April 28, 2022
Having been completed in 1924, DTE Energy’s iconic “Trenton Stacks” power plant has been utilizing coal as its fuel source ever since its inception. With newer technologies and cleaner fuels available, environmental regulatory agencies began pushing to have the power plant curtail and eventually cease burning coal.
To address the EPA’s concerns, DTE put in process a project to replace their coal-fired boilers with new emission-friendly gas-fired units. However, the timetable that DTE put forth was not sufficient to meet the mandated deadlines of the EPA of April 1st, 2016, and the new boilers were not going to be online until sometime in 2017. All of this was complicated by the fact that the facility was a steam host for Eastman Chemical’s Solutia Plant and exported as much as 60,000 PPH of saturated steam to Solutia.
As a frequent customer of Allied General Services (AGS) for their boiler work, DTE contacted Steve Hess and Bill Ehlert at AGS. The original plan that they came up with called for a large watertube rental boiler with a feedwater treatment system to serve the saturated steam needs of both Solutia and DTE. However, in order to comply with the permitting requirements, any boiler onsite would be limited to 20 MMBTUH input. Because of this difficult constraint, another solution would be necessary.
Having worked with Powerhouse on many occasions in the past, Steve Hess at Allied General Services was very familiar with the exceptional quality of expertise, equipment, and service Powerhouse provides. When Steve consulted Powerhouse if and how the project could be performed within the constraints, Powerhouse immediately suggested four 500 HP Portable Boiler Rooms rated at 19.9MMBTUH input that was in stock. This option would not only meet the emissions demand but allow for some redundancy should there be a failure.
Powerhouse delivered the four portable boiler systems in March of 2016, and the units have been producing steam as required satisfying the needs of the Solutia Plant as well as the daily operational needs of DTE’s plant. Because of Powerhouse’s vast inventory of efficient, premium quality rental units and unrivaled technical acumen, the customer was able to receive the much-needed equipment and support in a swift timeframe.
An energy company had two older boilers that were constantly in need of repair, so they decided to do something about it. Powerhouse helped them to make the transition with a long term lease and an installation that allowed for zero downtime.
CMI provides mechanical contracting services to commercial facilities in the Chicago area. Their Client, Northwestern University, needed to shut down their utility systems for maintenance, without leaving their students out in the cold!
