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October 17 2009
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Vol. XV • No. 21
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.”
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Your Ohio Connection: Ed Bryden, Strongsville, OH • 1-800-810-7640
W.H. Retro-Fitting Sammis Plant a Large Task in Ohio By Linda J. Hutchinson CEG CORRESPONDENT
FirstEnergy will complete “one of the largest retro-fit projects in history” at its coal-burning electric generation W. H. Sammis plant in Stratton, Ohio, in 2011. The $1.5 billion project is expected to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide by 95 percent and nitrogen oxide (NOx) by at least 64 percent. To reach these goals it is installing emission reducing technology known as Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR). Stratton is between East Liverpool and Steubenville in southeastern Ohio. Current renovations and construction have been designed and are being managed by Bechtel Power, one of the world’s largest engineering firms. The site includes Block 7 — home to one of the tallest chimneys in the world, which was built in 1970. The power plant includes a tunnel for State Route 7, a four-lane freeway. The tunnel goes under the Baghouse structure, which filters particulate and toxic gases from the exhaust before entering the smoke stack. The Sammis facility is the largest of FirstEnergy’s coalfired power plants in Ohio. The plant sits on 187 acres along the Ohio River and consists of five oil-fired peaking units and seven coal-fired units, and produces 2,233 megawatts of electricity —enough to serve about 1.3 million homes. Construction of the first four coal-fired units were built between 1959 and 1962 with the remaining three units being completed in 1967, 1969 and 1971. Part of the SNCR involves installing “scrubbers” on all
The absorber rings weigh between 120 and 361 tons (109 and 327 t) each, are 14 to 35 ft. (4.3 to 10.7 m) in height, and 72 ft. (22 m) in diameter. They are transported to the site via the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The staging area is at Paducah, Ky.
seven coal-fired units before 2011. Scrubbers, the size of skyscrapers, have been built by the Bruce Mansfield plant of Shippingport, Pa., and take up to three weeks to move via the Ohio River to Stratton. “The scrubber rings were designed and engineered by Babcock & Wilcox, of Barberton, Ohio,” FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin said. They were fabricated by PSP
Industries of Fulton, Miss. Constructed of stainless steel alloy, the scrubber absorber rings have been stacked, six on top of each other, to form three 159-ft. (48 m) tall absorber towers. The absorber rings weigh between 120 and 361 tons (109 and 327 t) each, are 14 to 35 ft. (4.3 to 10.7 m) in height, and 72 ft. (22 m) in see SAMMIS page 6
T800, T370 Trucks Help Kokosing Construction Reduce Costs As one of the largest contractors in Ohio, Kokosing Construction has been growing and prospering since 1951. The company is about as diverse as it gets with operations in 10 states, in 25 different fields — from asphalt paving and bridge building to laying sub aqueous pipeline and building water treatment plants. “In a down economy, it helps to be diversified,” said Wayne Queen, trucking manager of Kokosing. “It also helps to have a wellrun equipment operation to control costs, which allows us to be ultra competitive on bids. It’s another thing we feel separates us from the competition.” Running nearly 2,000 pieces of heavy equipment, which includes Class 7 and 8
trucks, dozers, excavators, cranes and a litany of other equipment, the company has won numerous local and national awards for its projects, the quality of its work, and the management of its operations. “Safety and quality are at the core of Kokosing’s ideology,” said Queen. “While it may cost more up front for better equipment and investing in people to do a better job, it pays out in the end. As an example, we’ve been buying Kenworths as our primary truck for 10 years now and we can document their payback in lower operating costs and higher residual value.” The company runs 42 Kenworth T800s and a number of T370 medium duty trucks see KOKOSING page 7
Kokosing Construction runs nearly 2,000 pieces of heavy equipment.