Basic thermal power plant design for AfsinElbistan

Dear Colleagues

There are power plant design software companies serving the energy markets for basic design of thermal power plants. Almost all engineering companies use similar thermal power plant design software. Germans prefer German language software. However all other software applications are in English. These are all similar in nature; you can evaluate them and find them via goggle search.  Once they also initiated Turkish version of software, but they have received market reluctance and objections since nobody needs thermal power plant software in Turkish. They advise that the feasibility and the basic design have to be in a global language (English) so that they make their international communications for EPC sourcing, negotiations and financing easier.  Anyhow they also had difficulty in finding Turkish equivalent of many new thermal expressions. Most of our colleagues preferred to use the English wording even in Turkish articles.  We have been invited by two very big engineering contracting local companies for in-house software training for one complete week for not less than 12 engineers.  In these in-house trainings, they made clarifications for the software, making best use for various applications.  Combined cycle power plants are the easiest. You can get multiple outputs of the same design, with a few touch of the keyboard. Software and technology is available for those who can use it. There are many local engineering companies who use the latest available technology.  There are also reputable local universities who are using academic version of thermal power plants software within an increment of the commercial application with one important precondition that they should mention the name of the software in their academic articles. We have many new MSc and PhD dissertations which used the academic thermal power plant design software. In that in-house software training, trainers are asked to evaluate the new thermal power plants in AfsinElbistan for best coal firing application.  New Plants should fire local very low Kcal/kg LHV  local lignite with approximately 1150 kcal/kg LHV, or 2000 BTU/lb HHV. Elbistan coal elementary analysis releases an approximate figure of 55% moisture and 25 % ash.   Software evaluations advise that this lignite can not be fired properly in pulverized coal firing thermal power plants unless its LHV is enriched to 2000 kcal/kg. So the AfsinElbistan lignite has to be enriched by moisture capture. That could be via drying or ESP applications, or any other means. CFB is also possible but we also need enrichment up to 2000 kcal/kg LHV, or 3000 BTU/lb HHV. Available references are not compatible with Elbistan coal. IGCC needs further academic investigations prior to any commercial applications.  Oxy-fuel is theoretically possible but we do not have any reliable practical research. AfsinElbistan is our future for our energy security, therefore we need to allocate more academic funds in order to have more research on local fuel supply that will enable to fire the available coal best in our own design thermal power plants. From our past experience, those off-the-shelf foreign designs are obsolete, they do not work. Locals are to concentrate themselves into their own design of their own local lignite. Do not rely on foreign financing which will advise their obsolete lignite firing technologies. They did not work in the past; hence they will not work in future. Your comments are always welcome.  With deepest regards

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Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst