Industry
News
For geothermal applications, Turboden
offers a series of high-efficiency modular
ORC units ranging in size from 1 MW to
10 MW and scalable solutions for larger
plants. Geothermal Turboden ORCs can
produce electricity from geothermal
sources with medium-to-low temperatures,
ranging between 90 C and 180 C (195 F
and 356 F).
Detroit Thermal Keeps the
Momentum Going
Last year, Detroit Thermal LLC, a
subsidiary of Thermal Ventures II LP,
was awarded nearly $100 million in
new business from customers including
the Detroit Medical Center, Superior
Ambulance and others. In 2010, the
company has continued growing with new
customer contracts and revenue gains.
Recently Detroit Thermal signed a
new three-year agreement estimated at
$8 million to supply district energy
services to seven downtown Detroit
Wayne County buildings. The county
was faced with building its own boiler
plant and an entirely new, independent
underground distribution system to serve
the seven buildings. However, studies by
the county showed that connecting to and
growing with Detroit Thermal’s existing
system would produce major savings for
taxpayers by avoiding huge construction
and capital costs and providing operating
savings – with environment benefits.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
(BCBSM) has also signed a 10-year
contract with Detroit Thermal for steam
service to its landmark three-building
downtown campus. Analysis showed
that by connecting to Detroit Thermal,
BCBSM would save money in both new
construction costs and operating costs
– and at the same time help BCBSM
lower its emissions and reduce its carbon
footprint. BCBSM has been operating its
own steam energy system since the early
1970s but chose to connect to district
energy rather than replace its aging
on-site system.
Additionally, Detroit Thermal recently
completed new service connections to
the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan,
part of the Detroit Medical Center. This
new connection alone will provide the
company around $5.5 million in new
revenue over the next nine years, as part
of a 10-year, $80 million medical center
contract announced last year.
Construction Under Way
at Princeton Medical
Center Plant
The University Medical Center of Princeton at
Plainsboro is scheduled to open in early 2012.
A new $34 million combined heat
and power project is under construction at
the University Medical Center of Princeton
at Plainsboro in New Jersey. Concord
Engineering Group was awarded the
engineering, procurement and construction management contract for the CHP
project. NRG Thermal LLC owns and will
operate the plant, slated for completion in
January 2012.
The new plant will include three
24,000-lb/hr boilers, three 1,000-ton electric chillers, a 700-ton steam absorption
chiller, a 4. 6 MW gas turbine generator, a
heat recovery steam generator, emergency
backup generators and a thermal energy
storage system for off-peak chilled-water
production. The plant’s systems will be
monitored and controlled through an
advanced software system that optimizes
energy use and minimizes the medical
center’s utility costs and carbon footprint.
When completed, the plant is
expected to provide a carbon emission
reduction equivalent to taking 1,900
cars of the road per year. The project is
expected to receive grants from New Jersey
through the state Board of Public Utilities
and benefit from federal tax credits.
The medical center will be an
approximately 636,000-sq-ft facility
with 237 single patient rooms and the
ability to expand its patient rooms by
50 percent and its footprint by 33 percent
in the future.
Flowserve Multi-Z Valves in
New Cast Globe Body
Flowserve Corp. has announced the
availability of its Multi-Z anticavitation
control valves in a new cast globe body.
Sold under both the Flowserve Kämmer
and Flowserve Valtek valve brands, these
Multi-Z valves virtually eliminate cavitation,
helping minimize maintenance costs and
improving reliability.
Cavitation occurs when the pressure
of the process fluid drops below the vapor
pressure, allowing small bubbles to form
in the fluid that can then collapse on the
valve’s surfaces and impart significant
energy that can damage the valve trim.
To achieve zero cavitation, the Multi-Z is
designed to divide the pressure drop into
three to six stages to gradually reduce
pressure and minimize velocity spikes.
Additionally, in applications with particles
in the process fluid, this staged pressure
reduction serves to lessen erosion,
extending the life of the valve, decreasing
maintenance and minimizing downtime.
Multi-Z valves facilitate quick and easy
maintenance with a top-entry design that
enables the valve body to stay in line while
the trim is replaced or repaired. For more
information, visit www.flowserve.com.
