State of the art CFB technology for
flexible large scale utility power
production
Kalle Nuortimo
Amec Foster Wheeler
Varkaus, Finland
Presented at
PowerGen Russia
Moscow
Russia
3-5 March 2015
© Amec Foster Wheeler 2015.
ABSTRACT
Circulating fluidized bed (CFB) has emerged among the leading combustion technologies for utility-scale,
solid-fuel-fired power plants, especially when multi-fuel capabilities are required. Established benefits of high
efficiency and reliability, supreme fuel flexibility, with low emissions and installation costs, have been
demonstrated on nearly 440 Amec Foster Wheeler’s CFB boilers including both, subcritical and oncethrough supercritical boilers.
CFB technology is a efficient method with which to generate large scale power with a broad variety of solid
fuels. This makes CFB technology ideal to meet the current challenges in the power production markets.
This paper will discuss the background behind, and reasons for, the success of CFB technology. This will be
achieved by highlighting the key market drivers behind CFB technology’s development, and the technical
challenges that needed to be overcome during its development in the past 30 years. CFB technology is
currently available in large scale sizes (up to 800 MW e) for a wide array of solid fuels.
CFB technology has proven to be ideal for firing a variety of solid fuels, such as bituminous and anthracite
coals, lignite, petroleum coke, peat and biomass. This fuel flexibility, the possibility of fuel switching, and the
possibility of co-firing are some of the significant economic advantages behind the technology. Users of CFB
technology are able to choose/use the most cost effective fuel at any given time. This opens up the
opportunity to use lower cost local fuels for power generation instead of high quality fuels with higher
transportation costs. Furthermore, CFB technology is well positioned to meet the current pressure for
increased fuel- and operational flexibility in the power production sector that has been caused by the rise of
renewable power, such as solar and wind.
Finally, this paper will presents latest utility CFB technology references built or are under construction to
meet the requirements of the current power production market, such as the Samcheok Green Power plant
(the world’s largest CFB technology based power plant (4x550 MWe) that both fires coal and co-fires
biomass), and the lignite fired Kladno (135 MWe) power plant in Czech and lignite fired Kolin Soma plant
(2x225MWe) in Turkey.
Keywords: Utility CFB technology, Coal combustion, Renewable Energy
1
INTRODUCTION
New boundaries for power plant operation are being set in the global energy production markets.
Several international factors have led to increased pressure to develop power plant technology that is
capable of both fuel flexible and highly efficient operation.
The shale gas boom in the US has lowered the global coal price, making coal plants more economical
than gas plants and favouring solid fuel firing in large scale in rest of the world. At the same time,
initiatives for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions have encouraged the use of mixtures of
biomass with other solid fuels. Also air pollution regulation has been tightening on a global scale,
resulting stricter emission limits for large combustion plants. This means that boiler technology needs to
be developed in order to be able to increase fuel flexibility and meet the stringent emission limits.
To achieve these goals, supercritical steam parameters and specialised boiler designs have been
developed. In particular, CFB technology has been a focus of development due to its capacity for
economical large utility power production and its enhanced environmental and operational performance
in terms of reduced fuel needs, reduced pollutants emitted and the capability to adapt to sudden
changes in the power demand.
Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler technology has been growing in size and number (Figure 1) over
the past three decades and it has now established its position as a viable and ideal utility scale boiler
technology.
Figure 1. Amec Foster Wheeler CFB reference (as by Jun, 2014).
2
DEVELOPMENT STEPS TO ACHIEVE A UTILITY SIZE CFB
2.1
Technology development background
CFB technology development started with small demonstration units constructed in the 1970s. Following
this, the size of the technology increased, with industrial size units constructed in the 1980s and utility size
units of over 200 MW e constructed in the 1990s. Since the 1990s, CFB technology has increasingly
challenged the popularity of Pulverised Coal (PC) technology in large scale energy generation. Today,
there are over 30 Amec Foster Wheeler CFB units firing a wide range of fuels of a scale of over 200 MW e
in operation, or under construction, worldwide. Furthermore, CFB technology has now advanced to the
point where it is possible to construct once through units (OTU) utilising supercritical steam parameters.
