Technologies
The technological added value of Power group in the conceivement, design and construction of power plants is essentially the capability to successfully integrate all the plant sections/units in order to meet the performance, reliability/ availability, operating flexibility targets.
The integration including all the process/mechanical/control/electrical aspects is achieved and ensured by applying advanced calculation tecniques like steady state and dynamic simulations (both for process and electrical design) and performing detailed optimization studies.
Some specified highlights are given for each type of power plant.
- IGCC
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Foster Wheeler Italiana's experience on the partial oxidation processes has spanned a period of fifty years and includes design and construction of 20 plants with over 50 individual partial oxidation generator trains - more than any other engineering organisation. A significant portion of this experience has been achieved on IGCC projects. Foster Wheeler Italiana has been involved in over 20 IGCC projects or studies starting from the 1990’s.
Foster Wheeler Italiana's references cover a wide range of gasification technologies, including moving bed, fluid bed and entrained flow systems. The projects undertaken by the company cover every step from the technologies screening feasibility/optimization studies to construction, commissioning and start-up, demonstrating Foster Wheeler Italiana’s global capability in the field. Further, its extensive experience in Refining, Power, Hydrogen production and Chemicals allows Foster Wheeler Italiana to be the ideal partner to review the client’s requirements and advise on the issues associated with integrating gasification projects into existing or planned facilities.
This document(external link) highlights Foster Wheeler Italiana's experience in Gasification (Partial Oxidation) and IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) plants and includes a general presentation, a detailed reference list, the project summary sheets and a collection of selected papers.
- WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLANTS
- WTE Plants use Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW), Refuse Derived Fuels (RDF) and other waste materials coming from agricultural and industrial activities, to produce electricity and/or thermal energy. Foster Wheeler Italiana’s WTE experience covers the application of different combustion technologies, such as Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB), Stocker Grate and Bubbling Fluid Bed (BFB). CFBs and BFBs are supplied by FW, the world leader in CFB technologies. The experience acquired on those technologies allows Foster Wheeler to apply to any waste fuel the most appriopriate combustion technology in order to optimize combustion efficiency and minimize emissions. The projects undertaken by Foster Wheeler range from technologies screening and feasibility/optimization studies to EPC, commissioning, start-up and operation, demonstrating Foster Wheeler’s global capability in the field.
This document(external link) highlights FW experience in Waste To Energy (WTE) plants and includes a general presentation, a detailed reference list, the project summary sheets and a collection of selected papers. - CCU
- Foster Wheeler Italiana’s experience in Combined Cycle Power Plants spans over a period of twenty-five years and includes projects and studies relevant to a wide variety of plant capacity, fuels and machines frame and manufacturers. Based on the above experience, Foster Wheeler Italiana is able to optimize the Combined Cycle features according to the Client’s needs through the most appropriate choice of the main machines (Gas Turbine and Steam Turbine) available on the market. The HRSG is often designed and supplied by Foster Wheeler, thus allowing a “tailor made” design and an optimized integration with the plant.
The projects undertaken by Foster Wheeler Italiana cover every step from gas turbine screening and feasibility studies to EPC, commissioning, start-up and O&M, demonstrating Foster Wheeler Italiana's global capability in the field. Further, its extensive experience in Refining, Power, Hydrogen Production and Chemicals allows Foster Wheeler Italiana to be the ideal company to review the client’s requirement and advise on the issues associated with integrating a combined cycle power plant or cogeneration unit into existing or planned facilities.
This document(external link) highlights Foster Wheeler Italiana's experience in Combined Cycle Power Plants and includes a general presentation, a detailed reference list, the project summary sheets and a collection of selected papers. - DYNAMIC SIMULATION
- Dynamic simulation is an engineering tool necessary to check and finalize the design of power plants, in particular combined cycle plants, due to their operating features: frequent load variations, large operating flexibility, possible sudden disconnection from electrical grid, island operation. The transients related to these events are different for the plant sections which are characterized by different dynamic responses: very quick for machinery (such as gas turbines), much longer for the steam cycle (due to Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) thermal inertia). Such dynamics are furtherly stressed in IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) plants, where the gas to the CCU is produced by the upstream units with an intrinsic connection between fuel and power productions. In these plants the integration between the gasification section and the combined cycle is essential for a flexible and safe operation. A Dynamic Simulation Study consists in building a dynamic simulation model describing the sections of the plant which are dynamically significant. Then the simulation model is used to predict transient behaviours of plant variables such as temperature, pressure, flow, caused by planned or unplanned events. The Dynamic Simulation Study is aimed at meeting the following targets: - check of the equipment sizing: the dimensions defined on the basis of one or more operating and design cases, shall be suitable to withstand the transients which might prove more critical than the steady state operation. - Check of the control strategy, development and finalization of the control system; this includes definition of ad hoc control philosophy to solve particular problems, and to ensure that no undesirable or unsafe conditions are expected during transients; check of control valve size and characteristics - Selection of safe operating procedures such as rate of load changes - Estimate of controller parameters, allowing a shorter tuning on field.
This document(external link) highlights FW experience in Dynamic Simulation describing how the dynamic model is built and run to perform all the needed transient simulations. - ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
- The electrical system in a power plant constitutes the link between the electrical energy production process and the grid receiving the generated energy. The interaction between power plant and network, both in steady-state and transient conditions, imposes to carefully design and study the electrical system to ensure:
- adequate connection to the external network
- reliable feeding of the power plant auxiliary users
- stable operation of the plant when connected to the network, in all the operating scenarios
- basic design and single line diagram
- operating modes
- protection logics and automation criteria
- interactions between power plant technical requirements and grid Operator prescriptions, as well as the liberalized electric market constraints
- network studies, i.e. load-flow, short circuit, transient stability and reliability analysis of electrical scheme
- specification of major equipment (generator, unit transformer, HV substation)
This document(external link) highlights FW experience in Electrical Systems design and includes a general presentation, a detailed reference list for power projects executed, a set of summary sheets and a collection of selected papers.