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Sebastian Teir
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
Table of contents
Table of contents..................................................................................................................................2
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
Basics of boilers and boiler processes..................................................................................................5
A simple boiler.................................................................................................................................5
A simple power plant cycle..............................................................................................................6
Carnot efficiency..............................................................................................................................6
Properties of water and steam ..........................................................................................................7
Boiling of water ...........................................................................................................................7
Effect of pressure on evaporation temperature ............................................................................8
Basics of combustion .......................................................................................................................9
Products of combustion................................................................................................................9
Types of combustion....................................................................................................................9
Combustion of solid fuels ..........................................................................................................10
Combustion of coal ....................................................................................................................10
Main types of a modern boiler .......................................................................................................10
Heat exchanger boiler model .........................................................................................................12
Heat exchanger basics................................................................................................................12
T-Q diagram...............................................................................................................................12
Heat recovery steam generator model........................................................................................14
Heat exchanger model of furnace-equipped boilers ..................................................................15
References......................................................................................................................................16
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
Introduction
The world energy consumption has doubled in the last thirty years and it keeps on increasing with
about 1.5% per year (Figure 1). While the earth's oil and gas reserves are expected to deplete after
less than a hundred years, the coal reserves will last for almost five hundred years into the future
(taking into account estimations of fossil fuel reserves that have not yet been found) (Figure 2). In
Finland, 50% of the electrical power produced, is produced in steam power plants. But there are
more reasons to why electricity generation based on steam power plant will continue to grow and
why there still will be a demand for steam boilers in the future:
The world-wide dependency upon fossil fuels for power production (Figure 1, Figure 2, and
Figure 3)
The cost of the produced electricity is low
The technology has been used for many decades and is reliable and available
Wind and solar power are still expensive compared to steam power
The environmental impact of coal powered steam plants have under the past decade been
heavily diminished thanks to improved SOx and NOx reduction technology
The paper industry uses steam boilers as a vital utility to recycle chemicals and derive
electricity from black liquor (pulping waste)
Waste and biofuels can effectively be combusted in a boiler [1]
Coal
Hydroelectricity
Nuclear energy
Natural gas
Oil
*Prior to 1994 Combustible Renewables & Waste final consumption has been estimated based on TPES.
**Other includes geothermal, solar, wind, heat, etc.
Figure 1: Evolution from 1977 to 2002 of world primary energy consumption by fuel (Mtoe) [2]
3
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
Coal
Gas
Oil
Coal
Hydroelectricity
Nuclear energy
Natural gas
Oil
4
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
In an industrial/technical context, the concept steam boiler (also referred to as steam generator)
includes the whole complex system for producing steam for use e. g. in a turbine or in industrial
process. It includes all the different phases of heat transfer from flames to water/steam mixture
(economizer, boiler, superheater, reheater and air preheater). It also includes different auxiliary
systems (e. g. fuel feeding, water treatment, flue gas channels including stack). [3]
The heat is generated in the furnace part of the boiler, where fuel is combusted. The fuel used in a
boiler contains either chemically bonded energy (like coal, waste and biofuels) or nuclear energy.
Nuclear energy will not be covered in this material. A boiler must be designed to absorb the
maximum amount of heat released in the process of combustion. This heat is transferred to the
boiler water through radiation, conduction and convection. The relative percentage of each is
dependent upon the type of boiler, the designed heat transfer surface and the fuels that power the
combustion.
A simple boiler
In order to describe the principles of a
steam boiler, consider a very simple case,
where the boiler simply is a container,
partially filled with water (Figure 4).
Combustion of fuel produce heat, which
is transferred to the container and makes
the water evaporate. The vapor or steam
can escape through a pipe that is
connected to the container and be
transported elsewhere. Another pipe
brings water (called feedwater) to the
container to replace the water that has
evaporated and escaped.
Since the pressure level in the boiler Figure 4: Simplified boiler drawing.
should be kept constant (in order to have
stable process values), the mass of the steam that escapes has to be equal to the mass of the water
that is added. If steam leaves the boiler faster than water is added, the pressure in the boiler falls. If
5
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
water is added faster than it is evaporated, the pressure rises. If more fuel is combusted, more heat is
generated and transferred to the water. Thus, more steam is generated and pressure rises inside the
boiler. If less fuel is combusted, less steam is generated and the pressure sinks.
Carnot efficiency
When considering any heat process or power
cycle it is necessary to review the Carnot
efficiency that comes from the second law of
Hot reservoir Qh
thermodynamics. The Carnot efficiency (temperature Th)
equation gives the maximum thermal efficiency
of a system (Figure 6) undergoing a reversible
power cycle while operating between two
thermal reservoirs at temperatures Th and Tc
(temperature unit Kelvin). Wcycle
=
Qh - Qc
TH TC T
max = =1 C (1)
TH TH
6
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
0,7
Although no practical heat process is fully
reversible, many processes can be calculated 0,6
Boiling of water
Water and steam are typically used as heat carriers in heating systems. Steam, the gas phase of
water, results from adding sufficient heat to water to cause it to evaporate. This boiler process
consists of three main steps: The first step is the adding of heat to the water that raises the
temperature up to the boiling point of water, also called preheating. The second step is the
continuing addition of heat to change the phase from water to steam, the actual evaporation. The
third step is the heating of steam beyond the boiling temperature of water, known as superheating.
7
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
Temperature [C]
evaporation, and the third section the 120
superheating. When all the water has been 100
evaporated, the steam is called dry
saturated steam. If steam is heated beyond 80
When 22,12 Mpa is exceeded (the corresponding temperature is 374C), the line stops (Figure 10).
The reason is that the border between gas phase and liquid phase is blurred out at that pressure. That
point, where the different phases cease to exist, is called the critical point of water.
8
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
1000
22,12 MPa
100
Pressure [bar]
10
1
0 100 200 300 400
0.1
0.01
Tem perature [C]
Basics of combustion
Combustion can be defined as the complete, rapid exothermic oxidation of a fuel with sufficient
amount of oxygen or air with the objective of producing heat, steam and/or electricity. The process
of combustion occurs with a high speed and at a high temperature. Essentially, it is a controlled
explosion. Combustion occurs when the elements in a fuel combine with oxygen and produce heat.
All fuels, whether they are solid, liquid or in gaseous form, consist primarily of compounds of
carbon and hydrogen called hydrocarbons (natural gas, coal fuel oil, wood, etc.), which are
converted in the combustion process to carbon dioxide (CO2) and steam. Sulphur, nitrogen, and
various other components are also present in these fuels.
Products of combustion
When the hydrogen and oxygen combine, intense heat and water vapor is formed. When carbon and
oxygen combine, intense heat and the compounds of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide are
formed. These chemical reactions take place in a furnace during the burning of fuel, provided there
is sufficient air (oxygen) to completely burn the fuel. Very little of the released carbon is actually
"consumed" in the combustion reaction because flame temperature seldom reaches the vaporization
point of carbon. Most of it combines with oxygen to form CO2 and passes out the vent. The final
gaseous product of combustion is called a flue gas. As mentioned in the introduction to this
segment, combustion can never be 100% efficient. All fuels contain moisture. Other fuel
components may form by-products, such as ash, and gaseous pollutants that need emission control
equipment. [5]
Types of combustion
There are three types of combustion:
Perfect Combustion is achieved when all the fuel is burned using only the theoretical
amount of air, but as stated earlier, perfect combustion cannot be achieved in a boiler.
Complete Combustion is achieved when all the fuel is burned using the minimal amount of
air above the theoretical amount of air needed to burn the fuel. Solid fuels, such as coal, peat
9
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
or biomass, are typically fired at air factors 1.1 1.5, i.e. 110-150% of the oxygen needed
for perfect combustion.
Incomplete Combustion occurs when part of the fuel is not burned, which results in the
formation of soot and smoke.
Combustion of coal
Oil and gas are always combusted with a burner, but there are three different ways to combust coal:
In a fire tube boiler (Figure 13) the flue gases from the
furnace are conducted to flue passages, which consist of
several parallel-connected tubes. The tubes run through
the boiler vessel, which contains the feedwater. The
tubes are thus surrounded by water. The heat from the
flue gases is transferred from the tubes to the water in
the container, thus the water is heated into steam. An
easy way to remember the principle is to say that a fire Figure 12: Photo of fluidized bed
tube boiler has "fire in the tubes". combustion.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
Figure 13: Schematic of a Hyrytys TTK fire tube steam boiler [6].
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
T-Q diagram
A useful tool for designing a heat exchanger is
the T-Q diagram. The diagram consists of two
axes: Temperature (T) and transferred heat (Q).
The hot stream and the cold stream are
represented in the diagram by two lines on top
of each other. If the exchanger is of parallel-
flow type, the lines proceed in the same
direction (Figure 17). If the exchanger is a Figure 16: A heat exchanger model.
counter-flow (or cross-flow-combination, like a
12
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
Q
deltaQ
t1
T1
Tpinch
T2
t1
13
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
14
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
In a boiler with a furnace, adequate cooling has to be maintained and material temperature should
not exceed 600C. Thus the evaporator part of the water/steam cycle is placed in the furnace walls,
since the heat of the evaporation provides enough cooling for the furnace, which is the hottest part
of the boiler.
Since the furnace is inside the boiler, high flue gas temperatures (over 1000C) are obtained. After
the flue gas has given off heat for the steam production, it is still quite hot. In order to cool down
the flue gases further to gain higher boiler efficiency, flue gases can be used to preheat the
combustion air. The heat exchanger used for this purpose is called an air preheater.
The result is a heat exchanger model of a furnace-equipped boiler (e.g. PCF-boiler, grate boiler or
oil/gas boiler), which can be found in Figure 22. The T-Q diagram of the model is visualized in
Figure 23
Eco
Air out
Eva Sup Air
T
Air in
Air preheater
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The Basics of Steam Generation
References
2. BP statistical review of world energy 2003. Web page, read September 2003.
http://www.bp.com/centres/energy/primary.asp
4. Combustion Engineering. Combustion: Fossil power systems. 3rd ed. Windsor. 1981.
5. Zevenhoven R., Kilpinen P. Control of pollutants in flue gases and fuel gases. Energy
Engineering and Environmental Protection Publications TKK-ENY-4, Espoo 2002.
ISBN 951-22-5527-8.
7. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. Web page,
viewed at 10.8.2002. http://www.bartleby.com
16
The History of Steam Generation
Sebastian Teir
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
Table of contents
Table of contents................................................................................................................................18
Introduction........................................................................................................................................19
Early boilers .......................................................................................................................................19
Newcomens boiler ........................................................................................................................20
Wagon boiler..................................................................................................................................21
Cylindrical boiler ...........................................................................................................................21
The development of modern boiler technology .................................................................................22
Fairbarns fire tube boiler ..............................................................................................................22
Wilcox water tube boiler ..............................................................................................................22
Steam drum boiler..........................................................................................................................24
Tube walled furnace.......................................................................................................................24
Once-through boiler .......................................................................................................................25
Supercritical boiler.........................................................................................................................26
Graphs and timelines of development in boiler technology ..............................................................26
Steam boilers and safety ....................................................................................................................27
References..........................................................................................................................................29
18
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
Introduction
Steam was early used to get mechanical power.
Among the relics of ancient Egyptian
civilization over 2000 years old records are
found of the use of hot air for opening and
closing temple doors (Figure 1).
Early boilers
Furnaces were developed originally from a need to fire pottery (4000 B.C.) and to smelt copper
(3000 B.C.). Closely associated with furnaces are boilers, that were first used for warming water
and are of Roman and Greek origin. Early boilers were recovered from the ruins of Pompeii.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
In 1698, Thomas Savery developed a steam-driven water pump. As the steam condensed, a vacuum
was created causing the water to be drawn into the cylinder. The boiler continued to be refined and
developed for use during the Industrial Revolution.
Newcomens boiler
The era of first boilers for industrial use stems from England in the 1700 - 1800. The first use of
boilers was pumping water out from mines. These boilers had a very low efficiency, but since there
was no lack of fuel supply the boilers replaced the horse driven pumps.
Figure 4: Different kinds of riveting techniques. Riveting was used as the main manufacturing
method of boilers until the 1950's. Riveting is today used when manufacturing aircraft aluminium
structures. [2]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
Wagon boiler
When James Watt made some critical
improvements to the Newcomen steam engine
by separating the condenser from the cylinder
and thus improving the efficiency substantially,
the steam engine became in demand and
provided a rapid growth of boilers.
Cylindrical boiler
Watt and Newcomen steam engines all operated
at pressures only slightly above atmospheric
pressure. In 1800 the American inventor Oliver
Evans built a high-pressure steam engine
utilizing a horizontal cylindrical boiler. Evans's
boiler consisted of two cylindrical shells, one
inside the other with water occupying the region
between them. The fire grate was housed inside
the inner cylinder, so flue gas flowed through
the smaller cylinder and thus heated the water,
permitting a rapid increase in steam pressure. Figure 5: Wagon boiler. [2]
As can be seen from the picture (Figure 6), the flue gas passes also around the cylindrical boiler.
One of the advantages of the cylindrical boiler is that it has a larger heat transfer surface per unit of
working fluid. Therefore cylindrical boiler can be built cheaper than the earlier boilers. The pressure
(and thus the temperature) can also be increased with the cylindrical design. Simultaneously but
21
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
independently, the British engineer Richard Trevithick developed a similar boiler, which was used
in the world's first practical steam locomotive that he invented in 1801. The cylindrical boiler was
later expanded to contain several passes and eventually formed the fire tube boiler.
The principles of the boiler technologies introduced in this chapter are still in use today.
22
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
heat transfer cooler flue gases could be used. Tubes could be made inexpensively and with higher
quality than plate. [9]
Figure 9: A drawing of a Wilcox' water tube boiler. Bent tubes in a tight bundle receive heat from
flue gas mainly convectively. The tubes are in a tilted position in order to achieve a natural
circulation of water/steam. The furnace is usually made of bricks. [2]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
24
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
Once-through boiler
In order to be able to increase the current
unit size and efficiency of boilers, the
restriction of natural circulation boilers
needed to be overcome. The idea of a
once through boiler, were no steam drum
would be used and thus no circulation of
non-vaporized water would take place,
was not new. Patents for once through
boiler concepts date from as early as
1824.
25
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
Supercritical boiler
The era following the Second World War brought on rapid economic development in the United
States and the desire for more efficient power plant operation increased. Improvements in both
boiler tube metallurgy and water chemistry technologies in combination with once through boiler-
technology made a power plant, operating at supercritical water pressure, possible.
Figure 14: The world's first supercritical power plant, built by Babcock&Wilcox and General
Electric, started operating at 125 MW in 1957 with a main steam condition of 31 MPa and 621C
[12].
The development of the main steam temperature in steam boilers increased until the 70's. The
limiting factor for raising steam temperature is the tube materials. Although there are power plants
running at main steam temperatures over 600C, there are yet no good, economical materials that
can take temperatures above 550C available (Figure 16).
The development of the main steam pressure increased also steadily until the 70's (Figure 17). The
peak that can be spotted about 1930 comes from the early trials of once through boilers, cause the
first once through boilers were run at critical steam pressures but later lowered since the tube
material available couldn't take the high pressures. The pressure was stabilized in the 70's in order
to correspond with steam temperature about 540-550C.
26
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
Figure 16: Graph presenting the development Figure 17: Graph presenting the development of
of the main steam temperature of boiler. [2] the main steam pressure of boilers. [2]
27
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
After an 1854 explosion in England that killed ten people, the Boiler Insurance and Steam Power
Company was started. Not until 1882, though, was safety legislation introduced in Britain. In the
United States there was no government regulation at all.
Following the action of safety legislation in England, the number of lives lost in England from
boiler accidents fell from 35 in 1883 to 24 in 1900 and to 14 in 1905. During a comparable time
period in the United States, 383 people were killed in boiler accidents. The problem of safety with
steam engines was eventually reduced by the introduction of new forms of power, including the
steam turbine. However, boiler accidents remain a fact of life even today, and continue to cause
fatalities. [5]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY The History of Steam Generation
References
1. Woodcroft B. (translator and editor) The pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria. London
1851. Online book, read September 2003. http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/hero/
4. Two thousand years of steam (Steam Boat Days). Web page, read autumn 2001.
http://www.ulster.net/%7Ehrmm/steamboats/steam1.html
5. Dreams of Steam: The History of Steam Power. Web page, read autumn 2001.
http://www.moah.org/exhibits/archives/steam.html
6. The Growth of the Steam Engine. Web page, read September 2001.
http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/thurston/1878/Chapter1.html
8. Steamboats.com. A Short History of Steam Engines. Web page, read September 2003.
http://steamboats.com/engineroom4.html
9. About.com. Inventors: Babcock & Wilcox. Web page, read September 2003.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbabcock_wilcox.htm
10. Boiler - Water Tube Type. Web page, read September 2001.
http://www.shomepower.com/dict/b/boiler_water_tube_type.htm
12. Babcock & Wilcox. Supercritical (Once Through) Boiler Technology. PDF-file, read
October 2001. http://www.babcock.com/pgg/tt/pdf/BR-1658.pdf
29
Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Sebastian Teir
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Table of contents
Table of contents................................................................................................................................32
Introduction........................................................................................................................................33
Grate furnace boilers..........................................................................................................................33
Cyclone firing ....................................................................................................................................34
Pulverized coal fired (PCF) boilers....................................................................................................35
Fuel characteristics of coal.............................................................................................................35
Burners and layout .........................................................................................................................36
Oil and gas fired boilers .....................................................................................................................36
Fluidized bed boilers..........................................................................................................................37
Principles........................................................................................................................................38
Main types......................................................................................................................................38
Heat recovery steam generators (HRSG)...........................................................................................40
HRSGs in power plants..................................................................................................................41
Refuse boilers.....................................................................................................................................42
Recovery boilers ................................................................................................................................43
Bio-energy boilers..............................................................................................................................44
Packaged boilers ................................................................................................................................45
Scandinavian steam generator suppliers ............................................................................................46
References..........................................................................................................................................47
32
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Introduction
Steam boilers can be classified by their combustion method, by their application or by their type of
steam/water circulation. In this chapter the following boiler types will be presented and briefly
described, to give the reader a perspective of the various types and uses of various steam boilers:
Rad
practically superseded the use of grate furnaces
con
in unit sizes over 5 MW. Waste is usually
iatio
vec
burned in grate furnaces. There is also still a lot
n an
tion
of grate furnace boilers burning biofuels in
operation. Since solid fuels are very different
d
there are also many types of grate furnaces. The
principle of grate firing is still very similar for
all grate furnaces (except for household
furnaces). Combustion of solid fuels in a grate
Air
When considering a single fuel particle, these phases occur in sequence. When considering a
furnace we have naturally particles in different phases at the same time in different parts of the
furnace.
The grate furnace is made up a grate that can be horizontal, sloping (Figure 2) or conical (Figure 3).
The grate can consist of a conveyor chain that transports the fuel forward. Alternatively some parts
of the grate can be mechanically movable or the whole grate can be fixed. In the later case the fuel
is transported by its own weight (sloping grate). The fuel is supplied in the furnace from the hopper
and moved forward (horizontal grate) or downward (sloping grate) sequentially within the furnace.
33
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Cyclone firing
The cyclone furnace chambers are Figure 2: Sloped grate furnace.
mounted outside the main boiler shell,
which will have a narrow base, together
with an arrangement for slag removal
(Figure 4). Primary combustion air carries
the particles into the furnace in which the
relatively large coal/char particles are
retained in the cyclone while the air
passes through them, promoting reaction.
Secondary air is injected tangentially into
the cyclone. This creates a strong swirl,
throwing the larger particles towards the
furnace walls. Tertiary air enters the
centre of the burner, along the cyclone
axis, and directly into the central vortex. It
is used to control the vortex vacuum, and
hence the position of the main combustion
zone which is the primary source of Figure 3: BioGrateTM - a rotating conical grate. [2]
radiant heat. An increase in tertiary air
moves that zone towards the furnace exit Boiler
34
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Cyclone firing can be divided into horizontal and vertical arrangements based on the axis of the
cylinder. Cyclone firing can also be dry or molten based on ash behaviour in the cyclone. Based on
cooling media the cyclones are either water-cooled or air-cooled (a.k.a. air cooled). Cyclone firing
has successfully been used to fire brown coal in Germany. Peat has been fired in cyclones at Russia
and Finland.
