Neyveli Lignite's 250 MW boiler operating at full load

Pakistan Telegraph (IANS) Tuesday 7th February, 2012

Power equipment major Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) Tuesday said it had successfully demonstrated full-load operation of its 250 MW circulating fluidised bed combustion (CFBC) boiler at Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd (NLC).

In a statement issued here, BHEL said: "The successful demonstration of the unit's performance signals the use of a new technology for utilising India's vast lignite resource in an environmentally friendly and efficient manner."

BHEL had supplied four CFBC boilers to NLC. While the two 250 MW units are located in its home town and near the pit head at Neyveli in Tamil Nadu, the other two units (2x125 MW) are in Rajasthan. Both the CFBC projects - Neyveli and Rajasthan- ran into technical problems delaying their commissioning.

The NLC was upset for the two year delay in commissioning of the two units at Neyveli.

A senior BHEL executive had told IANS that one of the 250 MW CFBC boiler was lit up couple of days back and the second unit will be lit up soon.

The two 125 MW CFBC boilers supplied to NLC's Rajasthan unit are functioning well. With this NLC is generating a total of 500 MW of power from the new technology.

According to BHEL, the 250 MW boiler is the highest CFBC boiler capacity in the whole of south east Asia and has several advanced technical features.

The CFBC technology also helped in overcoming one of the perennial problems faced in Neyveli due to presence of marcasite (a form of iron sulphide) which causes slagging at operating temperatures and forms ash deposits on waterwall tubes, BHEL said.

BHEL, with its strong technology sourcing from Lentjes, Germany, active collaborative projects with leading Indian and international institutes and utilising one the largest CFBC test rig facilities in the world, is uniquely positioned to customise design to meet the varying fuel properties while meeting international standards.

The BHEL official had told IANS that BHEL will now showcase NLC as the reference sites to market the CFBC boilers in overseas markets like South Africa.