DOE Selects Projects to Improve Gasifier Temperature Measurement

The Department of Energy has awarded four cooperative agreements totaling $1.04 million to improve the accuracy and reliability of temperature measurement systems in future gasifiers.

The next generation of power plants in the 21st century can be more efficient and affordable to consumers if plant operators have better ways to measure and control key operating conditions inside power generating systems.

Temperature is one of the principal examples.

Tomorrow's power fleet likely will be increasingly comprised of advanced plants that gasify coal rather than burning it. Operating the coal gasifier at exactly the right temperature - optimized for both the plant equipment and the type of coal - will be a key factor in efficient operation. And optimum efficiency translates directly into low costs of electric power to consumers or lower cost liquid fuels and chemicals that can be made from the coal gas.

The four cooperative agreements that the U.S. Department of Energy is awarding are intended to improve the accuracy and reliability of future temperature measurement systems.

The project awards particularly emphasize bench-scale development of real-time temperature measurement systems for high-temperature, high-pressure gasifiers. Some of the project embed sensors inside the gasifier and gas stream; others use non-invasive measurement methods. In addition to developing the actual measurement systems, the projects will analyze where the systems should be positioned, how they can be mounted and operated, and the best manner for preventing the systems from fouling.

The projects are:

• Texaco Inc., South El Monte, California, will design, assemble and test its infrared ratio pyrometer system that measures gasifier temperature in less time than conventional methods. The system includes an optical access port and nitrogen purge system. Data from the project will be used to fabricate and bench test an updated system in one or more commercial gasifiers. Proposed DOE award: $121,170. Project duration: 12 months. Technical contact: Maria Balmas, (562) 908-7312.

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, will develop single-crystal sapphire fiber temperature sensors capable of operating in temperatures up to 3,000 degrees F in slagging gasification systems. Three different sensor configurations will be examined, and the approach that best measures gas-phase temperatures in entrained flow slagging gasifiers will be further developed and tested. Sensors will be tested in an apparatus, designed and built by Virginia Tech, that simulates a gasifier's high-temperature, corrosive gas-phase and molten slag conditions. Dynegy Inc., a leader in commercial gasification technology for utility and industrial applications, will collaborate with Virginia Tech on this project. Proposed DOE award: $343,970. Project duration: 30 months. Technical contacts: Anbo Wang, (540) 231-4355 or Russell May (540) 231-5283.

• Integrated Environmental Technologies LLC, Benton County, Washington, will develop a non-contact, reliable temperature monitor that is accurate, easy to install, maintain, cost-effective and safe for operator personnel. Millimeter-wave pyrometry will be adapted for use in gasification-based power plants. Two different millimeter-wave frequencies will be used to make measurements of the gas temperature and the slag temperature. Proposed DOE award: $240,000. Project duration: 36 months. Technical contact: David A. Lamar (509) 946-5700.

• FluoreScience Inc., Anderson County, Tennessee, will demonstrate a thermographic-phosphor temperature-measurement system, operating at temperatures up to 3,000 degrees F, in the gas-exit and slag-exit areas of a gasifier. Reliable, rugged and accurate, the method has measured temperatures in adverse environments in which no other known method works. A proprietary probe design which was conceived to deal with the gasify environment will be tested. Proposed DOE award: $333,000. Project duration: 30 months. Technical contact: Bruce Noel (505) 747-3338.

The projects will be managed by DOE's Federal Energy Technology Center in Morgantown, WV and Pittsburgh, PA. The Center, one of DOE's field organizations, manages and implements a broad spectrum of energy and environmental programs. It is the lead fossil energy research arm of the Department of Energy.

-End of TechLine-

For more information, contact:
Otis Mills, Jr., DOE Federal Energy Technology Center, 412/386-5890, e-mail: mills@fetc.doe.gov

Technical contact:
Donald Krastman, DOE Federal Energy Technology Center, 412/386-4720, e-mail krastman@fetc.doe.gov.