THERMIE Programme Research Articles

Experience on coal reburn in a utility boiler

Reburning is an in-furnace combustion modification technology for the reduction of NOx. By staging the introduction of the fuel, an environment is created where NOx generated by the combustion of the main fuel supply is subsequently consumed by the hydrocarbon radicals arising from the reburn fuel under reducing conditions. ENEL has retrofitted unit No. 4 of Vado Ligure power station with coalover-coal reburn technology, with the target of 65% reduction of NOx emissions (425 mg/Nm³ of NOx @ 6% O2, with American Ashland coal). This retrofit represents the first application of the technology to a utility boiler in Europe, and it has been undertaken by a consortium of European companies, research centres and universities, as listed in the following ENEL (Italy), Mitsui Babcock Energy (United Kingdom), Ansaldo (Italy), Electricity Supply Board (Ireland), PowerGen (United Kingdom), Instituto Superior Tecnico Lisbon (Portugal), Electricidade de Portugal, Howden & Sons (United Kingdom), Electricité de France and University of Stuttgart (Germany), with the support of the European Community through the Thermie Programme. Results from the experimental campaign show that it has been possible to achieve NOx emissions in the order of 350 mg/Nm³ (@6% O2), burning a variety of coals, with carbon in ash ranging from 5 to 8%. Calculations performed on the experimental data show that the impact on boiler operation is also minimised, with a negligible change on the boiler heat transfer pattern.

Power boiler fuel augmentation with a biomass fired atmospheric circulating fluid-bed gasifier

The successful experience in developing the advanced Foster Wheeler atmospheric circulating fluidized-bed (ACFB) combustion system subsequently led to the development of the ACFB gasification (ACFBG) Technology in the early 1980s. The driving force for the development work was the dramatic increase in oil price during this period. The primary advantage of the ACFBG technology is that it enables the substitution of expensive fuels (e.g. oil or gas) with cheaper solid fuels. Prior to this Lahti project, Foster Wheeler had supplied four waste wood fired commercial scale ACFBGs in the mid-1980s to the pulp and paper industry with capacities from 17 to 35 MW th based on fuel input. These units are still in successful operation today. Lahden Lämpövoima Oy (LLOy) is a Finnish power company producing power and district heat for the City of Lahti. The company is jointly owned by the city of Lahti and by Fortum Oy, the largest utility power company in Finland. LLOy operates the Kymijärvi Power Plant located nearby the city of Lahti in Southern Finland. To keep the energy prices as low as possible, Plant personnel are continuously looking for the most economical fuel sources, and simultaneously, trying to improve the environmental aspects of the energy production. Currently, about 300 GW h/a of different types of biofuels and refuse fuels are available in the Lahti area. On an annual basis, the available amount of biofuels and refuse fuels is enough to substitute for about 15% of the fuels burned in the main boiler, equaling up to 30% of the coal typically used. The aim of the LLOy Kymijärvi Power Plant gasification project is a commercial scale demonstration of direct gasification of wet biofuel and the use of hot, raw and very low calorific gas directly in the existing coal fired boiler. The gasification of biofuels and co-combustion of gases in the existing coal-fired boiler offers many advantages such as: recycling of CO 2, decreased SO 2 and NO x emissions, efficient way to utilize biofuels and recycled refuse fuels, low investment and operation costs, and utilization of the existing power plant capacity. Furthermore, only small modifications were required in the boiler and process upsets in the gasifier do not shut down the power plant. The first two years of operation (1998 and 1999) have been excellent with good availability for the gasifier and its related components. During 1998 several measurements and tests with different fuel combinations were performed. This paper presents the project in detail as well as the most important results of the first measurements. The EU Thermie program has supported this project.

99/00315 Dimethyl ether synthesis from syngas in slurry phase

This paper will discuss the progress achieved in the ARBRE project, a joint venture that includes Yorkshire Water Projects of the United Kingdom and Termiska Processer AB of Sweden. The project will be fuelled by a mix of wood from forestry residues and from short rotation coppices, some of which will be organically fertilised with digested sewage sludges. A Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (BIGCC) electricity generation plant will be constructed at Eggborough, North Yorkshire, which will provide gas to a gas turbine and steam turbine generation system, producing 10 MW and exporting 8 MW of electricity. It has been included in the 1993 tranche of the UKs Non Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) and has gained financial support from the European Commission’s THERMIE programme as a targeted BIGCC project. The following aspects will be described in the paper:•technical design;•award of planning permission, including environmental issues and benefits;•fuel supplies;•short rotation coppice establishment;•project timescales.

