INTERNSHIP REPORT

FFBL Power Company Limited

Name: Syed Muslim Aziz Ahmed Rizvi

Department: Operations

Internship Period: June 10, 2019 – July 05, 2019

Institute: Dawood University of Engineering & Technology

Page | 1
 Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to thank the Human Resources Department of FFBL Power Company Limited
(FPCL) for selecting me to join the summer internship program of 2019.
I would also like to thank all the employees; both the technical and non-technical employees for
treating me with kindness, and helping whenever I asked.
I would especially like to thank:
• Kashif Jamil – Manager Operations
• Attique-ur-Rehman – Unit Manager
• Sumair Ahmed Khan – Deputy Manager Operations
• Hamza Hamid – Executive Operations

For aiding me throughout my internship period and for tolerating me whenever I didn’t understand
something.

Page | 2
Contents

Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ 4
Information about the company .................................................................................................. 5
1. Introduction to the company: ........................................................................................... 5
2. Location: .................................................................................................................................. 5
3. Exports: ...................................................................................................................................... 5
4. Overview of the Power Plant:............................................................................................. 5
5. Safety Regulation: ................................................................................................................. 6
Work Experience ................................................................................................................................ 6
Process Description ........................................................................................................................... 7
1. Coal Handling ......................................................................................................................... 7
2. Deaerator and Boiler Feed Water Storage Tank: ......................................................... 7
3. Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler: ......................................................................................... 7
3.1 Steam Drum:.................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 Furnace:.............................................................................................................................. 8
3.3 Hot Cyclones Separator:................................................................................................ 8
3.4 Coal Feeding System: ................................................................................................... 8
3.5 Limestone Feeding System:......................................................................................... 9
3.6 Convection Cage/Pass: .............................................................................................. 9
3.7 Baghouse: ........................................................................................................................ 9
3.8 Fans: ................................................................................................................................. 10
3.9 Soot Blowers: ................................................................................................................. 10
3.10 General Boiler Operation: ......................................................................................... 10
3.11 Boiler Heat & Mass Balance Diagrams: ................................................................. 12
4 Steam Turbine Generators: ............................................................................................... 14
5 Cooling Towers: .................................................................................................................... 15
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 16
References......................................................................................................................................... 16
Appendix............................................................................................................................................ 18

Page | 3
 Abstract
This report is based on my experience as an internee at FFBL Power Company Limited (FPCL) from
June 10, 2019 to July 05, 2019.

FPCL was incorporated by FFBL in June 2014 to provide Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited with
electricity and process steam.

FPCL is the first and only power generating, coal powered plant to produce electricity at two
different frequencies 50Hz and 60Hz.

This report gives an overview of the plant process; and goes into detail about the working of the
Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers.

The main objective of my summer internship was to study the different processes, and to do a
complete study on the CFB Boilers being used.

Page | 4
 Information about the company
1. Introduction to the company:
FFBL Power Company Limited (FPCL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim
Limited (FFBL). It is an unlisted public limited company incorporated by FFBL as a special purpose
vehicle in June 2014.

FPCL was started to support FFBL’s power requirements. Originally FFBL ran on gas turbines,
which used Natural Gas as a raw material; but due to the shortage of Natural Gas resources in
Pakistan, it became difficult to continue depending on it. So FFBL started focusing on the
alternatives i.e. A Coal Power Plant.

The Company commenced its commercial operation on May 19, 2017, having a net annual plant
efficiency of 29.2%

2. Location:
The plant is located in the Eastern Industrial Zone, Bin Qasim, Karachi. It is in close vicinity of
Port Bin Qasim (20 Km) and is well connected through road networks and National Highway.
Moreover, it is connected with 132 KV transmission system of K-Electric thru very short distance
(0.6 Km) transmission line.

3. Exports:
The company has two primary export:

• Electricity:

FPCL has an installed capacity of 118MW – out of which about 60MW is exported to K-
electric, while the rest is supplied to FFBL fertilizer complex.

It is worth mentioning that FPCL is the first and only power generating, coal fired plant in
Pakistan, producing electricity at two different frequencies i.e. 50Hz and 60Hz, to meet
its clients’ power and operational requirements as under:

o K-Electric – 50Hz
o Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited – 60Hz

• Process Steam:

The secondary export of FPCL is process steam, which it exports to FFBL at a pressure of
around 42bars and a rate of 200 tons/hr.