Compared with the flame of a conventional burner, the high-intensity, high-velocity cyclonic flames
transfer heat more effectively to the boiler's water-filled tubes, resulting in the unusual combination
of a compact boiler size and high efficiency. The worst drawbacks of cyclone firing are a narrow
operating range and problems with the removal of ash. The combustion temperature in a cyclone is
relatively high compared to other firing methods, which results in a high rate of thermal NOx
formation. [1]
35
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
36
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
exception of the bottom of the furnace, which can be horizontal thanks to the low ash content of oil
and gas (Figure 11). Horizontal wall firing (all burners attached to the front wall) is the most
affordable alternative for oil and gas burners. [1]
Figure 10: Photo of a flame from a burner Figure 11: Oil/gas Boiler with horizontal wall
combusting gas. [7] firing. [6]
p
(LOG)
VELOCITY (LOG)
37
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Principles
The principle of a fluidized bed boiler is based on a layer of sand or a sand-like media, where the
fuel is introduced into and combusted. The combustion air blows through the sand layer from an
opening in the bottom of the boiler. Depending on the velocity of the combustion air, the layer gets
different types of fluid-like behaviour, as listed and described in Figure 12. This type of combustion
has the following merits:
Fuel flexibility; even low-grade coal such as sludge or refuse can be burned
High combustion efficiency
Low NOx emission
Control of SOx emission by desulfurization during combustion; this is achieved by
employing limestone as a bed material or injecting limestone into the bed.
Wide range of acceptable fuel particle sizes; pulverizing the fuel is unnecessary
Relatively small installation, because flue gas desulfurization and pulverizing facilities are
not required
Main types
There are two main types of fluidized bed
BUBBLING FLUIDIZED BED BOILER
combustion boilers: Bubbling fluidized bed 30.8 MWth, 11.9 kg/s, 80 bar, 480 C
SALA-HEBY ENERGI AB
SWEDEN
Combustion is generated in the whole combustor with intensive movement of particles. Particles are
continuously captured by the cyclone and sent back to the bottom part of the combustor to combust
unburned particles. This contributes to full combustion.
38
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
39
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
40
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Since the flue gases of a gas turbine are very clean, tubes can be tightly seated or rib tubes can be
used to improve the heat transfer coefficient. These boilers are usually natural circulation boilers. If
the life span of the power plant is long enough, the boiler is usually fitted with an economizer. If
more electrical power output is wanted, but the temperature of the flue gas is insufficient, the boiler
41
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
can be equipped with an extra burner (that burns the same fuel as the gas turbine) in order to
increase the flue gas temperature and thus generate steam with a higher temperature.
Refuse boilers
The standard refuse (or waste) recovery boiler incinerates solid or liquid waste products. This boiler
type is not to be mixed with the recovery boilers used in pulp and paper industry. Therefore, we will
always refer to refuse boilers when talking about waste and recovery boilers when we mean the
specific chemical recovery process used in the pulp and paper industry.
The combustion of waste differs radically compared to other fuels mostly due to the varying
properties of waste. Also, the goal when combusting waste is not to produce energy, but to reduce
the volume and weight of the waste and to make it more inert before dumping it on a refuse tip.
Waste is burned in many ways, but the main method is to combust it in a grate boiler with a
mechanical grate (Figure 20). Other ways to burn waste is to use a fixed grate furnace, a fluidized
bed for sludge or rotary kilns for chemical and problematic waste. Waste is usually mass burned,
i.e. it is burned in the shape it was delivered with minimal preparation and separation. The main
preparation processes are grinding and crushing of the waste and removal of large objects (like
refrigerators). Waste has to be thoroughly combusted, so that harmful and toxic components are
degraded and dissolved.
Waste can be refined into fuel, by separating as much of the inert and inorganic material as
possible. This is called refuse derived fuel (RDF) and can be used as the primary fuel in fluidized
bed boilers or burned as a secondary fuel with other fuels. RDF is becoming more common
nowadays.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Recovery boilers
All paper is produced from one raw material:
pulp. One of the most common methods used
to produce pulp is the Kraft process, which
consists of two related processes. The first is a
pulping process, in which wood is chemically
converted to pulp. The second is a chemical
recovery process, in which chemicals used in
pulping are returned to the pulping process to
be used again. The waste liquid, from where
chemicals are to be recovered, is called black
liquor.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Bio-energy boilers
Renewable energy production is becoming a worldwide priority as countries strive for sustainable
growth and better living conditions. Many countries (e.g. EU) have already set demanding targets to
increase electricity production using bio-energy resources and have introduced attractive incentives
to accelerate this process. Bio-energy solutions are based on a local fuel supply and thus provide
price stability, a secure supply of heat and power, and also local employment. Biofuels are
increasingly becoming locally traded commodities, which will further secure fuel price stability and
availability. At the same time, green certificates and emission trading offer new opportunities for
financing bio-energy projects. Figure 23, Figure 24, and Figure 25 shows examples of biofuel
combusting boiler applications.
Figure 23: Firetube hot water boiler in a Wrtsil 8 MWth thermal plant, combusting biofuels. [14]
Figure 24: Wrtsil CHP plant using a water tube boiler connected to the furnace. [14]
44
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Boilers combusting biofuels can be used to produce only electricity, but they are mostly used in
combined heat and power (CHP) plants and district heating plants. These boilers are designed to
operate on a wide variety of biofuels, including extremely wet fuels such as wood residues, wood
chips, bark and sawdust. Smaller boilers use grate firing technology for biofuel combustion, while
larger plants use fluidized bed combustion technology. Smaller grate fired plants for thermal heat
production, (<10 MWth), have fire tube boilers (Figure 23), while larger ones are fitted with
integrated water/fire tube boilers. [2]
One of the world's largest solid biofuel-fired circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler (550 MWth) has
been built at Alholmens Kraft power plant at Pietarsaari, Finland (Figure 25). The CFB boiler with
auxiliary equipment and the building was delivered by Kvaerner Pulping Oy and commissioned in
autumn 2001.
Figure 25: Schematic of the CFB boiler at Alholmen. Power output: 550 MWth, Steam parameters:
194 kg/s, 165 bar, 545C. [11]
Packaged boilers
Packaged boilers are small self-contained boiler units (Figure 27). Packaged boilers are used as hot
water boilers, aiding utility boilers and process steam producers. Packaged boilers can be both water
tube and fire tube boilers. Packaged boilers can only be used with oil and gas as fuel without
separate preparation devices. A packaged boiler can also be rented if there is a need for a temporary
boiler solution (Figure 26).
45
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
Andritz (http://www.andritz.com/)
o Recovery boilers
Foster Wheeler (http://www.fwc.com/)
o CFB and BFB boilers
o Coal (PC) and oil fired boilers
o Packaged Boilers
o HRSGs
Kvaerner (http://www.kvaerner.com/powergeneration/)
o CFB and BFB boilers
o Recovery boilers
Noviter (http://www.noviter.fi )
o Packaged boilers
o Oil fired boilers
o Biomass boilers
Wrtsil (http://www.wartsila.com/ )
o Grate furnace boilers for biofuel
o Package boilers
Hyrytys (http://www.hoyrytys.fi/)
o Package boilers
o Steam & Heating services
o Boiler rentals
46
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Modern Boiler Types and Applications
References
1. Vakkilainen E. Lecture slides and material on steam boiler technology. 2001.
2. Wrtsil. Bio-energy solutions from Wrtsil. PDF brochure, viewed September 2003.
http://www.wartsila.com/english/index.jsp
3. IEA Coal Research Centre. Cyclone fired wet bottom boilers. Web Page, read 15.8.2002.
http://www.iea-coal.org.uk/CCTdatabase/cyclone.htm
7. Combustion Engineering. Combustion: Fossil power systems. 3rd ed. Windsor. 1981.
47
Steam/Water Circulation Design
Sebastian Teir, Antto Kulla
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
Table of contents
Table of contents................................................................................................................................50
Introduction........................................................................................................................................51
Large volume boilers .........................................................................................................................51
Shell type boilers............................................................................................................................51
Fire tube boilers .............................................................................................................................52
Water tube boilers ..............................................................................................................................53
Natural circulation boilers..............................................................................................................54
Natural circulation principle ......................................................................................................54
Advantages and disadvantages...................................................................................................55
Natural circulation design ..........................................................................................................56
Circulation ratio .....................................................................................................................56
Driving force of natural circulation .......................................................................................56
Downcomers ..........................................................................................................................57
Wall tubes ..............................................................................................................................58
Headers...................................................................................................................................59
Boiling within vertical evaporator tubes................................................................................60
Heat transfer crisis .................................................................................................................60
Optimization of natural circulation design.............................................................................61
Special designs.......................................................................................................................61
Assisted or forced circulation boilers.............................................................................................62
Principle of forced circulation....................................................................................................62
Flow distribution between parallel riser tubes ...........................................................................63
Boilers types...............................................................................................................................63
La Mont boilers......................................................................................................................63
Controlled circulation boilers.................................................................................................63
Advantages and disadvantages...................................................................................................64
Once-through boilers......................................................................................................................64
Once-through boiler types..........................................................................................................65
Benson design ........................................................................................................................65
Sulzer design ..........................................................................................................................65
Ramzin design........................................................................................................................66
Spiral wall tubes.........................................................................................................................66
Multiple pass design...................................................................................................................66
Advantages and disadvantages...................................................................................................67
Operation....................................................................................................................................67
Manufacture and use of once-though boilers.............................................................................68
Combined circulation boilers .........................................................................................................68
References..........................................................................................................................................69
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
Introduction
As presented in the previous chapter, boilers can be classified by their combustion method, by their
application or by their type of steam/water circulation.
This chapter will describe the different types of steam/water circulation in boilers. It will not discuss
steam/water circulation for the applications listed in Figure 1 under Others (i.e. nuclear, solar, and
electric). [1]
Steam boilers
Combined
circulation
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
volume boilers. However, large volume boilers are today used for small-scale steam and hot-water
production only and, overall, they are not common in large-scale industrial use anymore. [1]
Figure 4: Schematic of the Hyrytys TTKV-fire tube hot-water boiler from Figure 2. [2]
Fire tube boilers generally have tubes with a diameter of 5 cm or larger. They are usually straight
and relatively short so that the hot gases of combustion experience a relatively low pressure drop
while passing through them. The path of the flue gases goes from burners/grate, through one of the
52
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
chambers, to the other end of the chamber. There the flue gases turn to reverse direction and return
through the fire tubes and continue then to the stack (Figure 4).
Figure 5: Schematic of the Hyrytys TTK fire tube steam boiler from Figure 3. [2]
Fire tube boilers have a fairly large amount of contained water so that there is a considerable
amount of stored heat energy in the boiler. This also allows for load swings where large amounts of
steam or hot water are required in a relatively short period of time, as often happens in process
applications. Fire tube boilers can take a great deal of abuse and inattention and still function at
competent levels. Fire tube boilers have a life expectancy of 25 years or more. Boilers that are older
than 75 years are still known to be in operation. Consistent maintenance and careful water treatment
go a long way towards insuring the long life of these boilers.
