Summary
The eighth in the series of the Fossil Fuel Foundations' Optimisation of Industrial
Boilers Conferences was held at the Glenhove Conference Centre on 22 July 2014.
There were two key aspects to the conference. The first was coal and boiler
operation/maintenance and the second was co-firing/co-generation. Environmental
issues such as emissions monitoring and control were a cross-cutting theme.
The programme included eminent experts in their field from South Africa and abroad.
This year we had three international speakers, which greatly added to the stature of
the conference. The conference was well attended, with the venue being filled to
capacity. A summary of some of the learning from the day follows.
Johan de Korte (CSIR) confirmed that South Africa has (potentially) lots of coal left,
but the quality for domestic use is low, and is getting worse.
Keith McIntyre (John Thompson) showed us what impact this reduced coal quality
can have on boilers.
Gert Coetzee (Boiler Management Services) emphasised the need for correct boiler
selection, and training.
Dan Hill (Detroit Stoker Company) and Peter McIntyre (John Thompson) gave us
some insight into the boiler design and modifications required for co-firing.
Jens Happel (MIC), Clemens Lindscheid (EUTech Scientific Engineering), Shalk
van der Merwe and Ryno Laubscher (John Thompson) showed us some of the
modern computational approaches to understanding fuel behaviour and to designing
better boilers.
Gerald Woolat (Levego) gave some down-to-earth advice on climbing stacks
(emissions monitoring).
Duncan Crous and Theo Fischer (EScience) advised us of the potential impact of
new environmental legislation, particularly in terms of emissions of gases such as
SO2 and NOx.