PROJECTS

PROJECT: Hydrogen Sulfide Incinerator Replacement for Geothermal Generation

A large number of generating units were installed in the Geysers area around Clear Lake, CA, while PG&E owned these facilities. A by-product of using the steam out of the ground is the off gassing of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas which has a strong odor of rotten eggs. While PG&E owned these units, the local air pollution control district implement regulations to control release of H2S gas. PG&E had their Department of Engineering Research build a pilot incinerator at the Units 7&8 location. In the year 2000, this pilot incinerator was at least 5 years old and was failing.

An independent power producer (IPP) purchased the majority of PG&E's geysers units and also bought a used incinerator of much larger capacity to replace the pilot incinerator at Units 7&8. I was part of the team contracted to be the engineering consultant to completely retrofit the used incinerator, including relocation, for operation at Unit 7&8. All engineering disciplines were utilized within our team to complete this task including my expertise in Instrumentation & Control System Engineering.

My responsibility was to develop and finalize the functional process organization for H2S abatement using this incinerator and then to design a control system to automate this process. I coordinated my control design with a instrumentation technician who was responsible for the Allen-Bradley PLC hardware design. Lastly, I was at the site to assist in final construction, loop testing, and startup.