Clean energy in the Black Country

A new power station, opened in November 1993 at Wolverhampton, will burn some 90000 tonnes of tyres per annum-more than 20% of the UK´s total output. The new station is the largest approved under the first tranche of the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation, producing 30 MW of electricity. The Wolverhampton plant is built around five identical incinerator/boiler flue-gas cleaning systems. Incineration takes place in a multi-stage process, designed to ensure that all the carbonaceous material is burned, no dioxins form and potential pollutants are kept to a minimum. The tyres are injected in batches equivalent to 3035 passenger car tyres, and each incinerator has a nominal design heat input of 76 million Btu/h (22-3 MW). After combustion, the exhaust gases pass directly from the incinerator to the waste-heat recovery boiler. Each of the five boilers delivers about 53000 lb/hour (6-7 kg/s) of superheated steam at 40 bar to the plant´s turbogenerator. At nominal output this generator will produce about 30 MW of electricity, of which some 5 MW are consumed within the plant to power pumps, conveyors, air compressors etc., leaving around 25 MW available for export