The Greve in Chianti project

The power station at Greve was designed to gasify RDF pellets, and to use the resulting LEG to raise steam to drive a turbine to generate electricity. The existing plant comprises two CFBGs which operate alternately to supply LEG to a single boiler. The steam turbine operates at about 30 to 40 per cent of its nominal rating of 6.7 MW c. Although the plant has, since 1993, operated with some success, unexpected fouling of the boiler has occurred. This has caused a significant reduction in the operational availability of the power station and the resultant loss of electricity production has had a negative effect on the economics of the plant. It is proposed to install a second line, incorporating a new boiler, between one of the two existing gasifiers and the steam turbine, which will incorporate a novel combination of technologies to clean the gas produced. Fouling should therefore be reduced, increasing the operational availability of the power plant and restoring its economic viability. The implementation of the new gas clean-up system, supported by the European Commission's THERMIE Programme, will demonstrate the economic and technical viability of the production of electricity via the gasification of RDF.

The THERMIE energy farm project

The THERMIE Energy Farm (TEF) project was successful in obtaining a grant from the THERMIE Programme in 1994 to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of biomass-gasification (using a combined-cycle power-unit) in the range of 8 to 12 MWe. The construction phase began in May, 1997, and it is expected that the power station will be commissioned in 2000. The financial viability of the project relies on the incentive provided by the Italian government, with a premium price per kilowatt hour of electricity produced from renewables and on the financial contribution from the European Union.

Anaerobic co-digestion of urban and rural wastes

So far the technology of anaerobic digestion has not been able to meet the predicted expectation to its potential. Many factors have been influencing this but a generally trend has been that the biogas plants constructed have had problems of both technical and financial art even they as a rule have been subsidised with close to 50%. Recently KRÜGER has succeeded in construction of a new generation of standardised biogas plants for co-fermentation of both rural and urban wastes. The intention has been to put the technology back to its original enthusiasm by demonstrating viable solutions in both technical and financial terms. Furthermore, in 1997 a concept of energy neutral wastewater treatment has been demonstrated by means of co-digestion of sewage sludge and MSW which project was supported by the THERMIE programme of the EU. This concept has had an important impact to the chosen technical solutions at wastewater treatment plants and has contributed to a renewed interest in anaerobic digestion related to sewage plants.

98/03870 Analysis of an annular finned pyrolyser

The THERMIE Energy Farm (TEF) project was successful in obtaining a grant from the THERMIE Programme in 1994 to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of biomass-gasification (using a combined-cycle power-unit) in the range of 8 to 12 MWe. The construction phase began in May, 1997, and it is expected that the power station will be commissioned in 2000.The financial viability of the project relies on the incentive provided by the Italian government, with a premium price per kilowatt hour of electricity produced from renewables and on the financial contribution from the European Union.

98/01357 Gasification technologies for heat and power from biomass: Beenackers, A. A. C. M. and Maniatis, K. Biomoss Energy Environ., Proc. Eur. Bioenergy Conf, 9th, 1996, 1, 228–259. Edited by Chartier, P., Elsevier, Oxford, UK

A critical review is presented of biomass gasifier systems presently commercially available or under development. Advantages and possible problem areas are discussed in relation to particular applications. Both large and small scale technologies are reviewed. Catalysed by the EC JOULE and AIR programmes, a rather spectacular increase in interest in small scale fixed bed gasification technology, particularly for combined heat and power generation, is noted. Also, co-gasification of biomass and coal attracts interest. Several initiatives are undertaken to raise power from co-combusting producer gas from biomass in conventional power stations. Also combusting producer gas for indirectly heating-up the automotive air for a gas turbine asks for attention. Both counter current fixed bed and fluidized bed gasification for heat applications appear to be commercially available. Gas turbine driven combined heat and power units based on (circulating) fluid bed technology are under development under the EC THERMIE programme at a scale of 10 Mwe. Rapid progress is made in improved gas cleaning technology, particularly also under the JOULE and ATR Programmes of the European Commission. An increasing number of pilot plant test facilities is available for testing the gasification of difficult fuels in various integrated systems.

The arbre project: Progress achieved

This paper will discuss the progress achieved in the ARBRE project, a joint venture that includes Yorkshire Water Projects of the United Kingdom and Termiska Processer AB of Sweden. The project will be fuelled by a mix of wood from forestry residues and from short rotation coppices, some of which will be organically fertilised with digested sewage sludges. A Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (BIGCC) electricity generation plant will be constructed at Eggborough, North Yorkshire, which will provide gas to a gas turbine and steam turbine generation system, producing 10 MW and exporting 8 MW of electricity. It has been included in the 1993 tranche of the UKs Non Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) and has gained financial support from the European Commission's THERMIE programme as a targeted BIGCC project. The following aspects will be described in the paper: technical design; award of planning permission, including environmental issues and benefits; fuel supplies; short rotation coppice establishment; project timescales.

