The waste-to-energy plant KVA Bern Forsthaus was commissioned in 2012. Until 2018, the boiler empty passes were cleaned by means of ShowerCleaning (SCS). In 2018, ShowerCleaning was replaced by three Shock Pulse Generators (SPG). With Shock Pulse Generators, the cleaning is carried out at lower power per cleaning process, but…
Magnon Green Energy operates among other destinations in Spain three renewable energy units in Huelva/Spain for incineration of biomass and production of electrical energy. The oldest of the units, the HU-1 suffered of plugging problems especially in the evaporator bundle, which were mitigated since the installation of the Shock Pulse Generator (SGP) around three years ago.
The site at Pirdop/BG is also home to Aurubis’ largest flash smelting furnace. The iron-sulfur-copper concentrate, referred to as copper matte, as well as iron silicate slags are produced from about 1.4 million ton of copper concentrates each year by smelting them and separating the less valuable components.
In the fall of 2020, Explosion Power GmbH launched the Shock Pulse Generator SPGr series. With this innovative further development of the existing technology for automated industrial boiler cleaning, Explosion Power GmbH was able to introduce a product series that enables even higher cleaning performance with reduced maintenance and space requirements. These product advantages already led to a considerable number of orders in 2021 and to a lot of positive feedback from customers after commissioning of the new SPGr.
In 2021, WtE Buchs (belonging to VfA - Verein für Abfallbeseitigung) celebrates the sixtieth anniversary of its founding. Little remains of the original concept of waste disposal.
In the cleaning of soot and fly ash from the combustion plants, much has changed in the history. While the ancestors had to deal mainly with soot in the flue gas, the present-day furnaces are mainly confronted with fly ash in the flue gas thanks to the controlled firing. The «soot», resulting from insufficient combustion is not known to modern combustion technology, because this organic carbon content is burned out to the state of inorganic residue, namely to the fly ash.
A waste incineration plant uses the energy contained in waste to produce steam, which in turn is advantageously converted into electrical energy. Waste is the sole fuel for energy production. Due to technological constraints, only about 85% of the contained thermal energy can be utilized. The electrically operated aggregates consume about 2.5 to 4% of the up to 35% generated electrical energy. The rest is fed into the grid. Exhaust steam, which remains downstream the turbine, can be used advantageously for heating purposes in the district heating network. Where such a network is not available, the exhaust steam must be condensed to water in a condenser to be fed back to the steam boiler.
Swiss Krono - a successful manufacturer of MFB boards and OSB boards - uses only natural raw materials that come from sustainably managed forests. In 2002 a biomass combustion plant was put into operation for the energetic utilization of various production waste, dust and bark. Fly ash deposits at the grid-like flue gas passage between the first and the second boiler pass (named curtain) have for many years frequently caused problems with plugging of the flue gas passage. Operating difficulties were finally eliminated by installation a Shock Pulse Generator (SPG) allowing an automatic online cleaning. Since then the plant has been working without such plugging to the satisfaction of the operator.
Each combustion of organic substances produces particles, which are discharged with the flue gas. These particles, called fly ash, fly through the boiler with the flue gas and settle down on the inner boiler walls and the heat exchanger tubes of the boiler. This results in a reduction of the heat transfer. These contaminants are removed by means of various cleaning systems. The most important automatic online cleaning methods are described below.
High fly ash load in the flue gas of waste and biomass incineration boilers causes deposits on the tube bundle heat exhange surfaces. To meet the boiler efficiency and to maintain the required temperatures of the downstream located plant components, the tube bundles must be cleaned periodically. In order to achieve the most constant possible conditions and for safety reasons, the cleaning should be carried out online during the boiler operation and without any personal intervention in the boiler. The cleaning procedures practiced in the plants are described below.
240.000 Tons of natural wood are being processed each year in the biomass boiler located in Nesle (France), where they are being converted into renewable electricity (130 GWh/year), process heat (220 GWh/year) and cooling water (2 GWh/year). The owner AKUO Energy and the operating company CNIM EB hence contribute since 2013 to a reduction of the CO2-emissions of the local industry.
Cokenergy LLC (USA) replaces all the originally installed sootblowers with SPGs for cleaning the Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSGs) for the entire sixteen HRSG fleet until the end of 2019. This was decided by the management after completing an evaluation of a 6-month trial run, where the bare as well as the finned tubes were cleaned to satisfaction.
Based on the good experience with the Shock Pulse Generators for boiler cleaning in the presently decommissioned waste incineration plant Real in Lucerne/CH, the operator of the new built plant Renergia in Perlen has again installed the SPGs of Explosion Power GmbH for cleaning of the first three boiler passes. Such operate to the full satisfaction of the customer since 2015.
The combustion chamber of a waste incineration boiler is exposed to corrosive atmosphere where the temperatures can reach up to 1'400°C. It is obvious that the boiler walls must be protected accordingly.
Explosion Power GmbH installed 4 TwinL SPGs into a Supercritical Pulverized Coal Boiler 660 MWel capacity which operate successfully in support of boiler cleaning and keeping the required flue gas outlet temperature within design specifications (inlet to SCR catalyst elements). For the next phase the Thai power producer intents to install additional 4 TwinL SPGs for saving feed water and steam and for cycle optimization.
There is no way around the problem of corrosion in power plants. Especially the desire for high steam temperatures and the use of different fuels pose new challenges for boiler manufacturers. What is required are boilers that are both economical and durable.