OilVoice - Foster Wheeler Awarded Gasification FEED Contract in South Korea

Foster Wheeler Awarded Gasification FEED Contract in South Korea

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Foster Wheeler AG announceS that its Milan-based subsidiary Foster Wheeler Italiana S.p.A., part of its Global Engineering and Construction Group, has been awarded by Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co., Ltd. (DOOSAN) a contract for the front-end engineering design (FEED) and technical services for a new gasification island, based on Shell technology, to be built in South Korea. The plant is to be built in one of the existing coal-fired power plants and the project is partially supported by the Korean government as a part of national Research, Development & Demonstration projects.

DOOSAN is the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) contractor selected for the realization of the gasification island of a coal-based integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant.

Foster Wheeler’s contract value was not disclosed and will be included in the company’s first-quarter 2009 bookings.

Foster Wheeler will undertake the FEED, provide procurement assistance for long-lead items, develop a capital cost estimate, and provide technical training on gasification and technical support during the EPC phase. The IGCC plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

“We have considerable expertise in gasification and IGCC using a wide range of feedstocks. We believe that coal-based IGCC is an efficient and flexible technology and is part of a portfolio of products offered by Foster Wheeler for clean coal power generation,” said Marco Moresco, chief executive officer, Foster Wheeler Italiana.

“DOOSAN has great confidence in Foster Wheeler’s unrivalled experience and know-how in IGCC plants and technologies,” said Dong Soo Suh, executive vice president, DOOSAN. “This contract further enhances our cooperation with Foster Wheeler, with whom we already have in place a clean coal technology licensing agreement for subcritical-pressure circulating fluidized bed steam generators.”

The IGCC process produces electricity from a solid or liquid fuel. First, the fuel through gasification is converted to syngas, which is a mixture mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Second, the syngas is cleaned to remove sulfur compounds and finally is converted to electricity in a combined cycle power block consisting of a gas turbine, a heat recovery steam generator and a steam turbine.