Fuel Management

The Power Generation companies World over operate in a complex environment of fluctuating
fuel prices and revenues determined through variable tariff determination methods.
Among the various types of power plants in operation in the world viz. hydro, thermal, nuclear,
renewable and geothermal – the thermal power plants constitute the largest category.
Furthermore, coal as a fuel source is responsible for nearly 42% of world’s electricity generation
[1]. The fuel cost is the single largest component of the cost of electricity produced in thermal
power plants. In countries like India the fuel cost in such plants is more than 65% of total annual
expenditure (for NTPC, the figure stands at 77% [2]) of the plants.
Fuel procurement, logistics and eventual delivery are prone to numerous uncertainties, forcing
companies to pile up fuel inventory - typically around ten days of operational requirement. The
capital locked up in carrying such huge inventory is substantial, around USD 1 million for a 2X
500 MW plant. This is because the loss on account of plant outage due to non-availability of fuel
can be as much as USD 10 million for the same 10 day period [3].
Since the set of activities that comprise fuel management in these companies viz. planning,
contracting, procurement, logistics, delivery and fuel accounting are managed in a disparate
manner with multiple teams and associated systems, inefficiencies creep in. The need is to
integrate the entire set of these activities from planning to accounting, with appropriate
automation to ensure maintenance of the right size of fuel inventory and uninterrupted power
generation. This means that the information systems and models that manage these disparate
functions need to be integrated. Such integration should provide companies the complete
information necessary for inventory right sizing and uninterrupted plant operation resulting
ultimately in improved profitability. The paper intends to explain the issues in managing the
portfolio of activities constituting fuel management and an overview of the systems used to
manage these activities. The paper then proceeds to suggesting an approach to integrating the
activities and how useful improvements can be brought into the fuel management process
through integration of managing systems.
Business Challenge
Power generation companies, including those that operate thermal power plants, are typically not
vertically integrated. They source their requirements for fuels such as coal/oil/gas from fuel
companies and sign transportation and liaison agreements to ensure delivery of fuel to the power
plants. The nature of the fuel sourcing business demands scouting for the right contracts by
planning well in advance. This requires accurate demand forecasting abilities by the power
plants. Inaccurate forecasting might result either in plant outage on account of lack of fuel or
capital locked up on account of higher fuel inventories.
Although, the power plants are typically located closer to the mines/gas terminals, which need
not always be the case. Most plants rely on transportation services to deliver fuel from their
sources to the power plants. The transportation mode can be rail/ road/ ferry or pipelines in case
of gaseous/liquid fuel. The infrastructure needed for overhaul of fuel from source to plants is vast
(in terms of coaches/vessels/ carriages). Hence transportation contracts too are long term. Also,
ensuring that the fuel is of the right quality requires the help of liaison and sampling agents
interacting with the fuel and transportation contractors on the power company’s behalf.
Finally on the receipt of fuel at the plant, the power plant verifies the consignment against the
stipulations of the fuel and transportation contracts.
Inventory management of fuel at the power stations involves accounting the fuel received,
consumed and blended (at some plants only) of various categories. Precise accounting is crucial
for optimal fuel burning and delivering the correct amount of power as demanded by the
consumer.
In many plants around the World, the current state of automation and systems is such that the
power plants have difficulty in forecasting accurate fuel requirements and placing contracts for
optimum quantity of fuel well in advance. They find themselves lacking in systems that enable
tracking fuel in transit and right-sizing fuel inventory at plants. A high level view of the
requirements, orders, consignments in transit and inventory management indicators are rarely
available in near-real time.
Disparate Systems for Fuel Management with Missing Functionalities (like Logistics Tracking)

 Demand Forecasting
 Contracts Management
 Inventory Management
 Ash Handling

The challenge therefore is to effectively manage the single highest contributor to the production
cost, i.e. fuel, by gaining useful insight of the various processes in fuel management. Companies
that are able to do this can reduce wasteful expenses and production losses and boost
profitability.
The Way Forward
The high level view of the integrated fuel management solution consists of a package of
modules.

 Demand Forecasting – drawing inputs from all power plants based on

1. Past Consumption.
2. Major Efficiency changes effected in the plants.
3. Meteorological Data of the plant site.
4. Expected Shutdown duration.
5. Demand side imbalance.

 Contract Management

1. Listing major fuel suppliers along with their capacity and pricing details.
2. Distributing requirements through orders among suppliers identified for the supply
period.
 Logistics and Supporting Processes

1. Identifying transporters in the modes of feasible transport and long-term contracts

based on SLA.
2. Contracting supporting agents for liaison and sampling activities.

