Design of a 2 x 160 MW_el CFB Boiler Utilizing High Sulfur Turkish Lignite

Advantages of fluidized bed combustion technology such as the ability to burn wide variety of fuels efficiently and to control pollutant emissions without flue gas treatment systems have led to a steady increase in its commercial use over the past decades. There exist widely spread lignite reserves in Turkey with an estimated total quantity of 8 billion tons. A major proportion of this indigenous lignite is characterized by high sulfur, moisture and ash contents. CFBC is the fastest growing and still developing technology especially for such indigenous fuels. Meeting the environmental requirements needs high desulfurization efficiency. Special emphasis must therefore be given to the optimum use of the desulfurization agents, normally limestone, to achieve economical operation and to minimize solid by-product generation. This paper deals with a 2 × 160 MW_el CFB plant, currently under construction in C¸an, Turkey. Indigenous lignite with a sulfur content of more than 8% (daf) will be utilized. In order to test the performance of Turkish lignites from C¸an mines, firing tests were performed at the 1.2 MW CFBC test rig at the Niederaussem power plant of RWE Rheinbraun in Germany. Main objective of the tests was to evaluate the sulfur retention efficiency to comply with Turkish emission limits.