Pennsylvania Electric Company Research Articles

04/02478 Thermoeconomic optimization of heat recoverysteam generators operating parameters for combined plants: Casarosa, C. et al. Energy, 2004, 29, (3), 389–414

Under the sponsorship of the Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec), and with the support of EPRI, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Penelec and Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation conducted low percentage (3% by weight) wood cofiring tests at Units 2 and 3 of the Shawville Generating Station in November 1995. Unit 2 is a 138 MWe (gross) wall-fired pulverized coal boiler equipped with ball and race mills, table feeders, and low-NOx burners. Unit 3 is a 190 MWe (gross) tangentially-fired pulverized coal boiler equipped with bowl mills, paddle feeders, and low-NOx burners. There is no spare capacity in the pulverizing systems of either unit when operating under full load conditions.This project was unique in a number of respects, expanding the knowledge and cofire experience base achieved in other previous projects (ref. 1). First, the project tested the use of blended biofuels in boilers equipped with low NOx burners. Additionally, three types of biofuel were tested: (1) mill waste sawdust, (2) utility right-of-way trimmings, and (3) harvested hybrid poplar. Biofuels were processed off-site, blended at a nearby coal blending yard, and then trucked to the unmodified Shawville Station on a “just-in-time” schedule basis. The off-site fuel preparation and blending operations provided an adequate supply of blended biofuel and coal to allow the project to meet its overall test objectives, and also provided much useful new data and information needed to help establish commercial processing facilities.Plant operating technical objectives were to determine the impacts of using low percentage biofuel blends on boiler capacity, efficiency, stability, temperature, and air/solid waste emissions. Significant boiler capacity limitations were experienced on both units when cofiring 3 percent biomass blends. The 138 MWe boiler lost 8–10 MWe of capacity due to feeder limitations, and the 190 MWe boiler lost 15 MWe of capacity due to significant reductions in mill outlet temperatures. For both units, the 3 weight percent biofuel blends behaved like wet coal.Significant new information was developed with respect to both fuel processing and plant performance issues. This paper describes the project and the test results and explores the CO2 mitigation impacts of firing blends of coal and biomass that are prepared off-site.

Improvement of power generation and cleaning of exhaust gas by utilizing waste material and coal

Under the sponsorship of the Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec), and with the support of EPRI, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Penelec and Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation conducted low percentage (3% by weight) wood cofiring tests at Units 2 and 3 of the Shawville Generating Station in November 1995. Unit 2 is a 138 MWe (gross) wall-fired pulverized coal boiler equipped with ball and race mills, table feeders, and low-NOx burners. Unit 3 is a 190 MWe (gross) tangentially-fired pulverized coal boiler equipped with bowl mills, paddle feeders, and low-NOx burners. There is no spare capacity in the pulverizing systems of either unit when operating under full load conditions.This project was unique in a number of respects, expanding the knowledge and cofire experience base achieved in other previous projects (ref. 1). First, the project tested the use of blended biofuels in boilers equipped with low NOx burners. Additionally, three types of biofuel were tested: (1) mill waste sawdust, (2) utility right-of-way trimmings, and (3) harvested hybrid poplar. Biofuels were processed off-site, blended at a nearby coal blending yard, and then trucked to the unmodified Shawville Station on a “just-in-time” schedule basis. The off-site fuel preparation and blending operations provided an adequate supply of blended biofuel and coal to allow the project to meet its overall test objectives, and also provided much useful new data and information needed to help establish commercial processing facilities.Plant operating technical objectives were to determine the impacts of using low percentage biofuel blends on boiler capacity, efficiency, stability, temperature, and air/solid waste emissions. Significant boiler capacity limitations were experienced on both units when cofiring 3 percent biomass blends. The 138 MWe boiler lost 8–10 MWe of capacity due to feeder limitations, and the 190 MWe boiler lost 15 MWe of capacity due to significant reductions in mill outlet temperatures. For both units, the 3 weight percent biofuel blends behaved like wet coal.Significant new information was developed with respect to both fuel processing and plant performance issues. This paper describes the project and the test results and explores the CO2 mitigation impacts of firing blends of coal and biomass that are prepared off-site.

