Combustion optimization

Combustion is complex, and controlling it can look daunting. Griffin’s Combustion Optimization System (COS) uses advanced AI, inside the Griffin AI Toolkit®, to build a specialized and accurate model of each unit. The model is used to reduce emissions, improve heat rate, and meet other process objectives. Installed systems have shown heat-rate gains of 0.5% to 1%, and emission reductions of more than 20%.

Combustion is one of the hardest systems to control in a coal-fired power plant. Each furnace behaves like its own process, with its own characteristics. COS uses the AI methods in the Toolkit to represent that unit, then coordinates the moves that reduce emissions, improve heat rate, and serve the other objectives the plant actually has.

How a COS application is built

There is no one-size-fits-all method that produces repeatable combustion gains. Griffin’s approach has been refined over more than 50 years of combustion optimization work. Each application starts from a proven COS template and is then built for the unit in front of it.

Advanced modeling and optimization represent the process and use the opportunities that exist: a small damper move, or a shift of the whole operating condition inside the limits the plant will accept. Site knowledge from the engineers and operators who know the unit, often across decades, is then written into the no-code platform so it works with the AI components rather than beside them.

The result is a customized optimization system that can start providing control benefit in as little as one to two weeks. As the AI components keep learning from live operation, the benefit continues to improve.

What plants use it for

A COS application can be aimed at one objective or several. Common results include:

• NOx reductions of up to 40%, which has often removed the need to install an SCR.
• Heat-rate improvements of 0.5% to 1%, with the CO₂ reduction that follows from burning less fuel.
• Fewer unplanned outages, which means greater reliability, earlier dispatch, and lower operations and maintenance cost.
• Clearer handling of alarm conditions.
• More consistent unit control across crews and across operating conditions.

COS is a practical addition to a combustion process, including units that are complex or already constrained. Contact us to talk about the options on your unit. Combustion optimization brief (PDF).