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Conventional Energy Production Technology

D e p a r t m e n t o f Term/Academic Year:
Chemical Engineering First Semester AY 2017-2018
Talamban, Cebu City, Philippines 6000

An Evaluation on Emissions of KEPCO Power Plant

A case study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements in the course

CHE EC11
Conventional Energy Production Technology

Gontinas, Jelian Grace


Navalta, Carl John Louie
Nietes, Winston Jose
Raboy, Von Adrian

October 11, 2017


1. Introduction
About KEPCO
Korea Electric Power Corporation, better known as KEPCO, is the largest electric utility in South
Korea, responsible for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the development of electric power
projects including those in nuclear power, wind power and coal. KEPCO is responsible for 93% of Korea's electricity
generation.

A globally competitive and leading electric utility provider, Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) - which
recently ranked in the 2016 Forbes Global 2000 as the worlds top electric utility, expanded its operations to the
Philippines in 1995, in response to the Philippine Governments calls to develop and utilize the countrys indigenous
resources and augment its power supply. Since its entry into the Philippine power industry, KEPCO Philippines now
provides approximately thirteen percent (13%) of the total installed generation capacity in the country.
Today, KEPCO operates four power plants in the Philippines, including the Naga Power Plant Complex and
the Cebu Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion Power Plant. In this case study, the powerplant in the City of Naga will
be the subject. The 2 x 100 MW Cebu Power Plant is a joint venture between the KEPCO Phils. Holdings and SPC
Power Corp. The facility provides reliable and cost-efficient energy to the Visayan islands while preserving and
protecting the welfare of its stakeholders and the environment. Shown in Table 1 are the information about the plant.

Table 1. General Business and Technical Specifications


Power Plant Name Cebu Power Plant
Owner KSPC (KEPCO SPC Power Corporation)
Ownership KEPCO Phi. 60% + SPC Power Corp. 40%
Business Type Power Generation (Build, Own Operate)
Location Colon, Naga City, Cebu
EPC Contractor Doosan Heavy Industries and Const.
Operator East-West Power Cebu Corp.
Construction Period December 2007 May 2011
Commercial Operation Period 25 years
Power Generation Capacity 100 MW/Unit x 2 Units
Annual Power Generation 1,489 GWh
Technology Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion
Stack (Chimney) Height 110 m
Fuel Sub-Bituminous Coal, Light Oil (Start-up)
Coal Consumption Rate 2,617.50 MT/Day (Maximum)
Water Source Seawater
Ash Production Rate 150-250 MT/Day
Structural Safety Factor 3.0 (2,620 Piles used for seismic safety)
Major Equipment Turbine-Generator Make: Fuji
Boiler Make: Doosan, Type: CFBC
Plant Efficiency 34.56%
Steam flow 324t/h at BMCR
Steam Temp & Pressure 541 oC & 132 kg/cm2
Minimum stable load 37%
Environmentally-Friendly Management

Development of environmentally-friendly and green technologies

KEPCO is dedicated to developing environmentally-friendly and green technologies across the electric power
supply and consumer value chain in order to take leadership in low carbon, green growth by responding to climate
change. In this end, KEPCO is developing coal gasification technology, among others, for commercialization under the
basic direction of less carbon emissions in development stage, less loss in transportation stage and higher efficiency
in the consumption stage. KEPCO heavily invests in advancing environmentally-friendly and green technologies and
closely monitors progress rate of core technological advance. KEPCO will strive to commercialize technologies at the
earliest date possible to create environmental values and regularly roll technological development strategies to identify
and advance new green technologies such as onshore wind power on a sustainable basis.

Higher environmental efficiency

Robust energy saving campaigns are underway at KEPCO with a strong initiative in line with the governments
energy saving measures. KEPCO promotes energy savings on energy diet period in summer and winter to renew
employees awareness of energy savings and has built the foundation for an efficient and systematic use of energy
including keeping the recommended indoor temperature for an eco-life style and energy diagnosis to identify
improvement plans and expand use of energy-saving equipment and facilities.

Environmentally-friendly electric power supply chain

KEPCO and power companies take advantage of the organic cooperative system between power generation
and power transmission/distribution to make electric power chain more environmentally-friendly. KEPCOs initiatives
include timely construction of power transmission/distribution facilities required for stable electric power supply, efficient
operation of electric power facilities, selection of location for electric power facilities in the most transparent and
objective manner possible to make the entire transportation phase more environmentally-friendly, construction of
environmentally-friendly facilities that co-exist with the local community, cutting down on power
transmission/distribution loss ratio, protection of the ecosystem and EMF control, etc.

