JAMAR COMPANY RECENTLY COMPLETED THE ANNUAL OUTAGE AT GREAT RIVER ENERGY'S ELK RIVER, MN FACILITY

Elk River Station The Jamar Company recently completed the annual outage at Great River Energy’s Elk River, MN facility as part of an ongoing one year maintenance contract negotiated with Great River Energy in the last quarter of 2004. Great River Energy is Minnesota's second largest electric wholesale supplier. It is a generation and transmission cooperative that provides wholesale electric service to 28 distribution co-ops. It's 2,500-megawatt generation system includes coal, refuse-derived fuel, natural gas and oil plants, as well as wind generation. Every day, the Elk River Station converts 2.5 million pounds of garbage into enough electricity for about 30,000 homes, making it a leader in using waste-to-energy technology. Click here to learn more about Great River Energy. The Elk River Station reduces the amount of waste entering landfills in Minnesota by more than 300,000 tons per year. In addition, using refuse as a fuel rather than placing it in a landfill eliminates the methane that is generated when the waste is buried (methane is a highly active greenhouse gas). Also, waste-to-energy facilities like the Elk River Station conserve natural resources such as oil, coal and natural gas.

Grate Drive This particular outage consisted of alternating shutdowns on each of three boilers as well as a nine day complete plant shutdown. Jamar’s work scope covered all mill systems from the refuse receiving building to the boilers to the ash handling system. Craftsmen employed included boilermakers, pipe fitters, millwrights, carpenters, laborers, ironworkers and insulators. Project manpower peaked in excess of 200 men with 45,000 total man-hours expended over the course of the eight week project. Jamar did a total rebuild of the grate drive which is located at the bottom of the boiler and slowly turns, moving hot ashes to the hopper.

Scrubbers Skin Casing

The picture above is the outside view of the scrubbers which clean the air on the way to the stack. Due to corrosion, Jamar installed a metal plate inside the scrubbers. Jamar also replaced the carbon steel skin casing with a stainless steel skin casing.

Superheat Elements Steam Drum

Ash Piping The picture above is superheat elements staged and ready for installation. Jamar replaced the secondary superheat elements on the #3 boiler. You can also see the inside view of a steam drum into which Jamar rolled all the replacement boiler tubes. Following the combustion process, about 20 percent of the refuse-derived fuel remains in the form of ash. Jamar installed a new ash piping system. In the picture to the right you see the ash piping and gate valve.

Prep Work Being Performed on the Boiler Tubes Prior to Installation The outage was completed on time, on budget and to the complete satisfaction of Jamar’s new customer, Great River Energy. Jamar is staffed with skilled personnel capable of tackling boiler repair and maintenance projects, or new system installations. They are committed to delivering projects safely, on time and with the highest degree of quality to each of their industrial customers. For more information visit Jamar's web site at: www.jamarcompany.com. Back If you would like more information on the APi Group, please fill out our users form.