Nowadays fire tube boilers are mostly used as district heating boilers, industrial heating boilers and
other small steam generators, as in biofuel fired plants. Fire-tube boilers are not anymore used for
electricity production because of their upper limits (4 MPa steam pressure and about 50 kg/s steam
mass flow). The steam pressure limit is based on the fact that when the steam pressure in the boiler
rises, thicker fire tubes and chambers are needed thus the price of the boiler rises. As a result of
this, boiler types where water/steam mixture is inside the tubes have lower prices for the same
steam capacity and pressure. Fire-tube boilers can reach thermal efficiencies of about 70 percent.
There are also special types of fire-tube boilers such as scotch marine boilers and firebox boilers,
but they will not, however, be discussed further here. The rest of this chapter concentrates on the
main types of water tube boilers.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
the way of the water/steam circulation: natural circulation, forced or assisted circulation, once-
through and combined circulation type boilers. All boilers for power generation are nowadays water
tube boilers.
Natural circulation principle is usually implemented on small and medium sized boilers. Typically
the pressure drop for a natural circulation boiler is about 5-10 % of the steam pressure in the steam
drum and the maximum steam temperature varies from 540 to 560 C.
The saturated water flows next from the steam drum through downcomer tubes to a mud drum
(header). There are usually a couple of downcomer tubes, which are unheated and situated outside
the boiler.
The name "mud drum" is based on the fact that a part of the impurities in the water will settle and
this 'mud' can then be collected and removed from the drum.
The saturated water continues from the header to the riser tubes and partially evaporates. The riser
tubes are situated on the walls of the boiler for efficient furnace wall cooling. The rises tubes are
sometimes also called generating tubes because they absorb heat efficiently to the water/steam
mixture (steam being generated). The riser tubes forms the evaporator unit in the boiler.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
After risers, the water/steam mixture goes back to the steam drum. In the steam drum water and
steam are separated: the saturated water will return to the downcomer tubes and the saturated steam
will continue to the superheater tubes. Thus also salts, minerals and other impurities are separated
from the steam. The purpose of this separation is to protect the inside of the superheater tubes and
turbine for impurity deposition.
The steam from the steam drum continues to the superheater, where it is heated beyond its
saturation point. After the last superheater stage the steam exits the boiler.
This type of circulation is called natural circulation, since there is no water circulation pump in the
circuit. The circulation happens by itself due to the water/steam density differences between the
downcomers and risers. [5]
NC boilers are more tolerant on feed water impurities than other types of water tube boilers
NC boilers have lower internal consumption of electricity than other water tube boiler types.
NC boilers have a simple construction. Therefore the investment cost is low and the
reliability of the boiler high.
NC boilers have a wide partial load range, practically even 0-100 % have the feature to be
held in a stand-by state, which means "warm at full pressure".
NC boilers have constant heat transfer areas independent of boiler load, since the drum
separates the three heat exchangers - economizer, evaporator and superheater - from each
other.
NC boilers have simpler process control, due to the big volume of water/steam side, which
behaves as a "buffer" during small load rate changes.
Natural circulation boilers have the following disadvantages compared to other circulation types:
NC boilers have a high circulation ratio (between 5 and 100), which leads up to massive
dimensions of the evaporator as the amount of water circulating in wall tubes can be up to
100 times of the mass flow of steam generated. This increases the requirement for space and
steel.
NC boilers need large diameters (large volume) of all tubes where the water/steam mixture
flows. This is because smaller diameters in tubes would cause pressure drop and thus higher
boilers would be needed for adequate pressure difference.
NC boilers need more accurate dimensioning as compared to other boiler types.
NC boilers are quite slow in start-up and "stop" situations (also when the load rate changes a
lot) because of the large water/steam tube volume (about 5 times the water/steam volume of
a once through boiler).
NC boilers are only suitable for subcritical pressure levels (practically for steam pressures
under 180 bar in the steam drum). This is due to the lack of density difference in
supercritical steam, and thus the lack of a driving force.
NC boilers have problems with more frequently occurring tube damages, due to the relative
large diameter of the boiler tubes.
NC boilers are sensitive to pressure variations. Sudden pressure drops or build-ups causes
increased rate of evaporation and thus the steam drum water level will also rise. This can
55
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
lead to water passing into the superheater tubes and water circulation problems that lead to
tube damages.
NC boilers require a steam drum, which is a very expensive part of the boiler.
For certain natural circulation applications dimensioning the circulation ratio is very difficult. The
circulation ratio varies between 5 and 100 for natural circulation boilers. The circulation ratio of
forced circulation boilers is normally between 3 and 10. For La Mont type of boilers the normal
values are between 6 and 10, for controlled circulation boiler between 4 and 5, respectively. Once
through boilers generate the same mass rate of steam as has been fed to boiler, thus their circulation
ratio is 1.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
where h is the enthalpy [kJ/kg] of saturated steam, and h enthalpy of saturated water (at the
pressure of the steam drum), U is the circulation ratio, and h is the enthalpy change caused by the
rise in evaporation pressure (because of the subcooling of water in downcomer tubes).
Downcomers
Downcomer tubes have a relatively large diameter because the entire water amount for the
evaporator flows through the downcomer tubes before it is lead to wall tubes (riser tubes). Normally
the amount of downcomer tubes is between one and six.
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). If
downcomer tubes have to be placed inside boiler construction, heat load to downcomers has to be
strongly restricted to prevent downcomer tubes from water boiling. Possible boiling in downcomer
tubes complicates circulation because the steam bubbles travel upwards and thus increase pressure
loss.
An ideal downcomer tube is as short as possible and the flow velocity of the water transported is as
high as possible. Figure 9 and Figure 10 show examples of downcomers in the chemical recovery
boiler.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
Figure 9: Downcomers and the steam drum. Figure 10: Downcomers from the steam drum.
[4] [4]
Wall tubes
Pressure loss caused by wall tubes (or risers, evaporator tubes) of a natural circulation boiler should
be at low level because of the natural circulation principle. Thus, vertically installed riser tubes in
natural circulation boilers have a larger diameter than riser tubes in forced circulation boilers.
Figure 11: Water tubes. [4] Figure 12: Furnace walls and floor. [4]
All natural circulation boilers must have an upwards-rising arrangement of wall tubes because of
the circulation principle. There are variations on how sharp the rise is:
58
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
In conservative vertical furnace boilers the wall tubes are placed in a straight vertical direction
(Figure 11 and Figure 13). In corner tube (Eckrohr) boilers the wall tubes are arranged as slightly
rising or horizontal wall-tube banks.
This particular boiler has a furnace height of 40 m. The diameters of the water tubes are about 60
mm. The riser tubes are all welded together, and form a gas-tight panel construction, a tube wall.
Since the boiler is a recovery boiler, the floor barely slopes (Figure 12 and Figure 14), in order to
support the smelt, and is therefore a different structure than coal-fired boilers (which have a wedge-
shaped floor for collecting ash).
Figure 13: Front furnace wall being installed. Figure 14: Furnace walls in place. [4]
[4]
Headers
The word "header" (Figure 15) is used in boiler
technology for all collector and distributor pipes,
including the mud drum (Figure 16). The most
important design parameter for headers is
diameter. It is defined by the flow rate and the
number of tubes connected to the header (here
the number of riser tubes).
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
The phenomenon responsible for this problem is the transition from annular boiling state to
misty/drop state. In the misty/drop state, the boiler wall is no longer covered with water. This
dryout causes the drastic fall in the waterside heat transfer coefficient.
Critical heat flux is dependant on operating pressure, steam quality, type of tube, tube diameter, flux
profiles and tube inclination. For a boiler design to be acceptable the critical heat flux for the
60
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
furnace walls must always be greater by a margin than the heat flux generated in the combustion
chamber.
Optimization of natural circulation design
The following are some of the main methods
used for natural circulation optimisation. All
methods lead to an increase in the driving
force:
Special designs
There are some special applications of natural
circulation principle that are not currently
covered here, but can be found elsewhere on
the net (eg. http://www.steamesteem.com).
These specific boiler types are:
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
Thanks to the circulation pump, the operation pressure level of forced circulation boiler can be
slightly higher than a natural circulation boiler, but since the steam/water separation in the steam
drum is based on the density difference between steam and water, these boilers are not either
suitable for supercritical pressures (>221 bar). Practically the maximum operation pressure for a
forced circulation boiler is 190 bar and the pressure drop in the boiler is about 2-3 bar.
The saturated water flows next from the steam drum through downcomer tubes to a mud drum
(header). There are usually a couple of downcomer tubes, which are unheated and situated outside
the boiler. The headers that distribute the water to the evaporator tubes are equipped with chokers
(flow limiters) for every wall tube in order to distribute the water as evenly as possible. The water
continues to the riser tubes, where it evaporates.
The steam is separated in the steam drum and continues through the superheaters, as in natural
circulation boilers.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
This type of circulation is called forced circulation, due to the existence of a water circulation pump
in the circuit. The steam/water circulation is forced by the pump and does not rely on density
differences as in natural circulation.
Another possibility is to place small diameter tubes as mouthpieces in each riser tube and thus
increase the pressure losses. However, tubes utilizing orifices is a more common practice.
Boilers types
La Mont boilers
The most usual type of forced circulation boilers is the La Mont type, named after an engineer who
developed this boiler type. In this type of boilers the pump forces the steam/water circulation. The
operational pressures remain below 190 bar because with higher pressures the share of the heat of
evaporation becomes too low. The wall tube direction arrangement is not limited for the La Mont
type. The pressure loss in wall tubes is 2-3 bar.
Customized boilers, where the boiler dimensions are determined e.g. by the building where the
boiler will be placed.
Heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) and boilers equipped with separate combustion
chambers
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
boilers is the less need of pumping energy because natural circulation principle is partially used for
circulation. Controlled circulation boilers are used for high subcritical pressures up to 200 bar and
usually for relatively large boilers.
FC boilers can use tubes with smaller diameter than boilers based on natural circulation due
to the more efficient (pump-assisted) circulation.
FC boilers have a wide suitability range of power plant sizes.
An FC boiler gives also more freedom for placement of heat transfer surfaces and can be
designed in almost in any kind of position (thus forced circulation is very common in
HRSG:s, boilers in gas turbine based combined-cycle power plants).
FC boilers have a low circulation ratio (3-10).
Water circulation not reliable on density differences because circulation pump is taking care
of the circulation whenever the boiler is operated.