4. Overview of the Power Plant:

The plant consists of the following areas:

• Coal Handling
• Deaerator and Boiler Feed Water Storage Tank
• Two Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
• Four Steam Turbine Generators
• Cooling Towers

Page | 5
5. Safety Regulation:
FPCL takes extra care about the safety of its workers, environment and the safety of its
equipment. No worker is allowed with in the vicinity of the plant unless he’s wearing proper
PPEs and has a work permit issued by the operation department.

New recruits are given special safety training regarding any emergency that may occur, such as
Ammonia Leakage or Fire. Refresher training sessions are also conducted by the safety
department to keep the workers in practice. They’re also given basic first aid and CPR training.
Furthermore, there are weekly Fire drills and other scheduled drills and trainings to combat any
type of emergency that may occur.

FPCL’s dedication to safety is evident from the fact that since its inception it holds an impeccable
safety record. It is worth noting that entire project execution was achieved without any Lost
Time Injury (LTI).

FPCL also takes extra care about the environment, the emissions it produces are way under the
standards recommended by the World Bank, NEQS Pak and EPA. This is possible thanks to the
working of the CFB Boiler, which produces low amounts of NOx and SOx.

During my internship periods, they were a total of four fire drills held. They also taught us
practically how properly use a fire extinguisher. Aside from that we had an interactive seminar
about PPEs and also got to practice how to use a SCBA and Full-face masks.

Work Experience
I spent four weeks as an intern at FPCL Coal Power Plant. I was assigned to the Front End’s
operation department, where I got to see the practical applications of some of the things I had
studied in my University.

I got to learn a lot about the Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler, which previously was unknown to
me.

The first couple of weeks were spent learning about the CFB Boiler, how it works, what were its
major components, what were the benefits of using it, etc. I also got to learn about P&IDs and
how to do line tracing with its help. My third week was spent doing line tracing, getting an
overview of the cooling towers, and learning more about the cooling towers through some
materials provided by a Management Trainee.

In my fourth week I got an overview of the STGs, and attended a training session conducted by
the Safety Department on how to use SCBA.

Page | 6
 Process Description
As stated earlier, the plant consists of the following areas:

• Coal Handling
• Deaerator and Boiler Feed Water Storage Tank
• Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
• Steam Turbine Generators
• Cooling Towers

1. Coal Handling
The production process starts with the coal trucks arriving at the plant, they are weighed,
sampled and unloaded at the designated station. The coal is automatically carried by stacking
machine to the storage hanger. This storage hanger is the widest span column free storage
hanger in Pakistan. It has a staggering capacity of storing about 60,000 metric ton of coal (This
amount of fuel is enough to run the plant for approximately 45 days at full load).

The plant has a dual coal converging and crushing system, each having a capacity of about 250
metric tons/hr. The crushers crush the coal to about 5-15mm pieces. This coal move via
conveyer belt to Coal Surge Bins.

FPCL imports its coal from South Africa and Morocco, the coal used here is Anthracite.

2. Deaerator and Boiler Feed Water Storage Tank:

In FPCL, one deaerator is employed to provide deaerated water for the two CFB Boilers. The
main purpose of the Deaerator is to remove excess oxygen and dissolved gases that might be
present in the Boiler Feed Water. In particular, dissolved oxygen in boiler feed water will cause
serious corrosion damage in the steam system by attaching to the walls of metal piping and
other metallic equipment and form oxides. Dissolved CO2 can combine with water to form
Carbonic Acid which can cause further corrosion. Thus, the deaerator uses steam to remove the
excessive oxygen and other dissolved gases from the feed water.

The deaerated Feed water is then stored in a Feed Water Storage Tank, which has a capacity of
about 500 ton/hr. This provides Feed Water to the two CFB Boilers

There are also three centrifugal pumps, which transport the Feed water from the storage tank to
the two CFB Boilers. Two are operational, while one is kept at standby. All of the pumps have a
capacity of about 308 m3/hr.

3. Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler:

My main focus area during the internship program was to learn in detail about the workings and
principle of the Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler.

FPCL generates HP Steam by firing coal in a Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler. The plant has
employed two identical Boilers, both having design capacity of 250 tons/hr.

Following are the main components of the CFB Boiler:

• Steam Drum
• Furnace
• Hot Cyclones Separator

Page | 7
 • Non-mechanical Loopseals
• Coal Feeding Equipment
• Limestone Feeding System
• Convection Cage/Pass
• Baghouse
• Primary, Secondary and Induced Draft Fans
• Soot blowers

3.1 Steam Drum:

The Steam Drum is a cylindrical vessel having dished heads. It is made of carbon steel
plate.

