Comprehensive report to Congress Clean Coal Technology Program: Warren Station EFCC Demonstration Project

Abstract

One of the five projects selected for funding within the Clean Coal Technology Program is a project proposed by the Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Penelec proposes to enter into a cooperative agreement with DOE to design, construct and operate a 600 ton-per-day, 66-megawatt (MWe), coal-fueled, externally-fired combined cycle (EFCC) electric power generation facility. The EFCC is an emerging technology with promise for operating highefficiency combined gas- and steam-turbine cycles on coal. The central feature of EFCC is its coupling of the gas turbine to an external, atmospheric-pressure, coal combustor via a hightemperature ceramic heat exchanger (CerHx{reg_sign}) developed by Hague International. The EFCC technology is attractive because, unlike competing combined cycles such as Integrated Gasification (IGCC) and Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion (PFBC), it eliminates the need for a costly gas cleanup system to protect the gas turbine components from the corrosive and abrasive elements in the combustor exhaust. In an EFCC, the gas turbine expands clean air which is heated in the CerHx{reg_sign} by externally-fired combustion gases which never pass through the gas turbine. Downstream of the power system, environmental requirements are met through cleanup of combustion gases. The proposed project, the Warren Station EFCC Demonstration Project, will repower Penelec`s Warren Station, a coal-fueled steam plant located in Warren, Pennsylvania, approximately 130 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The EFCC will replace two of Warren Station`s four coal-fired boilers, increasing the station`s net generating capacity by 22 MWe and reducing emissions of sulfur (SO{sub 2}) and nitrogen (No{sub x}) oxides.