99/00209 Coal-water slurry fuel production: its evolution and current status in the United States

Interest in the US in utilizing bituminous coal in a slurry form has evolved substantially over the last two decades. In the mid-1970`s, technologies to utilize coal-oil mixtures (COMs) as potential fuel oil replacements for utility and industrial boilers were developed as a consequence of escalating world oil prices. To further reduce dependency on imported oil, interest shifted away from COMs to coal-water slurry fuels (CWSFs) because higher solids loadings were obtainable while eliminating the use of oil. Research which focused on the use of CWSF as a potential fuel oil replacement peaked in the mid to late-1980`s as a result of a decline in world oil prices. During the late 1980`s and early 1990`s, coal suppliers and coal-fired utilities began to evaluate the production of CWSF using bituminous coal fines from fine coal cleaning circuits in an effort to reduce dewatering/drying costs. This marked a philosophical change in the driving force behind the utilization of CWSF in the US. In an effort to broaden the supply of coal fines, The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and the Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) surveyed a series of fine coal impoundments in western Pennsylvania to determine the quality, cleanability, and slurryability ofmore » the coal fines contained therein. The development and commercialization of recovery technologies, cleaning techniques, and CWSF reentrainment circuits, coupled with an interest by utilities to utilize low-cost fuels, has fostered the recovery of impounded coal fines. In addition to the fine coal impoundments, fine coal cleaning circuits which actively dispose of process water having suspended coal fines (e.g. centrifuge effluent) are being examined to determine if the fines can be recovered and thickened into a low solids CWSF. The paper describes required physical and chemical properties of a CWSF for boiler applications. There is a growing awareness that CWSF is a fuel form that can be cofired with coal. The current political, environmental, and economic climates mandate greater efficiency in the production and use of coal. Coal suppliers and coal-fired utilities must establish the actual cost of the CWSF production for the technology to move forward. Coal-fired utilities that own fine coal impoundments and/or operate fine coal cleaning circuits need to determine how these coal fines can be used to reduce operating cost.« less

98/00372 Assessment of coal-water slurry fuels for electric power generation in Southern Indiana. Part 1. Detailed resource characterization

Impounded coal fines, a by-product of wet coal preparation techniques, are a potential fuel resource for electric power generation due to their abundance and characteristics when burned as a coal-water slurry fuel (CWSF). Recent work by the Pennsylvania Electric Company and others has shown that co-firing CWSF composed of cleaned material from slurry impoundments can reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by as much as twenty percent. The commercial reality of using impounded coal fines as a CWSF depends more on coal cost, processing requirements, and the value of emission reduction credits than on the quality or abundance of the material. Many Southern Indiana slurry impoundments, including those selected for characterization in this study, contain over one-million tons of fine coal. The older impoundments have a higher percentage of coarse coal. One impoundment filled prior to 1975 averages fifty percent coal particles greater than 30 mesh (600 {mu}). Improvements in preparation plant fine coal recovery circuits are reflected by an increasing percentage of less than 200 mesh (75 {mu}) coal in more recently filled impoundments. Another impoundment filled in 1995 averages forty-nine percent coal and mineral particles finer than 200 mesh. Bench scale sink/float testing showed that separating particles with amore » specific gravity greater than 1.7 produced a fine coal with ten percent ash and three percent sulfur. This is similar in quality, but finer in particle size, to the coal currently used in a typical coal fired power station burning typical Illinois Basin coals. Detailed characterization of two inactive impoundments highlighted the differences between coal fines in an older impoundment and one filled in the last ten years.« less

98/00595 Externally-fired combined cycle: an effective coal fueled technology for repowering and new generation