The steam drum internals provide for proper feed water distribution, steam/water
separation, collection and transfer of continuous blowdown water and internal chemical
treatment distribution. A deflection plate and centrifugal steam/water separator are
located in the drum to provide optimum steam water separation.

3.2 Furnace:
The furnace is a gas tight enclosure fabricated from fully water-cooled membrane walls.
On the bottom of the furnace is a refractory lined water-cooled grid, between the
membrane of the water-cooled tubes stainless steel air nozzles are welded in, there are
similar air nozzles on the side of the walls at different heights. The bottom nozzles
provide air for fluidization and combustion, while the nozzles on the side of the walls
provide air for staged combustion.

Inside the furnace Super Heater 2 is located. Super Heater 2 consists of a vertical tube
which penetrates the furnace front wall, and exits through the roof of the furnace.
Steam leaving from the Super Heater 1 enter super heater 2 where it is further heated
by the furnace.

3.3 Hot Cyclones Separator:

The cyclone are gas-tight enclosures fabricated from fully refractory walls. The main
purpose of the Hot Cyclone is to separate the solid particles that escape the furnace with
the Flue Gas.

Non-mechanical Loopseals are connected to the cyclones. The solid particles separated
by the cyclone are sent to the loopseal, the loopseal blowers fluidize the solid particles
and sends them back to the furnace

3.4 Coal Feeding System:

Fuel will be fed to the furnace through the four points of furnace front wall.

Crushed coal (Particle size of about 5-15mm) is supplied by CASH department through
conveyer belts and is stored in the two Coal Surge Bins, each having two volumetric coal
feeder which feeds the front wall of the furnace. Each of the feeder discharges the coal
into the boiler through one feed chute in the front wall.

To achieve high availability and steady operation, coal feeding capacity is designed
considering one surge bin out of service.

Page | 8
3.5 Limestone Feeding System:
Limestone is fed into the furnace along with the coal to reduce the production of SO2.
SO2 present in the flue gas reacts with Limestone to form Gypsum which becomes part
of the bed of solid particles, and can be discharged along with the bed ash.

Crushed Limestone is provided by the CASH department and is stored in a Limestone

Surge Bin, having two feeders. Blowers are present and continuously operating to
prevent plugging at furnace feeding nozzles.

Limestone is injected to four points, two on the front wall of the furnace, and two on the
back. However normally it is only injected from the front, as the coal being used by FPCL
contains smaller amounts of Sulphur content.

3.6 Convection Cage/Pass:

The convection cage is constructed of gas tight, membrane walls. The walls are cooled
with dry saturated steam coming from the steam drum. The convection cage/pass have
many bundles of tubes, that act as heat exchanges; exchanging heat between the Hot
flue gas and the less hot air, steam and water. Following are the parts of the convection
cage.

3.6.1 Air Heaters:

There are two air heaters located at the bottom of the convection cage; one is
the Primary Air Heater, which heats the air coming from the Primary Air Fan, the
other is the Secondary Air Heater, which heats the air coming from the
Secondary Air Fan. The tubes have a gas-over-tube and air-through-tube design.
It should be noted that the Primary Air Heater is situated beneath the Secondary
Air Heater.

3.6.2 Economizer:
Just above the Secondary Air Heaters, the economizer is situated. The water
from Feed water tank before going into the steam drum first passes inside the
tubes of the economizer to raise its temperature. Similar to the Air Heaters, the
Economizer also has a gas-over-tube and water-through-tubes.

3.6.3 Super Heaters 1:

Above the Economizer there is a Super Heater. It has a similar design i.e. gas-
over-tube and steam-through-tube design, Steam from the steam drum travels
into the membrane walls of the convection cage and enters the Super Heater 1,
where it is heated by the hot flue gases.

3.6.4 Super Heater 3:

The Steam after leaving Super Heater 2 from the roof of the furnace reenters
the Convection cage. Super Heater 3 is similar in design to super heater 1, and is
located above super heater 1. After passing through Super Heater 3, the steam
travels into the Main Steam Line, where it travels towards the STGs.

3.7 Baghouse:
Baghouse is a filter which separates fly ash from the Flue Gas. FPCL has two baghouses,
each have about 2,400 bag filters in them. Air is blasted at intervals to remove the fly

Page | 9
 ash from the bag filters. After leaving the baghouse the Flue gas is sent to the stack
where it escapes into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Fly Ash is sent to the Fly Ash Silo.

