TITLE:
Influence of HFO Operating Temperature on the Performance of Centrifugal Separators in a Mini Thermal Power Plant in a Sahelian Climate: Case of the Ouaga East Plant
AUTHORS:
Hassime Guengané, Souleymane Ramdé, Myriam J. A. D. Millogo, Thierry S. M. Ky, Sié Kam, Dieudonné Joseph Bathiébo
KEYWORDS:
Sahelian Climate, Centrifugal Separator, Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO), Adaptive Control, Separation Efficiency
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Sustainable Bioenergy Systems,
Vol.16 No.4,
November
11,
2026
ABSTRACT: The Ouaga East thermal power plant uses heavy fuel oil (HFO), which requires preheating before injection into the centrifugal separators. Given the climatic environment, the plant experiences large daily ambient temperature variations ranging from 23˚C to 41˚C, with peaks often reaching 45˚C. Consequently, a fixed setpoint temperature of 95˚C leads to dangerous exceedances of the safety limit (>98˚C) in the afternoon and reduced separation efficiency at night. In this study, we propose an adaptive control strategy in which the setpoint is modulated in real time and maintained between 92˚C and 98˚C, with a simulation duration of 48 h. The thermal model is validated with an average RMSE of 1.09˚C, a bias of −0.14˚C, and an R2 of 0.788. The results show that the HFO temperature is maintained within the optimal range during the simulation time, versus 77.6% for the fixed setpoint. Moreover, the separation efficiency remains unchanged. A deterministic economic analysis shows an annual gain of €32,449 (21.3 million FCFA) through energy savings (12.85%), reduced maintenance (46%), and avoided production losses (41.15%). A Monte Carlo simulation yields an average gain of €19,701 with a 90% confidence interval. The required investment is less than €4000, resulting in a payback period of less than one year. Adaptive control is therefore a simple, robust, and immediately cost-effective solution for improving the performance and safety of thermal power plants in Sahelian climates.