Doosan Power Systems has chosen Emerson Process Management's PlantWeb digital plant architecture with the Ovation control system to control a new carbon capture demonstration project at the SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy) Ferrybridge coal-fired power station in the north of England.
Development of viable carbon capture technology is central to the UK's climate change and energy security objectives, and this project will demonstrate the technology on a semi-commercial scale over a two-year period beginning in 2011.
Currently under construction, the demonstration project will be the largest in Europe, capturing 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide per day – the equivalent of what might be produced by five megawatts of coal-fired power generating capacity. The carbon capture process consists of an absorption column that uses amine to absorb the carbon dioxide, a stripper column that extracts the carbon dioxide from the amine, and auxiliary processes that polish the amine for reuse and collect the by-products.
"The unique significance of the project lies in its scale and its ability to demonstrate the operational characteristics of a capture plant on an actual power station,'' said Mark Bryant, director carbon capture, Doosan Power Systems. "Emerson's automation technology is used extensively within the power generation industry and will provide us with reliable, accurate and efficient plant control and the flexibility to adapt as carbon-capture technology evolves."
The PlantWeb architecture – including the Ovation expert control system, a range of Rosemount intelligent measurement instruments, Fisher digital control valves, and Control Techniques variable speed drives – will provide accurate and efficient control of the carbon capture process. The Ovation system will also provide an interface to operations and maintenance systems, collect and distribute plant-wide information for process management, and enable performance analysis of the carbon capture process.
Emerson's smart wireless technology, based on the international IEC 62591 (WirelessHART) standard, will provide a plant-wide, self-organising wireless network to enable quick and simple repositioning of transmitters, as well as reduce the cost of implementing additional measurement points in the future.
Foundation fieldbus technology will also be used to connect Rosemount high-density temperature transmitters to the control system.
Emerson specialists will be responsible for the design and installation of the control system, as well as overseeing the commissioning and start-up. Emerson will also provide consulting services to support the selection of additional automation technology.