Yokogawa Electric Corporation announces that Yokogawa Poland has completed installation of the FuzEvent™ combustion control solution at a waste-to-energy (WtE) plant operated by Krakowski Holding Komunalny SA in Krakow, Poland. FuzEvent was developed by Dublix Technology ApS (headquarters: Gentofte, Denmark, CEO: Asger Danielsen, hereinafter, “Dublix”), a Yokogawa subsidiary specializing in solutions that improve the efficiency of plants that burn municipal waste and biomass to generate electricity and provide steam for district heating. A performance test of this solution at the Krakow WtE plant demonstrated that it increases the waste incineration volume by 2.5% (equivalent to 5,500 tons annually if the plant is operated at full capacity). It does this while keeping harmful emissions of exhaust gases within government-set limits and ensuring a stable flow of steam for optimal operation of its steam turbine, thus maximizing the generation of electricity for the national grid and the supply of district heating to Krakow.
The Krakow WtE plant, which began operating in 2016 and is the largest such facility in Poland, has a modern design and is a well operated plant, with the capability to incinerate 245,000 tons of municipal waste per year. Approximately 100,000 MWh of electricity and 1 million GJ of heat are produced per year as a result of the combustion. It has received Green Energy certification from the Polish government, and the power that it generates is sold to the national grid.
Most modern WtE plants generate electricity by using the heat energy from the incineration of waste to produce steam that drives a turbine. Compared to conventional fuel sources, the amount of energy generated from the incineration of municipal household waste tends to vary more due to variations in moisture content and density. Extensive waste sorting, which in recent years has been introduced in many European cities, also makes this situation more complicated, and it has proven increasingly difficult to stably control this process by relying solely on conventional PID control*, even with well-designed WtE plants.
In Poland and most other European countries, there are two approaches to increasing revenue from WtE plants. The first is to keep the power plant operating at its maximum capacity by ensuring stable waste combustion conditions and maintaining steam production at a set level within the critical and safe process conditions defined for the plant, and the second is to increase the volume of waste that is incinerated by increasing the plant operational availability and thereby increasing the waste receipt and processing fees (gate fees) that are paid based on the volume of waste that is to be incinerated.
Dublix's FuzEvent™ system is a high-performance combustion control solution based on a unique high level control technology that leverages this company's combustion process know-how. It can be installed as an addition to the existing control systems without having to add new plant sensors, change already established control structures, or make expensive modifications to existing equipment, and it enables centralized management with an integrated production control system. By tackling the root issues of municipal waste combustion and ensuring stable combustion, it allows plants to operate at full capacity and increase the amount of electricity and steam that they produce, while also increasing the volume of waste that is incinerated.
As part of this project, experts from Dublix who possessed an in-depth knowledge of WtE plants and were highly experienced in performing a range of simulations provided consulting services that included the conduct of a feasibility survey to estimate the benefits that the FuzEvent™ solution would have in increasing the waste incineration volume and electrical and thermal power output at this plant, following which they analyzed past operational data and the operational methods of the plant's highly experienced operators. Through the survey, it was found that the waste incineration volume at this plant could be increased by 2.5% (equivalent to a 5,500 ton per annum increase if operated at full capacity).
Yokogawa's Koji Nakaoka (Senior Vice President and Head of the Energy & Sustainability Business Headquarters and the Global Sales Headquarters) said: “I am very proud of the way in which the introduction of Dublix's high-performance combustion control solution has brought about a quantitative improvement to the customer's numerical indicators and will contribute significantly to an increase in revenue. For companies around the world that operate waste-to-energy plants, Yokogawa will provide support to increase revenues and contribute to ESG management, based on the foundation of our unique and high-quality technology and consulting capabilities.”
*PID control is a fundamental control technology that is used in the process industries and in certain factory automation applications, and is broadly used to control items such as flow rate, temperature, level, pressure, and materials. Based on P (proportional), I (integral, and D (derivative) calculations that are carried out according to the deviation between a current value and a set value, control is implemented toward a target value.
For more information: info [at] dublix.com (info[dot]Dublix[at]yokogawa[dot]com)
About Krakowski Holding Komunalny SA
KHK SA is a sole proprietorship of the Municipality of Krakow, and is one of the 300 largest enterprises in Poland. The Krakowski Holding Komunalny group includes: Miejskie Przedsi bior- stwo Komunikacyjne SA (Public Transportation Company), Wodociqgi Miasta Krakowa SA (Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company), Miejskie Przedsi biorstwo Energetyki Cieplnej SA (Municipal Heat Supply Company), Arena Krakow SA. All companies determine the quality of life in the city and comfort of its residents.
The Krakowski Holding Komunalny SA is a parent company in the Capital Tax Group, which is responsible for tax settle- ments, and for 25 years these allowed to generate over PLN 100 million, which were entirely allocated to investments in urban infrastructure.
The priority direction of KHK SA activity is to strive for energy self-sufficiency and climate neutrality of the capital group's companies, based on renewable energy sources in the circular economy model.
Realization of the above activities takes place both within the companies themselves, as well as through cooperation with universities and scientific institutes. The Krakowski Holding Komunalny SA also expands cooperation networks through international contacts, which will enable a wider access to modern and innovative technologies that can be transferred to the Municipality of Krakow.
About Yokogawa
Yokogawa provides advanced solutions in the areas of measurement, control, and information to customers across a broad range of industries, including energy, chemicals, materials, pharmaceuticals, and food. Yokogawa addresses customer issues regarding the optimization of production, assets, and the supply chain with the effective application of digital technologies, enabling the transition to autonomous operations.
Founded in Tokyo in 1915, Yokogawa continues to work toward a sustainable society through its 17,000+ employees in a global network of 129 companies spanning 60 countries.
For more information, visit www.yokogawa.com