Intelligent control system and operational performance optimization of a municipal solid waste incineration power plant

This study proposed an integrated intelligent control system in one municipal solid waste incineration power plant to improve the system's control accuracy, economic performance and environmental impact, including the intelligent combustion, intelligent denitrification, intelligent desulfurization and intelligent soot-blowing control subsystems. The precise detection and adjustment of the key operational parameters was achieved by integrating these modules into the existing distributed control system. A comparative analysis of the operation data between pre-optimization and post-optimization states was conducted to assess the changes in the key operational and economic parameters. The results indicate that the introduction of the intelligent control module can significantly improve the system stability and parameter control accuracy, thereby enhancing the economic efficiency of the waste incineration power plant and reducing the operation workload and the pollutants emissions. Specifically, the standard deviations of main steam flowrate and pressure decreased by 45.1 % and 60.7 %, respectively. Furthermore, the consumptions of the ammonia water and lime slurry were reduced by 38.2 % and 23.2 %, respectively, while the auxiliary power consumption rate declined by two percentage points, and the power generation per ton of waste increased by 4.2 %. These improvements not only strengthen the economic benefits but also effectively reduce the pollutants emissions. • An integrated intelligent control system to improve waste incineration efficiency and economic performance was proposed. • Integrating reinforcement learning, data-driven and big data analytics to predict and control operational parameters. • The effectiveness of the intelligent control system was verified in a waste incineration power plant.