1.

Introduction
A. System Function
The water and steam system is the principal system available for the
transfer of heat energy from the boiler. It has the following major functions:

To control feed water flow to meet requirements during start-up,

normal, and emergency operations.
To preheat feed water to increase efficiency (economizer).
To generate high pressure steam by transferring the heat of
combustion in various heat transfer sections in the system and to
the fluid such as water-steam.
It also accepts chemical dosing to maintain pH and reduce scaling.

B. System Overview
The steam generating system operates according to the natural circulation
principle. The feed water delivered by the boiler feed pump enters the boiler
drum after flowing through the economizer. The water flows through
individual downcomers to the evaporator inlet headers and passes from
there into the boiler enclosing walls through which it flows upwards. All boiler
enclosing walls are arranged as evaporator heating surfaces. In addition,
screen, the supporting tubes and evaporator tube bundle are arranged as
evaporator heating surfaces.
The fluid leaving the evaporator walls, screen, supporting tubes and
evaporator tube bundle is passed through a system of overflow tubes to the
boiler drum where the saturated steam is separated from the boiling water.
The superheater is arranged downstream of the evaporator screen. The
superheater is subdivided into three stages. Two spray-type attemperator for
controlling the superheated steam temperature are located between the
stages. The steam is supplied to the turbine via Main Steam Pipe.

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2. Flow Path Description

From Boiler fill

pump

Figure 1: Water and Steam System Flow Path

The feed water which is supplied from the deaerator and delivered by Boiler
Feed Water Pump passes through a Control Feed Station in which feed water
is regulated. It is then passes through the Economizer in which it is
preheated to increase efficiency. The feed water enters in the boiler steam
drum.
The Boiler is a natural circulation drum type. The density difference between
the colder water in the downcomers and the hotter steam-water mixture in
the riser tubes ensures the circulation of the steam-water mixture back into
the drum. In the steam drum, the mixture is separated into saturated steam,
which flows out of the drum, and remaining water, which mixes with the
incoming feed water and flows through the downcomers to start the
circulation process once again.
The saturated steam that exits the drum is further heated to the superheater
1, 2 and 3 in order increase steam temperature and to produce the rated
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steam for steam turbine. The superheater is a heat exchanger that overheats
(superheats) the saturated steam. By superheating saturated steam, the
temperature of the steam is increased beyond the temperature of the
saturated steam, and thus the efficiency of the energy production process
can be raised. The boiler has two SH Attemperators. One is located on the
connecting pipe from SH-1 to SH-2 and the other is the same from SH-2 and
SH-3. The function of SH Attemperators are to control steam temperature so
that the required parameters of steam delivered at the turbine is in the
acceptable condition.
The steam generator is equipped with Drain System adequately so that drain
does not remain inside the steam generator. The drain from the Steam
Generator is collected at Drain Trough and flows to the Blowdown Tank.
The steam generator is equipped with Vent line adequately so that air does
not remain inside the steam generator. All of the vents from the steam
generator are collected at Vent Through and flow to the blowdown tank.
In Nitrogen System, a nitrogen blanket is formed by filling the boiler
completely with water and pressurizing with nitrogen gas. The nitrogen gas
forms an inert barrier, and minimizes corrosive oxygen intrusion into the
water phase. This system is use for the purpose of a long term standstill of
the steam generator.

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3. Component Description
Feed Water Control Station this comprises a set of control valves. Feed
control valves are meant to regulate and maintain required feed water flow
to the boiler. These valves help to maintain drum level at a desired set point.
Feed water control station has three valves (2x100% and 1x40% of flow). The
40% valve is for the start-ups as the flow are low whereas 100% are for
normal loadings. Two 100% numbers of valves should be installed because
you need one running and one standby.

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Figure 2: This figure shows the partial P&ID of Feed Water Control Station.
Red marks indicate the 3 control valves (2x100% and 1x40%).
Economizers Economizers basically tubular heat transfer surfaces used to
preheat boiler feedwater before it enters the boiler drum. The term
economizer comes from early use of heat exchangers to reduce operating
costs or economize on fuel by recovering extra energy from the flue gas.
Economizer perform a key function in providing high overall boiler thermal
efficiency by recovering the energy from the flue gas before it exhausted to
the atmosphere. Rough estimate indicates that an increase of 10 o of
feedwater temperature increases the efficiency by 1%. Economizer also

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reduces the potential of thermal shock and strong water temperature

fluctuations as the feedwater enters the boiler drum or waterwalls.

