Polish utility Poludniowy Koncern Energetyczny SA has started operation of the Lagisza power plant--the world's first supercritical circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler.
The 460-mw plant replaces the 40-year old pulverised coal units at the facility and has been built next to the old boilers. Many of the existing plant systems, including coal handling and water treatment, were renovated for use with the new CFB-based unit.
US firm Foster Wheeler provided the boiler island, including the engineering and design, erection, civil work, start-up and commissioning, on a turnkey basis. The boiler incorporates a number of advanced design features and produces electricity at an efficiency level well above that of typical coal plants, according to Foster Wheeler.
This CFB represents a culmination of 30 years of design evolution for developing a reliable, fuel-flexible technology for utility scale electricity production, according to Jaroslaw Mlonka, CEO, Foster Wheeler's Polish subsidiary. Advanced design features include compact solid separators, Intrex superheaters, and low-temperature flue-gas heat recovery that captures heat that would otherwise be lost.
The unit incorporates--for the first time ever in any CFB--highly efficient Benson vertical-tube supercritical steam technology. Benson vertical tube is a new steam technology that is more efficient and reliable than equivalent conventional technology prevalent in the market today. |