ISO 14001 certificate

ISO 14001 is a certificate issued by a third-party certifying agency based on objective evaluation of whether
an organizations environment management system satisfies international standard on environment management
system established by International Organization for Standardization to support series of business activities aimed at
continuously improving environmental performances. Acquisition of ISO 14001 means that KEPCOs activities,
including complying with environmental regulations, monitoring environmental performances and reducing
environmental pollution under its environment management system, satisfy the basic conditions set forth under the
international standard, and are carried out in an appropriate and efficient manner as confirmed by the objective
evaluation by Korea Foundation for Quality, the public certifying agency. KEPCO acquired ISO 14001 on a company-
wide basis in 2008.

Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion (CFBC) Technology

KEPCO uses the Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion CFBC technology which is a developing technology
for coal combustion to achieve lower emission of pollutants by up to 95 %. Circulating fluidized bed is a relatively new
technology with the ability to achieve lower emission of pollutants. Extensive research has been conducted on this
technology for the past 10 years because pollution in the world is getting more serious by the day and clean practice
will be very crucial for the sustainability of the earth. The importance of this technology has grown recently because of
tightened environmental regulations for pollutant emission.

2. Fly ash

2.1. Formation in circulating fluidized bed combustion systems

Combustion in a circulating fluidized bed occurs in all parts of the riser and the cyclones, but during coal
combustion most of the fuel burns in the bottom part of the furnace. Fly ash is a particulate matter defined as the fine
fraction of the coal combustion by-products that is entrained in the flue gas that exits the reboiler. ln a circulating
fluidized bed combustion, fly ash particles are formed by three mechanisms: (i) fragmentation of bed material, (ii)
residual ash particle formation inside the char particle and on its surface, (iii) volatilization and new particle formation
by nucleation.

2.2. Environmental and health effects

The amount of fly ash generated in coal-fired power plants is carefully monitored due to its adverse effects in the
environment. Fly ash contributes to the particulate matter responsible for the reduction in visibility. It has the tendency
to deposit on the surfaces of materials forming a coating. Moreover, fly ash has the potential to cause corrosive damage
to metals either by intrinsic corrosiveness or by the action of corrosive chemicals absorbed or adsorbed by inert
particles.

Fly ash constitutes a very serious health hazard. The pollutants enter the human body mainly via the respiratory
system. Respiratory conditions such as pneumonia and other lung diseases is highly probable when exposed to fly
ash. It also cause adverse effects to the circulatory system. Ash fly typically contains heavy metals including arsenic,
lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and selenium, as well as aluminum, antimony, barium, beryllium, boron, chlorine,
cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, thallium, vanadium, and zinc which may cause neurological and
developmental defects.
2.3. Amendments and laws

The establishment of the KSPC Ash Disposal Plan started way back in 2005 during the development stages of the
projects Environmental Impact Statement (EIS a type of EIA) in which the initial plan was to solely forward the ash
produced to nearby cement plants as raw material. This is in accordance with KSPCs intention to recycle all generated
by-products of the power plant particularly the coal ash (fly ash and bed ash). In 2009, KSPC entered into agreements
with the Cebu Provincial Government (CPG) wherein the latter is obligated to timely provide an engineered and
compliant secured landfill facility under the Ash Landfill Facility Services Agreement (ALFSA July 3, 2009 amended
on November 10, 2009), as well as serve as an agent to facilitate the engagement between ash recyclers not limited
to cement products under the Ash Disposal Agreement (ADA November 10, 2009) including the Supplemental
Agreement with CPG.

By 2011, KSPC received proposals from Geo-Transport and Construction, Inc. (GTCI) and Mabuhay FilCement
Inc. (MFI) to recycle the fly ash in the production of ready-mixed concrete (RMC) and cement respectively. After a
series of tests, the potential of KSPCs fly ash as raw material to these products was confirmed. In the same year,
FDRCON, Inc. (FDRC) proposed to develop a depository facility for the fly ash that could not be transported to the
recyclers due to ash specification or facility operation constraints. This arrangement shall be encompassed in the Ash
Depository Facility Services Agreement (ADFSA) between KSPC and FDRC.

All the ash disposal options (MFI, GTCI, CPG, and FDR), as separate projects, have already secured the
necessary Environmental Compliance Certificates (ECCs) and/or ECC amendments for the usage/recycling of ash as
raw material in cement-derivative products or for deposit in secured depository facilities. All related procedures and
approvals, including the carrying out of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), are in accordance with the DENR
Administrative Order (DAO) 2003-30, the implementing rules and regulations of Presidential Declaration No. 1586
(PD1586). Table 1 shows a summary of these documents including relevant details.