The Externally-Fired Combined Cycle (EFCC) is an attractive emerging technology for powering high efficiency combined gas and steam turbine cycles with coal or other ash bearing fuels. In the EFCC, the heat input to a gas turbine is supplied indirectly through a ceramic air heater. The air heater, along with an atmospheric coal combustor and ancillary equipment, replaces the conventional gas turbine combustor. A steam generator located downstream from the ceramic air heater and steam turbine cycle, along with an exhaust cleanup system, completes the combined cycle. A key element of the EFCC Development Program, the 25 MMBtu/h heat-input Kennebunk Test Facility (KTF), has recently begun operation. The KTF has been operating with natural gas and will begin operating with coal in early 1995. The US Department of Energy selected an EFCC repowering of the Pennsylvania Electric Company`s Warren Station for funding under the Clean Coal Technology Program Round V. The project focuses on repowering an existing 48 MW (gross) steam turbine with an EFCC power island incorporating a 30 MW gas turbine, for a gross power output of 78 MW and a net output of 72 MW. The net plant heat rate will be decreased by approximately 30% tomore » below 9,700 Btu/kWh. Use of a dry scrubber and fabric filter will reduce sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) and particulate emissions to levels under those required by the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990. Nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) emissions are controlled by the use of staged combustion. The demonstration project is currently in the engineering phase, with startup scheduled for 1997. This paper discusses the background of the EFCC, the KTF, the Warren Station EFCC Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Project, the commercial plant concept, and the market potential for the EFCC.« less

97/02116 Test results from the co-firing of coal water slurry fuel in a 32 megawatt pulverized coal boiler

In late 1993, Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) conducted a series of combustion tests on a utility scale boiler at the Seward Power Generating Station located in western Pennsylvania. These tests involved the co-firing of low solids coal water slurry (CWS) with conventional pulverized coal (pc) in Seward`s No. 14 Boiler. The No. 14 Boiler at Seward was manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox in 1950. The steam flow is 330,000 lbs/hr at 700 PSI and 845{degrees}F superheat. There are two B&W Model E-56 pulverizers. Each pulverizer has a capacity of approximately 8-10 tons/hr. There are two levels of three front-fired burners each. The bottom level is the {open_quotes}A{close_quotes} level supplied by the No. 14A Pulverizer. The top level is the {open_quotes}B{close_quotes} level supplied by the No. 14B Pulverizer. The ppc burner capacity is approximately 3 tons/hr. There are six oil guns (one per burner) which are rated Class One and burn No. 2 fuel oil at about 1.25 GPM each.

97/01806 Preparation of coal-water slurry fuels from impounded bituminous coal fines

Over the last decade, there has been considerable interest in the utilization of coal refuse as a fuel for power generation. Much of the interest has been on using coarse coal refuse in fluidized-bed combustors, particularly those operated by independent power producers. Utilization of impounded coal fines has been limited because of the problems associated with handling wet fine coal. The amount of coal fines within active and abandoned slurry impoundments has been estimated to exceed two billion tons with an additional 40 to 50 million tons of coal fines being added to this inventory annually. Advanced fine coal cleaning techniques typically produce a wet fine coal product that has to be dewatered. The existence of large fine coal impoundments coupled with fine coal cleaning circuits which produce wet coal fines has lead some utilities to consider using coal-water slurry fuels (CWSF) to lower their fuel cost. One such utility is the Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec). Utility scale, demonstration testing at Penelec`s Seward Station of cofiring a low solids, low viscosity CWSF with pulverized coal has been summarized by Battista et al. 1995. More recent Seward test data on cofiring pulverized coal with CWSF prepared from cleaned impounded coal finesmore » is reported in Falcone Miller et al. 1996. This paper summarizes the findings of a recent study which focused on the preparation and utilization of low solids, low viscosity CWSFs prepared from cleaned coal fines recovered from fine coal slurry impoundments located in western Pennsylvania.« less

The shawville coal/biomass cofiring test: A coal/power industry cooperative test of direct fossil-fuel CO2 mitigation

