Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 56 No. 3 (September 2019)
1Introduction of Upgrade Work of Ultra-low NOx for NaturalGas-fired GTCC Power Plant of Taiwan Power Company
HIROFUMI OHARA*1

ATSUSHI NAKANO*1

TAKASHI NISHIUMI*2

NAOKI NAKATA*1

KAZUAKI KOJIMA*3

MOTOYOSHI SHIMIZU*3

Gas turbine combined cycle-thermal power generation systems (hereinafter referred to as
GTCC) are the most efficient and clean power generation systems using fossil fuels. Newtechnology development is always moving forward to achieve higher efficiency and lower
environmental impact. On the other hand, the operation of the latest high-efficiency GTCC power
plants reduces opportunities for the operation of existing power plants, leading to deterioration in
the profitability of existing power plant operating companies and a reduction in plant service life
for existing power plants. To cope with this situation, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd.
(MHPS) is retrofitting the technology developed for new types of GTCC power plants to existing
power plants and is developing an upgrade menu to meet various requirements from existing power
plant operating companies. In order to apply the latest gas turbine technology to existing power
plants, it is necessary to upgrade and modify peripheral equipment associated with the powerplants. MHPS is also involved in the design and construction of new plants as an EPC business andthe development of control equipment. Taking advantage of its comprehensive capabilities, MHPS
can propose an appropriate modification scope for the entire power plant and provide acomprehensive range of services, including construction and commissioning.

|1. Introduction
Datan power plant Stage-I (6 units of M501F, 1,400MW) and Nanpu power plant (M501F,250MW), both delivered by MHPS to Taiwan Power Company, have greatly contributed to power
supply and demand in Taiwan since their commercial operation began in 2005 and 2003,
respectively. In recent years, Taiwan has seen increased demand for electricity due to the shutdownof nuclear power plants, which is being compensated by improvements in availability of thermal
power generation facilities. Reducing the environmental load of existing thermal power plants andincreasing output are urgent needs. In order to respond to these needs arising from the power policychanges in Taiwan, it was decided to conduct power plant upgrade projects for these power plants,
consisting of Ultra-low NOx conversion in addition to performance improvements throughenhanced high-performance cooling turbine blades, which had already been prepared as an upgrademenu.
As for Ultra-low NOx, which is the main feature of this project, MHPS addressed the issue
by retrofitting combustion technology proven in the latest M501/701J gas turbine to the M501F gas
turbine. Power plant equipment necessary for the application of this latest combustion technology
was also upgraded. In addition, taking advantage of MHPS’s strength in handling both new power
plant construction work as an EPC business and service work for the periodic inspection of existing
power plants, MHPS carried out the first full turn-key construction work in Taiwan for service
projects. In the area of control, MHPS applied not only the latest combustor control technology, butalso MHPS-TOMONI®, a digital solution service of MHPS, to ensure long-term operationalreliability after commercial operation started, and also to provide timely customer support. In order
to extend power plant service life, MHPS also updated the control system including security
improvements in the control device.
*1Takasago Power Systems Service Department, Power Systems Service Headquarters, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems,Ltd.

*2Large Frame Gas Turbine Engineering Department, Gas Turbine Technology & Products Integration Division, Mitsubishi Hitachi*3Chief Staff Manager, Control Systems Department, Project Management Division, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems,Ltd.

Power Systems,Ltd.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 56 No. 3 (September 2019)2In this paper, MHPS activities to improve plant availability for existing GTCC power plants
are introduced, taking the example of the Ultra-low NOx conversion work that was carried out forTaiwan Power Company.

|2. Ultra-low NOx Combustor
2.1

Ultra-low NOx Combustor

In addition to performance improvement through the use of high-performance turbine bladeswith enhanced cooling capability, which had already been prepared as an upgrade menu, one of themain purposes of this upgrade project is reducing NOx emissions. The NOx level of the combustor
that has been in use since the start of commercial operation is 25 ppm, but the target after thisupgrade is 9 ppm.
In order to achieve this, the 1,400°C class F-series combustor was developed by using
technology proven in the 1,500°C class G series and 1,600°C class J series gas turbines. In the Gand J series gas turbine, the plant thermal efficiency is improved by raising turbine inlet airtemperature. Since a rise in turbine inlet air temperature leads to an increase in NOx, the latest
combustion technology is employed to reduce NOx even at high turbine inlet air temperatures. The
application of this latest technology to existing combustors enables the achievement of 9 ppm(Figure 1) .