Forced circulation boilers have the following disadvantages compared to other circulation types:
FC boilers have restrictions regarding the placement of the circulation pump, since it has to
be placed vertically below the steam drum. Otherwise the saturated water could boil
(cavitate) in the circulation pump.
FC boilers have a higher internal electrical consumption. The circulation pump consumes
typically about 0.1-1.0 % of the electricity produced by the controlled circulation unit in
question.
FC boilers need a higher level of water quality than boilers based on natural circulation.
FC boilers require a mass flow rate of 1000-2000 kg/(m2s) for maximum pressure levels.
FC boilers are only suitable for subcritical pressure levels (practically for operation
pressures under 190-200 bar). This is due to the lack of density difference in supercritical
steam, which is the principle for the operation of the steam/water seperation in the steam
drum.
FC boilers require a circulation pump and flow limiting orifices, which increase the capital
cost of the boiler.
FC boilers are sensitive to pressure variations. Sudden pressure drops or build-ups causes
increased rate of evaporation and thus the steam drum water level will also rise. This can
lead to water passing into the superheater tubes and water circulation problems that lead to
tube damages.
FC boilers require control and regulation of the co-operation between the feed water pump
and circulation pump, which is difficult in controlled circulation units.
A steam drum is required, which is a very expensive part of the boiler.
Reliability of FC boilers is lower than that of natural circulation boilers, due to possible
clogging of orifices and failures in circulation pump operation.
Once-through boilers
A once-through (or universal pressure) boiler can be simplified as a long, externally heated tube
(Figure 22). There is no internal circulation in the boiler, thus the circulation ratio for once-through
boilers is 1.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
Once-through boilers need advanced automation and control systems because of their relatively
small water/steam volume. They do not either have a buffer for capacity changes as other water
tube boiler types do.
65
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
Ramzin design
The Ramzin boiler is a Russian design, which
is known for the coil-like formation of the
evaporator tubes surrounding the furnace
(Figure 25). Due to the tilted and bended water
tubes the construction of Ramzin boilers is
complicated and thus expensive.
66
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
Once-through (OT) boilers have the following disadvantages compared to other circulation types:
OT boilers require high level of water control, since the steam/water goes directly through
the boiler and into the turbine.
OT boilers require complicated regulation control, due to small water/steam volume (no
buffer for capacity changes), lack of steam drum, and the fact that the fuel,air and water
mass flows are directly proportional to the power output of the boiler.
OT boilers require a large mass flow rate of 2000-3000 kg/(m2s) in furnace wall tubes.
Spiral wall tubes are more expensive than smooth wall tubes due to a more complicated
manufacture process.
OT boilers have no capacity buffer, due to the lack of a steam drum and their once-through
nature.
Operation
The basic difference between once through boiler types has traditionally been the point of total
evaporation in tubing. However, supercritical pressure range operation removes this clear difference
between water and steam states, and thus both Sulzer and Benson boilers are similarly operated in
supercritical pressures.
However, the development has led to constant point of evaporation also for Benson boilers (thanks
to improved process control) and nowadays the operational behaviour of once through boiler is very
67
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
similar. Today the biggest operational differences between Benson and Sulzer types are the control
system and heat-up procedures.
Overall, all once through boilers need certain special arrangements for heat-up procedure and low
capacity operation.
Most of the new capacity of conventional steam power plants is based on once through principle,
because it allows higher steam pressures and thus higher electricity efficiency.
A Sulzer boiler can be found e.g. at Naantali power plant in southwestern Finland (also at Mussalo
power plant). The boiler of the Meri-Pori power plant, situated in western Finland, is based on a
Benson type. Also Inkoo and Haapavesi power plants use Benson design boilers.
The main manufacturer of this type of boilers is ABB Combustion Engineering and other
companies with a license from ABB CE. However, Mitsubishi is practically the only license user
company outside USA.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Steam/Water Circulation Design
References
1. Vakkilainen E. Lecture slides and material on steam boiler technology. 2001.
7. Babcock & Wilcox. Supercritical (Once Through) Boiler Technology. PDF-file, read
October 2001. http://www.babcock.com/pgg/tt/pdf/BR-1658.pdf
69
Feedwater and Steam System Components
Sebastian Teir, Antto Kulla
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
Table of contents
Table of contents................................................................................................................................72
Overview............................................................................................................................................73
Steam drum ........................................................................................................................................73
Steam drum principle .....................................................................................................................74
Steam separation ............................................................................................................................75
Steam purity and quality ................................................................................................................75
Steam quality..............................................................................................................................76
Steam purity ...............................................................................................................................76
Continuous blowdown ...................................................................................................................76
Steam drum placement...................................................................................................................76
Other aspects of steam drum design ..............................................................................................77
Feedwater system...............................................................................................................................77
Feedwater tank ...............................................................................................................................78
Feedwater pump.............................................................................................................................78
Feedwater heaters...........................................................................................................................79
Steam temperature control .................................................................................................................80
Dolezahl attemperator ....................................................................................................................80
Spray water group ..........................................................................................................................81
Water atomizer types .....................................................................................................................81
References..........................................................................................................................................82
72
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
Overview
A steam boiler plant consists of a number of miscellaneous machinery in addition to the
constructions, pressurized steam system and electrical equipment. These machinery parts are called
auxiliary equipment, because they aid the operation of the main equipment.
The feedwater and steam system components are responsible for the steam/water flow through the
boiler. The heat exchanger surfaces (waterwalls in the furnace, superheater and economizers) are
explained in the chapter about heat exchanger surfaces, while this chapter concentrates on the
auxiliary equipment for the feedwater and steam system. This chapter uses graphics and photos of
an Andritz recovery boiler (manufactured by Foster Wheeler), which is the same boiler that was
presented in the chapters on modern boiler types and natural circulation design (Figure 1). Although
this particular boiler is based on natural circulation, the components presented here are similar in
most boiler designs. [1]
Figure 1: The feedwater circulation components of the recovery boiler using natural circulation.
[2]
Steam drum
The steam drum is a key component in natural, forced and combined circulation boilers. The
functions of a steam drum in a subcritical boiler are:
73
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
Remove impurities.
Control water chemical balance by chemical feed and continuous blowdown.
Supply saturated steam
Store water for load changes (usually not a significant water storage)
Act as a reference point for feedwater control
This recovery boiler operates by natural circulation. This means that the difference in specific
gravity between the downcoming water and uprising water / vapor mixture in the furnace tubes
induces the water circulation. Drum internals help to separate the steam from the water. The larger
the drum diameter, the more efficient is the separation. The dimensioning of a steam drum is mostly
based on previous experiences. A drawing of a steam drum cross-section is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 2: Steam drum in the natural Figure 3: The steam drum cross-section. [2]
circulation process. [2]
Water and steam in a steam drum travel in opposite directions. The water leaves the bottom of the
drum to the downcomers and the steam exits the top of the drum to the superheaters.
Normal water level is below the centerline of the steam drum and the residence time is normally
between 5 and 20 seconds.
A basic feature for steam drum design is the load rate, which is based on previous experiences. It is
normally defined as the produced amount of steam (m3/h) divided by the volume of the steam drum
74
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
(m3). Calculated from the residence time in the steam drum, the volumetric load rate can be about
200 for a residence time of almost 20 seconds in the pressure of about 80 bar. The volumetric load
rate increases when the pressure decreases having its maximum value of about 800. As can be
thought from the units, the size of the steam drum can be calculated based on these values.
Steam separation
The steam/water separation in the steam drum
is also based on the density difference of water
and steam. It is important to have a steady and
even flow of water/steam mixture to the steam
drum. This is often realized with a manifold
(header) designed for partitioning of the flow.
In this particular steam drum, the primary separators are cyclones (Figure 5). These enable the
rising steam/water mixture to swirl, which causes the heavier water to drop out of the cyclones and
thus let the lighter steam rise above and out of the cyclones. The steam, which is virtually free of
moisture at this point, continues on through the secondary separators (dryers), which are called
demisters. Demisters are bundles of screens that consist of many layers of tightly bundled wire
mesh. Demisters remove and capture any remaining droplets that may have passed through the
cyclones. The water that condenses from the demisters is re-circulated through the boilers
circulation process. [2] [3]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
harmful). The turbine blades are also sensitive for impurities (Na+ and K are most harmful). The
most important properties of steam regarding impurities are:
Steam quality, Water content: percent by weight of dry steam or moisture in the mixture
Solid contents, Steam purity: parts per million of solids impurity in the steam
Steam quality
There are salts dissolved in feedwater that need to be prevented from entering the superheater and
thereby into the turbine. Depending on the amount of dissolved salt, some impurity deposition can
occur on the inner surfaces of the turbine or on the inner surface of superheater tubes as well. Steam
cannot contain solids (due to its gaseous form), and therefore the water content of steam defines the
possible level of impurities. The water content after the evaporator (before superheaters) should be
<< 0.01 %-wt (percents by weight) to avoid impurity deposition on the inner tube surfaces. If the
boiler in question is a high subcritical-pressure or supercritical boiler, the requirements of the steam
purity are higher (measured in parts per billion).
Steam purity
The solid contents are a measure of solid particles (impurities) of the steam. The boiler water
impurity concentration, solid contents after the steam drum and moisture content after the steam
drum are directly connected: e.g. If the boiler water impurity concentration is 500 ppm and the
moisture level in the steam (after the boiler) 0.1 %, the solids content in the steam (after the boiler)
is 500 ppm * 0.1 % = 0.5 ppm.
Continuous blowdown
When water is circulated within the steam
generating circuits, large amounts are re-
circulated, steam leaves the drum and
feedwater is added to replace the exiting steam.
This causes the concentration of solid
impurities to build up.
Sampling is done to properly set the rate of blowdown based upon allowable amounts of identified
solids. A photograph of the blowdown piping in the recovery boiler is shown in Figure 6.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
For assisted/forced and controlled circulation boilers the steam drum can be placed more freely,
because their circulation is not depending on the place of the steam drum (pump-based circulation).
This is a reason why assisted/forced and controlled circulation boilers have been preferred in e.g.
boiler modernizations, when the biggest problem is usually lack of space.
The ends of feedwater pipes are placed below the drum water level and must be arranged so that the
cold-water flow will not touch directly the shell of the drum to avoid thermal stresses.
The water quality is maintained on one hand by chemical feed lines, which bring water treatment
chemicals into the drum, and on the other hand by blowdown pipes which remove certain portion of
the drum water continuously or at regular intervals.
A dry-box can be placed before the removal pipe for steam. It consists of a holed or cone-shaped
plate construction allowing a smooth flow distribution to a steam dryer.
