• Distributed Power Systems for Homes and Businesses
  Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Future Meetings and Events

• Materials Challenges for the Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Boiler
  Wednesday, January 16, 2008

The new millennium opened with electric power problems: rolling blackouts in California, a grid crash that spread from Ohio to the east coast, increased concern for the environment, and a heightened need to stop our addiction to foreign oil. The old way of getting electric power to homes and businesses, large central power stations connected to a distribution grid, suddenly began to show serious weaknesses. These weaknesses created a heightened need for small distributed power systems to free homes and businesses from dependence on the grid and incorporate new, cleaner, and more efficient means for producing electric power.

Distributed power systems began with the familiar stand-by Diesel generator and expanded to include microturbines, fuel cells, photovoltaic arrays, and wind turbines. This field needs to be further broadened because economics and concern for the environment are driving demand to better utilize waste and renewable solid fuels. Consequently there is new interest in direct combustion of solid fuels utilizing organic Rankine engines and "hot air" derived engines such as Stirling, Ericsson, and Brayton engines.

This seminar on distributed power systems for homes and businesses will provide an overview of the distributed power market, the regulatory issues, the key players and the key technologies. It will then focus on the thermodynamics of "hot air" derived engines and their practical engineering applications to meet the 21st century's power generation challenges for both the developed and emerging nations of the world.

Speaker: Mr. Richard Proeschel, P.E., President, Proe Power Systems, LLC, 5072 Morning Song Dr., Medina, OH, 800-315-0084, raproe@proepowersystems.com, www.proepowersystems.com.

Note: This seminar is expected to contain content sufficient to count for two (2) "contact hours" toward Ohio Professional Engineer (PE) Continuing Professional Development (CPD), i.e. 2 hours of PE CPD. Certificates of attendance will be offered to any who want them, if you make this request at the time of your reservation. A short break will be held in the middle of Mr. Proeschel's presentation. You may come for the program only, without dinner, but we must still have your reservation, as stated above. No "walk-in's" accepted.

Joint Akron ASME/Akron ASM Meeting

Mr. James Tanzosh
Manager of Materials and Manufacturing Technology
Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group, Inc.
Barberton, Ohio

Coal remains the low-cost fuel for the generation of electricity in the US, and is a plentiful natural resource that presently supplies well over 50% of the nation's electricity needs and that reduces dependency on foreign oil and natural gas supply. The need to address global climate change, especially the mitigation of CO2, warrants the development of advanced coal-fired boiler designs that will decrease the amount of greenhouse gases, and ultimately allow for the capture and geologic sequestration of the CO2. Nuclear, wind, solar, and conservation, as well as other options, exist for supply of a portion of the nation's power needs, but coal must realistically remain as a primary source of our power.

A new generation of coal-fired boilers is needed that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ultimately develop into a source of energy that releases no gases into the environment. This will entail design and construction of boilers that must safely operate at steam temperatures and pressures as high as 1400 F and 5000 psi, which is several hundred degrees and about 20% higher pressure than existing designs. These plants will operate at higher thermal efficiency, which means they will release significantly less CO2 per pound of coal burned. Ultimately, the capture and sequestration of the gases of combustion can lead to an emissions-free energy source.

The biggest challenge facing the boiler designers is selection of materials that can withstand the severe oxidation, corrosion, and elevated temperature stresses that will occur. Extensive research has been and is being conducted, and has resulted in a number of high strength alloys for piping and tubing needed in boiler construction. These alloys, examples of which are Haynes 230, Inconel 617, and a new alloy Inconel 740, are new to the boiler industry, and in all cases had never been manufactured, fabricated, or welded in the thicknesses required of boiler components. B&W has been involved in a five-year materials research program funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the State of Ohio, as well as separately-funded research. Work has included extensive material property testing, oxidation and fireside corrosion tests, both in the laboratory and in operating boilers, weldability and general fabricability development, as well as coating development and testing.

This presentation will address the materials being considered and the research being conducted in the US and worldwide, and particularly at Babcock & Wilcox, related to these advanced power plants.