 Fuel Handling and Inventory Management

 1. Coal yard Activities – Stacking, refueling and blending Waste Handling (for Coal
powered plants).
 2. Ash Sale and Disposal.


 Traditional IT, including storage systems, aren’t poised to fulfil customer's future needs
and demands. The unprecedented growth of data (almost doubling every year) has added
to new challenges. The unmet needs of businesses along with increasing operating costs,
have led to innovation, new architectures and new products culminating into adoption
and growth of Software Defined Storage. While some of the business goals are met with
 SDS - lower TCO along with agility and flexibility is achieved - new challenges and
issues have surfaced. Both, the large established vendors and umpteen number of start-
ups, offering software defined storage in a wide variety, lead to multiple new challenges
around interoperability, storage management, reporting, fragmentation leading to higher
TCO, etc.
 Software Defined Storage is a new paradigm and requires efforts on integration,
manageability and validation of what works and what doesn't in customer data centers.
This also requires a new set of tools, technologies and skill sets. This provides an unique
opportunity to System Integrators (SI) who are well placed to bring all the benefits of
Software Defined Storage, overcoming the challenges, using their home grown adoption
methods, tools and technology expertise.

The information available will be in near real time particularly on the transit status of fuel
consignments to the management. The status of fuel contracts on account of utilization, due for
renewal and the SLA adherence in all contracts will be readily viewable. The status of fuel
inventory available in each of the plant sites will be available in near real time including details
of fuel stock in yards and the latest update on quantity of fuel consumed.
For coal-powered plants, a direct view on the quantity of fuel burnt to quantity of ash generated,
and how much of the ash has been commercially utilized will be available.
The information of each of the modules will serve as inputs to the other modules, thus enabling
an integrated view of the entire fuel management process in the company. Relevant KPI of each
of the sub-process shall be defined to measure the performance of the company in each
functional area.
Benefits:
In the absence of an integrated system for the end-to-end fuel management process, the systems
landscape consists of independent systems for demand forecasting, whose result may not be
available to contracting systems used for fuel procurement. Procurement systems may not
contain all the supplier options available for various fuels and timelines. Consignment system
monitoring is rarely integrated to other systems of monitoring. Similarly, fuel handling and
inventory management systems do not have key data mapped to MIS used by senior executives.
In case of Thermal Plants, Ash Utilization can be completely independent of other systems,
preventing any benchmarking and monitoring activities by the management on the ash generated
and utilized beneficially.
An integrated system for fuel management would enable

 Accurate and reliable data from one stage of the process to be used as input in the other
stages. Such integration helps define views and KPI that draw on data from each of the
individual processes for tracking by the management.
 The situation on ground, in the absence of such systems, results in companies having
poor visibility into the actual stock of fuel lying in the stock yards, thus leading to
improper fuel planning and procurement.
 Timely action in contracts management is also facilitated as the status of utilization of
these contracts becomes well known.
  Prescriptive steps due to logistic issues can also be addressed efficiently at the planning
level itself with availability of such information to all the keys stakeholders.
 Regulatory and compliance reporting can be automated for all such reports related to fuel
processes since all the information needed are integrated in one system.

Conclusion:
An integrated fuel management system is a need that is strongly felt by many thermal p ower
companies around the world. There is a challenge in the integration of disparate real-time and
transactional systems, and plant automation systems. However, a system that can successfully
integrate the processes and provide a consolidated view of the complete process will provide
great business value to the power generation companies.
Appendix 1: Technical Details
The schematic of the high level technical solution is shown below:
The individual modules of the package draw information from other independent systems to
provide an integrated system for Fuel Management [4].
 Thermal Power Plant Fuel Intelligent Control Solution
Intelligent control of fuel is a very important construction module in the
construction of intelligent power plant. The online detection of coal quality is
the top priority in achieving intelligent control of fuels.
The whole process of fuel management is the key link of intelligent fuel
management. Through the integrated use of intelligent equipment, modern
information technology and scientific and technological means, the fuel
management of all aspects of equipment linked together to achieve the entire
process of automation and information; It realizes seamless connection,
unattended operation of management links, automatic generation of
management data, real-time network transmission, real-time monitoring of the
whole work process, and improvement of fuel management efficiency. The
functional requirements of smart power plants should include features such as
digitization, information, visualization, and intelligence. Smart power plants
widely use modern information processing and communication technologies,
intelligent measurement and control technologies to maximize the safety,
economy, efficiency, and environmental protection of power plants. Smart
power plants are the goal of further development of digital power plants
combined with intelligent systems.