Amec Foster Wheeler has built up extensive experience of CFB power plants which utilise supercritical
steam parameters with once-though steam cycle technology. Examples of this are the Łagisza power plant
(460 MW e) in Poland, the Novocherkasskaya power plant (330 MW e) in Russia, and the latest Samcheok
power plant (4 X 550 MW e) in South Korea. These references are shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1. Amec Foster Wheeler OTU CFB references
Country
In
MWe
Main fuel
Łagisza, Poland
production
2009
460
Polish Bituminous coal
Novocherkasskaya,
2015
330
Russian Anthracite, Bituminous
Russia
Samcheok, South Korea
coal
2015
4 x 550
Indonesian Sub-Bituminous coal,
biomass
These examples demonstrate that Amec Foster Wheeler is on the cutting edge of CFB technology
development and has the capability to design and construct utility size CFB technology boilers with
supercritical steam parameters and once-through technology. Knowledge and experience has been
achieved by committing to CFB technology and its continuous and determined development work, which
has included an experience database of over 400 reference boilers in operation. Emphasis has been on
the mechanical design issues of CFB technology and on understanding the process conditions affecting
heat transfer, flow dynamics, combustion characteristics, gaseous emission control, and thermo
hydraulics. By carrying out work in bench-scale test rigs and pilot plants, field testing of operating units,
model development, and simulations carried out using developed semi-empirical models or more
theoretical models, a detailed understanding of these processes has successfully been built up. This has
led to development of detailed design criteria for larger units, which has been successfully implemented in
boiler projects. Design criteria has also been supported by data collected, model development work, and
correlations with conventional boiler design. Figure 2 below shows the development of the size of CFB
boilers.
Figure 2. Increase of the size of CFB boilers
The viability of CFB technology and its main design components has been proven in utility scale power
production. The scale-up of CFB technology with super-critical steam parameters of up to 800 MW e is now
technically ready and commercially available. The special features of CFB technology with supercritical
steam parameters are presented in the next chapter.
3
AMEC FOSTER WHEELER LARGE-SCALE OTU CFB TECHNOLOGY
The Basic OTU CFB concept is based on a CFB process that provides high plant efficiency. The concept
incorporates supercritical steam parameters accompanied by Benson vertical tube technology and is based
on in-line boiler arrangement (presented in Figure 3). The furnace and the separators in the design form a
compact hot loop package and the convection pass consists of a steam-cooled enclosure containing the
convection superheaters and reheaters. This is then followed by the economizer and the rotary regenerative
air heaters. The design of the convection pass follows the same principles used in large two-pass PC
boilers. The hot loop and convection pass are connected with steam cooled cross over ducts (CODs).
Figure 3. CFB boiler in-line concept
The water and steam design of the OTU CFB boiler is based on the low mass flux BENSON once-through
technology licensed by Siemens AG. This technology is ideal for the CFB design because it utilises vertical
furnace tubes instead of the spiral wound tubing that is used in many other once-through designs. In proven
CFB designs, natural circulation is achieved by using vertical tubing as the normal arrangement and it is
beneficial to use a similar design for supercritical OTU boilers. The heat transfer rate in CFB boilers is very low
and is uniform in comparison to Pulverised Coal (PC) boilers and the required water mass fluxes are relatively
low. The low heat fluxes also allow the use of normal smooth tubes in the furnace walls with a mass flux of 550 2
650 kg/m s at full load. The fluid temperatures were carefully analysed after each evaporator tube system in
different load conditions when creating the OTU CFB design and it was found that the low and uniform heat flux
of the CFB furnace and the BENSON low mass flux technology makes the fluid temperatures very uniform.
The OTU CFB design requires the plant to be operated with sliding steam pressure so that the boiler pressure
follows the turbine load. At lower loads (below ca. 70%), the main steam pressure is typically below the critical
pressure (221 bar) and at higher loads the boiler operates at supercritical pressures. During boiler start-up and
shut down a circulation pump is used to ensure that water flow through the evaporator is maintained to ensure
proper cooling. The two-phase flow from the outlet headers of the evaporator walls is collected in the vertical
water/steam separators where the water is then separated from the steam and led to a single water-collecting
vessel (see Figure 4).
When the boiler load exceeds the BENSON point at approximately 30% load, the steam exiting the evaporator
walls is slightly superheated. At this point, the circulation system can be closed and the boiler will have achieved
the once-through operation mode.
Figure 4. Steam circuitry
3.1
Latest milestone in the OTU CFB technology: Samcheok Green Power 4 x 550 MW e
In July 2011, full notice to proceed was given by Hyundai Engineering and Construction for the design and
supply of supercritical Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) steam generators for the Samcheok Green Power Project
in South Korea. The contract included the design and supply of four 550 MW e advanced vertical tube, oncethrough supercritical CFB steam generators (Figure 5) feeding two steam turbines. The CFB steam generators
have been designed to burn imported coal mixed with biomass whilst at the same time meeting all
environmental requirements. Once the Samcheok CFB units enter commercial operation in 2015, they will be
the world's most advanced CFBs and will provide a new level of fuel flexibility, reliability and environmental
performance.
