Intelligent emission controls

The Intelligent Emission Controls (InEC{trademark}) software package allows fossil fuel power plant operators to not only meet their NOx requirements, but at the same time to optimize the performance of the boiler. InEC uses state-of-the-art artificial intelligence techniques to create NOx and unburned combustible models. An operator enters the NOx limit into the InEC program and receives the recommended settings for the controllable losses. In this way, the NOx limit is achieved, LOI meets the desired limit, and the boiler performance cost function is optimized. Another useful feature of the InEC is that it allows the operator/engineer to simulate ``What if`` scenarios for planning or training. In addition, each of the input sensors has an out-of-range check that results in the InEC enunciating the fault at every menu level. This paper provides an overview of the installation and use of the InEC system on a 80 MW CE tangentially fired coal unit. The paper also provides a comparison of a traditional approach to NOx compliance as compared to the use of the InEC system to meet the NOx requirement.