2011-05-31
Designed to burn 100% biomass

Work is progressing well on the world's largest biomass boiler designed to burn wood residues and up to 20% agro-based biomass being built by the Finnish and Polish subsidiaries of Foster Wheeler’s Global Power Group in Poland.

Awarded by GDF SUEZ last year, the contract covers the design, supply, and erection of a 190 MWe circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boiler island fired on 100% biomass at the Polaniec power station. Foster Wheeler is responsible for designing and supplying the boiler and auxiliary equipment, including the biomass yard, and carrying out the civil works, erection, and commissioning of the boiler island.

Completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2012.

A cross-section of the world's largest biomass boiler (190 MWe) designed to burn wood residues and up to 20% agro-based biomass being built by Foster Wheeler in Poland. Illustration courtesy of Foster Wheeler.

"This boiler demonstrates the capability of Foster Wheeler's state-of-the-art 'Advanced Bio CFB' concept that allows the co-firing of high-alkaline agro biomass with wood-based biomass in utility-size power generation," according to Tomas Harju-Jeanty, President and CEO of Foster Wheeler Energia Oy.

Foster Wheeler has supplied close to 500 fluidised bed units to industrial and utility customers worldwide, over 350 of which have been advanced CFB designs. These include the unit supplied to the Lagisza power plant in southern Poland, the world's first supercritical CFB boiler and the world's largest CFB unit to date. Rated at 460 MWe, this was commissioned in 2009.

The company has been developing Flexi-Burn™ carbon capture technology for its utility CFB designs for over four years. A 30 MWth CFB demonstration plant featuring this technology is being built in Spain for the Fundación Ciudad de la Energía (CIUDEN) as part of CIUDEN's Integrated Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Technology Development Plant in Ponferrada. The unit, which is designed to fire anthracite, bituminous coal, and biomass, is expected to be operational by the second half of 2011.

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