Figure 3:
This figure shows the partial part of P&ID for Economizer

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Figure 4: An example of an Economizer. (Actual Economizer may vary)

Boiler Steam Drum The steam drum is the most important part of a
boiler. It secures natural circulation. Primary function of steam drum is to
effectively separate steam from water. It also mixes the chemicals that are
put into the drum for the purpose of corrosion control and water treatment. It
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provides the source for a blowdown system where a portion of the water is
rejected as a means of controlling the boiler water chemistry and reducing
the solids content.

Figure 5: This figure shows a schematic diagram of boiler steam drum.

Downcomer Downcomers are pipes leading from the top to the bottom of
the boiler. Downcomers carry the water from steam drum to the bottom part
of the boilers where it enters the distribution headers to be heated in the
combustion zone. Downcomer tubes are placed outside the boiler to prevent
the water from evaporating, which could decrease the driving force of natural
circulation (decrease average density in downcomer tube).
Distribution headers Distribution headers are big pipe headers that
transfer water from the downcomers to the risers through a combustion zone
where the water gets partially heated to steam from the heat of fuel
combustion.

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Riser/Furnace tubes Risers are pipes leading from the bottom to the top
of the boiler. Water and steam generated in the combustion zone, runs
through the risers up to the steam drum.

Evaporator In boilers with low steam pressure, the share of the heat
needed for evaporation is bigger than when considering a high-pressure
boiler. Thus the furnace-wall evaporator cannot provide enough heat for
evaporation process in low-pressure boilers. Convection evaporators supply
the supplementary heat needed for complete evaporation. They are normally
placed after the superheater stage in boiler process. Convection evaporators
can cause local tube overheat problems with partial loads.
Furnace Screen The purpose of the screen tubes in a water tube boiler is
to shield the superheater tubes from excessive heating so that the heat
radiated from the flames in the furnace do not damage them. Hence they are
having a large size (diameter) which is necessary for keeping the
temperatures low.
Superheater Once water gets converted to steam, its temperature needs
to be raised further to pump in more energy in the steam and this is done by
imparting thermal energy to the steam in the form of superheat. The
superheater is a heat exchanger that overheats (superheats) the saturated
steam. By superheating saturated steam, the temperature of the steam is
increased beyond the temperature of the saturated steam, and thus the
efficiency of the energy production process can be raised. The superheater
normally consists of tubes conducting steam, which are heated by flue gases
passing outside the tubes. The tubes are usually connected in parallel using
headers, with steam entering from one header and exiting in another header.
In the plant, there are 3 Superheaters found. A schematic diagram in figure 6
illustrates the arrangement of superheaters.
Attemperator Attemperator reduces steam temperature to suit the
requirements for equipments such as steam turbine by bringing superheated
steam into direct contact with water. The steam is cooled through the
evaporation of the water. The water used for attemperation is supplied from
the feed water line. There are two attemperators in the steam and water
system as shown in the schematic diagram in figure 6. Water is sprayed after
the Superheater 1 and Superheater 2.

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Fig
ure 6: Schematic Diagram showing the Spray Attemperator Arrangement

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Blowdown Valve A number of factors determine the need for boiler

blowdown. The amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) is one. Other
controlling factors for determining blowdown requirements are alkalinity,
suspended solids, and other chemical factors. Solids are brought into the
boiler by the feedwater. Even though the water is treated, either
mechanically or chemically, neither means of treatment is capable of
removing all substances. A small amount of crystallized solids will be present
in the boiler water, which can tend to encrust surfaces. Internal chemical
treatment is therefore required in order to keep harmful scale and sludge
from forming. Scale has a low heat transfer value and acts as an insulating
barrier. Insulation retards heat transfer, which not only results in lower
operating efficiency but, more importantly, can cause overheating of boiler
metal. Overheating of boiler metal may results in tube failure or other
pressure vessel metal damage. Scale is caused primarily by calcium and
magnesium salts, silica, and oil. Any calcium and magnesium salts, along
with organic materials in the boiler water, are generally precipitated by the
use of sodium phosphate in order to maintain these precipitates or sludge
in a fluid form.
a. Continuous Blowdown this valve opens continuously to maintain
the dirty material level to a minimum value. The opening of the valve
is varied as per requirements with a predefined control signal. The
motorized actuator can also receive manual commands; the method of
control is the operators prerogative.
b. Intermittent Blowdown this type of valve blows down dirty water
as necessary. Its operation may be predefined, based on cyclic or time
framed full open/close signal or manual command from the operator
with a motorized actuator. Boiler drum conductivity may be one of the
parameters to operate this valve in automatic control.

