Fuel Flexibility Solutions for Power & Industrial Plants

Fuel Flexibility

Power plants are increasingly under pressure to diversify their fuel diet and consider alternative fuel sources to maintain fuel security and manage costs. However, changes to the fuel diet can significantly impact plant performance and reliability, particularly when using lower-quality fuels or those the plant was not originally designed to burn.

To minimise the risk of unforeseen problems, any proposed fuel change must be carefully evaluated. A whole-plant assessment is essential, considering:

Fuel handling
Combustion performance
Slagging & fouling
Heat transfer & emissions

More information on biomass co-firing or conversions

The Challenges Facing Plant Operators

Some of the main challenges that plant operators face include:

Managing variable fuel quality and inconsistent calorific values
Adapting burners and combustion systems for low CV coals
Maintaining mill throughput to maintain load
Managing plant limitations with low CV coals – such as fan capacity constraints
Maintaining stable, efficient ignition across different fuel matrices
Controlling accelerated boiler tube erosion, corrosion, and material wastage
Mitigating increased slagging, fouling, and ash deposition on heat transfer surfaces
Meeting tight emissions regulations (including NOx, CO and dust limits) under shifting firing regimes

RJM Fuel Assessment

The costs and risks associated with firing a new coal need to be quantified to fully understand the true cost of fuel changes. A fuel assessment carried out by RJM helps support fuel procurement and blending decisions, allowing generators to minimise operational risks and maximise commercial opportunities.

RJM employs industry-leading coal experts with decades of experience. They can provide valuable insights into the performance impacts associated with new fuels and fuel blends using specialised analytical tools and RJM’s extensive database of international fuels.

Key Services

Pre-screening desktop evaluation to determine whether a coal is suitable for a trial burn
Development of an add-on cost model to show the true value of a new coal relative to a “reference” fuel
Station trial burn support including test plan preparation, analysis of the trial burn results and assessment of the coal’s impact on the materials handling plant, mills, combustion and boiler performance
Detailed fuel characterisation testing to evaluate and quantify the combustion, slagging and fouling behaviour of coals in detail, which allows the combustion behaviour of a fuel to be thoroughly understood