ADVANCED, LOW/ZERO EMISSION BOILER DESIGN AND OPERATION

This document reviews the work performed during the quarter October-December 2003. Task 1 (Site Preparation) had been completed in the previous reporting period. In this reporting period, one week of combustion parameters optimization has been performed in Task 2 (experimental test performance) of the project. Under full-oxy conditions (100% air replacement with O{sub 2}-enriched flue gas) in 1.5MW{sub th} coal-fired boiler, the following parameters have been varied and their impact on combustion characteristics measured: the recirculated flue gas flow rate has been varied from 80% to 95% of total flue gas flow, and the total oxygen flow rate into the primary air zone of the boiler has been set to levels ranging from 15% to 25% of the total oxygen consumption in the overall combustion. In current reporting period, significant progress has also been made in Task 3 (Techno-Economic Study) of the project: mass and energy balance calculations and cost assessment have been completed on plant capacity of 533MW{sub e} gross output while applying the methodology described in previous reporting periods. Air-fired PC Boiler and proposed Oxygen-fired PC Boiler have been assessed, both for retrofit application and new unit. The current work schedule is to review in more details the experimental data collected so far as well as the economics results obtained on the 533MWe cases, and to develop a work scope for the remainder of the project. Approximately one week of pilot testing is expected during the first quarter of 2004, including mercury emission measurement and heat transfer characterization. The project was on hold from mid-November through December 2003 due to non-availability of funds. Out of the {approx}$785k allocated DOE funds in this project, $497k have been spent to date ($480 reported so far), mainly in site preparation, test performance and economics assessment. In addition to DOE allocated funds, to date approximately $330k has been cost-shared by the participants, bringing the total project cost up to $827k ($810k reported so far) as on December 31st, 2003