Figure 5. Samcheok Green Power 4 x 550 MWe
3.1.1
Design details
The Samcheok boiler design is based on OTU CFB concept and follows the same basic design features used in
the Łagisza plant. The boiler material requirements for most sections of the Samcheok boilers are very
conventional and normal boiler materials have been used. Furthermore, the design for the Samcheok boilers is
free of T24-steel.
3.1.2
Design fuel
The CFB steam generators at the Samcheok plant are designed to burn imported coals mixed with biomass
whilst at the same time meeting strict environmental requirements. The fuel that will be primarily used for the
Samcheok plant is sub-bituminous coal sourced from several international coal mines (mainly in Indonesia). The
boilers
have
also
been
designed
to
be
able
to
co-fire
wood
Table 2. Fuel specifications
Bituminous Coal
Biomass
14,2 – 24,9
15,8-18
LHV (a.r.)
MJ/kg
Moisture
%
20 – 43
5 – 15
Ash (a.r.)
%
1,2 – 15,3
0,7 – 5
Sulphur (a.r.)
%
0.1-1
0-0,16
pellets
(Table
2).
3.1.3
Steam parameters
The steam pressure and temperature that has been selected for the Samcheok plant has been shown to be
viable in other supercritical units and conventional boiler steel materials can be used for the boiler’s
construction. Table 3 below presents the main design steam parameters of the 4 x 550 MW e (gross) CFB
boilers that will be built at Samcheok.
Table 3. Design Steam parameters at 100 % load
3.1.4
SH flow
kg/s
437,7
SH pressure
bar(g)
257
SH temperature
°C
603
RH flow
kg/s
356,4
RH pressure
bar(g)
53
RH temperature
°C
603
Feed water temperature
°C
297
Emission limits
The CFBs will meet the stringent emission values given below in Table 4 without needing any additional backend flue gas desulphurisation equipment for SOx control.
Table 4. Emission values
Item
Unit
Limit value
Method to meet
SOx
ppm (as SO2)
Max. 50 (6% O2)
Limestone injection to furnace; no backend desulphurization equipment needed
NOx
Particulate matter
ppm (as NO2)
3
mg/m n
Max. 50 (6% O2)
SCR between economizer and air heaters
Max. 20 (6% O2)
ESP
3.1.5
Unit Operation
The normal operating mode of the Samcheok unit is co-ordinated control with sliding pressure operation. The
boilers will normally be operated at the same load level and any load change requests will be forwarded to the
boilers simultaneously and with similar control parameters. The steam temperatures will be individually
controlled in order to ensure that the required temperatures in the main steam and reheated steam systems
are achieved. Reheated steam share between the boilers will be continuously monitored and controlled in
accordance with the applicable firing rates.
4
NATURAL CIRCULATION CFB TECHNOLOGY FOR UTILITY POWER PRODUCTION
4.1
CFB boiler technology in Kladno power plant
In 2010, the Swiss utility company Alpiq awarded a 135 MW e lignite fired EPC power plant contract to
Kraftanlagen München (KAM) for the Kladno power plant in the Czech Republic. The project was designed to
replace old technologies with a more efficient and environmentally cleaner plant, producing energy for the local
community whilst meeting the requirements of flexibility from the electrical grid system. For the boiler at the
Kladno power plant, Alpiq required CFB boiler technology that was specifically designed to co-fire lignite and
biomass.
The Kladno boiler represents the new generation of utility power boilers. The Kladno CFB boiler has been
designed to co-fire lignite and biomass with the capability of adapting to sudden load change requirements in
the electricity grid.
The design of the new Kladno CFB boiler (Figure 6) incorporates solids separators built from steam cooled
panels integrated with the combustion chamber. The steam cooled separator design avoids the occurrence of
heavy refractory linings in the separator. The final superheating stage and the final reheating stage are
INTREX
TM
heat exchangers located in special enclosures at the bottom of the furnace (adjacent to the main
combustion chamber). The INTREX
TM
heat exchangers are located outside the main combustion area, which
enables them to be used as the last superheating and reheating stages. This results in higher steam
temperatures because the INTREX
TM
heat exchangers are protected from the fouling and corrosive
environment of the boiler’s hot flue gas. The INTREX
capabilities and turndown ratios.
TM
heat exchangers also provide high load-following
Figure 6. Kladno K7 CFB boiler design
The design basis of the Kladno boiler is presented in tables 5-7.