Online Coal Quality Detection Technology and

Application
DFMC is the only company in China that controls both neutron activation prompt gamma
analysis (PGNAA) and prompt and fast thermal neutron activation pulse analysis (PFTNA).
The neutron-activated online coal quality analyzer developed using this technology can
perform online detection and analysis of all coal, all elements, and full indicators of all
materials flowing through the belt. Each minute provides information on the composition of
sulfur, ash, moisture, and calorific value. The instrument is of great significance for the
management of incoming coal and the blending management of coal and mixed coal and
the control of production process in thermal power plants.
On-line analyzer typical field application- Coal
Blending Analysis.
1. Real-time online detection of key indicators of coal quality such as ash,
moisture, calorific value and sulfur etc.
2. Reduce coal quality fluctuation
3. Make the components of the mixed coal close to the design target value.
4. Coal feeding: provide direct guidance for the coal blending process,
optimize coal blending, maximize blending of inferior coal, and reduce coal
costs.
5. Optimize combustion: Stabilized coal quality, improve safety and
economical operation of equipment.
6. By monitoring various elements such as K and Na and various industrial
indicators in coal, early warning can be provided to reduce the probability of
accidents such as non-stop and flameout coking.
7. Control sulfur content to satisfy environmental protection process
requirements.

On-line analyzer typical field application---Coal as

Received Analysis
1. Real-time online detection of key indicators of coal quality such as ash,
moisture, calorific value and sulfur etc.
2. Detect the coal quality timely. Different quality of coal sent to different coal
piles according to detection results.
3. The measurement process does not require sampling, sample preparation
and testing, which can save time and labor.
4. Provide timely and accurate data for coal yard management, which is
facilitated for scientific management
5. The follow-up stable coal blending can be guided.
 Related products
Learn more >>

 Elemental Analyzer (EA-coal)

 Elemental Analyzer (EA-coal)

 Ash Analyzer (AA-D)

 Ash Moisture Analyzer (AMA-D)
Coal-Fired Thermal Power Plant

Gasification, DICE, and direct carbon fuel cells for power, fuels, and chemicals
production from low rank coals
Daniel G. Roberts, ... Sankar Bhattacharya, in Low-Rank Coals for Power Generation, Fuel and
Chemical Production, 2017
9.4.3 Technology challenges and R&D needs
The CFCs offer many advantages over conventional coal-fired thermal power plants which
include high efficiency, less CO2 and pollutant emissions, and easy capture of CO2 in
concentrated stream and no water management requirements. Although indirect CFCs, where
coals are externally cleaned and reformed to produce CO or syngas, have reached a high level of
technology maturity partly due to the large effort that has gone into the development of molten
carbonate and SOFC, the DCFCs are still at an early stage of development [15,16,22] with a
number of unresolved technical challenges. There are many different types of CFCs, each with
its own set of technical challenges. Most of the early R&D effort on molten hydroxide and
molten carbonate electrolyte based DCFCs has decreased substantially due to low power
densities and corrosion/degradation issues [15,16,22]. The major global R&D effort since about
2000 is on CFCs which employ a solid oxide electrolyte. However, one of the key challenge is
the continuous supply of solid fuel to the anode/electrolyte interface through the pore structure of
the anode.
A number of strategies proposed include the use of a molten carbonate or a molten metal mixed
with fine carbon particles to deliver solid fuel to the electrochemically active reaction sites or use
of a mixed ion/electron conducting anode to shift carbon electrochemical oxidation reaction from
anode/electrolyte interface to anode/fuel interface [15–19,23]. However, these systems suffer
from overall system complications and serious corrosion of fuel cell components (reaction of
molten carbonates with solid oxide electrolyte) or decomposition of mixed ionic/electron
conducting materials in reducing environments in fuel compartment. Thus robust materials and
strategies are required to overcome corrosion and degradation issues. Further, optimum
continuous fuel feed mechanisms need to be developed for continuous generation of power.
Operation of the fuel cell in a batch type fuel delivery mode is more like a battery. Coal
preparation to remove volatiles and ash (present in widely varying compositions and physical
properties depending on its location) before coal can be fed in a solid or molten delivery system
is another challenge along with understanding of carbon conversion and utilization [16,22]. None
of the DCFCs have been up-scaled to practical levels (kW or above) and life times of only few
hundred hours have been demonstrated, significantly further away from real life times of multi
10,000 hours required for practical devices. At the current level of investment, which is very low
and mostly at academic level, compared to other fuel cell types or advanced coal-fired power
plants, it will take a long time before DCFCs are likely to be commercialized.
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Applications and Capabilities

