Safety solutions for biofuel and waste-to-energy co-generation plant run by Fortum Klaipėda

  • Client Fortum Klaipėda
  • Implementation period 2012 – 2013
  • Project location Klaipėda, Lithuania
  • Project partners Dias Infrared, Flexim Security
  • Project task To install safety solutions ensuring reliable protection against fire and the smooth functioning of technological processes at the new biofuel and waste-to-energy plant.
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Solutions in this project

  • Fire alarm system
  • Access control system
  • Video surveillance system
  • Public address system
  • Technological process monitoring system

This is the first time that infra red, heat-detecting video cameras have been used to ensure fire prevention in a Lithuanian industrial facility.

FIMA specialists installed solutions to ensure the safe and reliable operation of a new power plant, the first in the Baltic States to generate heat and electricity from the incineration of waste and biofuel. The plant is currently the most advanced power plant in any of the Baltic states.

To protect against fire in the plant, FIMA installed a bespoke fire alarm system, which was specifically designed to meet the needs of the facility. It is the first time in Lithuania that thermal imaging cameras have been used to guarantee fire prevention in an industrial facility, having been installed in the plant‘s fuel bunker. The cameras constantly scan the surface of biofuel and waste in the bunker, providing the system operator with a thermal on-screen image of the bunker with the hottest areas and their temperatures highlighted. Should a high temperature be detected, staff are automatically alerted by an audio signal and if the temperature continues to rise, the system triggers the fire alarm. The image shown on screen allows operators to see the precise location of the fire and then to take appropriate action to bring the temperature down quickly.

A fire alarm system that incorporates about 500 smoke, heat and flame sensors and offering the ultimate in reliability has been installed in other parts of the plant and can detect indoor temperature changes, smoke and naked flames. In the event of a fire, it will control the fire extinguishing, evacuation and ventilation systems that it is integrated with.

FIMA has also installed an accesss control system (67 controlled doors), a public address system (65 loudspeakers) and a video surveillance system (34 cameras) at the plant.
 
In addition to providing site security, the video surveillance system is used to control the technological processes within the plant. Operators are able to monitor the entry of vehicles bringing biofuel and waste in to the site on displays in the control centre and are able to control the weighing and waste unloading processes. Cameras also provide staff with the opportunity to monitor the entire journey of fuel through the plant from it entering the fuel bunker through to the final emptying of cinder from the boiler. The cameras even show the interior of the boiler.

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Testimonials

  • “Every kind of security is a high priority at the plant. Security is ensured at every stage of the waste’s transformation into energy: from it entering the site right through to smoke treatment. The fire prevention system installed by Fima specialists is a reliable part of the plant’s overall security system.”

    Juozas Doniela, director of Fortum Klaipėda