Impacts of cleaning Texas lignite on boiler performance and economics: Final report

Technical Report · Tue Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:5751634

Durant, J F; Kwasnik, A F; Lexa, G F

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is sponsoring a comprehensive test program to assess the merits of coal cleaning for improving power plant performance. As part of this program Combustion Engineering (C-E) conducted a detailed evaluation of the impacts of cleaning on the fireside performance characteristics of the Wilcox lignite burned at TU Electric's Big Brown Steam Electric plant. This evaluation was co-sponsored by Texas Utilities and EPRI. Both run-of-mine and cleaned lignite were characterized during a series of bench-scale analyses and pilot-scale combustion tests. Testing addressed the areas of pulverization, combustion, ash slagging, ash fouling, fly ash erosion, and emissions. Test results were applied using C-E design and performance models to predict operational impacts for a utility boiler switching to the cleaned lignite. Results of this evaluation show that coal cleaning had a beneficial effect on nearly all areas of fuel performance. Both mill wear potential and grinding energy requirements were reduced for the cleaned lignite. Contrary to predictions based on commonly used bench-scale indicators, pilot-scale combustion results showed improved ash slagging and fouling behavior. Fly ash erosion potential decreased significantly due to cleaning. The performance benefits of the cleaned lignite can be translated into operating savings from maintenance costs reductions due primarily to longer component lives, and from improved plant heat rate due mainly to lower pulverizer power consumption and reduced soot blower medium consumption. 33 refs., 47 figs., 39 tabs.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA); Combustion Engineering, Inc., Windsor, CT (USA). Kreisinger Development Lab.
• OSTI ID: 5751634
• Report Number(s): EPRI-GS-6517
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010300 -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Preparation-- (1987-)
014000* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Combustion
ABRASION
AEROSOL WASTES
ASHES
BOILERS
BROWN COAL
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CLEANING
COAL
COMBUSTION
COST
DIAGRAMS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ECONOMICS
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY SOURCES
EROSION
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLUE GAS
FLY ASH
FOSSIL FUELS
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
FOULING
FUELS
GASEOUS WASTES
LIGNITE
MATERIALS
NORTH AMERICA
OXIDATION
PARTICLE SIZE
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PHASE DIAGRAMS
POWER PLANTS
PROGRESS REPORT
PULVERIZED FUELS
RESIDUES
SIZE
TESTING
TEXAS
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
WASTES