So today I am going to tell you about the Furnace Oil Power Plant in complete details. So let’s begins,

What is the furnace Oil Power Plant?

A furnace oil Power Plant is a power plant in which the primary fuel source is Furnace oil. These are also called HFO(Heavy Fuel Oil)  Engine Power Plant.

Why we need the Furnace Oil Power Plant?

In Furnace oil Power Plant the primary fuel source is Furnace Oil/ HFO (Heavy Fuel Oil) which cost is very less than Diesel fuel. And it is also available in abundance. Hence the generation cost of the HFO Engine Power Plant is less than the Diesel Engine Power Plant. So it is much beneficial as per the cost of electricity generation. One more benefit of this engine is its life cycle which around 30 years.

What is the Electricity Generation Cost of Furnace Oil Power Plant and Diesel Engine Power Plant?

So let’s move to a practical example,

MAN Diesel & Turbo (No it's name is MAN Energy Solutions) Germany is one of the best manufactures of the HFO Engine Power Plant. It has the small bores and large bores HFO Engine of the different ranges. It also manufactures the dual Fuel HFO/Gas Engine. I will discuss here small bore HFO Engine.

Below are the small bore engine Model of the MAN Diesel & Turbo.

You can download the complete brochure of the small bore MAN HFO engine from their website.

In small bore engine below fuel engine models are available
Liquid fuels: diesel, HFO, liquid biofuel and crude oil.

Now I will take only one small bore HFO Engine and will explain its some features which will help us in determining its fuel consumption and knowing its Kwe Power.

As in the above small bore HFO Engine Model, I will discuss the L21/31S Model.,

First note that the L21/31 Model name means is Its Cylinder is in line and its bore (which is its diameter length) size is 21cm and its stroke (its piston movement length in the cylinder) is 31cm. Here is its list of capacity.

These engines are available with 50 Hz and 60 Hz both frequency option. For 60 Hz Frequency, its engine speed is 900rpm while for 50 Hz its speed is 1000rpm.

Its electrical output is based on the ISO 3046-1:2002. If I take the 9L 21/31 model then its electrical output is at 95% efficiency and it will provide us the 1881KWe.

To run the engine on 80% load = 1504kWe.

Heat rate is mentioned in the above parameters, Now what is Heat Rate?

Heat Rate,

It is the amount of heat required to produce one unit of electricity. Its unit is Kj/kwh.

Now to find the fuel consumptions we have below formula,

In this formula, you just have to put the LCV of the Fuel. In my case I take the below fuel properties sheet,

Note: (The above fuel properties are the Pakistan Attock oil refinery )

So I have LCV 18200BTU/IB now online convert this to KJ/Kg it becomes 42333.2 KJ/Kg
Now putting the value in the above formula,
SFOC(Specific Fuel Oil Consumption)=8,276/42,333.2
SFOC= 0.195497Kg/KWh

Now let’s see the HFO Price of PSO, EX-Attock oil refinery

Note: (The above fuel Price are the Pakistan State Oil )

Now Per Unit Cost of HFO Fuel engine Power Plant is,

PKR/Kwh=      PKR/kg 83.15  x   0.195497Kg/KWh

Per Unit Cost = 16.26 PKR/Kwh (Hence Calculated HFO Engine Power Plant Unit cost)

Now to compare this with Diesel oil, see the below Pakistan State Oil Diesel rates,

Now the Diesel engine consumption is 0.3Ltr/Kwh so the price for the one unit is.

Per Unit Diesel Fuel Price = 0.3 *122.32 = 36.696 PKR /Kwh

Hence Diesel engine generation per unit cost is 2.26 times costly than the HFO Engine generation unit cost.

That is the reasons; these HFO Engine power Plants are used mostly.

Furthermore, Lube oil consumption values are also mentioned in the above engine parameter’s sheet. Which is given in the Kg/hr.

To further know about the HFO Engine Power Plant operation and its balance of the plant kindly
follow the below link.

HFO Engine Power Plant Complete Operation

HFO Engine Power Plant Complete Parts