3.8 Fans:
There are three fans being used:

3.8.1 Primary Fan:

The Primary fan provides air to the furnace through air nozzles located at the
bottom of the furnace. The primary air’s main purpose is fluidizing the bed and
to provide air for combustion.

About 60% to 70% of the total combustion air is provided by the primary air fan.

3.8.2 Secondary Fan:

The Secondary fan provides air to the furnace from the side of the falls. The
main purpose of the secondary air fan is to provide air for staged combustion.

3.8.3 Induced Draft Fan:

An induced draft fan is being used to maintain a draft in the boiler system. By
doing this the flue gas is sucked out of from the furnace, made to travel through
the convection cage and baghouse and is sent out of the stack.

3.9 Soot Blowers:

Soot blowers are used to blow any fly ash that might settle in the convection cage.
Steam from Super Heater 1 is used to blow the fly ash down to the Convection Cage
hoppers, from there the fly ash is transferred to the Fly ash Silo.

Generally, all soot blowers are cycled either when economizer exit flue gas temperature
increases 15oC above expected or once every eight hours, whichever occurs first.

3.10 General Boiler Operation:

In the furnace the bed material, with the fuel, is fluidized with primary air which
turbulently transports the solid up till the full height of the furnace. Combustion of the
fuels takes place and due to the turbulent behavior of the solid particles, there is a
greater rate of heat transfer.

The hot combustion gases along with some of the solid bed particles exit the furnace
and enter the hot cyclone separators. The cyclone separates the solids from the flue
gases and returns the solids, including any unburned solid fuel back to the furnace;
through a non-mechanical loopseal. This ensures longer residence time of the fuel.

Limestone is added alongside the coal to reduce the production of SO2. The following
reactions occurs when Limestone is added:

𝐶𝑎𝐶𝑂3 + 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 → 𝐶𝑎𝑂 + 𝐶𝑂2 (𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐿𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑒)

1
𝐶𝑎𝑂 + 𝑂2 + 𝑆𝑂2 → 𝐶𝑎𝑆𝑂4 + 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡 (𝑆𝑢𝑙𝑓𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛)
2
Water from the Feed Water Storage Tank is pumped to the economizer, from there it
travels into the Steam Drum. From the steam drum, the heated water travels down the
down comers and enters the downcomer bottle, from there it is supplied to the furnace
from the bottom, lower front wall and lower rear wall. The water is heated and travel

Page | 10
upwards along the membrane walls of the furnace and converts to steam, after traveling
to the top of the furnace the steam enters the steam drum through the riser pipes. This
cycle is repeated till steam becomes dry saturated steam.

Now the dry saturated steam leaves from the top of the steam drum and is delivered to
the convection cage walls, where it travels downwards and enters Super Heater 1. Hot
gases passing over Super Heater 1 heats the steam further. The Steam leaves SH-1,
enters SH-2 from the front wall of the furnace and exits from the roof and heads back to
the convection cage to enter SH-3. After passing through SH-3 the steam enters the
Main Steam Line and travels towards the STGs.

Air coming from the Primary and Secondary Air Fans enter the Primary and Secondary
Air heaters respectively, and are send to the furnace where they help in combustion and
fluidization. It is worth noting that Primary Air Fans provide about 60% to 70% of the
total combustion air.

Meanwhile, the hot flue gases passing over the tubes inside the convection cage enters
the baghouse, where the fly ash is filtered out from it, to meet the EPA, NEQS PAK and
World Bank emission standards. Finally, the Flue gas enters the stack and exits from the
top and diffuses in the air.

Soot Blowers are operated in cycles to blow away any fly ash that might settle inside the
convection cage.

The Bed temperature is maintained between 840oC-900oC, this is because above this
temperature the ash could begin to soften which can cause slagging and fouling
problems in the Boiler. Bed pressure is continuously monitored by the operations team,
and when it exceeds a certain limit, some of it is discharged and send to the bed ash silo.

Page | 11
3.11 Boiler Heat & Mass Balance Diagrams:
3.11.1 Heat and Mass Balance Diagram (Water and Steam System)
at 100% BMCR:

Page | 12
3.11.2 Heat and Mass Balance Diagram (Air and Gas) at 100%
BMCR:

Page | 13
 3.11.3 Heat and Mass Balance Diagram (Coal Limestone and Ash)
at 100% BMCR:

4 Steam Turbine Generators:

FPCL has employed Four STGs. Three turbines are run at a frequency of 60Hz, while one runs at
50Hz. The specifications of the four turbines are:

STG-1: 13.8KV, 24MW, 60Hz (operated at 12.5MW)

STG-2: 13.8KV, 24MW, 60Hz (operated at 12MW)

STG-3: 13.8KV, 10MW, 60Hz (operated at 8MW)

STG-4: 11KV, 60MW, 50Hz (operated at 55MW)

STG-1, 2 and 4 are condensing turbines i.e. the steam after leaving the turbine condenses and is
sent back to the deaerator, where it repeats the entire cycle all over again. STG-3 is back
pressure i.e. the steam leaving the turbine is exported to FFBL, this steam has a pressure of
around 42bars.