David Mills, in Pneumatic Conveying Design Guide (Third Edition), 2016
Approximate capabilities
A common requirement with fly ash conveying systems at coal-fired thermal power plants is that
the fly ash should be conveyed to an off-site location for onward disposal. It is not unusual for
this to be a distance of at least 1 km. The problem with increasing conveying distance is that for
a given air supply pressure, the conveying-line pressure gradient decreases, and so there has to
be a reduction in solids loading ratio to compensate. This point is illustrated with Fig. 4.6, which
has been drawn specifically for long-distance conveying. The data relate to single-
bore pipelines and so the performance of a stepped bore pipeline would be significantly better.

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Fig. 4.6. Influence of pressure and distance on maximum solids loading ratio for high-pressure conveying systems
It will be seen from this that over a distance of only 1 km, even with a high air supply pressure,
the capability for low-velocity dense phase conveying is remote, for the values of solids loading
ratio that are possible are not appropriate for low-velocity conveying. The situation can be
recovered to a certain extent with an increase in air supply pressure and a well-designed stepped
pipeline.
The situation with regard to short-distance conveying, which is appropriate for the conveying of
the fly ash from the very large number of ash collection hoppers to intermediate storage, is
illustrated in Fig. 4.7. Low values of air supply pressure have been considered here as the
distances are generally short, but vacuum conveying has also been included as this is clearly
appropriate for this conveying duty. It will also be seen that with the relatively high values of
solids loading ratio low-velocity dense phase conveying is a distinct possibility, even with
vacuum-conveying systems, as considered earlier with the ship off-loading of cement.

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Fig. 4.7. Influence of pressure and distance on maximum solids loading ratio for low-pressure systems
It should be pointed out that both Figs. 4.6 and 4.7 relate to single-bore pipeline performance.
For a well-designed stepped pipeline, a doubling in material flow rate for a given air supply
pressure and initial pipeline bore can be expected compared with a corresponding single-bore
pipeline, as mentioned earlier. Values of solids loading ratios, therefore, could be expected to be
about double those shown earlier.
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Coal bottom ash