Feedwater system
This chapter describes the feedwater system part of the
power plant process prior the boiler, i.e. between the
condenser (after turbine) and the economizer.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
Feedwater tank
A boiler should have as large feedwater reserve
as is needed for safe shutdown of the boiler. The
heat absorbed by the steam boiler should be
taken into account when dimensioning the
feedwater reserve (feedwater tank). The exact
rules for the choice of feedwater reserve are
included in respective standards. The residence
time for feedwater is 20 min in most standards,
which depends on fuel and firing method. Thus
a fluidized bed boiler, which has as a large heat
storage capacity in its bed, requires a larger
feedwater tank than a gasified boiler. The Figure 10: Feedwater tank drawing
feedwater tank of the recovery boiler is shown in
Figure 9, Figure 10 and Figure 11. [4]
The function of the low-pressure steam (usually Figure 11: Feedwater tank transportation.
3-6 bars) is to heat the feedwater and remove
gas (O2 and CO2). The steam-gas mixture continues from the deaerator to a specific condenser,
where the heat from low-pressure steam is recovered. [2] [5]
Feedwater pump
The feedwater pumps lead feedwater from the
feedwater tank to the boiler and pressurize the
water to the boiler pressure level. Regulations
allow using only one feedwater pump for (very)
small boilers, whereas for bigger units at least
two feedwater pumps are needed.
Feedwater pumps are usually over dimensioned in relation to mass flow rate of steam in order to
have enough reserve capacity for blowdown water and soot blowing steam etc.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
Smaller feedwater pumps are always electric powered, while feedwater pumps for bigger capacity
may be steam powered.
Feedwater heaters
Feedwater heaters heat the feedwater up before
entering the economizer of the boiler, using
low-pressure turbine exhaust steam. There are
two types of feedwater heaters in power plant
processes: high-pressure (HP) and low-
pressure (LP) feedwater heaters. Of these, the
HP feedwater heaters are situated after the
feedwater pump (before the economizer) in the
power plant process. LP feedwater heaters are
situated between condenser and feedwater tank
(deaerator), before the feedwater pump in the
process. High-pressure feedwater heaters are
also called closed-type feedwater heaters since
fluids are not mixed in this type of heat
exchanger. Normal construction of HP and LP
feedwater heaters is a shell-and-tube heat
exchanger - feedwater flows inside the tubes
and steam outside the tubes (on shell side). A
photo of high pressure feedwater heaters is
shown in Figure 14. In a large conventional
power plant the typical arrangement of
feedwater heaters is a block of closed-type Figure 14: HP feedwater heaters installed at
(LP) feedwater heaters and a block of HP feed- Alholmens Kraft.[8]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
water heaters after the feedwater pump in the process. The typical number of LP feedwater heaters
in a large power plant is 3-4 and the number of HP feedwater heaters 3-5, respectively.
The procedure for optimal placement of HP feedwater heaters begins by defining the enthalpy
difference between feedwater pump outlet and economizer inlet. This enthalpy difference is then
divided by the amount of HP feedwater heaters and the result is the enthalpy rise in every HP
feedwater heater stage.
Methods for steam temperature control are: Figure 15: Attemperator on recovery boiler. [2]
Dolezahl attemperator
The Dolezahl attemperator (or simply attemperator or de-superheater) is a steam temperature
control system that uses condensate as spray water. The location of the attemperator on the recovery
boiler is shown in Figure 1 and Figure 15.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
and tubing) and thus expensiveness is the biggest disadvantage of Dolezahl attemperator systems.
Nowadays Dolezahl attemperators are mostly used in special boiler applications.
The main function of spray water group is to reduce steam temperature by injecting water into
steam flow when needed. It is also used to prevent superheater tubes against excessive temperature
rise (too much superheating), which could lead to superheater tube damage. The sprayed water can
be feedwater (normally) or condensate (condensate steam from boiler process). The system using
condensate is called an attemperator.
The atomizer principle based on pressurized water has many possibilities of water spraying
directions and nozzle types. This type of system is applicable when variations in steam flow are not
large and the temperature difference between incoming steam to be cooled and outgoing already
cooled steam is big enough.
Steam based atomizer uses steam as medium for atomization. Medium and low-pressure steam is
also used as sprayed matter in order to get more effective cooling. The atomization steam flow is
normally constant, being about 20 % of the cooling water flow.
The choice of spray water atomizer type is based on needed operation range (here needed minimum
operational load) and is usually very much case-specific.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Feedwater and Steam System Components
References
1. Vakkilainen E. Lecture slides and material on steam boiler technology, 2001
4. Combustion Engineering. Combustion: Fossil power systems. 3rd ed. Windsor. 1981.
82
Combustion Process Equipment
Esa Vakkilainen, Lasse Harja, Sebastian Teir
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Table of contents
Table of contents................................................................................................................................84
Introduction........................................................................................................................................85
Combustion system ............................................................................................................................85
Burners ...........................................................................................................................................86
Burner arrangement....................................................................................................................86
Single wall firing....................................................................................................................86
Front and back wall firing......................................................................................................86
Corner or tangential firing......................................................................................................87
Roof firing..............................................................................................................................87
Burner design .............................................................................................................................88
Combustion of solids .....................................................................................................................88
Pulverized Coal Firing (PCF) ....................................................................................................89
Grate firing.................................................................................................................................89
Stationary grates.....................................................................................................................90
Traveling grate .......................................................................................................................90
Mechanical grates ..................................................................................................................90
Spreader design ......................................................................................................................91
Mechanical grate for biofuels ................................................................................................91
Roll grate................................................................................................................................92
Fans and blowers................................................................................................................................92
Fan categories ................................................................................................................................92
Fan selection ..................................................................................................................................93
Fuel handling equipment....................................................................................................................94
Coal feeders....................................................................................................................................94
Crushers .........................................................................................................................................94
Pulverizers......................................................................................................................................94
Ash handling equipment ....................................................................................................................95
Ash collection points......................................................................................................................95
Ash conveyors................................................................................................................................96
Electrostatic precipitator ................................................................................................................96
Soot blowing ..................................................................................................................................97
References..........................................................................................................................................99
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Introduction
A steam boiler plant consists of a number of miscellaneous machinery in addition to the
constructions, pressurized steam system and electrical equipment. These machinery parts are called
auxiliary equipment, because they aid the operation of the main equipment. This chapter focuses on
the auxiliary equipments that manage the combustion process.
Auxiliary equipments dealing with the combustion process in a boiler plant are:
Combustion system
The choice of combustion system in a boiler depends on economical factors and required emissions.
There are several types of firing fuels in a boiler. These can be divided into two main methods of
combustion:
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Burning in suspension
o Grate firing
o Fluidized bed combustion (BFB and CFB boilers)
o Chemical recovery boilers
Fluidized bed combustion, cyclone firing and recovery boilers are presented in other chapters of this
book.
Burners
Burners are devices, which combust liquids or gases by continuously feeding air and fuel to a
nozzle, where they are mixed and combusted, producing a flame. Burners can also be used to fire
solids that have been pulverized. Burners can be divided into subcategories based on e.g. fuel air
mixing:
Diffusion burners: Fuel and air are mixed by molecular diffusion. Thus the burning rate is
controlled by diffusion.
Premixed burners: Fuel and air are partially mixed before the burner. Typically the air to
fuel ratio is much lower than the stoichiometric ratio. The reason for premixing is to
increase combustion efficiency and decrease combustion time. Premixed burners are used
when burning low calorific fuels e.g. lignite and peat.
Kinetically controlled burners: Fuel and air mixing is controlled by aerodynamic and
turbulence forces. The combustion is controlled purely by the kinetics of the combustion
reaction.
Burner arrangement
The larger the required capacity is for a single burner, the more difficult it is to design. Instead,
when very large boilers are designed, it is more advantageous to use many small burners
simultaneously.
Single wall firing
The most typical burner arrangement for smaller boilers is the single wall arrangement, where all
burners are placed on one wall. Because of reduced layout and piping costs this arrangement is
more economical than the more complex arrangements. The most typical arrangement is front wall
arrangement, as shown in Figure 4. The flames from front wall burners can in large boilers form an
almost continuous sheet of flames. Overfire air is used in modern installations to control NOx.
Front and back wall firing
When more capacity is required, burners are placed both on the front and back wall (Figure 5 and
Figure 6). A horizontal spacing of 1.5 2.5 m and vertical spacing of 2 4 m is the common
arrangement. Cell burners are similar to wall-fired burners, except that cell burners are arranged in
closely spaced burner pairs.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Figure 4: Oil/gas boiler with front wall burner Figure 5: Front and back wall burner
arrangement. [3] arrangement with overfire air. [1]
Roof firing
Low grade fuels such as lignite and sulfite liquor require long combustion time. Their adiabatic
combustion temperature is low requiring refractory lined combustion chamber. A typical burner
application is roof or downshot firing, where separate combustion chamber is built alongside the
furnace.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Burner design
One of the main difficulties in burner design is choosing a proper swirl of the flames. Controlling
the rotational speed of the gas mixture from the burner affects upon:
The main goal in oil and gas burner design has in the recent years been to design a burner that
operates stably with a low formation level of NOx. This is normally achieved using air staging.
Reported NOx emission levels are 80 - 120 ppm for oil and 20 - 40 ppm for natural gas.
The main parts of burners, designed to minimize the formation of NOx, can be seen in Figure 8 and
Figure 9. Ignition is achieved with a centrally fitted oil burner. Flame condition can be overlooked
using a flame monitor on a side mounted tube. Primary air is inserted from the centre with the fuel
(coal dust, oil or gas). Secondary air is drawn from an air duct that surrounds the fuel channel. Axial
air flow speeds in the burners are typically in the range of 30 50 m/s. The burner is mounted
inside the boiler wall. Wall tubes are bent to form an opening of suitable size (Figure 2).
Combustion of solids
Solid fuels fired in industrial and utility boilers include coal (bituminous, anthracite, and lignite or
brown coal), paper sludge, biomass (e.g. bagasse, bark, wood), peat, RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel),
and municipal waste.
One of the key issues in fuel quality is the heating value. The heating value depends on the fixed
carbon content of the fuels.
Solid fuels can be divided into high grade fuel (e.g. bituminous coal) and low grade fuel (e.g. peat
and bark). The most typical firing methods of solid fuels are grate firing, cyclone firing, pulverized
88
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
firing, and fluidized bed firing. Cyclone firing is not common anymore in new boilers due to their
high level of NOx formation.
