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Session Abstract

University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) operates a 7 MW CHP system.  UMMS undertook a ten-year major systems outage in 2019, including a turbine swap, ammonia feed control system, CEMs system and system control upgrades all during this single outage.  Upon restart, it was observed that nearly three times the former ammonia feed rate was required to maintain NOx emissions at less than 2 ppmvd (the MassDEP Permit limit).  For the first time, ammonia slip alarms necessitated backing down the system to maintain compliance with the 2 ppmvd @15% O2 ammonia slip limit.  Aristotle's Scientific Method was employed to eliminate half a dozen false hypotheses, identified a surprising cause, with resulting return to normal operation.

Presenters

Robert Fraser,Environmental Consultant,University of Massachusetts Medical School

Joseph Collins,Director, Energy Resources,University of Massachusetts Medical School