EPSRC Future Conventional Power Plant Call

Flexible and Efficient Future Power Plant Consortium

Prof Rachel Thomson

Loughborough University

Presented at the 13th Annual APGTF Workshop, Feb 2013

Consortium Partners

Five of ‘the Big Six’ electricity generating companies

All major UK power OEMs

Includes SMEs and large RTOs in the power sector

Plus Energy Generation and Supply KTN as a Delivery Partner

Six leading UK Universities

Generators OEMs Others

EDF Alstom Emerson

Eggborough Doosan Power NPL

E.ON Goodwin Steel Castings R-MC

RWE npower Rolls-Royce TWI

SSE Siemens EG&S KTN

Industry Consultation and Contributions

Undertaken extensive industry consultation – Initially in July 2011

– In 2012…

– Extensive industrial survey May

– Full Consultation meeting June

– Follow up teleconference early August

– Consortium meeting November

Led to significant industrial support (£3.6M) – Cash, primarily for supporting research students (>£800k)

– Use of various industrial facilities and plant

– Materials, data and software

– Industrial staff time

– Other support

Universities also providing £560k for 18 part funded studentships

Drivers

Demand forecast to be relatively stable

Older plant being replaced by wind and biomass

Older coal and all oil will close due to legislation

Some nuclear ‘retired’

Some refurbishment & life extension of older combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT)

Proposal reflects conventional generation portfolio – CCGT

– Coal, with biomass

Source: Electricity Capacity Assessment,

Ofgem report to Government, October 2012

Overall Structure

PLANT

OPERATIONS

AND DESIGN

COMBUSTION

FUELS AND

OPERABILITY

STRUCTURAL

INTEGRITY &

ADVANCED

MATERIALS

PLANT EFFICIENCY

PLANT FLEXIBILITY

FUEL FLEXIBILITY

SUSTAINABILITY

Jihong Wang

Warwick Phil Bowen

Cardiff

Rachel Thomson / Catrin Davies

Loughborough / Imperial

Jon Wells Siemens

Emerson Cath Goy E.ON

Rolls-Royce

Scott Lockyer E.ON

Alstom

Sayee Raguhnathan

TWI

Chris Bagley

EG&S KTN

INTEGRATION

OF WORK

PACKAGES /

DELIVERY OF

IMPACTS

Co

ns

ort

ium

Ma

na

ge

r

WP1 – Power Plant Operations and Design

Operating strategies in the face of trade-offs

Techno-economic modelling to assess

influence of operating decisions on fuel burn

and consumption (CO2), operating cost, etc.

Adapt existing models for coal plant to predict behaviour

Feasibility study to apply to CCGT and biomass firing

Develop on-line control for coal mill monitoring for biomass

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000

-10

0

10

20

30

time (s)

dP load [MW/min]

dP genpower [MW/min]

-10

0

10

20

30

Power plant modelling

Controller analysis and

deployment

Simulation (off-line and real time)

Efficiency-Flexibility-Sustainability Map

WP2 – Combustion Fuels and Operability

SOLID FUELS / COFIRING

Interactions between

coal and biomass

New understanding of

ash chemistry for

dedicated and high

levels of biomass firing

to mitigate corrosion

GASEOUS / LIQUID / DUAL FUELS

Quantify effect of fuel type on combustion oscillations and emissions

Obtain optical measurements to understand fuel effects on combustion

performance at part and full loads using advanced laser diagnostics

Deliver guidelines for combustor design for improved fuel flexibility

X [mm]

Y[m

m]

0 50 100 150 200 250 3000

10

20

30

40

50

[m/s]

