Profiting from pulverising

St Johns River Power Park (SJRPP) in Jacksonville, FL, consists of two coal-fired Foster Wheeler drum boilers and two General Electric turbine generators, each with an output of 640 MW. The boilers are able to burn a wide variety of coals from all over the world, and they can burn up to 20% petroleum coke. This paper discusses how the pulveriser upgrades at the Florida generation site cleared the way for the burning of lower grade coal. Beginning in the spring of 2002, and concluding in the spring of 2005, the plant upgraded its combustion equipment to lower NOx, CO, and LOI and positioned itself more favourably for future compliance with the Clean Air Interstate Rule. This work included advanced low-NOx burners, windbox modifications, an aerodynamic over fire air system, coal pipe orifice valves, and a permanently-installed microwave-based coal flow monitoring system. This effort was highly successful in obtaining the desired emission reductions and had the additional benefit of allowing the plant to increase petroleum coke consumption.