The thermie energy farm project

Within the framework of the THERMIE Programme 1994 of the European Union (EU), a group of European organisations constituted by USF/Smogless S.p.A. (a subsidiary of US Filter), EDP-Electricidade de Portugal S.A., Energia Verde S.p.A., and Lurgi Energie und Umwelt GmbH is implementing the THERMIE Energy Farm (TEF) project aimed at the demonstration of the technical and economic feasibility of power-generation from biomass, using the Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle concept. At a site close to Pisa (Italy), a plant with a net power output of approximately 12 MW e will be erected; it will feature an atmospheric, air-blown, circulating fluidized-bed (CFB) gasifier, integrated with a 10.9 MW e, single-shaft, heavy-duty gas turbine, suited to burn the low-calorific value fuel gas produced by the gasifier, and a heat recovery steam generator which provides steam to a 5 MW e condensing steam-turbine. The design fuel consists of a mixture of wood chips from short rotation forestry and forest and agricultural residues, including olive stones and grape-seed flour. The financial viability of the project relies on the incentive provided by the Italian government with a premium price per kWh of electricity produced from renewables and on the financial contribution from the EU. The implementation phase was started in May 1997, when three main supply-contracts were signed. The commissioning phase is envisaged to commence during autumn 2000.

The Commission of the European Communities' (EC) demonstration and thermie programmes for photovoltaic (PV) applications

The PV Demonstration and THERMIE programmes of the European Commission have played a major role in encouraging the application of photovoltaic technology in Europe. The Demonstration programme began in 1979 and both it and the subsequent THERMIE programme have been managed ever since by DGXVII, the Directorate for Energy. More than 140 projects have been offered support, giving an installed capacity of over 5.7 MWp. The projects have been spread over a range of applications including rural electrification, telecommunication systems and grid-connected power generation. All have been monitored using comparable procedures at either a basic (global) or more complex (analytical) level depending on the system size. To facilitate the comparison of different systems, the data from all projects are analysed by the EC's Joint Research Centre (JRC) at Ispra in Italy. This article discusses the aim and scope of the programmes, and highlights some of the lessons learned in the area of rural electrification. The range of projects is described and broken down into sectors. The future of the programme is summarized and priorities are discussed.

ELCOGAS IGCC Plant in Puertollano, Spain

This paper will focus on the material issues of the gasifier following a brief description of the current status of the 335 MWe gross (ISO conditions) Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant being constructed in Puertollano, Spain. The project is supported by the European Commission through the THERMIE programme. A phased construction was adopted for the project with the combined cycle island operating on natural gas being connected to the Spanish grid in the Autumn of 1996. The combined cycle island is based on a Siemens V94.3 gas turbine. The gasification island and the air separation unit will be commissioned in 1997 and it is envisaged to connect the IGCC plant, operating on a mixture of coal and petroleum coke, to the Spanish grid in the Autumn of 1997. The gasification is based on the PRENFLO entrained-flow process with dry fuel dust feeding and is supplied by Krupp Koppers of Germany. The description will be followed by a general discussion of the material issues considered to be important within the design of the gasifier island and the proposed programme that will be implemented to follow the performance of the materials. The materials programme will take place over a period of up to five years providing long term ‘real-plant’ data that can be used in the evaluation of the technology and in the evaluation of the short-term results originating from laboratory trials and pilot plant studies.

Design and operation of a 50 kWp PV rural electrification project for remote sites in Spain

PV systems are already cost-effective for rural electrification of scattered houses and villages in sunny areas of the world. To increase the feasibility of a large scale application there are some aspects that need better understanding and improvement. Some are technological, but also organizational, social and institutional. The district of La Garrotxa (Catalonia, Spain), is a mountainous zone with scattered population, part of which is not connected to the electric grid. In order to provide this service, the local authorities promoted an electrification project of 65 sites with stand-alone PV systems, within the framework of the European THERMIE programme. A comprehensive approach has included the following aspects. Organizational: The contractor has been an association of users. After commissioning of the systems, operation, monitoring and maintenance of the plants are the responsibility of the association. Users pay a monthly fee and contribute to some maintenance tasks. Training has been provided to the users on high efficiency appliances and load management. Technological: A new PV power conditioning unit, specifically designed to simplify servicing, has been evaluated. Its main features are a modular inverter, with a sinusoidal wave, and power range of 1–4 kW, PV regulator with MPPT, a battery gauge (state of charge algorithm) and an integrated data logger for the operating parameters. The analysis of the experience gained through this project contributes to a better understanding of the interacting parameters in these applications.

