Alstom wins boiler retrofit contract for coal-fired power plant, Spain

Alstom has been awarded a contract worth approximately 80 million euros
from Unión Fenosa Generación, S. A. for the retrofit of the boiler of
the 550 MW Meirama coal-fired power station near La Coruña, Spain.

It will be the biggest boiler to ever be converted from brown to bituminous coal in the world.

Due to a decrease in the local reserves of lignite coal and tighter NOx and SO2 emission regulations from January 1 2008, the existing once-through, tower-type boiler, manufactured by another company, will need to be adapted in order to be able to burn low-sulphur bituminous coal imported from Indonesia.

The power plant, built in the early 1980s, will operate with bituminous coal for another 25 years.

The conversion essentially consists of replacing a traditional lignite firing system consisting of eight beater wheel mills, flue gas resuction ducts, cold gas recirculation, pulverised coal ducts, lignite burners and combustion air system by a traditional bituminous coal firing system consisting of four vertical spindle mills, pulverised coal pipes, bituminous coal burners and combustion air system including primary air fans with modifications made to the air pre-heater.

The boiler pressure parts will also be modified to take account of the change in heat transfer due to changed flue gas flow and combustion temperatures with the new coal.

Of special interest are the new tilting tangential burners, which allow the inclination of the furnace fireball to be adjusted so as to influence the heat exchange in the convective surfaces. This has the advantage of greater fuel flexibility as well as an improvement of the overall unit efficiency by minimising the reheater attemperation. An improved unit efficiency results in a reduction in CO2 emissions.

The project is scheduled for completion in October 2008.

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