Coal is most widely used fuel in utility boilers. Earlier coal was burned as lumps, but most widely
coal is burned as about 0,1 mm particle. Coal quality (LHV) is decreasing as better coal reserves are
exhausted. This means that sulfur and ash contents in coal are increasing. With lower grade coals
the boiler fouling is becoming more problematic.
Wall firing of coal is similar to oil and gas firing. Tertiary or over-fire air (Figure 5) is used in the
modern burners to control combustion and lower NOx,
Grate firing
Grate firing is the oldest type of firing and was the main combustion technique up till 1930s when
PFC started to gain hold. In grate or stoker fired boilers, the combustion of solid fuel occurs in a
bed at the bottom of the furnace. Primary air is forced through grate and burning bed. Bed burning
rate controls combustion process. The benefit of grate firing is that all forms of solid fuel can be
fired including crushed coal. Even low grade fuels such as peat and bark can be fired. The main
disadvantage of grate firing is the slow change in firing rate. This is because there is relatively large
amount of unburned fuel all times at the grate.
Numerous different applications of grate or stoker firing systems exist for burning of different solid
fuels. In all cases, the fuel burns on a grate through which some or all the air for combustion passes.
The main constructional difference that grates can be divided into is stationary grates and moving
(traveling or mechanical) grates.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Stationary grates
Stationary grates, such as inclined grates
(Figure 11), are more common in small
boilers. This was the first grate type.
Stationary grates make use of gravity to
move the fuel. This requires 3050 of
horizontal inclination [5]. The
inclination of the grate depends on the
fuel and its ability to flow during
combustion. The inclination can change
at different locations of the grate. It is
typically higher at the upper end of the
grate. To complete the burning of fuel,
many inclined grates have a small
horizontal grate after the inclined
section. This section is called the dump
grate.
Traveling grate
Instead of gravitation, fuel can be
transported by moving belt. This type of
grate is called a traveling grate. The Figure 11: Stationary, inclined grate.
traveling grate has solid elements joined
to a chain, which moves horizontally
and transports fuel. Fuel is commonly
fed with a spreader onto the grate.
Changing the rate of fuel addition
changes the fuel layer thickness. For
coal, a suitable thickness is 1020 cm,
and for wood it is 3090 cm [5]. The
speed of the grate is chosen such that the
combustion can be completed within the
grate. The combustion is often
intensified by placing refractory to the
walls. The grate is cooled by the
primary air. Secondary and tertiary air
jets are often employed to control
burning.
Mechanical grates
Figure 12: Mechanical grate. [3]
Larger grates (Figure 12) contain
moving parts and are equipped with
automatic fuel feed and ash removal.
Mechanical grates are almost always inclined. Grate pieces can be mechanically moved horizontally
back and forward to facilitate bed movement. A mechanical inclined grate therefore does not have
as deep an inclining angle as the stationary grate. A suitable angle is 15 [5]. Regulating the
moving speed of fuel on the grate is possible by changing the speed of the grate. The speed can be
different at different sections of the grate. A large industrial mechanical grate is seen in Figure 12.
The fuel is fed from the right, and the moving grate transports the fuel to the left. The ash ends at a
dump grate.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
A mechanical grate is one of the most typical grates for incinerating municipal waste. Mechanical
grates were also used for biomass firing, before fluidized bed boilers became common.
In a step grate, the step construction is made of cast iron grate bars. Air is horizontally introduced
between the grate plates. The most famous brand of mechanical inclined step grates has been the
Kablitz grate.
Spreader design
Spreader firing used to be the most widely
used coal burning method. The spreader
(Figure 13) consists of a silo from which
the fuel is mechanically removed and
thrown into the ignited furnace by a
mechanical spreader. The spreader stoker
has the following parts that regulate the
fuel feed (Figure 13):
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
The water content of the wet fuel in the centre of the grate evaporates rapidly due to the heat of the
surrounding burning fuel and thermal radiation from the specially formed brick walls. Gasification
and visible combustion of the gases and solid carbon take place as the fuel moves to the periphery
of the circular grate. At the edge of the grate ash falls into a water-filled ash basin underneath the
grate.
Fan categories
The four fan categories for a boiler are forced draft, primary air, induced draft and gas-recirculation
fans.
Forced-draft (FD) fans supply the air necessary (stoichiometric plus excess air) for fuel combustion
in a boiler. In addition, they provide air to make up for air preheater leakage and sealing-air
requirements. Forced-draft fans supply the total airflow, except when an atmospheric-suction
primary-air fan is used.
Large high pressure primary air fans supply the air needed to dry and transport coal, either directly
from the pulverizing equipment to the furnace, or to an intermediate storage bunker. Primary air
fans may be located before or after the milling equipment.
The induced draft (ID) fans exhaust combustion gases from the boiler by creating a sufficient
negative pressure to establish a slight suction in the furnace. The ID fans are now typically located
downstream of (after) any particulate removal system.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Gas recirculation fans draw gas from a point between the economizer outlet and the air-preheater
inlet, and discharge it for steam-temperature control into the bottom of the furnace. Gas
recirculation fans are under the highest wear and tear requirements of all air fans, due to heavy dust
loads and rapid temperature changes. Fluidized bed boilers can also be equipped with a flue gas
recirculation fan for bed temperature control.
Fan selection
Most fans are radial fans (Figure 16).
Sometimes fans with a two sided air inlet are
preferred. Axial fans are rarely used, since
they are more expensive.
Efficiency
Required space
Shape of the characteristic curve for
the fan.
Flue gas velocity must be at least 810 m/s even with minimum load to prevent accumulation of fly
ash in the ducts. To reduce pressure losses and fan power consumption, the flue gas velocities at full
load must not exceed 3035 m/s.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Coal feeders
A coal feeder is a device that supplies the pulverizer with an uninterrupted flow of raw coal. This is
important, especially in direct-fired systems. There are several types, including the belt feeder and
the overshot roll feeder.
The belt feeder uses a looped belt running on two separated rollers receiving coal from above at one
end and discharging it at the other end. Varying the speed of the belt controls the feed rate, while a
levelling plate fixes the depth of the coal bed on the belt.
The overshot roll feeder has a multi-bladed rotor, which turns about a fixed, hollow, cylindrical
core. The core has an opening to the feeder discharged, and is provided with heated air to minimize
the accumulation of wet coal, to aid in coal drying. A spring-loaded levelling gate mounted over the
rotor limits the discharge from the rotor pockets.
Crushers
There are numerous types of crushers
commercially available. The most generally
used coal crusher for smaller capacities is the
swing-hammer type. The swing-hammer crusher
consists of a casing enclosing a rotor to which
pivoted hammer ore rings are attached. Solid
fuel (coal) is fed through an opening in the top
of the casing and the revolving hammers or rings
crush the coal by direct impact or by throwing
the coal against liners or spaced grate bars in the
bottom of the casing.
Pulverizers
To reduce the particle size of coal to the size
needed for successful pulverized coal
combustion (particle size < 0.1 mm), pulverizers
or mills are used to grind or comminute the fuel
(Figure 18). Grinding mills use either one, two
or all three of the basic principles of particle size
reduction: impact, attrition, and crushing. The
four most commonly used pulverizers are the
ball tube, the ring-roll or ball-race, the impact or
hammer mill (see crushers), and the attrition Figure 18: Coal pulverizer with associated feed
type. and distribution piping. [1]
A ball-tube mill is basically a hollow horizontal cylinder, rotated on its axis. The cylinder is filled
with forged steel or cast alloy balls, varying from 2-10 cm in diameters. Coal is fed to the cylinder,
which rotates slowly. The coal is accumulated and slowly pulverized by the rolling and falling balls
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
in the cylinder. Due to its large size, the ball-tube mill functions also as a storage reservoir of
pulverized coal, but its power consumption and space requirement are high.
An impact mill consists primarily of a series of hinged or fixed hammers revolving in an enclosed
chamber. Grinding results from a combination of hammer impact on the larger particles, and
attrition of the smaller particles on each other. This type of mill is simple and compact, and its
ability to handle high inlet-air temperatures makes it an excellent dryer. However, its high-speed
design results in higher maintenance costs and power consumption the finer the grinding is.
Attrition mills make also use of impact grinding, and are classified as high-speed mills. The
grinding elements consist of pegs and lugs mounted on a disc, which is rotating in a chamber. This
mill type has similar characteristics as an impact mill.
Ring-roll and ball-race mills comprise the largest number of pulverizers used for coal grinding.
They are of medium speed and utilize primarily crushing and attrition of particles to obtain the size
reduction. Grinding takes place between two surfaces, one (ball or roll) rolling over the other (race
or ring). The sizes can be up to 2.5 m for the race or ring, with the ball or roll diameter being
approximately a third of the race or ring. This type of mill can handle very wet coal, and its high-
temperature inlet air makes it a very efficient dryer. These mills require less power than other mill
types. [1]
Many factors determine the method of handling and storing coal-fired power-plant ash:
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Flue
gas
Coal Pulverizer
Figure 19: Ash is transported from the five points shown in the picture.
Hoppers and conveyors under the furnace bottom collect material falling from the heat absorbing
surfaces of the furnace. . Furnace ash hoppers are constructed of carbon steel plate with structural
framing similar to that of the furnace walls, in order to allow cooling water to cool the ashes.
Hoppers are also used under the reject discharge spouts of the pulverizer to collect pyrites and
tramp iron, which have been separated during the pulverization process. Coarser particles from
economizers and air preheaters, as well as finer particles separated by particle separators, are also
collected into hoppers.
Ash conveyors
In PFC boilers ash is taken out continuously from the bottom of the furnace. Conveyors submerged
under water are frequently used. The water is used to cool ashes. Cooled ash is dragged to a chute
by a bottom scraper conveyor.
In pneumatic ash conveying pressurized air is used to blow ash from one place to another. One
typical example is conveying ESP ash to a silo. Pneumatic ash conveying requires pressurized air
flow. Pneumatic ash conveying is used when ash flow is moderate e.g. peat boilers. Ash must also
preferably be uniform in size and of small diameter.
Electrostatic precipitator
The most common method of particulate emission control in steam boilers is the use of an
electrostatic precipitator (ESP). The ESP is unique among air pollution control devices, because the
forces of collection act only on the particles instead of the entire gas flow. ESP operation depends
on the charging of the particles. Corona particle charging employs ions that are generated at the
discharge electrodes, which together with the collector plates, produce an electric field. This is
accomplished by putting direct current high voltages of the order of 30-75 kV on the discharge
electrodes and earthing the collector plates. The plates attract the charged particles, which can thus
be collected and discharged into a hopper.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
Other methods of particulate emission control are presented in Zevenhoven & Kilpinen: Control of
pollutants in flue gases and fuel gases (http://eny.hut.fi/library/e-books.htm).