Malkit Singh, in Waste and Supplementary Cementitious Materials in Concrete, 2018
1.0 Introduction
Coal is the dominating fuel source used in thermal power plants for generation of electricity. At
the coal-fired thermal power plants, the raw coal is first pulverized to the shape of flour before it
is force-fed to the furnace. During the pulverization process, the clay particles entrapped in the
cracks of coal get separated from the coal. Then on combustion of coal in furnace, these clay
particles and other noncombustible matter result in production of coal ash. The quantity of coal
ash produced at coal-fired thermal power plants varies from 5% to 45% depending on the type
and source of coal used as fuel in the furnace. The coal ash produced at coal-fired thermal power
plants is classified into two types, i.e., fly ash (FA) and bottom ash. During burning of pulverized
coal in the furnace, the finer and lighter particles of ash are carried away by the swirling flue
gases. These ash particles are extracted from the flue gases in the electrostatic precipitators
before entering into the air. The ash collected from the electrostatic precipitators is called FA. It
constitutes about 80% of total coal ash. The coarser and heavier particles of ash settle down at
the base of furnace. Also some ash particles accumulate on furnace walls and steam pipes. The
clinkers so formed build up and when become too heavy, fall to the base of furnace. These
clinkers are grounded to the form of fine aggregate before they are sluiced to the disposal site.
The ash collected at the base of furnace is termed as coal bottom ash (CBA) and forms nearly
20% of total coal ash. CBA is generally composed of coarser and popcorn-like particles.
FA has been extensively used in production of Pozzolanic Portland cement and in manufacturing
of mortar or concrete as cement replacement. It is an established fact that the use of FA as
supplementary cementing material in production of concrete improves its strength and durability
properties. Whereas, CBA contains coarser and more fused particles compared to FA, as such it
shows less pozzolanic activity. Generally CBA is considered as an inert material and unsuitable
for use as supplementary cementing material. Since particle size distribution of CBA is similar to
that of sand, it attracts to be used as replacement of sand in several civil engineering applications.
CBA can be used in embankments construction, as structural fills, unbound or stabilized granular
bases and subbases, as a foundation material, in noise barriers, as a capping layer on landfill
sites, and as aggregate in asphalt and concrete.
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Air Pollution
Nicholas P. Cheremisinoff, in Clean Electricity Through Advanced Coal Technologies, 2012
1.1 Overview
Nearly 50% of the electricity generated in the world uses coal as the primary fuel. The function
of the coal-fired thermal power plant is to convert the energy available in the coal to electricity.
Coal power plants work by using several steps to convert stored energy in coal to usable
electricity. The conversion from coal to electricity takes place in three stages.
Stage 1 involves the conversion of energy in a boiler. Coal is burned in the boiler furnace
to produce heat. Carbon in the coal and oxygen in the air combine to produce carbon
dioxide and heat.
Stage 2 is a thermodynamic process. The heat from combustion of the coal boils water in
the boiler to produce steam. In a modern power plant, boilers produce steam at high
pressures and temperatures. The steam is then piped to a turbine. The high-pressure steam
impinges and expands across a number of sets of blades in the turbine. The impulse and
the thrust created rotate the turbine. The steam is then condensed and pumped back into
the boiler to repeat the cycle.
In Stage 3 rotation of the turbine rotates the generator rotor to produce electricity based
on Faraday’s Principle of electromagnetic induction.
In practice, to effect these three stages of conversion, many systems and subsystems have to be
in service. Also involved are different technologies, such as combustion, aerodynamics, heat
transfer, thermodynamics, pollution control, and logistics. As an example, consider the
following: for a coal-fired power plant of capacity 500 MW, about 2 million tons of coal are
needed each year to produce the continuous power. Also, coal combustion in the boiler requires
roughly 1.6 million cubic meters (m3) of air in an hour to be delivered by fans into the furnace.
For this same size plant, the ash generated from the combustion of coal is around 200,000 tons
per year. Electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) capture most of this ash without dispersing it to the
atmosphere. Pollutants from coal power plants include carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxide, and particulate matter (PM). Thermal power plants are the largest producers of carbon
dioxide.
The boiler for typical 500 megawatt (MW) units produces around 1,600 tons per hour of steam at
a temperature of 540–600°C. The steam pressure is in the range of 200 bar. The boiler materials
are designed to withstand these conditions with special consideration for operational safety. Heat
transfer from the hot combustion gases to the water in the boiler takes place due to radiation and
convection. The electrical generators carry large electric currents that produce heat and are
cooled by hydrogen and water. The steam leaving the turbine is condensed, and the water is
pumped back for reuse in the boiler. To condense all the steam requires around 50,000 cubic
meters per hour of cooling water to be circulated from lakes, rivers, or the sea. The water is
returned to the source with only an increase of 3–4°C to minimize negative impacts to the
environment. In addition to the cooling water, the power plant also requires around 400 cubic
meters per day of fresh water for making up the losses in the water–steam cycle.
Electricity has often been characterized as the foundation of advanced countries and societies. It
unquestionably is the basis by which societies maintain human life and sustain and grow
economies. But the dependence on coal-fired technologies is a dirty business that has global
implications on long-term sustainability. In the United States alone, there are more than 440
power plants larger than 25 MWs located in 46 states and Puerto Rico that burn coal to generate
electricity. The National Emissions Inventory shows that 84 of the 187 hazardous air
pollutants (HAPs) identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pose a threat
to human health and the environment. These plants release about 386,000 tons of hazardous air
pollutants annually, accounting for roughly 40% of all hazardous air pollutant emissions from
point sources. In fact, coal-burning power plants release more hazardous air pollutants than any
other point source category. These plants are the largest point source category of hydrochloric
acid, mercury, and arsenic releases to air.1 Additionally, coal-fired plants are major sources of
emissions for criteria air pollutants (CAPs) such as sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, and
particulate matter.
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Hydro Power
T. Hino, in Comprehensive Renewable Energy, 2012
6.10.4.1.3(i)(b) Storage of electricity
Because electricity demand changes daily, weekly, and seasonally, it is convenient to utilize the
cheaply available electricity generated by nuclear and coal-fired thermal power plants (whose
variable costs are low) during the low-demand hours such as midnights and weekends to operate
pumped-storage power plants, so that low-cost electricity can be stored in the form of water in
upper adjustment reservoirs, and it can be used as a generator during peak load hours of
weekdays to reduce the overall electricity supply cost, saving the use of power sources that are
higher cost in terms of fuel costs (such as oil-fired thermal power plants).
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Introduction to steam turbines for power plants

