Externally Fired Combustion Cycle (EFCC) a DOE Clean Coal V Project: Effective Means of Rejuvenation for Older Coal-Fired Stations

Abstract

A long term program was initiated in 1987 to develop an electric utility indirect coal-fired gas turbine combined cycle. This initial program was supported primarily by U.S. electric utility organizations and had as a purpose the experimental assessment of a ceramic heat exchanger concept applied as a high pressure gas turbine air heater developed by Hague International. The purpose of the initial phase of the development program was to determine if the ceramic materials, then available for use in the air heater, would withstand the high temperature 2200 F (1204 °C) corrosive environment produced by the combustion of coal. Also, in this initial phase, the program was intended to evaluate means of preventing the fouling of the air heater by fly ash. This experimental work was successful. A second phase of the program to build a 7-MW thermal input prototype was initiated in 1990 under the auspices of a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy Morgantown Energy Technology Center (DOE-METC). This work was funded by a consortium of electric utilities, utility organizations, industrial organizations, state agencies, international entities, and the U.S. Department of Energy-METC. New members joined the existing Phase I Consortium to participate in funding the second phase. This second prototype phase is nearing completion and test results are to be available beginning mid-1994. A third, or demonstration phase, of the indirect-fired gas turbine program was selected under the U.S. Clean Coal Technology Program Round V. in May, 1993. This demonstration phase is currently in the planning and preliminary engineering stage. The objective of this proposed demonstration phase is to repower an existing coal-fired power plant in the Pennsylvania Electric Company system at Warren, Pennsylvania (Figure 1). This paper describes the demonstration plant, and the anticipated role of the EFCC cycle in the power generation industry, as well as the performance and economic merits of the Warren repowering concept.