Combined Heat and Power - Case Study
Project Demonstrates High Potential for CHP in Food Processing Industry
Frito-Lay North America, Inc., a division of PepsiCo, installed a combined heat and power (CHP) system at its food processing plant in Killingly, Connecticut, in 2009. The installation was supported by a state grant under Connecticut’s Energy Independence Act, which encouraged businesses and government agencies to install innovative systems to ease demand on the state’s power grid. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with the Energy Solutions Center1, supported twelve months of detailed data monitoring and analysis of the system.
In order to reduce the energy costs and environmental impact of the Killingly plant while easing congestion on the constrained Northeast power grid, Frito- Lay installed:
- A 4.6 megawatt (MW) Solar Turbines Centaur® 50 natural gas combustion turbine;
- A Rentech heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) equipped with supplemental duct firing;
- Combustion air inlet chilling to increase power generation in warm weather; and
- A selective catalytic emission reduction system.
The CHP system, designed to be electric load following, has the capacity to meet nearly 100% of the plant’s electrical power needs and provide a majority of the facility’s annual steam needs.
Converting Waste Heat into Steam
Before the installation of the CHP system, the Killingly plant steam requirements were provided by three dual-fired (natural gas and residual oil) boilers. The three boilers were over thirty years old, and if one boiler needed service, the remaining two boilers could no longer meet the plant’s peak steam load. The CHP system can now provide about 80% of the steam load for the Killingly facility. The unfired steam production from the gas turbine exhaust is approximately 24,000 lb/hour, and maximum supplementary fired steam production is as high as 60,000 lb/hour.
High Potential for CHP in Food Processing Industry
CHP systems can be utilized in a wide range of industrial facilities. Industries with high and continuous demand for both electrical and thermal energy are particularly well suited for CHP installations. Such energy-intensive industries include food processing, as well as paper manufacturing, petroleum and biofuel refineries, chemical industry, and metals production.
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