Table 5. Kladno fuel data
Table 6. Kladno boiler steam data
Lignite
Biomass
STEAM DATA
Sulphur
1,35% d.s.
0.13% d.s.
Nitrogen
0,67% d.s.
1% d.s.
Steam Flow
105/102 kg/s
Moisture
26,6% a.r
40% a.r
Steam Pressure
133/33 bar(a)
Ash
19,78 % d.s.
3,33% d.s.
Steam Temperature
LHV
15,61 MJ/kg
9,7 MJ/kg
Feedwater Temperature
Total Heat Output
303 MW th
541/541 °C
251 °C
Table 7. Kladno boiler design performance
Flue Gas Exit Temperature
130 °C
Boiler Efficiency
93,2%
*
Emission Guarantees 40 % to 100 % BMCR ½ hour average
- NOx
<190 mg/Nm
3
- SO2
<190 mg/Nm
3
- CO
<95 mg/Nm
- NH3
<10 mg/Nm (slip cat. installed)
- NH3
<20 mg/Nm (w/o slip cat.)
Particulate Matter
<20 mg/Nm³
3
3
3
*) Emissions expressed in dry fluegases @ 6%O2
The new Kladno K7 lignite firing CFB boiler unit replaced an old coal-fired unit, which was commissioned at
the Kladno power plant in the late 1970s. The new unit will be operated alongside two 135 MW e CFB units,
which were previously commissioned in the 1990s, and is located adjacent to the old boilers. This allows the
new boiler to utilise many of the existing plant systems, such as the coal handling and water treatment plant.
Scope of work for the CFB boiler included the design of the boiler; the delivery of the boiler house enclosure
with its steel structures, the boiler pressure parts, the auxiliary equipment, the lignite crushers, the fuel silos for
solid biomass fuel and lignite, the fuel feeding equipment for biomass fuel and lignite, and the bag filter; the
erection and construction of the boiler; and the start-up, performance testing and commissioning of the boiler.
The time schedule that was adopted for the project is presented in Table 8.
Table 8. Project execution schedule
Contract Award
December 2010
Start of Erection
November 2011
Commercial Operation
December 2013
The main fuel utilised for the new CFB boiler at the Kladno power plant is lignite obtained from a local mine
(Bilina). The CFB Boiler is designed for biomass co-firing of a maximum of 10 % heat input. Despite the fact that
the lignite is obtained from only one source, there is substantial variation in the fuel quality, especially in terms of
in-organic matter, which results in a dry solids range of 13 to 30 %. For biomass, the variation is even wider,
giving a moisture range of 25 to 55 %. The CFB boiler’s ability to use fuel with such a wide variation in quality
clearly demonstrates its excellent fuel flexibility.
The Kladno CFB boiler incorporates the latest design of solids separators build from water or steam cooled
panels integrated with the combustion chamber. The design also features INTREX
TM
superheaters. The high
performance of the solids separator leads to a high solids circulation rate and a uniform combustion temperature
profile across the whole operation range. After commencing commercial operation in December 2013, the
operation of the Kladno power plant has been excellent. According to the performance tests, all performance
guarantees have been fulfilled within a large margin, demonstrating that CFB boiler technology is able to meet
and surpass all the requirements set for a modern utility power unit.
4.2
Harbin Electric International Co. Ltd. (HEI), Soma, Turkey
Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract by Harbin Electric International Co. Ltd. (HEI) for the design
and supply of two circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) boiler islands and flue gas scrubbers for HIDRO-GEN Energy
Import, Export, Distribution and Trading Inc., a subsidiary of Kolin Group of Companies. HEI is acting as EPC
contractor for HIDRO-GEN’s power project to be built close to lignite mines, near the town of Soma, west part of
Turkey, 135 km north from Izmir (Figure 7).
Figure 7:Location of the Turkish lignite fields and Soma CFB boilers (picture:IEA)
Amec Foster Wheeler has received a full notice to proceed on this project in January 2014. Commercial
operation of the new steam generators is scheduled for the beginning of 2017 (Table 9).
Table 9. Project execution schedule
Contract Award
January 2014
Start of Erection
April 2015
Commercial Operation
January 2017
Amec Foster Wheeler’s scope includes design and supply two 255 MWe (gross megawatt electric) steam
generators and auxiliary equipment for the boiler islands, flue gas cleaning systems with Amec Foster Wheeler
CFB scrubbers, and technical advisory services during erection and commissioning. The CFB boilers will be
designed to burn local lignite, due to the significant economic benefit of using this fuel for power generation. This
is also the largest CFB project awarded in Turkey until today.