STG-1, 2 and 3 produces electricity which is used to power both the FPCL and FFBL plants. While
the electricity from STG-4 is sent to K-Electric through transmission lines.

Page | 14
 Why do the turbines run at two different frequencies?

The electricity produced by the 60Hz turbines are used to meet the power requirements of the
plant, as most of the plant equipment are imported from America, which are designed to run at
a frequency of 60Hz. Meanwhile, the electricity sent to K-Electric has a frequency of 50Hz, which
is to meet the domestic requirements.

5 Cooling Towers:
FPCL uses Induced Draft, counter-flow type cooling towers, which consist of six cell blocks; each
operating independently to each other, five of them are in continuous operation, while one is
kept at standby. The main purpose of the cooling towers is to cool down the water, which is then
used to cool various parts of the plants.

FPCL uses two systems for cooling water:

Open-Loop System – This cools the water by directly mixing it with the atmospheric air, which is
being continuously sucked, and blowout through a giant fan located at the top of the tower. The
cooled water from the open-loop system are sent to:

• The Air compressors

• Three condensing STGs (STG-1, STG-2 and STG-4)
• Bed Ash cooler

It should also be noted that the water of the Open-Loop system also cools the water of the
closed-loop system through a plate-type heat exchanger.

Closed-Loop System – As per the recommendation of the manufacturer, a closed-loop system for
cooling water is used, as to not to disturb the chemistry of the cooling water which is used to
cool the major equipment and circuits of the plant. The water in the closed-loop system is
demineralized water which is imported from FFBL’s Utilities Plant. As stated earlier the cooled
water of the open-loop system, cools the water of the closed-loop system through a plate-type
heat exchanger. It is then sent to various parts of the plants, such as the lube oil circuit, jacking
oil circuit, generator circuit, etc.

Page | 15
 Conclusion
I believe that this summer practice was ideal for me to get introduced in the practical world of
Chemical Engineering.

I got to see how a coal power plant works in real life, and the got to observe the practical
implementation of the Rankine Cycle. There were many things that I got to see for the first time, like
the Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler, Baghouse, Cooling Towers, Steam Turbines, etc.

Majority of the time I spent here was focused on studying and understanding the working of the
Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler, through studying the manuals and also by regularly visiting the
plant. I also got the chance to do line tracing using P&IDs. By doing line tracing I got a better
understanding of the complexity of the plant, it made me change my perspective of how plants are
designed and how they operate.

I also got to see how the cooling towers and steam turbines operate, though it was not in as much
detail as the CFB Boiler.

The safety seminars here were pretty informative; they taught us about hazards, risks, and gave a
detailed lecture on the PPEs used in various areas of the plant site. I also received training during
one of these sessions on how to use the SCBA.

Furthermore, not only did I gain more technical knowledge during my time here at FPCL, but also
learned a lot about the norms of a professional life and also learned about the duties and
responsibilities of the operations department.

Page | 16
 References
1. FPCL. (n.d.). Our Business. Retrieved from https://www.fpcl.com/our-business/
2. FPCL. (n.d.). Our Location. Retrieved from https://www.fpcl.com/our-location/

3. FPCL. (n.d.). Safety. Retrieved from https://www.fpcl.com/safety/

4. FPCL. (n.d.). Sponsor. Retrieved from https://www.fpcl.com/sponsor/

5. Hyundai Heavy Industries. (n.d.). Section 01: General Introduction For Circulating Fludizied
Bed Boilers.

6. Hyundai Heavy Industries. (n.d.). Section 02: CFB Boiler Design Information.

7. Quyoom, A. (2017). FFBL Power Company Limited (FPCL) Documentary. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAr23fAQyDA

Page | 17
 Appendix
FFBL – Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited

FPCL – FFBL Power Company Limited

CFB – Circulating Fluidized Bed

SH – Super Heater

PPEs – Personal Protective Equipment

STGs – Steam Turbine Generators

SCBA – Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus

NEQS – National Environment Quality Standards

EPA – Environmental Protection Agency

Page | 18