Exothermic Engineering,
LLC
Exothermic Engineering can provide a plant performance monitoring package which will reduce heat rate by 1% to 4%, detect boiler tube leaks as small as 2,000 pph (and identify the location of the tube), identify and quantify easily-understood energy inefficiencies (and recommend corrective actions), and outsmart any smart sootblowing package for optimum use of furnace cleaning equipment.
We do have a preferred package, but we can employ any performance monitoring system (with varying degrees of performance, of course) as well as interface with an existing DCS, neural network, or data acquisition system.
At the heart of the preferred system is the premier performance monitoring system available for utility power plant use. The system uses products of combustion to determine fuel analysis and HHV on a real time basis, and then uses that information to calculate boiler efficiency, unit heat rate, turbine heat rate, and to locate boiler tube leaks and reducible unit heat losses. "The Engine", as we call the premium package, is manufactured for us by a company in San Rafael, California. For more technical information go to www.exergeticsystems.com. Experience is highlighted by:
Completion of over three dozen major thermal performance evaluations of power plants including testing, detailed analysis and recommendations for heat rate improvement. These were major thermal evaluation efforts, exceeding ASME Power Test Codes 4.1 and 6 procedures. The average recoverable heat rate has been 446 Btu/kWh (1037 kJ/kWh) and 16 MWe.
Installation of Exergetic Systems' Input/Loss Method at ten power plants. The Input/Loss Method calculates instantaneous gross unit heat rate, updating of fuel heating values, fuel flow, total "Energy Released by Combustion", Fuel Consumption Indices, etc.; all on-line.
Experience and expertise to make generic evaluations of all power plants on a utilities' grid. A typical application of this service resulted in identification of 2% improvement/unit for 5 units, and an average 6% improvement/unit for another 4 units. These results were demonstrated in only two months!
These core efforts have developed from a solid technological base, historically developed and fully integrated with the company's testing projects, including software simulators for the boiler and turbine cycle, computer interfaces, testing procedures, user's manuals, system calculational closure techniques, copyrights and US method patents. The objective has, and continues to be, state-of-the-art Directed Development in thermal performance engineering.
The package is offered as a purchased system with extensive training, or as an installed service with daily remote monitoring and reporting by Exothermic Engineering performance engineers. This latter program, called Remote Performance Link (RPL) provides the utility with a daily report which identifies fuel analysis and heat rate, and identifies tube leaks (location and magnitude) and changes in inefficiencies, all at a nominal monthly cost. We supply the system and we supply the personnel.