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Elk
River Station |
JAMAR
COMPANY RECENTLY COMPLETED THE ANNUAL OUTAGE AT GREAT RIVER
ENERGY'S ELK RIVER, MN FACILITY
The
Jamar Company recently completed the annual outage at Great
River Energy’s Elk River, MN facility as part of
an ongoing one year maintenance contract negotiated with
Great River Energy in the last quarter of 2004.
Great River Energy is Minnesota's second largest electric wholesale supplier.
It is a generation and transmission cooperative that provides wholesale electric
service to 28 distribution co-ops. It's 2,500-megawatt generation system includes
coal, refuse-derived fuel, natural gas and oil plants, as well as wind generation.
Every
day, the Elk River Station converts 2.5 million pounds
of garbage into enough electricity for about 30,000 homes,
making it a leader in using waste-to-energy technology.
Click here to
learn more about Great River Energy.
The Elk River Station reduces the amount of waste entering landfills in Minnesota
by more than 300,000 tons per year. In addition, using refuse as a fuel rather
than placing it in a landfill eliminates the methane that is generated when the
waste is buried (methane is a highly active greenhouse gas). Also, waste-to-energy
facilities like the Elk River Station conserve natural resources such as oil,
coal and natural gas. |
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Grate
Drive |
This
particular outage consisted of alternating shutdowns on
each of three boilers as well as a nine day complete plant
shutdown. Jamar’s work scope covered all mill systems
from the refuse receiving building to the boilers to the
ash handling system. Craftsmen employed included boilermakers,
pipe fitters, millwrights, carpenters, laborers, ironworkers
and insulators. Project manpower peaked in excess of 200
men with 45,000 total man-hours expended over the course
of the eight week project.
Jamar did a total rebuild of the grate drive which is located at the bottom of
the boiler and slowly turns, moving hot ashes to the hopper. |
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Scrubbers |
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Skin
Casing |
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picture above is the outside view of the scrubbers which
clean the air on the way to the stack. Due to corrosion,
Jamar installed a metal plate inside the scrubbers. Jamar
also replaced the carbon steel skin casing with a stainless
steel skin casing. |
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Superheat
Elements |
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Steam
Drum |
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Ash
Piping |
The
picture above is superheat elements staged and ready for
installation. Jamar replaced the secondary superheat elements
on the #3 boiler.
You can also see the inside view of a steam drum into which Jamar rolled all
the replacement boiler tubes.
Following the combustion process, about 20 percent of the refuse-derived fuel
remains in the form of ash. Jamar installed a new ash piping system. In the picture
to the right you see
the ash piping and gate valve. |
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Prep
Work Being Performed on the Boiler Tubes Prior
to Installation |
The
outage was completed on time, on budget and to the complete
satisfaction of Jamar’s new customer, Great River
Energy.
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