T. Tanuma, in Advances in Steam Turbines for Modern Power Plants, 2017
1.3.1.1 Increase steam temperature and pressure
The main fuel of thermal power plants is coal. About 40% of total global power generation in
2013 was coal fired. Coal-fired thermal power plants can be broadly grouped into four
categories, mainly related to the inlet steam conditions and the level of associated
CO2 emissions: subcritical, supercritical/USC, advanced USC, and carbon capture and
storage (CCS) fitted. USC technologies of the 600°C-class have already been applied in many
power stations, including newly constructed power stations in China that currently account for
45% of global installed coal-fired capacity. However, advanced USC and CCS-fitted
technologies are currently still under development. Even at a state-of-the-art USC coal-fired
thermal power station, CO2 intensity (kg CO2/kWh) of power generation is around 0.8 (planned
value in Japan) while the average value of power generation is around 0.52 [3]. Therefore,
acceleration of development and applications of advanced USC (700–750°C-class inlet steam
conditions) and CCS-fitted technologies should be promoted.
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Gas Turbine Fuel Systems and Fuels

Claire Soares, in Gas Turbines (Second Edition), 2015
(3) Environmental Characteristics
By effectively transducing the low calorific blast furnace gas to electric power, this power plant
contributes greatly to environmental preservation as follows. Firstly, this is a combined cycle
power plant that effectively utilizes the blast furnace gas instead of the coal fired thermal power
plants popular in China. It is estimated that the plant emits approximately 1,900,000 tons less
CO2 a year (assumed operation of 7000 hours per year) than that emitted by burning coal in
a coal-fired thermal power plant of the same output. Secondly, although the environmental
characteristics depend significantly on the composition of the blast furnace gas, as it
contains nitride and sulfur compounds, its combustion produces less thermal NOx than burning
natural gas because of its low calorific value. Thus, this plant indicates the significantly low
NOx value of 15 ppm (15% O2 base, without a de-NOx system).
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A-USC R&D programs in other countries

A. Di Gianfrancesco, in Materials for Ultra-Supercritical and Advanced Ultra-Supercritical
Power Plants, 2017
23.3.2 South Korea
South Korea is forced to import 97% of its primary energy demand due to minimal natural
energy reserves and a slow-starting renewable energy industry [21].
South Korea is planning to increase the rate of nuclear power and renewable energy as a main
policy to decrease CO2, but it is supposed to construct 15 coal-fired thermal power plants.
Although the generation rate of coal-fired thermal power will lower in the future, the generation
amount itself is estimated to increase, so it is clear that coal is the main fuel for generation.
Especially, the ultra-supercritical pressure technology is necessary in the future to increase
consumption of low calorific value coals and keep a low power generation cost. It is also
symbolized by pressing ahead with the research and development of the high-efficiency coal-
fired thermal power generation technology as the government project. Therefore, it can be
thought that Korea has no politic barriers in spreading the technology [22].
In relation to installed capacity, coal plants consist of about 24.5 GW, or about 30% of total
capacity. In the new electricity plan released in 2013, South Korea laid out plans to raise coal
capacity to 44.9 GW by 2027, and by the end of 2017, the government plans to install 15 more
coal-fired facilities with 12.5 GW of capacity [20]. Fig. 23.10 shows the trend in Korean coal
capacity versus efficiency and CO2 emissions.
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Figure 23.10. Korean trend of CF power plants.

Ryu, Doosan, USC 2007 Symposium, K.-T. Hong, R&D Status & Future Direction of Heat Resistant Materials for
Efficient Power Plants, NIST, USA, 23 June 2009.

As part of the planning, Hitachi realized for Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. (KOWEPO)
2 × 1050 MW-class ultra-supercritical∗ (USC) coal-fired plants (593°C/24.1 MPa) at the Taean
Thermal Power Plant (Fig. 23.11): the No. 9 unit is scheduled to begin commercial operations in
June 2016, followed by the No. 10 unit in December 2016.

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Figure 23.11. Installation plan at the Taean thermal power plant [23].
Fig. 23.12 shows the regional changes of installed capacity of power plants of South Korea for
coal power plants for the period 2010–27. The left side of each figure shows regional distribution
of current power plants in 2010, while the right side shows the projection of power plants by the
sixth BPE in 2027 (unit: MW).