The Puertollano IGCC Project, a 335 MW Demonstration Power Plant for the Main Electricity Companies in Europe

The paper describes the status of the 335 Mwe gross (ISO conditions) IGCC project of ELCOGAS in Puertollano/Spain based on the PRENFLO coal gasification process, at the beginning of its third year of engineering and construction. The project is funded within the Thermie programme of the Commission of the European Communities, being its first targeted project. The status of the IGCC project is presented. Coal gasification is based on the PRENFLO entrained-flow principle with dry fuel dust feeding. An almost complete raw gas desulphurization leads to very low SO2 contents in the flue gas. Sulphur from the coal will be available as elemental sulphur. By saturation of the desulphurized gas and the mixing with the nitrogen from the air separation unit the integrated power plant concept also achieves very low NOx contents in the flue gas. Commissioning tests for the combined cycle plant fed with natural gas will start during mid-1995. and will be followed by one year plant operation, before commissioning of the IGCC power plant.

95/04928 European directory of renewable energy suppliers and services 1994

The successful experience in developing the advanced Foster Wheeler atmospheric circulating fluidized-bed (ACFB) combustion system subsequently led to the development of the ACFB gasification (ACFBG) Technology in the early 1980s. The driving force for the development work was the dramatic increase in oil price during this period. The primary advantage of the ACFBG technology is that it enables the substitution of expensive fuels (e.g. oil or gas) with cheaper solid fuels. Prior to this Lahti project, Foster Wheeler had supplied four waste wood fired commercial scale ACFBGs in the mid-1980s to the pulp and paper industry with capacities from 17 to 35 MWth based on fuel input. These units are still in successful operation today. Lahden Lämpövoima Oy (LLOy) is a Finnish power company producing power and district heat for the City of Lahti. The company is jointly owned by the city of Lahti and by Fortum Oy, the largest utility power company in Finland. LLOy operates the Kymijärvi Power Plant located nearby the city of Lahti in Southern Finland. To keep the energy prices as low as possible, Plant personnel are continuously looking for the most economical fuel sources, and simultaneously, trying to improve the environmental aspects of the energy production. Currently, about 300 GW h/a of different types of biofuels and refuse fuels are available in the Lahti area. On an annual basis, the available amount of biofuels and refuse fuels is enough to substitute for about 15% of the fuels burned in the main boiler, equaling up to 30% of the coal typically used. The aim of the LLOy Kymijärvi Power Plant gasification project is a commercial scale demonstration of direct gasification of wet biofuel and the use of hot, raw and very low calorific gas directly in the existing coal fired boiler. The gasification of biofuels and co-combustion of gases in the existing coal-fired boiler offers many advantages such as: recycling of CO2, decreased SO2 and NOx emissions, efficient way to utilize biofuels and recycled refuse fuels, low investment and operation costs, and utilization of the existing power plant capacity. Furthermore, only small modifications were required in the boiler and process upsets in the gasifier do not shut down the power plant. The first two years of operation (1998 and 1999) have been excellent with good availability for the gasifier and its related components. During 1998 several measurements and tests with different fuel combinations were performed. This paper presents the project in detail as well as the most important results of the first measurements. The EU Thermie program has supported this project.

95/04922 Activities for combined thermal utilization of solid fuels and wastes in the framework of THERMIE program

95/04922 Activities for combined thermal utilization of solid fuels and wastes in the framework of THERMIE program