4.2.1
Soma boiler design
Soma CFB boilers are designed to utilize local lignite reserves located near Soma town, with design heating
value of 6.77 MJ/kg (see Table 11). Boilers are natural circulation type of drum boilers with reheat (see steam
parameters in Table 10). The CFB boilers design incorporates solids separators built from steam cooled panels
integrated with the combustion chamber. The final superheating stage are INTREX
TM
heat exchangers located
in special enclosures at the bottom of the furnace (adjacent to the main combustion chamber)(Figure 8).
Figure 8: Soma CFB boilers
Table 11. Soma boiler steam data
Table 10. Soma fuel data
SH flow
kg/s
198,5
DESIGN FUEL DATA
Lignite
SH pressure
bar(a)
173
Sulphur
0,95 % d.s.
SH temperature
°C
565
Nitrogen
0,53% d.s.
Moisture
23,3% a.r
RH flow
kg/s
173
RH pressure
bar(a)
53
RH temperature
°C
565
Feed water temperature
°C
262
Ash
42,9 % d.s.
LHV
6,77 MJ/kg
Table 12. Design performance
Boiler Efficiency
89,98%
Emissions
- NOx
<200 mg/Nm
- SO2
<200 mg/Nm
- CO
<200 mg/Nm
Particulate Matter
<30 mg/Nm³
3
*) Emissions expressed in dry fluegases @ 6%O2
4.2.2
Soma CFB flue gas cleaning
To reach required emission values (Table 12) in economic way, the circulating fluidized bed scrubbing (CFBS)
technology has been applied in the Soma power plant. This is a viable pathway for addressing multi-pollutant
control in a cost effective manner. There are two identical flue gas cleaning lines, which consist of CFB scrubber
including bag-house with solids re-circulation (Figure 9).
Figure 9. CFB scrubber
Construction costs can be reduced as the major system components can be pre-assembled on the ground and
lifted into place during system erection. The technology provides high pollutant removal efficiencies for SO 2,
SO3, HCl and HF. Further the absorber/fabric filter arrangement is highly adaptable for sorbent injection for
removal of heavy metals including mercury. The main advantages of this technology combined with CFB boiler
is reduced operating cost due to lower limestone consumption.
5
DYNAMIC BOILER PERFORMANCE
When designing a CFB boiler, it is important to ensure safe and efficient steady-state operation, high flexibility in
fuel or fuel mixtures to be combusted, and high flexibility in the boiler’s operational range. The increased
requirements for solid fuel fired power plant operation and control dynamics in some of the power markets have
resulted in a particular focus on the development of flexible operation with fast load following in order to fulfil the
load change requirements. There has also been an increased emphasis on boiler designs needing to meet
stringent emission limits.
The trend of needing to increase flexibility requirements in power markets will set new targets for the
development of conventional solid fuel based power plants. New functions and capabilities, such as low load
operation and fast load following, are expected to result from this rapid development, particularly within the field
of CFB technology.
In comparison with conventional PC technology, CFB technology provides the possibility to utilise various fuel
blends. This includes raw lignite together with dried lignite, coal, and mixtures of biomass. Moreover, when firing
these fuels CFB technology is able to meet all of the relevant emission requirements as well as the boiler
minimum load/load change requirements. Consequently, the need for dynamic capability is constantly
increasing. Furthermore, there is also an increasing need to be able to shut down the plant for the night and
achieve a fast start up in the morning.
6
SUMMARY
CFB technology development has undergone extensive development since the 1970s and Circulating Fluidized
Bed (CFB) technology has now established its position as a viable and efficient utility-scale boiler technology.
When considering whether to build new plants, or to repower old plants, efficiency, environmental performance
and operational flexibility are the key issues that developers need to consider. High efficiency means lower fuel
consumption and lower levels of ash and air emissions, including lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2). CFB
technology has been proven to be capable of achieving these goals by means of both supercritical steam
parameters and specialised boiler designs for biomass firing in the utility scale. CFB boiler designs have also
achieved a high level of operational flexibility, which represents the next generation in utility power generation.
New more tighten capabilities e.g. for low load operation and fast load following, are expected from current and
new power generation capacity. These aims have been directly taken into account when undertaking CFB
development programs in order to ensure compliance with future load control requirements. All of these
achievements, as well as the further development efforts currently being undertaken, make CFB technology the
optimum choice to meet the market’s demands both now and in the future to utilise a broad range of fuels in
large scale power generation.