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Figure 23.12. The regional changes of installed capacity of coal power plants of South Korea [24].
Regarding the A-USC, Doosan Group is involved with its subsidiary in the European Union in
some R&D program, and therefore it is expected that a national program will be also launched in
the next future.
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Case Study
P. Casero, ... N. Hervás, in Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Technologies, 2017
20.4.1 Learning during commissioning phase and learning curve
ELCOGAS’ operating experience can be synthesized in the following groups:
1.

Inflexibility of the operation due to a design including total integration

Although its advantage in relation to plant efficiency has been demonstrated, the total
integration between the ASU and the combined cycle implies not only a greater level of
complexity, but especially a long and costly startup sequence. As mentioned earlier, the
duration of the plant startup procedure (see Section 20.3.4) can take 12–72 h. This
fact means that in practice the plant is more suitable for base load, maintaining a high
minimum technical load at 60%. The regulation of the load between 60% and 100% is
indeed viable, offering a competitive response to reaction times (3% load variation per
minute). For new designs, the use of an independent air compressor is strongly
recommended to minimize time, fuel (natural gas), and nitrogen consumption during the
starting up of the plant.
2.

Causes of availability limitations

Availability has not been affected substantially by problems intrinsic to
the gasification process itself. Rather it is due to the low level of reliability of
conventional units of wide application in any coal-fired thermal power plant, such as the
fuel mixing plant, milling trains, slag and fly-ash handling systems, and the very low
quality of the detailed engineering of the main suppliers, which can be attributed to the
lack of a reference plant. Some auxiliary systems have also been sources of problems due
to poor design affected by the scaling, or due to working conditions different from those
expected.
The GT has proven to have good performance on syngas once the problems during the
initial operation (mainly overheating, inducted corrosion of ceramic tiles, and thermal
shock, which forced a high number of inspections) were solved. During that time, the
design of the combustors was modified several times to avoid humming and overheating.
Since 2003, the combustion turbine has been inspected every 4000 equivalent operating
hours.
3.

Improvements to the initial design

The plant performance was markedly improved throughout 2002, once the various
problems were identified and in many cases resolved satisfactorily. The main activities
were related to getting a reliable feed control to the gasifier, slag removal, GT
combustion, and control system design capable of operating without excessive vibration
and overheating. Regarding this last matter, it is remarkable that the addition of a new
control concept with pressure control on the GT compressor over the full combustion
turbine load range resulted in much reduced maintenance and replacements of
combustion chambers’ tile and burner overheating.
Another highly remarkable lesson learned during this period was the plant’s capital cost of
construction. This information is provided in Fig. 20.7, which shows the evolution of the capital
cost every year since 1993 through 1997, classified by plant systems. The total plant cost reached
601.3 Million €1997. Taking into account that the plant gross production is 317.7 MW (at site
conditions), the specific investment cost gives a value of 1892 €1997/kWgross installed.

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Figure 20.7. Yearly evolution of construction capital cost.

