there are 1,200 new
coal-fired plants under development around
the globe in 59 countries. Construction in
China, for example, continues at a brisk pace.
China, from its 2005 through 2011 peak of
completing about two 600-MW coal plants
each week for seven straight years, has now
" slowed " its pace to under 1 GW a week,
but now a rapidly growing number of plants
relying on CFB technology are in the mix.
(For more recent updates on coal generation
in China, see " China's Coal Industry: Status
and Outlook " and " China Reportedly Poised
to Ban New Coal Plants Through 2018 " at
powermag.com.)
South Korea plans to build another 20 coal
plants by 2021, likely dominated by CFB
plants burning low-quality imported coal.
India, known for its coal mega-projects
production was two-thirds of the design
goal (112 mg/Nm3
). These are excellent operating results,
particularly considering the poor fuel the
plant consumes.
Russia. The 330-MW CFB Novocherkasskaya
GRES No. 9 entered commercial
service in July 2016. Novocherkasskaya,
located in Rostov Province, consists of eight
264-MW coal-fired units installed between
1952 and 1972, with natural gas as a supplementary
fuel (two-thirds coal and one-third
natural gas in 2014). No. 9, the CFB oncethrough
steam generator, the first CFB plant
in Russia, is configured to burn a wide selection
of fuels, including anthracite, bituminous
coal, and coal slurry.
The supercritical CFB, supplied by Amec
Foster Wheeler, has steam conditions of 24.7
MPa, 565C/565C. Unit 9 is owned by Russian
power producer OGK-2 (Second Generating
Company of the Wholesale Power
Market), a subsidiary of Gazprom. The original
projected cost of the plant was reported
as $700 million.
www.powermag.com
(see " Top Plant: National Capital Power
Station Dadri, Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar
Pradesh, India " and " Sasan's Shadow: An
Ultra Mega Power Project's Dark Side " in
the October 2016 issue at powermag.com),
has dozens of 200-MW-class CFB plants
in operation. These plants are principally
designed and built by domestic companies
to burn lignite and other low-quality fuels,
often with high sulfur. India's first two 250MW
units entered service at the Neyveli
Lignite Corp. Ltd.'s Neyveli-II Expansion
project in 2013. The CFB was domestically
design and fabricated. Poor-quality domestic
coal and the large amounts of imported
coal make the CFB an ideal choice for power
generation in India.
Today, there are at least a dozen global
corporations capable of supplying and constructing
a CFB plant. Recent trends also
indicate a rapid increase in the capacity of
new units, with the newest units in the 600MW
class. Further pushing the envelope is
Amec Foster Wheeler, which has introduced
its 800-MW ultrasupercritical CFB, which
makes cofiring up to 20% biomass possible.
With plant efficiency reaching 45% (depending
on the fuel), the CFB now matches the
thermal efficiency of a modern pulverized
coal plant. ■
-Dr. Robert Peltier, PE is POWER's
consulting editor.
POWER | November 2016

http://www.powermag.com http://www.powermag.com http://www.powermag.com

POWER November 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of POWER November 2016