Kobe UBC transportable briquette

More good news for brown coal resource holders - with big CO2 improvements for sub-critical through to ultra-super-critical boilers, and UBC is suitable for export in briquette form.

This new presentation by Kobe Steel for it's Upgraded Brown Coal (UBC) is interesting and it dispells all the myths that have been posted here regarding UBC not being transportable/exportable, UBC being too high in energy to be used in Neyveli boilers etc......

It's a shame Kobe and Neyveli have signed a non-disclosure agreement and won't publish any details of their MOU'd project together - "M/s KOBELCO, Japan gave a presentation on the outcome of the study carried out to upgrade the lignite. The techno economic feasibility of the study was also presented to NLC for upgradation of lignite and power generation in the Ultra Super Critical Boiler (USCB)/ Sub-Critical Boiler. An MoU is to be signed for undertaking a pilot plant scale project."

About UBC

8% moisture UBC briquette transportable/exportable.

Has been shipped successfully from Indo to Japan and is suitable as an export product.

Has been tested in a variety of power stations from sub-critical to super-critical and even ultra-super-critical boilers.

5,900kcal/kg - (almost identical to Coldry and CHTD briquette)


http://www.see2014.com/UserFiles/File/Full paper for website/E-017.pdf


3. The method for utilization of UBC product

UBC product can be in two forms (Briquette or Powder) depending on user requirements.



If UBC product needs to be transported for long distance, it is made into briquette by roller press.
Because it will be exposed to atmosphere during transportation and open storage, the product
reabsorbs the water from atmosphere, then; moisture content will become approximately 8% which
is the equilibrium point of hydrophobic UBC product.



If UBC product is to be used at the power station next to UBC plant, it does not have to be
briquetted, so, it remains powder and is a good fuel for pulverized coal fired boiler without need of
further pulverization. Other big advantage is that UBC powder can keep zero moisture. Because it
does not have to be transported long distances or stored long time, it will not be exposed to
atmosphere. So, there will be no water re-absorption.

4. Transportation test and Burning test

UBC product has been transported by ship from Indonesia to Japan in the same manner as ordinary
coal, and burned at three different power stations, once at our own steel works and twice at third
parties’ power stations. Through these test burning, good combustibility was confirmed.
Further, boiler test was conducted recently at a testing facility of boiler manufacturer to collect data
for designing UBC-fired ultra-super critical (USC) boiler.

5. Advantages of the UBC + USC integrated plant

Most of the lignite based power generating facilities in the world such as Australia, Germany,
Poland, etc. has the same range of lower efficiency due to its higher moisture content of the lignite.

The advantages of the UBC based mine mouth power generation are as below.

(1) Zero moisture UBC can be used.
(2) Integration of UBC plant and Power plant eliminate costly facilities.
(3) High energy efficiency power plant (such as USC) without special design can be utilized.

Table 2 shows the comparison of power generation efficiency between Lignite-fired power generation
and UBC based power generation. In order to evaluate contribution by each of UBC process and
USC, a case where UBC product is fed to conventional Sub-Critical boiler is also provided.

Table 2

Efficiency Improvement from Conventional Lignite-fired Power Plant
Power Generation

Efficiency


Improvement
from
Conventional
Remarks
Conventional Power Generation
Lignite-fired
Sub-Critical Plant 29.2% NA Data from operating
plant
UBC based Power Generation
①
Integrated UBC-fired
Sub-Critical Plant 32.6% 11.8% Energy used for UBC
plant is deducted
②
Integrated UBC-fired
Ultra Super Critical Plant
34.5%
(40.9%: LHV basis) 18.2% Energy used for UBC
plant is deducted
③
Non Integrated UBC-fired
Ultra Super Critical Plant
40.6%
(42.7%: LHV basis) 39.4% Energy used for UBC
plant is not deducted

* Lignite: TM52%, 2,830kcal/kg,

UBC Powder: TM0%, 5,900kcal/kg.

The third column shows that the introduction of UBC facility to Sub-Critical boiler will bring about
12% of improvement compared to Lignite-fired Sub-Critical Plant.

The fourth column shows that the introduction of UBC facility to USC boiler will bring about 18%
of improvement compared to Lignite-fired Sub-Critical Plant. This shows that out of the total 18%
improvement, approx. 12% is contributed from the UBC technology and the rest of approx. 6% is
contributed from the USC boiler. As such, UBC based power generation realizes high energy
efficiency and therefore low CO2 emission.

6. Conclusion

UBC technology is ready for commercial use. UBC product can be two kinds of applications, one is
UBC briquette for transportation, and the other is UBC powder for UBC based power generation.
UBC technology improves energy efficiency of power generation compared with Lignite-fired
Boiler.

7. Acknowledgement

This study has been carried out as a part of Japanese national project. We thank the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry, New Energy Industrial Technology Development Organization(NEDO) and
Japan Coal Energy Center(JCOAL) for the support of this study. We also thank Research and Development
Center for Mineral and Coal Technology (tekMIRA) of Indonesia for their support to our activities
in Indonesia.

Science, Technology and Innovation for ASEAN Green Growth
19-21 November 2014, Bangkok, Thailand

B Rubes