OPERATION & MAINTENANCE OF POWER PLANTS
determined by the gas network operator with gas chromatographs are suddenly too inaccurate. For gas engines, the gas quality is not indicated with the calorifi c value or the Wobbe index, but with the methane number. T e methane number indicates how knock-resistant a fuel is in a gas engine. Knocking occurs when the fuel-air mixture in the engine cylinder ignites spontaneously and can damage the engine. A higher methane number indicates a fuel that is resistant to knock.
The coastal power plant in Kiel with the heat storage tank on the left and the four chimneys for fi ve 10 MWel gas engines each
Image courtesy of Stadtwerke Kiel
DELIVERING REAL-TIME MEASUREMENT DATA For the coastal power plant, a gasQS fl onic from Mems was installed directly at the gas transfer station. Every 30 seconds, it determines the methane number and the heating value, which it transmits to the control centre. T e Jenbacher gas engines are controlled on basis of this data. T e measurement data have shown that the fl uctuations in the natural gas network are not just theory. Between commissioning and today, the methane number has dropped from 91 to 80.
T e methane number does not
directly aff ect the effi ciency of a gas engine, but it can indirectly aff ect the ability of the control system to optimise fuel combustion, which in turn aff ects effi ciency. A project at the Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt (EMPA) in 2016 showed that up to 1.3% effi ciency can be gained by adjusting the ignition curve (see Measurement 91 (2016) 661-679). A rough estimate shows that with an
effi ciency increase of only 0.1%, the operator already saves €2,000 per day. So not only has it increased the reliability of its power plant, but it has already recouped the investment after just one week. T e gasQS fl onic installed four years ago runs maintenance-free, stable, with high accuracy and to the great satisfaction of the power plant operator, Stadtwerke Kiel.
Florian Krischker is product manager gasQS at Mems
www.mems.ch
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