Figure 1

Transition of relationship between increase of T1T and development of combustor

One of the G and J series combustion technologies is “V nozzle”. This technology helps
homogenize fuel and air mixture more, which lowers the peak flame temperature and reduces NOx
while maintaining current the turbine inlet air temperature. Applying the advanced TBC developed
for the J series gas turbine to the combustor basket and transition piece can also reduce the amountof cooling air while maintaining the reliability of combustor components and lowering flame
temperature can reduce NOx (Figure 2) .

Figure 2 V-nozzle and gas turbine combustor basket

2.2

Modification of peripheral equipment

Ultra-low NOx with the latest combustor can be achieved by fuel staging, in which fuel gas
is injected from multiple lines. Along with this, the fuel gas unit was newly manufactured andreplaced the existing fuel gas unit. The power plant equipment was also upgraded with theapplication of the latest combustor, including an additional calorimeter to deal with fuel gas
composition changes and a cartridge filter to remove foreign materials contained in fuel gas.
From a combustion control point of view, in order to minimize load changes when
combustion pressure fluctuation occurs, the A-CPFM (Advanced Combustion Pressure Fluctuation

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 56 No. 3 (September 2019)3

Monitoring Control) system, which monitors combustion pressure fluctuation and automaticallyadjusts parameters, was upgraded, and software modifications, such as the introduction of a control
system that controls combustion parameters with higher accuracy, were applied.

2.3

Results of commissioning after application

Figure 3 illustrates the NOx emission value trend compared with gas turbine load in the firstunit with the Ultra-low NOx combustor upgrade applied at the Datan power plant. As a result ofapplying the upgrade, it is found that the unit is being operated with a margin of 1 ppm or moreagainst the initial development target of 9 ppm @ 15% O2.
The plant has been in stable operation since the first unit commercial operation started inJanuary 2019, and it has been proven that there are no issues from a long-term operationalreliability point of view.

Figure 3

Trial operation result of Datan Power Plant|3. Construction
3.1

Outline of construction

As described in the previous section, this upgrade project was large-scale modification workthat exceeds the normal work scope for regular periodic inspections, including modification workof plant-related equipment and gas turbine periphery components. Replacing the existing fuel gas
unit with a new one and modifying gas systems including the installation of cartridge filters werethe main items in plant portion. In the main unit portion, the replacement of the casing and themodification of peripheral piping for bleed air and cooling air were the main items of modification.

3.2

Details about major modification work

3.2.1

Replacement of fuel gas unit
According to the change of the fuel gas system through improvements in fuel staging, theexisting fuel gas unit was replaced with a new one. Although we have no experience in theremoval of existing fuel gas units, with careful preparation, interference removal, and thecutting of each pipe and conduit, the removal of the fuel gas unit was conducted without anyproblem.
In the installation of the new fuel gas unit, there was some concern about the connecting
work between the piping in the new fuel gas unit and the existing piping since the new fuel gas
unit was applied to a plant after long-term operation. However, by using the foundation of theexisting unit as-is, they were connected without any problem (Figure 4).

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 56 No. 3 (September 2019)
4

Figure 4

Installation of new fuel gas unit

3.2.2

Combustor-compressor casing replacement work
In accordance with the application of the latest low NOx combustor, the shape ofcombustor-compressor casing was re-designed, and the casing was newly manufactured.
Therefore, combustion-compressor casing replacement work was carried out as on-site
modification work.
This was our first time replacing a combustor-compressor casing as on-site modification
work. After identifying and examining concerns in advance and creating countermeasures,
actual work on site was carried out.
First, there was concern that the oval-shaped deformation of the existing casing would
make it difficult to lift up the combustor-compressor casing. As a countermeasure for this,fixing jigs were prepared to correct the oval-shaped deformation of the existing casing(Figure 5). The deformation of the existing casing was corrected using jigs, which allows theexisting combustor-compressor casing to be lifted and the new casing to be installed without
any problem.
There was also concern about alignment when the existing casing and the new casing
were connected. In the same manner as the proven method used for new in-house machine
manufacturing, alignment was carried out using a spigot ring that determines the position
between casings, and assembly work was completed without any problems.
The effect of the new casing on clearance between the rotating section and stationary
section was managed by installing all casings from the inlet casing to the exhaust casing
temporarily, calculating the amount of movement of each casing, and adjusting the positions ofeach inner casings and turbine blade rings in order to maintain appropriate clearance between
the rotating section and stationary section.