Under the sponsorship of the Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec), and with the support of EPRI, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Penelec and Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation conducted low percentage (3% by weight) wood cofiring tests at Units 2 and 3 of the Shawville Generating Station in November 1995. Unit 2 is a 138 MWe (gross) wall-fired pulverized coal boiler equipped with ball and race mills, table feeders, and low-NOx burners. Unit 3 is a 190 MWe (gross) tangentially-fired pulverized coal boiler equipped with bowl mills, paddle feeders, and low-NOx burners. There is no spare capacity in the pulverizing systems of either unit when operating under full load conditions. This project was unique in a number of respects, expanding the knowledge and cofire experience base achieved in other previous projects (ref. 1). First, the project tested the use of blended biofuels in boilers equipped with low NOx burners. Additionally, three types of biofuel were tested: (1) mill waste sawdust, (2) utility right-of-way trimmings, and (3) harvested hybrid poplar. Biofuels were processed off-site, blended at a nearby coal blending yard, and then trucked to the unmodified Shawville Station on a “just-in-time” schedule basis. The off-site fuel preparation and blending operations provided an adequate supply of blended biofuel and coal to allow the project to meet its overall test objectives, and also provided much useful new data and information needed to help establish commercial processing facilities. Plant operating technical objectives were to determine the impacts of using low percentage biofuel blends on boiler capacity, efficiency, stability, temperature, and air/solid waste emissions. Significant boiler capacity limitations were experienced on both units when cofiring 3 percent biomass blends. The 138 MWe boiler lost 8–10 MWe of capacity due to feeder limitations, and the 190 MWe boiler lost 15 MWe of capacity due to significant reductions in mill outlet temperatures. For both units, the 3 weight percent biofuel blends behaved like wet coal. Significant new information was developed with respect to both fuel processing and plant performance issues. This paper describes the project and the test results and explores the CO2 mitigation impacts of firing blends of coal and biomass that are prepared off-site.

Demonstration of Bechtel's Confined Zone Dispersion process at Pennsylvania Electric Company's Seward Station. Project status

Demonstration of Bechtel's Confined Zone Dispersion process at Pennsylvania Electric Company's Seward Station. Project status

96/00707 Low NOx burner and burner management system controls retrofit at Pennsylvania Electric Company's Shawville Station Units 3 and 4

96/00707 Low NOx burner and burner management system controls retrofit at Pennsylvania Electric Company's Shawville Station Units 3 and 4

Distribution Line Chemical Applications

Vegetation management on a power line right of way requires extensive planning and field investigation to be successful. Foresters have successfully developed and carried out a vegetation management program over the extensive power line system of the Pennsylvania Electric Company. A detailed specification manual has been of great value to the success of the program. The future of chemical vegetation management holds many problems and challenges.

