This interesting new technology is from one of the equipment vendors we interact with. EES does not endorse this system and has no financial interest in it. We welcome comments from other equipment manufacturers regarding competing technologies, and hope you enjoy the information. – Tom Petersen
Authored By: Bill Buckley, Synterprise Solutions, LLC
High on the to-do list of facility management, public or private, is a mandate to reduce operating costs. One place to accomplish this, often overlooked, is the boiler house. There, inexpensive modifications to the boilers may well achieve significant fuel savings as well as lower maintenance costs. With a short payback, the impact is soon seen at the bottom line. Putting these changes into effect can be expected to have an additional benefit – assuring that compliance with future more stringent environmental regulations will be easier and less expensive.
Synterprise Solutions, LLC works with owners and operators of many steam and heating plants and in recent consultations has observed some key points:
1) Companies with operating boilers understand that improved combustion processes reduce CO and offer “immediate operational benefits” (boiler efficiency improvements, less fuel consumed, lower pollution levels, less fly ash erosion, etc). 2) Improved combustion thereby reducing CO will typically reduce the size and expense of larger, more comprehensive emission reduction solutions in the future because the boiler will have a lower emission “starting point”. 3) Companies realize they will be required to improve boiler emissions, such as CO, in the near term. The question is not “if” they must improve but “when” and to what degree. 4) Many companies are also concerned that once new regulations become effective, there will be a “flood” of activity to install new equipment, and with supply and demand pressures, the cost will be higher during that time period than they are now.
Many companies are now “Seizing the Opportunity” by moving in a more “incremental or staged” direction. Synterprise Solutions, LLC has seen an increase in requests to retune and optimize current boiler combustion processes and to train, coach, and mentor plant operators, supervisors, and plant managers to improve plant operations. The trend seems to be to first optimize existing plant and boiler operation using current equipment followed by making incremental investment in equipment to improve combustion, reduce CO, and reduce particulate carryover. This is a smart approach that has multiple benefits. It develops a “baseline” of current maximum boiler performance using existing equipment. It provides a much more accurate projection of “attainable” combustion improvement and CO reduction performance. It provides critical operator and management training for operating the boiler and plant using lower excess oxygen levels in a much less critical “unregulated” environment. And importantly, it provides financial benefits that are immediately realized due to more efficient operation.
With the new “operational baseline” identified, operators can develop a more accurate future operating plan to address their specific challenges. For example, CO emissions have become a much higher priority with regulatory permitting agencies in the last few years and, by all indications, CO reduction requirements will shortly become very stringent.
Competitive business pressures have motivated many companies to start accruing operational benefits now by addressing the combustion and emission problems in the furnace at the source of CO production and to avoid adding more expensive downstream CO reduction equipment in the future. Their position is to realize business benefits now since they’ll have to invest in CO reduction equipment in future anyway and to avoid or minimize higher operating and capital expenses typically associated with downstream CO reduction equipment. If other emission improvements are required, the additional investment will be greatly reduced based on the level of improvement already achieved. Synterprise Solutions, LLC is now in discussion with multiple companies that have projected a need for additional control equipment to address CO emissions and are evaluating the economics of getting started with CO reduction now using a system such as the Synterprise EcoJet Advanced Separated Overfired Air system (ASOFA)
The Synterprise EcoJet ASOFA technology package has been innovatively developed through modeling, testing, and experience on numerous power boiler types and has characteristically reduced CO emission levels by 50% or greater.
The Synterprise EcoJet technology is uniquely different from OEM and other high volume/low energy systems that deliver high volumes of air and are plagued by minimal tuning capability. The development of the Synterprise EcoJet technology package was based on several core principles yielded from our extensive combustion operations experience including:
1) easy and inexpensive retrofit of existing boilers 2) maximized “tuning capability” of the key turbulence, time, and temperature variables in combustion; 3) high energy / low volume air to minimize negative impacts of total air volume across a wide operating range 4) “staged” air supply using custom designed wallport placement on multiple elevations and boiler walls; and 5) no boiler bent tube openings for membrane boilers if possible
The basic premise is to custom design a boiler solution with a system capable of placing the optimal amount of combustion air at the right place and right time to create optimal combustion process turbulence and fuel particle retention time. This reduces CO while providing improved boiler operational stability, reduced solid particle carryover from the furnace (that so heavily impacts erosion damage) and a host of other operational benefits derived from improved combustion.
The EcoJet System is the foundation of the Synterprise Integrated Multiple Air Pollutant System which includes the base EcoJet System for initial NOx, CO and particulate carryover reduction from the furnace and a host of other optional complementary products including:
EcoJet SNCR – ammonia injection system for additional in-furnace NOx reduction
Proprietary Synterprise polishing selective catalytic reduction (PSCR) system for deeply aggressive NOx reduction
Limestone injection system for SOx reduction
“Black Magic” injection system for slag reduction
Activated carbon injection system for Hg reduction.
You might be well served to “Seize the Opportunity” to improve your business performance by optimizing combustion today in preparation for higher regulatory requirements tomorrow.
Synterprise Solutions, LLC is a privately owned environmental equipment provider and engineering & management consulting company with headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
For further information contact:
Bill Buckley or Mike Brown Synterprise Solutions, LLC 1110 Market Street, Suite 525 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402 (423) 267-5363 www.synterprise.com