Selecting actuator configuration for a benson boiler: Production economics

Abstract

Abstract-This paper addresses the problem of an optimal actuator configuration in an economic perspective. The objective is to minimize the economical cost of operating a given plant. Functionals encapsulating information of the business objectives given the different actuators have been established with particular focus on a boiler in a power plant operated by DONG Energy -a Danish energy supplier. The problem has been reformulated using mathematic notions from economics. The selection of actuator configuration has been limited to the fuel system which in the considered plant consists of three different fuels -coal, gas, and oil.

Profit Maximization of a Power Plant

“…The functions in (4) are in this work assumed sufficiently smooth (C and explanation of the above quantities can be found in [14], [12], [13], and [10]. A prognosis of the next days's electricity consumption is established by Energinet.dk 4 , which is responsible for the electrical grid in Denmark.…”

“…The problem stated above has been discussed in [14], [12], [13], and [10]. In particular, the formulation in [10] which includes plant dynamics gives the basis of this work.…”

Optimal usage of coal, gas and oil in a power plant

“…The work in [9] was extended to utilise notions from production economics. When viewing a market from the production perspective one usually defines a number of companies and the goods they are capable of producing.…”

“…The price of producing the output and price of using the fuel/input was described by approximating data from a power trading market. This paper will use two of the three business functionals from [9] which the third objective, availability, is discarded as it does not depend on the actuator selection. The results are in this paper, furthermore, extended to real price and demand data and a scenario with only partial production capabilities in the coal and gas system will be considered, which is interesting as most coal plants are started using gas or oil.…”

“…The firms are viewed as a black box able to transform inputs to outputs [10]. In [9] this approach was used by formulating functionals which describe DONG Energy's (DONG Energy is a Danish energy supplier) objectives for a power plant, which is a complex process control system, as outputs and the amount of fuel used as input. The price of producing the output and price of using the fuel/input was described by approximating data from a power trading market.…”