GE (NYSE: GE) gas turbine technology will be used to convert a conventional power plant into the first large-scale cogeneration plant in Mexico, which will offer increased efficiency and will supply process steam to one of the country’s most important natural gas complexes. The project supports the Mexican government’s initiative to promote cogeneration as a key step in improving the efficiency of the country’s energy infrastructure.

The Mexican Congress passed energy reform legislation in 2008, as part of the country’s commitment to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% below 2002 levels by the year 2050. The government is promoting combined heat and power, or cogeneration, as an energy efficient option to help meet the country’s energy goals.

Cogeneration, the simultaneous production of electricity and heat using a single fuel such as natural gas, harnesses heat that would otherwise be wasted. This can result in higher thermal efficiency or higher heat values; also, carbon dioxide emissions can be substantially reduced.

GE will supply two Frame 7FA gas turbines for Nuevo PEMEX, a 300-megawatt cogeneration plant located in the state of Tabasco, Mexico. GE’s 7FA gas turbine has the capability to burn natural gas with high nitrogen content, which fits the profile of the available fuel at the Nuevo PEMEX site. In addition, GE has signed a 20-year Contractual Service Agreement (CSA) to provide a full range of plant services, including planned and unplanned maintenance.

The new cogeneration plant will be owned by a consortium made up of Abener and Abengoa Mexico and will supply steam and power to PEMEX, Mexico’s state-owned oil and gas company, for use at PEMEX’s existing natural gas processing facility at the site. The cogeneration plant will be able to generate between 550 and 800 tons of process steam per hour.

Abener and GE Energy have worked together successfully on a wide range of global projects to date.  Abener and Abengoa Mexico are part of Abeinsa, the Industrial Engineering and Construction arm of the Abengoa business group.

“With our advanced technology and global experience, we are well positioned to help our customers meet their energy and environmental goals,” said John Reinker, General Manager of Gas Turbine Combined-Cycle Products for GE Power & Water. “Our F-technology machines are well proven in a wide range of power generation applications worldwide, and have the flexibility to meet the specific requirements of large-scale cogeneration projects.”

www.ge.com/energy – www.ge.com

Washington, D.C. — An innovative technology that could potentially help some coal-based power generation facilities comply with anticipated new mercury emissions standards was successfully demonstrated in a recently concluded milestone project at a Michigan power plant.

Under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), WE Energies demonstrated the TOXECON^(TM) process in a $52.9million project at the Presque Isle Power Plant in Marquette, Mich. TOXECON is a relatively cost-effective option for achieving significant reductions in mercury emissions and increasing the collection efficiency of particulate matter while maximizing the use of coal combustion by-products.

The technology, which resulted from NETL research and was patented by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), involves the injection of sorbents between an existing particulate control device, such as an electrostatic precipitator, and a pulsed-jet baghouse, capturing pollutants before they are emitted into the atmosphere.

The sorbents collect in the baghouse along with the small amount of fly ash that escapes the primary particulate control. The baghouse provides excellent contact between gas and sorbent which results in high mercury-removal efficiency since the flue gas must pass through the dust cake of ash and sorbent on the bags in the baghouse. This configuration segregates the ash collected in the primary particulate control device (the precipitator) from the baghouse ash/sorbent mixture, enabling the ash collected in the primary particulate control device to continue to be sold for use in making concrete. Aside from the environmental benefits of recycling, fly ash is a vital ingredient in improving the performance of a wide range of concrete products; more than 12million tons of coal fly ash are used annually in concrete products in the United States.

During the 3-year demonstration period, the TOXECON technology removed more than 90 percent of the mercury contained in the flue gas from three 90-megawatt units firing subbituminous Powder River Basin coal. Annually, the process is expected to capture 97 pounds of mercury and 250 tons of particulate matter at the Presque Isle plant.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has indicated its intent to regulate mercury emissions from the Nation’s coal-based power plants. TOXECON technology will provide an approach for segments of the power-generating industry, especially those using western subbituminous coal, to achieve timely compliance with future mercury regulations. NETL says the process has application to an estimated 167 gigawatts of existing coal-fired capacity.

The technology is particularly important to the state of Michigan, which recently promulgated rules to reduce mercury emissions to protect its environment and, specifically, its inland lakes. The new rules require the state’s power plants to reduce mercury emissions by 90 percent by 2015.

The successful demonstration of the process, which received an R&D 100 Award as one of the 100 most significant new technologies of 2003, puts it in the position of being a leading mercury-control choice for western coals, especially in units that use a “hot-side” electrostatic precipitator located upstream of the power plant’s air preheater.

The project was part of DOE’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, a cost-shared collaboration between the Federal Government and private industry to increase investment in low-emission coal technology by demonstrating advanced coal-based power generation technologies prior to commercial deployment.

The project was administered by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and NETL. WE Energies managed the project. Among We Energies’ team members, ADA-ES conducted the test program, Cummins & Barnard provided architectural and engineering services, Wheelabrator Air Pollution Control Inc. provided baghouse design and installation support, and EPRI served as technical advisor.

The U.S. government—and major U.S. banks—seem to have lost their appetite for coal. After spending five years and approximately $50 million on preliminary studies as well as selecting a proposed site in Mattoon, Ill., the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has scuttled plans to build the so-called FutureGen power plant.

The facility would have captured the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂) that is emitted when coal is burned for electricity generation. Instead, the DOE hopes to help industry add carbon-capture-and-storage capability to advanced coal plants already in the works.

“This restructured FutureGen approach is an all-around better investment for Americans,” Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement announcing the change. The DOE is asking Congress for $407 million to research how to burn coal most efficiently, along with $241 million to demonstrate such carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies—at least $900 million less than DOE said it would have cost to complete FutureGen.[...]

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Carbon dioxide derived from burning fossil fuels totaled 1.218 billion tons in the year ended March 30, according to the report. Carbon produced by burning fuels accounts for about 90 percent of Japan’s total emissions of global-warming gases, including methane, the Nikkei said.[...]

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