Engineers Custom Design D-Type Superheated Boiler for Power Plant

The City of Medicine Hat Power Plant in Alberta, Canada, desired to upgrade its power station to better service area residents. The main focus of the project was to devise a means to allow the plant to solely run on one combustion gas turbine/HRSG system at night. This scenario produced the need for a reliable back-up steam source should the single operating GT system trip unexpectedly, thereby causing an unwanted city-wide blackout.  

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Challenge:

The back-up boiler had to meet two main criteria. First, it had to be maintained in a hot standby mode so in the event of an unexpected turbine trip, the auxiliary boiler could be brought online in less than five minutes. Secondly, the boiler had to be able to meet future Alberta emissions regulations, projected to be 15 ppm NOx.  

Solution:

To achieve the first requirement of being hot-standby ready, Cleaver-Brooks engineers incorporated their proprietary Natcom burner, which includes a unique “Center Core” stabilizing gas injector that typically is used to improve flame stability and turndown.  For this application, the Center Core doubles as a second smaller burner during hot standby.  

To meet the projected 15 ppm NOx limit, the engineers developed an optimum configuration, taking into consideration the gas pressure drop, economizer exit gas temperature, and fan power consumption.  

Results:

Today, the boiler is maintained in a hot standby mode (approx. 5% MCR). In the event of a system trip of the main HRSGs, the auxiliary boiler stands ready for immediate back-up steam generation.

The custom D-Type superheated boiler exceeded contract guarantees with regard to: steam capacity and pressure, steam temperature from 50-100% MCR, boiler efficiency, noise level, steam purity as well as NOx and CO emissions requirements, among other parameters. 

Industrial Boiler

The boiler is maintained in hot standby mode. In the event of a system trip of the main HRSGs, the auxiliary boiler stands ready for immediate backup steam generation. It can achieve full load within five minutes.

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