Over the next few months full scale power plant tests using Orimulsion as fuel will start at the 38 MW Wasa diesel engine combined cycle power plant in Finland. The Wasa pilot power plant serves as a test bed for new technology and is equipped with Wärtsilä 12V64 and 12V46 engines, ABB’s “NID” dry flue gas desuphurisation system and selective catalytic reduction.
The Wasa trial marks a significant further step in Wärtsilä’s development programme on Orimulsion, which goes back to 1996 and has included laboratory tests, an endurance test on a 4L32 engine in Espoo, function/endurance test on a 6L46 machine in Trieste and an 885h trial on a 6L46 pilot installation in Guatemala.
Orimulsion – a mixture of naturally occurring Venezuelan Orinoco bitumen plus water plus surfactant – represents a huge energy resource. It is under consideration for a number of projects around the world (including reburn applications in the USA, see p 24), but as yet is in use at only five power plants: Dalhousie, Canada; Asnaes, Denmark; Brindisi and Fiume Santo, Italy; and Osaka, Japan.
However, on the strength of its test programme experiences so far, Wärtsilä says it is optimistic about the prospects for Orimulsion, which it sees as a potential low cost fuel for the future, essentially a form of liquid coal (to which the price of Orimulsion is anchored). This unsolicited testimonial will be welcome news for the fuel’s promoters. Certainly operational experience to date does not appear to support the rather poor public image that Orimulsion has.
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