Utility seeks to integrate heat recovery, flue-gas treatment

Journal Article · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1993 · Power; (United States)

OSTI ID:6358686

To avoid corrosion damage that can occur when water and acids condense in flue-gas systems, utility powerplants typically maintain flue-gas-outlet temperatures above 300 F, with 250 F as the minimum acceptable. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc. is defying this standard practice by extracting additional useful heat from the flue-gas streams of three 600,000-lb/hr, oil-fired boilers. The utility installed a condensing heat exchanger (CHE) at its 74th St station in February 1992 as the first phase of an R and D project designed to quantify the many benefits of this technology. Recall that stack exhaust heat is the second largest thermodynamic loss for a powerplant. Corrosion- and chemical-resistant CHEs have been widely used by non-utility industrial plants to improve efficiency by recovering additional sensible heat from the flue gas - plus the latent heat released when moisture condenses. The recovered energy is typically used to heat feedwater or condensate before the first-stage heater. Result: cycle efficiency is greatly improved, reducing fuel consumption and/or increasing the total steam available for power generation or district heating/cooling. Con Edison is taking the technology beyond heat recovery. The second phase of ConEd's research, now under way at the utility's oil-fired Ravenswood station, entails demonstrating CHEs as a new type of wet scrubber for efficient removal of volatile and semi-volatile trace elements, sub-micron-size particulate matter, SO[sub 2], SO[sub 3] and hydrogen chloride (HCl). If successful, this could be the first stand-alone system capable of simultaneously reducing heat rate and accomplishing flue-gas cleanup goals.

• OSTI ID: 6358686
• Journal Information: Power; (United States), Journal Name: Power; (United States) Vol. 137:5; ISSN POWEAD; ISSN 0032-5929
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200105* -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Heat Utilization
200202 -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Waste Management-- Noxious Gas & Particulate Emissions
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
CHALCOGENIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
CONTROL
ENTHALPY
EQUIPMENT
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HEAT EXTRACTION
HEAT RATE
HEAT RECOVERY EQUIPMENT
HYDROCHLORIC ACID
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POLLUTION CONTROL
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
POWER PLANTS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR OXIDES
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION HEAT
VAPORIZATION HEAT