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GE to Supply Japan’s JFE Steel Co. with Multi-Fuel, On-Site Power Solution at Chiba Steel Mill

06/18/2012 - GE is supplying Japan steel producer JFE Steel Co. Ltd. with a heavy duty Frame 9E gas turbine system for an innovative steel gas-to-energy recovery project at the company’s East Japan Iron Works in Chiba City, located in the Keiyo (Tokyo-Chiba) Industrial Park east of Tokyo.

With the global steel industry working to reduce the environmental impact of its production activities, GE is supplying Japan steel producer JFE Steel Co. Ltd. with a heavy duty Frame 9E gas turbine system for an innovative steel gas-to-energy recovery project at the company’s East Japan Iron Works in Chiba City, located in the Keiyo (Tokyo-Chiba) Industrial Park east of Tokyo.
Engineering, procurement and construction contractor Toshiba Plant Systems & Services Corp. will install GE’s 9E gas turbine as well as a GE-designed 9A5 generator and associated equipment at JFE’s new 150-megawatt (MW), multiple fuel, combined-cycle power plant. The sprawling steel mill operation produces about 8 million tons of crude steel annually, according to JFE.
East Japan Works has a strict resource and energy conservation program in place. The new combined-cycle plant will mainly use the steel mill’s own blast furnace and coke oven gases to generate on-site power for the mill’s operations and significantly reduce the site’s annual carbon dioxide emissions.
GE also will provide maintenance services through a comprehensive, 15-year parts supply and repair service agreement to further enhance customer value and the availability of the power plant. GE’s contractual service agreements (CSAs) are structured to provide customers with predictable maintenance costs, while ensuring high availability and a steady revenue flow from power plant operations. To date, GE has long-term service agreements in place at more than 700 sites worldwide.
“As one of the world’s leading supplier of gas turbines, we are excited to demonstrate how our heavy duty turbines have the operational flexibility to help JFE and other steel producers effectively deal with their gases that have fluctuating thermal qualities,” said Paul Browning, president and CEO—Thermal Products for GE Energy.
With its flexible fuel handling capabilities, GE’s workhorse Frame 9E gas turbine—which has compiled more than 20 million hours of utility and industrial service worldwide—can accommodate a broad spectrum of fuels including natural gas, light and heavy distillate oil, naphtha, crude, residual oil, blast furnace gas and biofuels. It also can burn a variety of syngases produced from oil or coal. Moreover, GE gas turbine technology provides for reduced impact on the operation and maintenance of the gas turbine and is favored for its reliability, durability and flexibility.
GE expects to begin delivering its generating equipment to Japan in December 2013. JFE’s East Japan Iron Works power plant is scheduled to begin operating in June 2015.
While the JFE-Chiba project marks GE’s first steel mill gas-to-energy project in Japan, the company has established itself as a global leader in steel mill gas-to-energy recovery projects that support a wide range of power outputs. For example:
  • In November 2011, GE announced an order to supply its 9E gas turbine technology for a new 170-megawatt power plant at Handan Iron & Steels mill in Handan City, China. In 2010, Wuhan Iron & Steel began operating an on-site waste gas-to-energy plant powered by two of GE’s 9E gas turbines. Meanwhile, additional coke oven gas projects in China are utilizing GE’s Frame 6B gas turbines.
  • For steel mill distributed power applications under 100 MW, GE also offers its aeroderivative gas turbine and Jenbacher specialty gas engine technologies. Key projects include the Henan Liyuen Char Group Company’s coke gas-fired, aeroderivative gas turbine combined cycle plant at LiYuan, China. The 62-MW plant was commissioned in 2011 and is powered by two of GE’s LM2500+ aeroderivative units. Meanwhile, more than 50 of GE’s Jenbacher engines are powering smaller steel gas-to-energy power plants worldwide, including pioneering projects in Bilbao and Avilés in northern Spain.
These diverse applications illustrate how GE is providing the steel industry’s global supply chain with more reliable, energy-efficient on-site power solutions. 

GE Global Industries, GE Energy’s new cross-business unit, takes the best technologies from across GE Energy’s diverse portfolio and interconnects them to increase efficiency and results for customers in critical business sectors including the metals, mining, food and beverage, petrochemicals and unconventional fuel industries.