 Improved utility performance, reduced emissions
In the power industry, coal is used as a fuel source to generate heat, which produces steam to turn a turbine that produces power. The process of burning coal creates ash buildup in the boiler, which has to be collected and removed. If the ash buildup is not effectively removed, this can cause problems for a facility, including increased emissions and lowered energy output. Unfortunately, traditional methods of cleaning boiler surfaces, such as sootblowing and manual shaking, do not remove coal buildup effectively or efficiently. GE's Innovative SolutionGE's challenge was to develop a product to clean heat transfer surfaces in a more efficient way in order to increase performance and reduce emissions. A cleaning impulse from the Powerwave+ is the result of a complex combustion process, which is managed entirely by a fully automated, simple to use control system. Each burst consists of precise delivery of fuel and air to the combustion chamber followed by ignition of this mixture and acceleration from subsonic to supersonic mach-5 speeds. The supersonic impulse exits the Powerwave+ cleaner into the area of the boiler to be cleaned. Environmental ImpactTraditional cleaning methods use valuable steam energy to operate, which affect a utility's overall energy output. The Powerwave+ is fuel-efficient, requires less maintenance and eliminates costly erosion of the convection surfaces caused by steam. Installing a single Powerwave+ system on a representative 268MW size coal boiler running 8,760 hours per year, which results in improved efficiency by 0.54%, can result in savings up to 5,390 tons of coal per year of the equivalent of 14,491 MWh of power versus sootblowing technology. Cutting CostsThis fuel savings can result in a reduction of CO2 emissions by up to 11,559 tons per year versus soot blowing technology. This is equivalent to the emissions from removing approximately 2,019 cars from US roads or 4,939 cars from European roads per year. Reductions in coal consumption reduce emissions output and operating cost, leading to lower utility costs.
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