ADEX S.L. has recently completed its part of a European FP7 project (Flexiburn) involving the high level control, in simulation, of a Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) power plant featuring oxygen or air, coal or biofuel, and a Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB), once- through boiler. This work achieved key technological success within the project for various reasons which were not all technical. The overall project involved a combination of complex technical challenges, with a wide diversity of participating companies, all with their own independent Intellectual Property (IP), making overall coordination and integration of the plant operation even more difficult due to limited information sharing.
High level control, using ADEX’s world patented, adaptive predictive technology, has been shown to work well even without identification of the detailed dynamics of individual modules (as shown above). With the large number of coal and biofuel plant expected to be built in the next few years throughout the world, especially in India and China, the requirement for efficient, flexible CCS is likely to increase, and with it, the need for this kind of coordinating technology.