Application of Cllex® Pleated Cartridges in Biomass Boiler Flue-Gas Dust Collection (High Temp.)

Project Overview

A biomass power plant in Seoul, South Korea originally used a baghouse for its biomass-boiler flue-gas dust collection. To meet increasingly stringent dust-emission limits and reduce operating energy consumption, the plant needed to expand capacity within limited space, minimal investment and shortest downtime. The plant ultimately chose Ningbo PNC's Cllex® pleated cartridges to upgrade the original system, achieving ultra-low emissions and significant energy savings.

Challenge Challenge

In recent years, biomass-boiler fuel sources have become increasingly restricted, forcing some plants to seek biomass fuels beyond the original design. Changes in fuel calorific value and ash content require some systems to increase exhaust volume to meet steam-generation demand. Meanwhile, stricter dust-emission requirements and the need to save plant energy costs make retrofitting the old baghouses urgent. Yet some plants, constrained by small sites, inability to shut down for long, and limited budgets, cannot expand or rebuild the collectors.

At a biomass power plant in Seoul, South Korea, a baghouse had been built for boiler flue-gas dust collection, but to achieve better energy savings and lower dust emissions, its capacity had to be increased. Achieving ultra-low emissions within limited space—without expanding the footprint, minimizing investment and shortening downtime—was a challenge for the plant's environmental retrofit.

Solution Solution

Recognizing the superior performance of PNC's Cllex® pleated cartridges, and considering that no major modification of the original collector was needed with minimal investment and shortest downtime, the plant ultimately chose Cllex® pleated cartridges to expand the existing system.

Dust Collector Parameters: Before vs. After Retrofit:

Outcome Outcome

Before retrofit, we identified a design flaw in the original collector's blowpipe that could not meet cartridge cleaning requirements. Concerned about cost, the plant did not adopt our suggestion. After cartridge replacement and restart, the collector differential pressure kept rising and could not be controlled below the design value via pulse cleaning. The plant then adopted our suggestion to redesign and fully replace the blowpipe. After stable restart, the operating pressure drop was reduced from a peak of 2700 Pa to below 1900 Pa. (Note: a dry desulfurization system was also added upstream of the collector.)

Comparing pre- and post-retrofit operating data at the same air volume, the annual system operating cost dropped by 36%.

Note: a. Power consumption is a theoretical estimate and may differ from actual values; b. Electricity at 0.8 CNY/kWh, compressed air at 0.15 CNY/m³, operating 8000 h/yr.

Since recommissioning after retrofit, the Cllex® pleated cartridges have operated safely for over 3 years, with good dust emission concentration and energy consumption.

Conclusion Conclusion

Cllex® Pleated Cartridge Features:

• For different operating temperatures, ambient-, medium- and high-temperature cartridges are available, with a maximum long-term operating temperature up to 240°C; for different conditions, options include ePTFE membrane, ultrafine-fiber surface layer, and water/oil-repellent & anti-static treatment, etc.
• Simpler cartridge installation—no need to worry about seals falling below the tube sheet;
• Cartridge production uses imported Korean equipment, and core raw materials are imported from Korea, ensuring uniform pleat spacing and stable bonding between media, end caps and inner support;
• Higher dust filtration efficiency, longer service life and lower operating energy consumption.