kelma

Where would we be without power generation...? Everyone agrees that power generation is indispensable but at the same time awareness grows that there is no unlimited source of fossil fuels and that the use of these fossil fuels do have an impact on the environment. Therefore power plants are being optimised to gain a higher efficiency and lower emissions at the same time. Doing so, it is clear that in order to obtain the best results, a continuous follow-up of all relevant parameters is required. This is where Kelma can help!

Much of the power generated is used for production which in the end will lead to waste. This waste can partly be used for methanisation to produce methane which can once again produce power. But often waste is burnt. During this combustion a lot of irritating or toxic gases are set free. It is clear they have to be removed from the gas stream coming out of the waste incinerator before these gases leave from the stack. Nowadays, thanks to energy and heat recuperation, a waste incinerator is a power plant in its own, continuously generating steam and electricity. Although the fuel is solid and the gas treatment is more extensive, both waste incinerators and classic power plants have a very similar configuration.

We have developed a product range that can be used at various points in all the above mentioned plants, from the fuel supply all the way to the stack.

When it comes to biogas, often the power generation is smaller scale than a traditional plant and it is built at the site where the biogas is generated (e.g. on a landfill site). This raw biogas contains pollutants that can seriously damage the engines used to generate power. Therefore the biogas passes several cleaning steps. With our biogas analyser systems it is possible to continuously monitor the concentrations of all relevant gases at any step in this cleaning process.

If methane is being used as a fuel in a power plant, an explosion monitoring system is will alert you in case of leakage. With our portable methane laser detectors with a range covering some ppm's up to 100 vol% you will be able to find even the smallest leaks. Furthermore, the quality of the gas being provided can vary which will have an impact on the efficiency of the combustion process. For that reason our Rhadox analysers are your ideal instrument to continuously monitor the Wobbe Index, air demand, density and LCV of the gas coming in to the power plant.

But also in coal fired power plants, the fuel can be a serious threat when not monitored: CO needs to be monitored at all times to detect a smouldering fire and to prevent an explosion. For that reason, in grinders often also O₂ is monitored to check the inertisation process.

When burning a fuel, in order to have an optimum combustion and to have minimum emissions, the temperature and air supply are crucial. For monitoring the air supply our in-situ oxygen probes, combined with a flow measurement are the perfect match. In some applications, our non-contact temperature measurements may also help you to monitor the boiler temperature.

Unfortunately, no matter how efficient the combustion process itself may be, there will always be undesired by-products from this combustion. These require action being taken!

Dust will have to be removed using the appropriate set of filters. In order to detect a break-through well on time, our dust monitors provide a cost-efficient solution.

Apart from particles, the flue gas also contains unwanted gaseous components like NOx, SO₂, CO₂ and many others which should be reduced to acceptable levels in order to minimise their impact on the environment and public health. The gas scrubbers required also use energy and often even chemicals to wash out the unwanted components. An efficient scrubber uses as few energy as required consuming a minimum amount of chemicals. For a fast response, in general an in-situ analyser is the best choice for a continuous process control of e.g. NOx and SO₂ at the inlet and outlet of the gas cleaners. For a DeNOx installation an NH₃ analyser at the outlet is also a valuable asset to reduce the NH₃ slip. For carbon capture projects using solvents as a capturing agent, our Gasmet FTIR analysers have proven to be a perfect match.

Finally the gases will be emitted from the stack of the plant. In order to prevent pollution to the environment and health concerns, governments apply strict and ever lower emission limits. We can provide you all instruments required to continuously monitor the stack emissions of a power plant as well as the equipment to permanently register these emission data with all required mathematics to produce the reports as requested by your government. All our instruments have the required test certificates to prove their conformity to the European emission regulations.