Energy from waste combustion

Whether it is fuelled by municipal waste (MSW) or biomass, a waste-to-energy power plant uses a combustion process to raise steam for a steam turbine generator.

Howden equipment plays an important role in the combustion process. Centrifugal fans are deployed as Forced Draught (FD) fans to supply fresh air for the combustion of waste materials, and as Induced Draught (ID) fans to draw the flue gases through a dust collection system.

The steam generated in the boiler can be used as process steam for district heating or to drive a steam turbine for the production of electricity. Howden legacy steam turbine brands (Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch and Peter Brotherhood) are renowned for handling load variations, and thus switching between the different outputs.

The combustion process can be made more efficient through preheating the combustion air. To do this, Howden supply regenerative rotary air preheaters, which slowly rotate at around 1-2 rpm, absorbing heat from the hot gas stream in thin metal heat transfer elements and transferring it to the incoming cold air stream.

• Process air supply and transfer within the combustion and emissions treatment plant
• Electrical power and heat energy supply from steam generation
• Fired equipment such as ovens, incinerators and dryers
• Cooling air associated with air cooled heater exchangers (ACHE), cooling towers and air cooled condensers (ACC)

• Centrifugal fans - for FD or ID
• Steam turbines - up to 40MWe
• Package air preheaters (APH) - pre-engineered heaters in a compact unit
• Cooling fans - high performance/low noise
• Maintenance and repair of rotating equipment - Howden or other brands
• Equipment upgrades and retrofit/replacements to meet increased performance demands or duties

Parní turbíny

Společnost Howden nabízí standardní konfigurovatelné parní turbíny i řešení plně přizpůsobená potřebám zákazníka, přičemž vycházíme z dědictví značek Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch a Peter Brotherhood. Our steam turbines deliver over 1000 MW of installed power in Waste-to-Energy Power Plants globally. They are used extensively with small-scale industrial power, waste heat recovery and renewable energy systems

Waste comes in many forms, with our turbines fed from steam generated by the incineration of municipal waste, waste steam from industrial processes and wood biomass. One of our customers, a sawmill, uses our steam turbine to generate 24MW of electrical power, while another incinerates sewage sludge for 3.3MW of energy recovery.

Our turbines are used to support agricultural waste to energy such as one customer in Spain using olive waste for a 8MW turbine. This turbine provides steam for the facility as well as electrical output to the grid. Another customer incinerates Meat and Meal Bone (MBM) to generate 14MW of electrical power, which supplies local industry and homes.

The sugar industry is also a large producer of energy from waste materials. The 'bagasse' (sugar cane waste material) is burned to raise steam for process needs as well as electrical output. We have supplied over 500 steam turbines to this particular segment.

Odstředivé ventilátory

Naše ventilátory sahají od konfigurovaných po plně konstruované tak, aby splňovaly širokou škálu požadavků zákazníků. Naše inženýrské schopnosti jdou ruku v ruce s našimi znalostmi, zkušenostmi a schopnostmi přizpůsobovat a vyvíjet nová provedení pro specifické požadavky.

All fans are designed to maximize efficient operation with some reaching over 90% depending on application and operation.

Package air preheaters

Regenerative air preheaters aim to increase the efficiency of the boiler by 10-15%.

The package air preheater product range provides operators looking to recover energy from fired equipment a highly efficient, low maintenance solution in a compact footprint. It can handle flue gas flows of under 50 tonnes per hour to around 200 tonnes per hour and recovered energy can extend to over 15MW depending on gas temperature drop.

Tyto ohřívače lze začlenit do vývoje nových závodů a také jako náhradu alternativních technologií v rámci provozoven. Na všechny ohřívače se vztahují globální předprodejní a poprodejní služby společnosti Howden, aby bylo zajištěno snadné projektování a spolehlivý dlouhodobý výkon.

Chladicí ventilátory

Howden has a wide range of fans to meet performance requirements and deliver outstanding performance in efficiency and noise levels, regardless of cooling plant design.

Our fans can operate in cooling towers, air cooled condensers and air cooled heat exchangers with a low pressure drop of up to 250 Pa and high air flow volume of up to 3000 m3/s.

Twence waste-to-energy plant in the Netherlands needed to increase the performance and output of the turbine during the hot summer periods. This can be achieved by increasing the water-steam cycle efficiency through increase of the turbine backpressure. A precondition was to keep the noise emission at the same level due to local regulations.

Increasing the airflow through their Air-Cooled Condensers (ACC) was necessary and achievable by increasing the speed of the existing fans, but the consequence of increased speed is also an increase of noise level. For this reason the Howden SXT, an ultra-low noise fan was selected as it delivers more airflow while running at a lower speed. The SXT fan also fits the existing fan ring giving considerable savings with regards to installation time and capex.

10 SXT fans were installed, increasing the airflow per fan by ~29%. This has resulted in about 10,5% more power output from the plant at the same ambient temperature and steam flow.

The plant went further by installing Howden Uptime (our condition monitoring system) to reduce unplanned maintenance on their cooling fans, resulting in higher efficiency and productivity.

Aftermarket solutions

Howden’s aftermarket services consistently minimise costs and downtime whilst improving the performance of your operations. Collaborating with us is key to continuous, efficient equipment performance with minimum downtime over its lifetime.

For waste to energy plants, we offer a complete aftermarket solution that covers the entire process, ranging from axial fans, centrifugal fans, cooling fans, compressors, heaters and electrostatic precipitators to steam turbines, gearboxes and generators.

Howden’s maintenance philosophy is based on minimising the total cost of ownership by determining the most efficient balance between availability and reliability. We safeguard reliability by fully investigating any failures that occur, and preventing their recurrence. Our engineering experience and the feedback we receive allows us to continually improve our maintenance strategies and plans, which have evolved into a comprehensive and flexible modular system designed to actively optimise the performance of your plant.

Howden supplies genuine OEM spare parts that are made to the same high performance standards as our products. This means that each part will fit perfectly and maintain the high quality standards your process equipment needs to operate reliably and efficiently.

By leveraging the capabilities of our subsidiary Maintenance Partners, we offer services, spare parts and upgrades of steam turbines, gearboxes and generators of any brand.

• Kontroly
• Minor/Major Overhauls
• Reverse engineering of spare parts
• Opravy
• LTSA contracts & MP Connectivity

Howden Uptime is a unique digital solution that gathers the physical sensor data from any kind of rotating equipment and analyses how it operates and responds to the environment.

This solution is designed to provide invaluable insight into asset performance, that can increase the availability of the equipment while significantly reducing costs. Howden Uptime brings the following benefits:

• Extend maintenance intervals
• Expert advice close at hand
• Avoid unplanned downtime
• Secure data solutions