INERCO’S ABACO technology reduces emissisons at Atco Power Thermal Plant in Canada by 20%

INERCO has successfully implemented its ABACO technology at the multinational ATCO Power’s Battle River thermal plant in Alberta (Canada). The project was carried out by INERCO’s American subsidiary INERCO ETech, and aims to optimise the energy use and reduce the emissions of unit five of the plant, with 405 MW generation capacity, using the company’s proprietary ABACO technology.

In the case of the Battle River plant, the action that was carried out enabled compliance with the new Canadian regulations on nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions and the prolongation of the plant’s useful life. Using the ABACO Opticom monitoring technology, it is possible to obtain real-time profiles of the concentrations of gases generated in the boiler (O₂, CO, CO₂, NO_X). This information enables the ABACO system to constantly, automatically adjust the set’s operating parameters, putting it at optimal functioning and reinforcing safe operation.

The project initially aimed to reduce NO_x by between 15% and 20%, although the ABACO system achieved reductions above 20% in all cases, with 40% reductions in certain situations.

EMISSION REDUCTION AND IMPROVED PLANT PERFORMANCE

In parallel to this, the technology has made it possible to increase the plant’s overall performance by 0.5%, with equivalent reductions in CO₂ emissions, and has mitigated operational problems associated to combustion (such as corrosion and slagging), improved the carbon content of ashes produced as a by-product, increased the flexibility of fuel use and improved the safety of boiler operation.

Alongside the implementation of the technology at the plant, INERCO is carrying out online supervision of the system, issuing periodic reports to ATCO Power. It is possible in this way to adapt the plant’s operation to new scenarios not considered initially.

According to Enrique Bosch, managing director of INERCO ETech USA, “ATCO Power chose our technology because it was able to achieve significant NOx reductions at a very competitive cost and an implementation timeframe of under one year.” “The project was carried out in 10 months; since then, unit five’s NO_x emissions have reduced by 20% on average, peaking at 40% in intermediate load and technical minimum scenarios.”

The project at the Battle River plant is another implementation of ABACO optimisation technology in the Americas, following the projects carried out in Chile and Colombia and another currently underway in Brazil. ABACO’s effectiveness has been demonstrated in over 150 projects carried out at 75 industrial facilities around the world at coal, natural gas and liquid fuel plants.