Industries: Power Generation

The Power O&M division commissioned a non-Thermax power project for an independent power producer located at Negros Island in the Philippines – a first in South East Asia. Thermax bagged the contract for the 19.9 MW plant due to the customer’s dispute with a Chinese EPC company who initially started the work. Having a proven track record in EPC, boiler manufacturing and O&M, which was a prerequisite by the customer, Thermax was able to complete the project whose scope comprised a 90 TPH boiler, 19.9 MW steam turbine generator and Balance of Plant systems. The team got involved at the erection completion and precommissioning phase and ensured that the plant was up and running in a short span of five months. Thermax was also awarded a certificate of appreciation from the customer for demonstrating professionalism and executing the project with world-class safety practices.

TBWES recently supplied a 100 TPH high pressure, wood chip fired travelling grate boiler at Gulf Chana Green Power Project located in the province of Songkhla, Thailand. Gulf is one of the leading energy producers having a gross installed power capacity of 11,910 MW with 27 power projects across Thailand and other countries around the world. For the first time, the customer chose a boiler of an Indian make over any other foreign brands, mainly due to Thermax’s credibility in the region and its past track record with customers such as Korach Sugars and Mitrphul. Thermax’s boiler will help in generating steam for the customer’s 20 MW power plant. Thermax was entrusted with the project by Sino Thai Engineering & Construction Company (STECON), an EPC company in the region. The customer appreciated the service capabilities of TBWES in engineering and execution.

The Power O&M division commissioned a non-Thermax power project for an independent power producer located at Negros Island in the Philippines – a first in South East Asia. Thermax bagged the contract for the 19.9 MW plant due to the customer’s dispute with a Chinese EPC company who initially started the work. Having a proven track record in EPC, boiler manufacturing and O&M, which was a prerequisite by the customer, Thermax was able to complete the project whose scope comprised a 90 TPH boiler, 19.9 MW steam turbine generator and Balance of Plant systems. The team got involved at the erection completion and precommissioning phase and ensured that the plant was up and running in a short span of five months. Thermax was also awarded a certificate of appreciation from the customer for demonstrating professionalism and executing the project with world-class safety practices.

In recent years, the Air Pollution Control business has established several strong references in South East Asia, thanks to its expertise in project execution complemented with increased enforcement of air pollution norms by the Government. A recent feat in this journey was the commissioning of an Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) for the Sarangani Energy Corporation in the Philippines – a power producing major in South East Asia. This project is the largest overseas installation by Thermax, where the ESP treats flue gas with volumes as high as 0.7 million Am3 /hr emanating from a 410 TPH CFBC boiler to meet the required emission norms. The high point of the project was supplying precisely engineered ESP structure along with a 75 meter tall stack by way of sub assemblies and commissioning the entire edifice at the customer end on time and with no errors while complying with all safety norms. Seamless and cohesive planning, right from engineering to logistics, resulted in appreciation from a delighted customer and proved our capabilities in providing customised solution.

Thermax’s Boiler & Heater division commissioned 21 exhaust gas boilers (EGB) at United Power Generation & Distribution Co. Ltd. in Bangladesh as a part of their project involving the setting up a 200 MW Integrated Power Plant (IPP).

 These boilers, installed at the outlet of the Diesel Generator (DG) sets, help recover flue gases emanating from the fuel-fired engines of 9.8 MW capacity each. Put together, the 21 units produce 75 TPH steam at 18 bar(g) which is then fed into the steam turbine, to generate 13 MW of electricity. 

This is the highest number of boilers supplied by Thermax for a single project so far and was completed in a short span of nine months.

In November 2017, Thermax’s Danish subsidiary Boiler works installed a flue gas cooler at an energy plant of Sweden’s largest producer of renewable energy, Vattenfall, in Uppsala, Sweden. 

The combined heat and power plant utilises excess heat from waste incineration plants and other sources to generate electricity and produce district heating. 

Flue gas coolers are special heat recovery units where heat contained in waste gases is used to produce steam, or for energy conservation purposes. The system supplied by Boilerworks cools down flue gases in the waste incineration plants. The cooler, located before the chimney, lowers the temperature of flue gases from about 160°C to 70-80°C. 

The contract bagged in April this year, included the supply, manufacture, delivery and installation of the unit. The installation successfully tackled the challenge of removing the existing old cooler and installing the new one within 48 hours, minimising losses in the production of power and heat.

Thermax completed its biggest ever project by successfully commissioning nine 500 TPH circulating fluidized bed combustion (CFBC) boilers and allied emission control systems at Reliance Utilities & Power Pvt. Ltd. in December 2016. Five boilers were installed at Hazira and four at Dahej. These nine cogeneration boilers support the customer’s power and steam requirements by generating 630 MW power and 1520 TPH process steam, simultaneously eliminating the use of costly gas as a fuel. 

Thermax’s scope included design, manufacture, transportation, construction and commissioning of boilers and electrostatic precipitators. The units are designed to meet stringent NOx, SOx and particulate emission requirements, mandated for such power plants. Almost 1000 drawings and engineering documents were generated for this unique project. Manufacturing of the equipment was carried out at the company’s facilities at Savli (Gujarat), Chinchwad (Maharashtra) and at the Shirwal (Maharashtra) plant of the joint venture, TBWES. 

Though the units are designed to fire coal from Indonesia and India, and petcoke, they are versatile Thermax energy project for Reliance: Meticulous planning and execution 17 enough to fire other coals. South African and Russian coals, for example, have been successfully fired. 

During project execution, more than 8000 vehicles – mostly trailers – carried goods to the sites. Total erected weight was approximately 85,000 MT(metric tonnes), and insulation area close to 2,50,000 Sq. m. 

At its peak, the project had nearly 8000 workmen at the sites. Safety was accorded the highest priority, with Thermax cumulatively logging in 27 million safe man-hours. 

A significant feature was ensuring the sealing integrity of the CFBC boilers, which helps to maintain a dust-free coal fired power plant. The boilers are operated via remote control, using artificial intelligence for smooth start-up and operation. 

Says Rajan Nair, Project Director, “Successfully completing a project of this magnitude for Reliance, known for their project management excellence, enhances Thermax’s own capabilities, and qualifies us for similar and larger assignments in the future.” 

Bechtel USA was the technical consultant designated by Reliance. 

On this project, Boiler & Heater and Air pollution control (Enviro) divisions of Thermax collaborated seamlessly for boilers and electrostatic precipitators. They were ably supported by the subsidiary, Thermax Engineering Construction Company Limited.