2.4. Study of interest

KSPC produces 150-250 MT per day of fly ash from the combustion of 2,616.50 MT of sub-bituminous coal per
day as maximum coal consumption rate. It is the aim of this paper to investigate the treatment and disposal of fly ash
produced as well as alternative utilization methods.
3. Method of Disposal

3.1. Current Method of Disposal

Due to several environmental concerns of fly ash generated in coal combustion, authorities necessitate proper
disposal of fly ash. KSCPs long-term plant is main recycling of ash whereby other companies utilize the ash to produce
green cement and ready-mixed concrete. APO Cement and Geo-Transport and Construction, Inc. (GTCI) collects the
ash from KEPCO which is then processed to produce cement, concrete and other products. APO cement utilizes 120
metric ton per day of fly ash from the company whereas, GTCI collects about 20 metric ton a day. APO cement collects
fly ash classified as Pozzolanic material which is used to produce Portland and pozzolan cement. Meanwhile, GTCI
utilize the ash to produce ready-mixed cement by mixing with admixture and cement binder.

APO Cement, a company producing cement, has a design capacity of 500,000 MT annually. The ash collected
from KSCP is used as a substitute to supplementary cementitious material blended with Portland cement. The
allowable blend of pozzolan ash is about 15 %, producing blended hydraulic cements. The cement production from
MFI company is described by a process flow diagram below.

Figure 1. MFI Cement Production Process


GTCI, a construction company, is another third party that collects ash from KSCP for recycling. Fly ash is used by
the company as an extender component in concrete to produce ready-mix cement in Talisay batching plant. The
capacity of the plant can accommodate a minimum of 40 MT/day and a maximum of 80 MT per day of fly ash from
KSCP. However, 35 MT/day of dry ash will be collected from KSCP due to the agreement between the APO Cement,
KSCP and GTCI.

Ready-mix cement is produced by pumping the components including fly ash, and admixture into their respective
silos. Meanwhile, aggregates are stored on the ground and are transferred to elevated bin using a conveyor. The
components are then weighed using a weighing hopper to ensure correct ratio in the mixture. The materials are then
blended with water in a mixer which are then transferred to mixer trucks for delivery.

Fly ash and bed ash are first stored in silos for 10 to 14 days. The silo is equipped with extendable spouts which
connects to unloading trucks for extraction of ash. Ash intended for landfill facility is transported by closed dump truck
whereas the off-site deliveries for APO and GTCI is carried by truck lorries or closed bulk carrier. The ash to be collected
from KSCP must have the following specifications (Table 2).

Table 2. Standard specifications of fly ash for cement production


Parameter Standard limit
LOI (unburned carbon) Maximum of 6.0 %
Moisture Maximum of 3 %
Fineness Maximum of 34 % retained in 45 microns sieve

However, in the event that the companies cannot accept the ash generated, ash depository facility service is
employed as an alternative. The provider of the alternative site allows KSCP to use such alternative site as landfill
facility to be generated from the plant and for the utilization of ash as a component (15 %) of compost averaging of
about 300 tons per day. Ash depository facility accommodate 15 ton/day of rejected ash, bed ash and air pre-heater
fly ash. About 45 ton/day of rejected ash will be utilized as a component of compost.

3.2. Proposed alternative

About 15 ton rejected ash per day is left unutilized and pile up in landfill facility. There are several advantages
imposed when constructing landfill facility for fly ashes. One is the leaching problem of metals which imposes
environmental and health hazard due to mobilization of toxic and radioactive element from the residues. Furthermore,
contaminated leachates in the nearby poses high toxicity problem for aquatic plants. Fly ash contains trace element
that are difficult to remove. Thus, due to the interaction of ground and surface water with fly ash, over a long period of
time elevated concentration of these trace elements will result, which creates potential contamination of water sources.
The rejected fly ashes are those that did not meet the standards in Table 2 and left unutilized for composting. Fly ashes
that do not meet ASTM specification for use in concrete pavement can be used as mineral fillers in asphalt pavement.
Fly ash has low plasticity and fine relatively uniform grain size making it suitable for such application.

4. Conclusion and Recommendation

The ashes produced in the KSCP can be utilized as an additive for bio-concrete or cement and concrete
pavements, which can be another source of income for the company. Furthermore, zero-waste implementation can be
achieved if all ashes are fully utilized by the company or a third-party company that can accommodate fly ash and
bottom ash as raw materials for the production environmental-friendly products. It is recommended to have further
study on the use of fly ash and bottom ash in the production of concrete products, if it is feasible to have concrete
products made of pure ashes and meet standard specifications (hardness, porosity, etc.) for concrete products.

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