Figure 5 Fixing tool for correcting egg-shaped deformation of existing casing

3.3

Results

This was the first large-scale full turn-key modification work as a service project in which
MHPS performed all the design, procurement, transportation and construction. The work schedulefrom the planning stage was strictly controlled and concerns about the gas turbine main unit andpiping work were identified, countermeasures for these concerns were developed in advance, andon-site modification work was completed. As a result, there were no events leading to largeschedule delays, and the construction work was carried out smoothly while ensuring quality, andMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 56 No. 3 (September 2019)5

was completed in 65 days as scheduled.

|4. Control device
4.1

Remote monitoring using MHPS-TOMONI®

The reduction of NOx emissions is the main feature of this upgrade project. MHPS adopted
the Digital Solution Service MHPS-TOMONI® as one scope of this upgrade project in order toachieve a long-term NOx emission guarantee. A data transmission device with security
functionality called Netmation® Secure Gateway (NSGW) was connected to the gas turbine control
device (DIASYS Netmation®), and various gas turbine data are continuously transmitted to ourcloud server. The operating condition of the gas turbine is monitored remotely for abnormalities
using various monitoring software on the cloud. If the NOx level exceeds the specified value orwhen a major gas turbine alarm occurs, a notification e-mail is automatically sent from the cloudserver to the relevant personnel at MHPS. At the same time, data with a higher sampling cycle rate
than at normal times are collected and transmitted for smooth root cause investigation. Actions
necessary to reduce NOx are immediately provided to the customer. NSGW has a one-way
communication function, which prevents unauthorized access to the gas turbine control systemfrom outside and prevents the unauthorized use of data by encrypting transmitted data andauthenticating it with a cloud server using a digital certificate. System configuration related toremote monitoring is illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 6

4.2

Remote monitoring system configuration diagram (Datan Power Plant)

Control system upgraden line with the adoption of MHPS-TOMONI®, MHPS upgraded the operating system (OS) of
the gas turbine control system to improve maintainability and improve security functions. The
existing control device was an architecture based on Microsoft® Windows 2000. However, due toend of OS support and difficulty in obtaining and maintaining computers that can use the OS, aWindows 10-based system was adopted. In addition to the OS, the computer equipment andDIASYS Netmation® control software were both upgraded to the latest version for Windows 10.
With this upgrade, Applocker anti-malware software can be applied, and the security functionalityof the entire gas turbine controller was improved by limiting the installation and execution ofapplications. Security functions applicable to the upgraded system are shown in Table 1. In
addition, in this upgrade, the application of the control system is run in a virtual OS launched in thehost OS on the host computer, and it is designed in consideration of maintenance convenience inthe future.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 56 No. 3 (September 2019)6Table 1 List of applicable security functions#Security Countermeasure

1Network segmentation with firewall, DMZ

234567891011

Physical access block
Separate PC (DFPC) for data collection
Disable media auto play
Block unnecessary firewall ports and service settings
Anti-malware white list function
Access restriction by Secure Manager
Rapid Backup/Recovery
USB-type virus checker
Central Windows account management
All devices log management tool

12Regular security patch application

WindowsNT/2000


XP710

(Until 2020)

|5. Conclusion
The Ultra-low NOx conversion project for Taiwan Power Company introduced in this paper
started commercial operation of the first unit of the Datan Power plant in January 2019. As of May2019, the construction and commissioning of 5 units has been completed, with commercial
operation starting one after another. This construction effort was a large-scale plant modification
project, including peripheral equipment and control equipment, with a focus on low NOx, which
contributed greatly to the improvement of the operating rate of existing plants. Such plant-wide
upgrade can only be proposed by MHPS, which handles all the design, construction and service
work of the main equipment, plant and control devices.
MHPS will continue to work on the project to complete the upgrade work for Nanpu Power
plant, which will be the final unit of the project. MHPS will also continue the development of an
upgrade menu to meet the needs of various customers.
MHPS-TOMONI is a registered trademark or trademark of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. in
the United States and other countries.
DIASYS Netmation is a registered trademark or trademark of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. inJapan and other countries.

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H Aiki, et.al., Boiler Digital Twin Applying Machine Learning, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical
Review Vol. 55 No. 4 (2018)
H Ishigaki, et.al., MHPS-TOMONI: Thermal Power Generation Digitalization
Platform Cloud/Edge Service and System Architecture，Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review
Vol. 55 No. 4 (2018)