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Oscillating flame in optical

gas turbine combustor

Laser diagnostics for flow-flame

interaction

Gas Turbine Research Centre

Generic

burner

NOVEL SENSOR DEVELOPMENT

Develop flame chemiluminescence sensors for

monitoring flame characteristics in industrial combustors

Develop sensor to monitor flow velocity at exit of the

combustor to increase efficiency at part and full loads

Deliver guidelines for sensors integration in power

generation control system OH*

CH*

C2*

WP3 – Structural Integrity and Advanced Materials

NOVEL PLANT MONITORING TECHNIQUES

New emergent ACPD sensor deployed on real

plant components, providing continuous

quantitative information on the extent of

strain/damage development in-situ

Novel combination of innovative strain/damage

monitoring and FEA techniques

Development of miniature specimen test methods

ACPD sensor on a pipe Automated assessment of creep voids

ADVANCED MATERIALS

Opportunity to link materials performance to

information gathered from monitoring techniques

Development of new steels and Ni-based alloys for

future generation plant, or retrofit

Develop methodologies for refurbishment / repair

of specific critical components

Focus on increased cyclic operation (e.g. TMF) and

more aggressive environmental degradation

1 mm

Modelling damage evolution in a header hanger

Coated Nickel Based Superalloys

Thermodynamic

engine (MTDATA)

Ni thermodynamic

parameter database

Ni diffusion

parameter database Finite-Difference diffusion calculation

Oxidation Moving boundaries

MODEL

Coating

composition

Thermal

history

Substrate

composition

Coating

thickness

Output

Input

Time to coating failure

β Al

Scale

thickness

Phase

profiles

Concentration

profiles

Metal

loss

Use HPC for this

Coated Nickel Based Superalloys Developed a comprehensive modelling methodology, linked to finite

element modelling

Shown that coatings must be ‘designed in’

Used model to design new multi-layered coating systems for gas

turbine blades, and optimise refurbishment processing for blades

Research Student Training 18 PhD studentships

Ensure there is a ‘cohort’ mentality

Organise at least 2 industrial visits / training activities per year

Students will have the opportunity to undertake modules from the Eng Doc

Centre in EFET & IC, and events organised by Energy CDT Network and MEGS

Attend the EFET International Summer School

Students will be supported by industrial mentors

Very good track record of research students being employed in the sector

Register of Equipment

Loughborough has been

leading on the development of

an Open-source web-based

system for equipment sharing

Now being used by ~20

Universities in the UK and

overseas, including some of

partners

Intend to use this across the

Consortium to develop an

awareness of facilities available

for use

KITCATALOGUE

®

Consortium Links

The Consortium is open to additional collaborative projects

We will engage with a range of other programmes as appropriate,

e.g. Network of Energy DTCs, including Efficient Fossil Energy Technologies, other

Supergen programmes, UKCCS Centre, CCS for gas projects

Hub

Industrial and Academic

Stakeholders

Europe - EU Technology Platforms,

Horizon 2020, KMM-VIN

International Collaborators

e.g. USA (EPRI), Japan (NIMS), China, Korea

Novelty “novelty lies in the scale and coverage of topics dealt with collectively…”

Excited by the opportunity for true integration of different skills

Combustion control based on

novel optical sensors

Higher temperature materials

On line control implementation

Plant Flexibility

Fuel Flexibility Sustainability

Plant Efficiency

Development of new materials

systems (↓ scarce elements)

Assessments of future

operating regimes

Monitoring methods for

particulate emissions

Fuel type

Cost

Emissions levels and penalties

Issues with high levels of biomass

Impact on downstream components

Dynamic full plant models

Condition monitoring

Techno-economic modelling

Load levels, rate of change of

load

Summary

A multidisciplinary, technically balanced, team of 6 Universities with a proven track record in conventional power generation

A carefully planned research programme, striking a balance between ambition, novelty and delivery

Working collaboratively with our extensive industrial collaborators to address real challenges

Support the EPSRC goals of Delivering Impact and Developing Leaders, and helping to provide a skilled and talented workforce

Working closely with our delivery partner, the EG&S KTN, to help create and sustain an integrated network for Future Conventional Power Plant research

Thank you