95/04937 Renewable energy on the information superhighway

The successful experience in developing the advanced Foster Wheeler atmospheric circulating fluidized-bed (ACFB) combustion system subsequently led to the development of the ACFB gasification (ACFBG) Technology in the early 1980s. The driving force for the development work was the dramatic increase in oil price during this period. The primary advantage of the ACFBG technology is that it enables the substitution of expensive fuels (e.g. oil or gas) with cheaper solid fuels. Prior to this Lahti project, Foster Wheeler had supplied four waste wood fired commercial scale ACFBGs in the mid-1980s to the pulp and paper industry with capacities from 17 to 35 MWth based on fuel input. These units are still in successful operation today. Lahden Lämpövoima Oy (LLOy) is a Finnish power company producing power and district heat for the City of Lahti. The company is jointly owned by the city of Lahti and by Fortum Oy, the largest utility power company in Finland. LLOy operates the Kymijärvi Power Plant located nearby the city of Lahti in Southern Finland. To keep the energy prices as low as possible, Plant personnel are continuously looking for the most economical fuel sources, and simultaneously, trying to improve the environmental aspects of the energy production. Currently, about 300 GW h/a of different types of biofuels and refuse fuels are available in the Lahti area. On an annual basis, the available amount of biofuels and refuse fuels is enough to substitute for about 15% of the fuels burned in the main boiler, equaling up to 30% of the coal typically used. The aim of the LLOy Kymijärvi Power Plant gasification project is a commercial scale demonstration of direct gasification of wet biofuel and the use of hot, raw and very low calorific gas directly in the existing coal fired boiler. The gasification of biofuels and co-combustion of gases in the existing coal-fired boiler offers many advantages such as: recycling of CO2, decreased SO2 and NOx emissions, efficient way to utilize biofuels and recycled refuse fuels, low investment and operation costs, and utilization of the existing power plant capacity. Furthermore, only small modifications were required in the boiler and process upsets in the gasifier do not shut down the power plant. The first two years of operation (1998 and 1999) have been excellent with good availability for the gasifier and its related components. During 1998 several measurements and tests with different fuel combinations were performed. This paper presents the project in detail as well as the most important results of the first measurements. The EU Thermie program has supported this project.

95/04932 Investigation of first stage liquefaction of coal with model plastic waste mixtures

The successful experience in developing the advanced Foster Wheeler atmospheric circulating fluidized-bed (ACFB) combustion system subsequently led to the development of the ACFB gasification (ACFBG) Technology in the early 1980s. The driving force for the development work was the dramatic increase in oil price during this period. The primary advantage of the ACFBG technology is that it enables the substitution of expensive fuels (e.g. oil or gas) with cheaper solid fuels. Prior to this Lahti project, Foster Wheeler had supplied four waste wood fired commercial scale ACFBGs in the mid-1980s to the pulp and paper industry with capacities from 17 to 35 MWth based on fuel input. These units are still in successful operation today. Lahden Lämpövoima Oy (LLOy) is a Finnish power company producing power and district heat for the City of Lahti. The company is jointly owned by the city of Lahti and by Fortum Oy, the largest utility power company in Finland. LLOy operates the Kymijärvi Power Plant located nearby the city of Lahti in Southern Finland. To keep the energy prices as low as possible, Plant personnel are continuously looking for the most economical fuel sources, and simultaneously, trying to improve the environmental aspects of the energy production. Currently, about 300 GW h/a of different types of biofuels and refuse fuels are available in the Lahti area. On an annual basis, the available amount of biofuels and refuse fuels is enough to substitute for about 15% of the fuels burned in the main boiler, equaling up to 30% of the coal typically used. The aim of the LLOy Kymijärvi Power Plant gasification project is a commercial scale demonstration of direct gasification of wet biofuel and the use of hot, raw and very low calorific gas directly in the existing coal fired boiler. The gasification of biofuels and co-combustion of gases in the existing coal-fired boiler offers many advantages such as: recycling of CO2, decreased SO2 and NOx emissions, efficient way to utilize biofuels and recycled refuse fuels, low investment and operation costs, and utilization of the existing power plant capacity. Furthermore, only small modifications were required in the boiler and process upsets in the gasifier do not shut down the power plant. The first two years of operation (1998 and 1999) have been excellent with good availability for the gasifier and its related components. During 1998 several measurements and tests with different fuel combinations were performed. This paper presents the project in detail as well as the most important results of the first measurements. The EU Thermie program has supported this project.

The performance of PV systems and components in the THERMIE programme

The Commission of the European Communities PV Demonstration and THERMIE programmes have been managed by DG XVII, the Directorate General for Energy, since 1979. Within the programmes 125 projects, with an installed capacity of over 4.2 MWp, have been undertaken, covering applications ranging from rural electrification, to professional telecommunications and monitoring systems, to grid connected power generation. All the projects are monitored either with analytical monitoring or the simpler global monitoring. The monitoring data is sent regularly to the CEC Joint Research Centre (JRC) at Ispra in Italy for analysis. A wealth of data is now available on the performance of the systems and components. This paper examines the overall performance of different types of PV systems in terms of their energy output and examines the energy losses that can be expected in the main system components: arrays, batteries and inverters.

Major achievements of the thermie programme in the field of renewable energies

The Community Energy Technology Support Programmes have been in operation since 1973 and the various regulations governing them require periodic evaluations to be carried out. This study presents the main results of the last evaluation that was performed as part of the THERMIE programme, concerning projects supported in the sector Renewable Energy Sources.