Kawasaki Receives Order for Ash Handling System at Coal Plant in Tohoku

Tokyo, February 18 2016 — Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today that it has received an order from Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. for an ash handling system for Unit 3 of Noshiro Thermal Power Plant. Kawasaki is responsible for the system from design and manufacture to equipment procurement and installation. The system is scheduled for completion in June 2020.

The ash handling system is designed to handle combustion ash from the coal used as fuel to generate power. The system is to be installed on Unit 3, which is being added to Noshiro Thermal Power Plant to output 600 MW of power. The system is composed of a subsystem to handle fly ash (flying ash in exhaust gas) captured by an electrostatic precipitator and a subsystem to handle bottom ash (also known as clinker ash) from the bottom of the furnace. Bottom ash will be dry-treated, using bottom ash handling technology from Magaldi Power, a company based in Italy. The old wet handling method used water to cool and transport bottom ash, which was then dewatered and carried to the ash disposal site by truck or some other method. In contrast, the dry handling method uses air to cool the bottom ash while it is being transported dry. This decreases environmental impact, reduces costs, and saves space by eliminating the need for equipment such as for water supply, wastewater treatment, dewatering, and water storage. It also increases boiler efficiency and saves energy such as by enabling recovery of sensible heat^*1 from bottom ash, reaction heat from unburned carbon, and radiant heat^*2 from the furnace.

Kawasaki is the only manufacturer in Japan that has experience supplying dry ash handling systems. It has received 10 domestic orders, including this one, since its first in 2002. If conventional wet ash handling systems are also considered, Kawasaki has supplied 60 ash handling systems to commercial coal plants in Japan, including the existing Units 1 and 2 of the Noshiro Thermal Power Plant, and has a market share of about 80 percent. Its reputation for technical excellence and seasoned expertise earned it this order.

Many more construction and expansion projects are planned for thermal power plants in Japan. Kawasaki intends to push forward in the field of energy and environment in supplying power plant equipment like this ash handling system.

*1 Heat expended to change temperature without changing the state of matter
*2 Heat transmitted directly from body to body by electromagnetic waves