Evaluation of the Wildlife Habitat Values of Rights-of-Way

Wildlife habitat on segments of a sprayed electric transmission right-of-way (ROW) was evaluated by a new technique that provided useful quantitative habitat values based upon field rating of essential needs of a selected species. Similar evaluation was made of the unmodified by a ROW. Use of the technique in central Pennsylvania with white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) gave an average value of 8.2 for segments of a sprayed ROW with a edge as compared with 5.5 for oak forests without a ROW. A realistic evaluation of the differences between the 2 habitat types appeared to be obtained. A food plot and a wildlife clearing were also evaluated and the practical use of the technique was tested using professional utility personnel. J. WILDL. MANAGE. 43(3):642-649 With the current increase in interest in wildlife management on transmission rights-of-way (ROW) and in the effect of a ROW on a habitat (Lancia and McConnell 1976), it has become evident that a simple but accurate technique for evaluating wildlife habitat conditions could be a useful management tool (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1976). Such a technique could produce documentation of the specific effects of management on food and cover as well as on general enhancement of a habitat area through ROW management. For the purposes of this technique, a wildlife habitat area will refer to 1 specific component of a wildlife home range. A wildlife range usually encompasses both the daily and annual crusing radii of a species and may include a number of different and widely separated habitats. Therefore, a ROW and its resultant edges, which are an integral part of the ROW, will be considered a specific habitat area that is only 1 component of the total dwelling place of a wildlife species. This is similar to use of environmental type by Leopold (1937). The adjacent forest refers to the without the presence of a ROW. Food and cover factors of the habitat have been used for evaluation as these are the ones usually manipulated in ROW management. However, it is recognized that a habitat is influenced by many factors: climatic, edaphic, physiographic, and other biotic factors that are not usually managed on ROW. The purpose of this paper is to describe a simple field technique that will be useful in evaluating wildlife habitat conditions on a transmission ROW and to report values obtained for a ROW and the forest. More specifically, it describes use of the technique in comparing habitat values of a ROW under several different types of vegetation management with values of the without a ROW. Examples also are given of evaluation of 2 other habitats, a game food plot and a clearing. This research was supported by the Pennsylvania Electric Company, Asplundh, and Amchem Products, Inc., and was performed in cooperation with The Pennsylvania State University. DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNIQUE The habitat evaluation technique involves use of a field form (Tables 1-3) to obtain quantitative data similar to that re642 J. Wildl. Manage. 43(3):1979 This content downloaded from 40.77.167.17 on Fri, 01 Apr 2016 05:40:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms HABITAT VALUES OF RIGHTS-OF-WAY Bramble and Byrnes 643 Table 1. Initial page of the field form for habitat evaluation; completed for a sprayed right-of-way (ROW). WILDLIFE HABITAT EVALUATION, GENERAL Wildlife species White-tailed deer Date 14 Jul 78

EHV Switch Tests and Switching Surges

Tests were conducted on the Pennsylvania Electric Company (Penelec) EHV (extra-high-voltage) experimental line using an I-T-E Circuit Breaker Company outdoor air break switch for switching an EHV line and transformer. Data have been accumulated concerning magnitude of switching surges when switching was done with a conventional disconnecting switch, with a gas blast (device, and with and without surge voltage suppressing resistors. The investigation was part of a comprehensive program intended to provide the best means of designing and applying EHV switches with proper insulation co-ordination.

Pennsylvania Electric Company's Capacitor Program [includes discussion

Pennsylvania Electric Company's Capacitor Program [includes discussion

Design and operation of central control rooms

THE CENTRAL control room of the Warren, Pa., station of the Pennsylvania Electric Company is a balanced combination of control and supervisory rooms, and is a result of that company's investigation into the field of centralized control. This particular installation is serving as a proving ground for various changes which will be incorporated in future plant design and will be used to illustrate the engineering policy being followed by the Pennsylvania Electric Company.

Design and Operation of Central Control Rooms

A description of the experiences leading to the adoption of the central control system in the Warren, pa. plant of the Pennsylvania Electric Company, the design features incorporated in this room; the operating experiences with this type of control to date; the basic changes which have been indicated by actual operation; and the costs involved in this type of control.

Design and Test on Electronic Exciter Supplied from Common Shaft-Driven Generator

Rectifier tubes have demonstrated their reliability over many years of service in industrial applications and to a limited extent on excitation systems. Thus in an effort to obtain more reliable and continuous excitation service, the decision was made to apply an electronic ignitron rectifier exciter to each of two new 37,500-kva 3,600-rpm turbogenerators in the Warren Plant of the Pennsylvania Electric Company. The power source to the exciter is a small 6-phase generator connected to the same shaft as the main generator, and is therefore free from system electrical disturbances. The first exciter was tested with a large synchronous machine in the shop which demonstrated that it was fundamentally sound in its operation. Additional tests were made after installation in the power plant and, after certain changes, both exciters have given excellent service. One has been in service for about six months, and the other for over a year. There is no other source of excitation for these two generators.