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ABB automates German waste-to-power facility

01/07/2008

Zurich, Switzerland, January 7- ABB is supplying a complete power and automation solution for a new waste-to-energy power plant – the largest of its kind in Germany - that will generate clean heat and power for one of the biggest chemical and pharmaceutical parks in Europe.

Infraserv Höchst is one of Europe’s largest industrial parks for the chemical, pharmaceutical and process industries. Scheduled for completion in 2009, the new waste-to-energy power plant at the park will cost more than $400 million and be the biggest single investment in the site’s 140-year history. It will help Infraserv Höchst supply clean power and heat at competitive prices to the 90 companies with production and R&D facilities at the site.

The integrated solution encompasses the entire scope of electrical and automation products and systems for a new cogeneration waste-to-energy power plant at the Infraserv Höchst industrial park near Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. The delivery includes System 800xA Extended Automation.

The plant will produce 70 megawatts of electric power and 250,000 metric tons of steam from recycled municipal and commercial waste for the 90 companies and 22,000 employees at the 460 hectare site. Among the many chemical and life science companies with production and R&D facilities at the park are BASF, Bayer, Cargill, Merck and Pfizer.

Instead of using fossil fuels like coal or natural gas, the plant will generate energy by incinerating up to 675,000 metric tons of pre-sorted waste a year and at the remarkably high fuel efficiency level of 90 percent.

ABB was selected by Ebara Corporation of Japan for its ability to deliver a complete, totally integrated power and automation solution and for its extensive reference list of supplying similar solutions for waste-to-energy power generation plants worldwide.
The plant will be one of the largest fluidized bed installations in the world. Carefully screened and sorted waste (also known as refuse-derived fuel) is fed into a circulating fluidized bed of red hot quartz sand to create an intense heat exchange from which power and steam are generated.

ABB’s scope of supply includes transformers, medium and low voltage switchgear, drives, System 800xA for distributed control, emission control, plant optimization and engineering and commissioning. It also includes ABB’s MNS iS motor control center – the world’s first integrated system for low voltage MCC applications. MNS iS provides comprehensive motor control, monitoring and protection as well as communication to higher level control systems.

ABB’s fully integrated, complete scope of supply in power and automation for this project includes:
115 MVA step-up transformer
30 MVA auxiliary transformer
Generator breaker
10.5 kV medium voltage switchgear for drives >400kW
Frequency converters for medium voltage drives
Medium voltage motors for 3 ID-fans
MNS iS integrated motor control center
Medium and low voltage transformers
690 V switchgear for drives from 160kW to 400kW
400 V switchgear for drives <160kW
Frequency converters for 690 V and 400 V drives
Emergency diesel generator
Extended Automation System 800xA distributed control system
Engineering and commissioning of electrical and control systems