Together with the technology company ANDRITZ, the Pohjolan Voima energy company has commissioned the Metris BOA measurement and analysis system, which is unique in Finland. It is used to extend the service life of power plant boilers, decrease maintenance costs and reduce emissions. The digital development cooperation is related to the discontinuation of the use of fossil fuels.
Since 2017, Hämeenkyrön Voima, a subsidiary of Pohjolan Voima, has been increasingly using recycled fuel, i.e., fuel made from separately collected waste from construction, retail and industry. Using replacements for fossil fuels at power plants creates requirements for power plant technology. For example, erosion and corrosion damage to boilers increases, and new methods are required for the monitoring of sulphur balance and boiler performance.
“When making the switch to recycled fuel, we already knew that the varying quality of the fuel and the impact of the new fuels on the boiler would pose challenges to us. In addition, abandoning peat has required changes to the boiler technology”, says Jarmo Tervo, Manager, Technology and Projects, Pohjolan Voima.
A quicker and more precise picture
In 2018, Pohjolan Voima started developing a measurement and analysis system together with ANDRITZ to optimise the plant’s operation in a new situation. The goal was to get answers, for example, on how to measure the situation of the boiler in real time, how to continuously monitor fuel quality, what risk of corrosion there is at certain times, and how to monitor the boiler’s sulphur balance and pollution.
“Answers to seemingly innocent process related questions – e.g what is the corrosion risk in superheater area now, or when did the fuels that we’re firing now arrive to the site – demand potentially a lot of complicated calculations or a chain of reasoning that might come naturally only to a process specialist. Because all necessary data refining is not feasible or even possible to do in the automation system, it has been our goal in the Metris BOA project to bring the substance knowledge of process specialists into digital services, in which we can choose the most suitable tool for each use case”, Antti Rossi, BOA development manager at ANDRITZ says.
The Metris BOA system by ANDRITZ is still in the testing stage in Hämeenkyrö, but the current operating experience already shows that the reports visualised based on comprehensive data provide the plant operator with a quicker and more precise overview of the boiler’s status than what was previously available.
Tests carried out at the Hämeenkyrö biopower plant indicate that the new system decreases emissions and helps with the management of maintenance costs and availability. In addition, the quality of ash has improved at the plant.
“This pilot project is a part of Pohjolan Voima’s determined development work towards ending the use of fossil fuels and achieving the company’s carbon neutrality targets”, Tervo says.
“In this project with Hämeenkyrön Voima we have been able to get close to the everyday life of our customer and think together the ways in which refining the plant data from different sources can add value. It has been also very valuable to have our end customers, the operators, along in the development of the product, Rossi says.
The Hämeenkyrön Voima power plant is a combined heat and power plant. The biopower plant was completed in 2012. The boiler plant was also delivered by ANDRITZ.
Further information:
Jarmo Tervo, Vice President, Technology and Projects, Pohjolan Voima Oyj, tel. 358 50 313 3308, Jarmo.tervo@pvo.fi
More information about Metris BOA:
Johannes Bolhar-Nordenkampf, Product Manager IIoT, ANDRITZ AG, puh. +43 (676) 89501 4785, go to our product homepage www.andritz.com/metris-boa or contact us directly via email metris.boa@andritz.com
Pohjolan Voima is a versatile and skilful Finnish energy company. Our shareholders are also our customers: a wide range of Finnish industrial and energy companies. We produce electricity and heat at cost price to our customers with hydropower, thermal power and nuclear power. Our share of the total electricity generation in Finland is approximately 20%. Already 96% of our electricity generation is carbon neutral.
We create decisive power to strengthen competitiveness and contribute to a better tomorrow.
Pohjolan Voima – Decisive Power.www.pohjolanvoima.fi
ANDRITZ is a globally leading supplier of plants, equipment, and services for hydropower stations, the pulp and paper industry, the metalworking and steel industries, and for solid/liquid separation in the municipal and industrial sectors as well as for animal feed and biomass pelleting. Other important business segments include automation and service business.
Plants for power generation, flue gas cleaning, recycling, and the production of nonwovens and panelboard complete the global product and service offering. Innovative products and services in the industrial digitalization sector are offered under the brand name Metris and help customers to make their plants more user-friendly, efficient and profitable. The publicly listed technology Group is headquartered in Graz, Austria and has a staff of approximately 26,700 employees located all over the world and operates more than 280 sites in over 40 countries.
ANDRITZ offers Bubbling Fluidized Bed (PowerFluid) and Circulating Fluidized Bed (EcoFluid) technologies for boilers producing steam and electricity from renewable fuels. These technologies employ proven, yet modern techniques to efficiently produce power while keeping the emissions within environmentally safe limits. The different technologies are distinguished by capacity, fuel, and applications.
The first step towards autonomous power boilers is our digital advisor Metris BOA – a web application that utilizes big data (B) to optimize (O) and analyze (A) the power plant processes and monitor the equipment installed. The Center of Excellence for Metris BOA is located in Finland.