Drain Valve during start-up of the plant after a prolonged shutdown or

cold start-up, the pipelines and various equipments need to be warmed up
before loading the boiler. To achieve this, heating steam is admitted phaseby-phase in a very slow manner to avoid dissimilar heat causing expansion of
various casings and pipes. While heating metal works, the steam gets
condensed and collected at the bottom of the pipeline with a siphon-type of
design at various strategic locations. At the bottom, condensed water is
drained out through this valve with a motorized actuator when the level in
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the drain pipe reaches a predefined value to avoid frequent operation. Level
switches are provided for automatic operation.

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Figure 7: Blowdown and Drainage Schematic Diagram. The diagram

illustrates the different drains of water and steam system.
Safety (Pop-up) Valve these valves are immense importance to the
safety of the plant and its personnel. Whenever there is a pressure build-up
in the pipeline beyond the limit, the valve should operate or pop up to
release steam to the atmosphere until the pressure comes down to a safe
value. Although a loss of energy and mass of working fluid occurs, it is
inevitable during any untoward situation rendered uncontrollable by a normal
control system. There are various types of safety valves; electromatic (or
relief), spring-loaded, dead weight, fusible plug, etc.
a. Electromatic Safety (or Relief) Valve this is a pilot solenoid valve
that is energized automatically from the pressure switch at a very high
set point, which allows working fluid to operate the actuator of the
safety valve. It can be operated through remote manual command as
well from the control room/tower.
b. Spring-Loaded Safety Valve normally this valve operates as a last
resort to the safety system against high pressure. Under normal
operation, the spring tension is high enough to hold the valve plug on
its seat to ensure a closed position until a very high pressure set point
is reached. At this point and above, the force against the spring lifts
the plug over its seat to allow extra steam to escape, unless the steam
pressure comes down to a normal value. The discharge capacity should
be selected so that it is equal to the evaporative capacity to avoid
frequent build-up of pressure (actuation of this valve). Other types of
safety valves are no longer in use; hence, they are not discussed.
Start-up Vent Valve this type of valve is in the main steam header and,
as the name implies, is required for the start-up period only. As a cold boiler
is fired up, steam is produced but cannot initially be sent to the turbine until
the pressure and temperature has stabilised. During this time it is necessary
to exhaust the steam through the vent valve.
Nitrogen Capping A nitrogen blanket is formed by filling the boiler
completely with water and pressurizing with nitrogen gas. The nitrogen gas

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forms an inert barrier, and minimizes corrosive oxygen intrusion into the
water phase.

4. Operation
a. Start-up
b. Normal Operation
c. Shutdown
d. Emergency Procedures

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5. Control and Instrumentation

Control and Instrumentation
General
The purpose of Control and Instrumentation system will provide safe, reliable
and efficient operation of power plant. It includes the coordinated control of
the turbine and boiler, boiler controls, boiler auxiliaries controls, turbine
controls, turbine auxiliaries controls, boiler and turbine protection, electrical
systems control and other common/station plant control systems.
The control and operation of the power plant will be accomplished using
state-of-the-art microprocessor based Distributed Control System (DCS).

Operation Philosophy
The plant operation is based on the principle of central control. The
Instrumentation and Control System will facilitate operation and monitoring
of the equipments from CCR. One of this equipment is the Boiler.

Boiler Controls
The DCS will perform the normal start-up/shutdown and emergency
operation of the Boiler and its associated auxiliaries.
All the open and closed loop control functions including automatic boiler
controls such as drum level control, steam pressure control, combustion air
flow control, steam temperature control, turbine bypass control and
operation of the fan/pumps such as Forced Draft Fans will be performed. The
interlock and protection system for the Boiler will operate in coordination
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with the operational and protection requirements of Boiler, Steam Turbine

Generator and their auxiliaries.

Steam Temperature Control

Spray Attemperator Water Line starts from its connection on the feed water
pipe and terminate at the Spray Attemperator-1 and the Spray Attemperator2 respectively. In figure 9, the Spray Attemperator Water Line has a function
to convey spray water to two Attemperators. The Function of the control
valve is to supply the demanded spray water. The motor valve is closed
when both control valves are closed in order to shut off the spray water
completely. The motor valve is opened in a regulated manner when the
detected outlet temperature exceeds the specified temperature of the Main
Steam.

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Figure 9: Shows typical schematic diagram of Spray Attemperator Control

Boiler Level Control

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