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Radioactive materials
K. Kovler, in Toxicity of Building Materials, 2012
8.7.3 Building products containing coal fly ash
The building industry uses large amounts of by-products from other industries. In recent years
there is a growing tendency to use new recycled materials with technologically enhanced levels
of radioactivity. Coal fly ash is one of the best known examples.
Large quantities of coal fly ash are expelled from coal-fired thermal power plants and these may
contain enhanced levels of radionuclides along with other toxic elements. More than 280 Mt of
coal ash (fly ash and bottom ash combined) are produced annually. About 40 Mt of these are
used in the production of bricks and cement (IAEA, 2003). Since most of the process residues
further processed into building materials do not meet the required technical specifications, they
are typically mixed with pristine raw materials. The net effect is a dilution of the NORM
(naturally occurring radioactive material) content relative to the process residues.
Recycling and utilization of coal fly ash (FA) in concrete construction has clear environmental,
technological and economic advantages. Fly ash, a by-product of coal combustion, is widely
used as a cementitious and pozzolanic ingredient in Portland-cement concrete. It may be
introduced either as a separately batched material, or as a component of blended cement. The use
of coal fly ash in concrete construction is increasing because it often results in lower-cost
concrete and improves some properties of concrete. Among the positive technological effects are
workability improvement, bleeding reduction, lowering heat of hydration, refinement of pore
structure and decrease of permeability. The continued pozzolanic activity of fly ash contributes
to increased strength gain at later ages if the concrete is kept moist.
The use of coal fly ash in concrete is a well-recognized source of gamma exposure that is due to
the presence of activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and, to a lesser extent, 40 K, while the
effect of coal fly ash via radon exhalation is controversial, in particular due to the low emanation
coefficient from the ash (Kovler et al., 2004b). This effect will be discussed in a following
section. Most of the coal fly ash is reused by cement or concrete producers. Concrete is the most
popular building material in the world: annual production of concrete is about 1 m3 per capita.
The radionuclide composition of concrete depends on its constituents: cement, aggregates and
mineral additives, and their dosages.
As can be seen from Table 8.4, radioactivity concentrations found in ordinary concrete are rather
close to the worldwide average concentrations of radium, thorium and potassium in the earth’s
crust, which are about 40 Bq kg− 1, 40 Bq kg− 1 and 400 Bq kg− 1, respectively, and lower than the
values found in the most common building materials and industrial byproducts used for
construction.
Concrete aggregate consisting of crushed stone often has the greatest significance for the total
radioactivity of the material, because its total mass content is usually the highest among concrete
constituents. If radium-rich and thorium-rich granites are included as aggregates in concrete, the
indoor gamma radiation from the walls and floors may be appreciably higher than the average
outdoors. In buildings with walls and floors made of concrete containing aggregate of granite or
basic gneiss origin with high contents of 238U, the indoor gamma radiation level can reach
0.3 μSv h− 1. Such radiation levels also occur in Swedish buildings with walls of certain types of
bricks made of glacial clays with enhanced 238U and 232Th concentrations (The Radiation
Protection Authorities in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, 2000).
The highest radium contents, from 42 to 62 Bq kg− 1, have been measured in Finnish concrete
(Mustonen, 1984). The measured mean rates of radon exhalation rate (E) were 20 to
32 Bq m− 2 h− 1. The corresponding airborne radon concentration was 46.2 Bq m− 3 with a mean
air exchange rate of 0.64 h− 1 when calculated for radon exhalation rate of 20 Bq m− 2 h− 1. The
enhanced radium concentrations can be explained by the fact that granite aggregates are popular
in Finland.
Commonly used aggregates manufactured from natural stone of sedimentary origin (such as
limestone or dolomite) do not normally enhance the radionuclide content of concrete mix.
However, some mineral additives, such as blast furnace slag or ash (either coal fly ash, or peat
ash, which is often used in Finland, or oil shale ash), although not introduced in high dosages,
can cause enhanced activity concentrations of concrete. Phosphogypsum, when used as
a set retarder in cement in small amounts not exceeding 4–5% by cement mass, usually has
almost no influence on the 226Ra activity concentration of concrete, because the mass fraction
of phosphogypsum in concrete does not exceed even 1%.
As an example, let us consider typical concrete compositions, with and without coal fly ash,
which can be introduced into the mix as a partial replacement for cement and fine aggregates
(sand). Activity concentrations of coal fly ash, which has been subject to a kind of enrichment as
a result of the coal combustion process in the thermal power plant, are usually higher than of
those of cement and aggregates, which can be seen from Table 8.6.
Table 8.6. Example of mix design for concrete with and without fly ash (kg m ), typical activity concentrations of Ra, Th and K and
3 226 232 40

radium equivalent activity (ARa–eq) in raw materials (Bq kg− 1)

Raw materials Reference concrete Concrete with FA ARa ATh AK ARa-eq

Cement 300 270 80 40 140 150

Aggregates 1900 1800 20 10 70 40

Coal fly ash – 120 200 200 200 500

Water 150 150

Source: Kovler (2011).

The simple calculation of the activity concentrations expected in these concrete mixes, taking
into account the mass contents of the raw materials they contain, shows that NORM activity
concentrations in the concrete with fly ash are higher than in the reference concrete (Table 8.7).
For example, radium equivalent activity calculated by equation 8.9 is higher by 44% in the mix
containing fly ash.
Table 8.7. Calculated activity concentrations of Ra, Th and K (A , A and A ) and radium equivalent activity A
226 232 40
Ra Th K Ra-eq in concrete mixes,

with and without fly ash (Bq kg− 1)

Concrete mix ARa ATh AK ARa-eq

Reference concrete (no coal fly ash) 26 13 74 51

Concrete with coal fly ash 35 23 80 73

Similarly to coal fly ash, some other materials, like blast furnace slag and peat ash (the latter has
been widely used in Finland instead of coal fly ash), can be used as an aggregate material
replacing virgin natural stone aggregate, or as an additive in cement manufacturing. These
industrial byproducts may cause also enhanced concentrations of natural radionuclides.
In general, the tendency to reuse industrial by-products and wastes as raw materials in
construction is growing, for both economic and environmental reasons.