Background - Acquisition and Restart
In August 2003, CES acquired an idle 5.5 MWe biomass plant from The AES Corporation. The power plant (Figure 1) is located in Kern County, CA, approximately 18 miles north of Bakersfield at the Kimberlina Road exit. Due to air quality restrictions, the facility had been out of service since 1986 but was maintained in good mechanical condition.
Figure 1. Kimberlina Power Plant (KPP), Sept. 03
Figure 2. 20 MWt Gas Generator at KPP
This plant was first used as a demonstration facility for CES' 20 MWt gas generator and operated with natural gas and oxygen (Figure 2). The facility has subsequently been used to demonstrate the gas generator's capabilities with a variety of alternative fuels including syngas mixtures (replicating fuel derived from coal- and bio-mass gasification), glycerin (a by-product of bio-diesel), and MSAR™ (Multiphase Superfine Atomized Residue from Quadrise Canada Corp.), a stabilized emulsion of heavy petroleum refining residuum in water. More recently, KPP has been used to demonstrate the company's larger 170 MWt gas generator and work is in progress to test modified aero-derivative turbines and reheaters.
To make KPP compatible with gas generator requirements, CES upgraded its original subsystems and added new subsystems including a natural gas compressor, oxygen supply system, feed water pump, demineralized water system, state-of-the-art control systems, and a geothermal-type condenser for the steam turbine. All new and upgraded systems were commissioned by late February 2005.
