Neural network approach to predicting mercury emission from utility boiler

The feasibility of using an ANN method to predict the mercury emission and speciation in the flue gas of a power station under un-tested combustion/operational conditions is evaluated. Based on existing field testing datasets for the emissions of three utility boilers, a 3-layer back-propagation network is applied to predict the mercury speciation at the stack. The whole prediction procedure includes： collection of data, structuring an artificial neural network （ANN） model, training process and error evaluation. A total of 59 parameters of coal and ash analyses and power plant operating conditions are treated as input variables, and the actual mercury emissions and their speciation data are used to supervise the training process and verify the performance of prediction modeling. The precision of model prediction （ root- mean-square error is 0. 8 μg/Nm3 for elemental mercury and 0. 9 μg/Nm3 for total mercury） is acceptable since the spikes of semi- mercury continuous emission monitor （SCEM） with wet conversion modules are taken into consideration.

Transformation of mercury speciation through the SCR system in power plants

Coal-fired utility boilers are now identified as the largest source of mercury in the United States. There is speculation that the installation of selective catalytic reduction （SCR） system for reduction of NOx can also prompt the oxidation and removal of mercury. In this paper, tests at six full-scale power plants with similar type of the SCR systems are conducted to investigate the effect of the SCR on the transformation of mercury speciation. The results show that the SCR system can achieve more than 70%-80% oxidation of elemental mercury and enhance the mercury removal ability in these units. The oxidation of elemental mercury in the SCR system strongly depends on the coal properties and the operation conditions of the SCR systems. The content of chloride in the coal is the key factor for the oxidization process and the maximum oxidation of elemental mercury is found when chloride content changes from 400 to 600 ppm. The sulfur content is no significant impact on oxidation of elemental mercury.

Accommodation of Curtailed Wind Power by Electric Boilers Equipped in Different Locations of Heat-supply Network for Power System with CHPs

Electric boilers (EBs) provide an alternative method to deal with the accommodation of curtailed wind power. To pursue the minimum coal consumption in the system, a dispatching model integrating combined-heat-and-power (CHP) plants and EBs in different locations is developed, and the penalty of wind power curtailment and cost of EB employment are also incorporated in the model. The transmission loss and transportation lag of heat-supply network as well as the elasticity of heat load are considered in this paper. A kind of constrained programming with stochastic and fuzzy parameters is applied to deal with the uncertainties. A case in East Inner Mongolia in China demonstrates that the EBs are able to absorb curtailed wind power and supply the heat. The results indicate that the utility of EBs in the primary or secondary heat-supply network to accommodate curtailed wind power is mainly related to the efficiency of heat transmission and the elasticity of heat load.

Flexibility Improvement of CHP Unit for Wind Power Accommodation

Improving the flexibility of combined heat and power(CHP)units is an important way to solve the problem of wind power accommodation in northern China.Firstly,this paper analyzes the principle of an extraction-type CHP unit,calculates its safe operation range,and analyzes its contradiction between heating and peaking.Secondly,the safe operation ranges of the CHP unit with several flexibility modifications are further calculated,which involve two-stage bypass,low-pressure cylinder(LPC)removal,heat storage tank,and electric boiler.Finally,based on the safe operation ranges,their effects on improving the capabilities of deep peak shaving and wind power accommodation are compared,and their adaptabilities to different wind scenarios are analyzed.The results show that:①all flexibility modifications can improve the deep peak shaving capability of the CHP unit,especially for the two-stage bypass and the electric boiler;②LPC removal modification can accommodate wind power to some extent,but most of wind power is still abandoned;③heat storage tank modification is unstable in different wind scenarios,which is determined by the surplus heating capability during the daytime.

Carbon emission impact on the operation of virtual power plant with combined heat and power system

A virtual power plant （VPP） can realize the aggregation of distributed generation in a certain region, and represent distributed generation to participate in the power market of the main grid. With the expansion of VPPs and ever-growing heat demand of consumers, managing the effect of fluctuations in the amount of available renewable resources on the operation of VPPs and maintaining an economical supply of electric power and heat energy to users have been important issues. This paper proposes the allocation of an electric boiler to realize wind power directly converted for supplying heat, which can not only overcome the limitation of beat output from a combined heat and power （CHP） unit, but also reduce carbon emissions from a VPP. After the electric boiler is considered in the VPP operation model of the combined heat and power system, a multi-objective model is built, which includes the costs of carbon emissions, total operation of the VPP and the electricity traded between the VPP and the main grid. The model is solved by the CPLEX package using the fuzzy membership function in Matlab, and a case study is presented. The power output of each unit in the case study is analyzed under four scenarios. The results show that after carbon emission is taken into account, the output of low carbon units is significantly increased, and the allocation of an electric boiler can facilitate the maximum absorption of renewable energy, which also reduces carbon emissions from the VPP.