Opportunities for Implementation of FBC Boilers in Romania

The evolution and current status of fluidized bed technology in Romania are presented. After a period of about 10 years when the FBC technology was rejected as a solution for power generation, due to the new environmental restrictions, the market is open again. Potential users are especially industrial units with high energy consumption, having combustibile wastes resulting from the technological processes. Two case studies are presented. The first is the utility from the city of Motru, producing thermal agent for the town district heating. It is currently equipped with one FB boiler (11.6 MWt hot water) and two pulverized coal boilers (50 t/h steam). The equipment is more than 40 years old, and is no longer acceptable in terms of thermal efficiency and pollutant emmissions. Taking into consideration the important biomass resources from the area, it was decided to build a new CFB boiler firing a mixture of local fuels — lignite and biomass waste. The second case study is ELECTROCARBON S.A. Slatina, the second important polluter from Olt county, producing carbon electrodes for use in metallurgy. Carbon waste resulting from the technological process have been deposited for many years in a nearby landfill, amounting to about 1.2 million tons. In spite of its high calorific value, because of the low volatile content and the grinding difficulties, little use was found for this material. Investigations are carried out to burn it in a fluidized bed boiler located near the site, that would replace two existing heat recovery steam generators producing electricity for the internal consumption.