Soot blowing
Sootblowers are generally used to keep the flue gas passages open and the tube surfaces clean from
ash. Sootblowers use high-pressure steam to remove the ash layers from the heat exchanging
surfaces.
In a stationary sootblower a lance is placed inside boiler. Steam is injected at sonic speed from
holes at lance. The stationary sootblower is mounted permanently in the duct. Stationary
sootblowers are used in oil and gas boilers. Because the stationary sootblower does not move there
must be a number of sootblowers. The construction must be able to withstand heating and cooling
cycles.
A retractable sootblower consists of a rotating lance. Steam at sonic speed is injected from the tip
along wall. When it is not in use, it is pulled out from the furnace. This type is used in PCF boilers,
especially when low calorific and high ash coals are burned, and in chemical recovery boilers.
A retractable sootblower consists of a lance tube, 7.5-15 cm in diameter and 4-6 m long, which is
usually about half of the furnace width. Sootblowers are placed on opposite walls to provide full
width coverage between heat exchanger banks. The lance tubes are inserted into and rotated in the
spacing between tube banks. At its working end, the lance tube has two opposing nozzles with a
throat diameter varying from 2.5 cm to 3.8 cm. Tube surfaces are usually limited to vertical
orientation for more effective cleaning. Vertical spacing of the sootblowers is generally about 2.7
m, with bank depths of 0.9-1.2 m. A sootblower is visualized in Figure 21.
The lance tubes remain outside the boiler when not in service and are automatically inserted and
traversed across the boiler while being rotated. The rate of traverse speed is generally between 1
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
and 3 m/min and, thus, the travel time of a single sootblower is 3-5 min. High pressure steam from
a poppet valve flows through the lance tube at mass flow rates varying from 4 500 to 9 000 kg/hr,
depending on the nozzle throat diameter and the steam pressure in the lance tube.
Sootblowers consume typically 4-12 % of the total steam produced by the boiler. Sootblower pairs
may be blown simultaneously or sequentially. In sequential mode the blowing time required to blow
the sootblower pair is twice as long as in simultaneous mode.
Optimizing soot blowing operation will maximize both deposit removal efficiency and steam
savings. In addition to peak impact pressure, PIP, which is related to the nozzle design and lance
pressure, the ability of a sootblower to remove the deposit depends on many other factors, including
soot blowing sequence and frequency, traverse speed, distance from the nozzle to the deposit,
deposit thickness, mechanical strength, and deposit-tube adhesion strength.
The principal rules for the soot blowing strategy can be stated as follows. Soot blowing is usually
not needed for screen tubes and lower superheater where the flue gas temperature is over 850 C,
because deposits are too hard to remove, and they will not grow further after reaching an
equilibrium thickness. In the higher superheater massive deposit accumulation can typically occur
and soot blowing should be performed frequently to lower the flue gas temperature.
In the boiler bank inlet, deposits are hard to remove. Maximum soot blowing energy should
therefore be employed in that area by increasing soot blowing capacity and frequency, and by
placing sootblowers close to the plugging zone.
In the economizer, low-energy and less frequent soot blowing is usually more than enough because
deposits are easy to remove. However, dust sintering is possible to occur at these temperatures,
which complicates the soot blowing optimization. [8]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Combustion Process Equipment
References
1. Clean Coal Technology Compendium. Demonstration of Coal Reburning for Cyclone
Boiler NOx Control. Los Alamos National Laboratory. Web Page, read September 2003
http://www.lanl.gov/projects/cctc/index.html
4. Combustion Engineering. Combustion: Fossil power systems. 3rd ed. Windsor. 1981.
6. Wrtsil. Bio-energy solutions from Wrtsil. PDF brochure, viewed September 2003.
http://www.wartsila.com/english/index.jsp
7. Tekes. BioGrate boiler plant at sawmill the Humppila heating plant. Web page, read
September.2003. http://www.tekes.fi/opet/biograte.htm#Boiler
99
Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
Sebastian Teir, Anne Jokivuori
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................102
Heat transfer surfaces.......................................................................................................................103
Arrangement of heat transfer surfaces (furnace-equipped boiler) ...................................................104
Furnace.............................................................................................................................................105
Membrane wall ............................................................................................................................106
Convection evaporators................................................................................................................106
Boiler bank...............................................................................................................................106
Economizer ......................................................................................................................................107
Superheater.......................................................................................................................................107
Types of superheater surfaces ......................................................................................................108
Radiation superheaters .............................................................................................................108
Convection superheaters ..........................................................................................................108
Panel superheater .....................................................................................................................108
Wing wall superheater .............................................................................................................109
Back-pass superheater set ........................................................................................................109
Reheater .......................................................................................................................................109
Connections of superheater elements...........................................................................................110
Air preheater ....................................................................................................................................111
Regenerative air preheaters..........................................................................................................111
Recuperative air preheaters..........................................................................................................112
Tubular recuperative air preheater ...........................................................................................112
Plate recuperative air preheater................................................................................................113
References........................................................................................................................................114
102
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
Heat transfer surfaces in modern boilers are furnaces, evaporators, superheaters, economizers and
air preheaters. The surfaces cover the interior of the boiler from the furnace (or inlet in a HRSG) to
the boiler exhaust.
The main means of heat transfer in a furnace is radiation. Superheaters and reheaters are exposed to
convection and radiant heat, whereas convectional heat transfer predominates in air heaters and
economizers.
Flue gases exiting the boiler can be cooled down close to the dew point (t=150-200C). Air
preheaters and economizers recover heat from the furnace exit gases in order to reduce flue gas
outlet temperature, preheat combustion air (thus increasing efficiency) and use the heat to increase
the temperature of the incoming feed water to the boiler.
Every heating surface cannot be found in every boiler. In industrial systems where saturated steam
is needed, there are no superheaters. Superheaters are built when superheated steam is needed
(mainly at electricity generation in order to reach high efficiency and avoid droplets in the steam
turbine). Figure 1 gives and example of the physical arrangement of heat transfer surfaces in a
boiler with two-pass layout.
Superheater
(steam)
Economizer
(water)
Air preheater
Evaporator
(air)
(water/steam-
mixture)
Figure 1: Physical locations of heat transfer surfaces in a boiler with two-pass layout.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
The evaporator is generally built into the furnace. Moving through the flue gas path in a boiler the
heating surfaces are found in the sequence shown in Figure 1: furnace, superheaters (and reheaters),
economizer and air preheater.
Table 1 presents and example of changes of stream temperatures in heat exchanger surfaces of a
boiler, where the steam pressure is about 80-90 bar.
Boiler surface Working fluid temperature [C] Flue gas temperature drop [C]
Furnace 290->300 1400->1000
Superheaters 300->600 1000->600
Economizer 105->290 600->300
Air preheater 20->200 300->150
The heat transfer in the furnace results in a phase change of the working fluid (water to steam or
fluid to gas). The small water/steam temperature rise is due to the fact that the water enters the
furnace slightly sub-cooled (not saturated). These temperatures are only examples. They can be at
various levels at different types of boiler, but the heat load graph look practically the same. The heat
load graph, constructed from the table above, can be found in Figure 3. [1]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
1600
Flue gas stream
1200
1000
Temperature [C]
800
600
Air preheater
400
200
Furnace
Superheater Economizer
0
0% 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 % 100 %
Share of heat load [%]
Furnace
The furnace is the part of the boiler where the
combustion of the fuel takes place. The main
role of the boiler furnace is to burn the fuel as
completely and stably as possible. Leaving
unburned material will decrease the heat
efficiency and increase the emissions.
Combustion must be performed in an
environmentally sustainable way. The emissions
from the furnace must be as low as possible.
Adequate furnace cooling is vital for the boiler. However, when burning very wet fuels as wood
chips, some parts of the furnace should not be cooled in order not to remove too much heat from
furnace. Thus a part of the furnace of boilers using such fuels consists of a refractory material,
which reflects the heat of combustion to the incoming wet fuel.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
Membrane wall
Nowadays, the furnace is generally
constructed as a gas-tight membrane wall.
The membrane wall construction consists of
tubes, which have been welded together
separated by a flat iron strip, called the
membranes. The membranes act as fins to
increase the heat transfer. They also form a
continuous rigid and pressure tight Figure 5: Furnace temperature distribution.
construction for the furnace. The most
common furnace tube used is a finned
carbon steel tube that forms the membrane Gas tight modern tube wall
wall. A drawing visualizing a typical
membrane tube wall can be found in Figure
6.
Boiler bank
A boiler bank is a convection evaporator
that uses two drums: one on the top of the
evaporator tubes, and another in the bottom.
A boiler bank is usually used in parallel
with the natural circulation based
evaporator/furnace, as in Figure 7. Boiler
banks are less common nowadays and are
nowadays typically used in low pressure
and small boilers. Figure 7: Boiler generating bank (marked with
green colour).
106
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
Economizer
After the feedwater pump, the water has the
required pressure and temperature to enter the
boiler. The pressurized water is introduced
into the boiler through the economizers. The
economizers are heat exchangers, usually in
the form of tube packages.
Flue gases are cooled down with feedwater, which gets preheated up to its saturation temperature.
In order to prevent the feedwater from boiling before it has entered the furnace/evaporator, the
temperature of the feedwater exiting the economizer is usually regulated with a safety margin below
its saturation temperature (about 10C). The heated water is then led to the steam drum.
The economizer shown in Figure 8 consists of two long-flow, vertical sections. Each economizer
section is comprised of straight vertical finned tubes, which are connected in parallel to one another.
The tubes are connected at the top and bottom to larger headers. This kind of vertical tube packages
is typical for chemical recovery boilers. Other boilers use packages of horizontal tubes. The bundles
are placed in the second pass of the boiler, behind the superheaters. Here, the water is utilizing the
heat of the flue gases that is left from the superheaters, before the flue gases leave the boiler. The
flue gas temperature should always stay above the dew point of the gases to prevent corrosion of the
precipitators and ducts.
Superheater
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.
Superheated steam is also used in facilities that don't produce electricity.
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. There can be several superheater units in
107
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
the same boiler, as well as reheaters, which is a superheater for heating external steam (steam
already used in a process outside the boiler). [2]
Radiation superheaters
Radiation based superheaters are used to gain
higher steam temperatures and the heat is mainly
transferred by radiation. These superheaters
have to be placed within reach of the flame
radiation. Thus radiant superheaters are usually
integrated as tubes in the boiler-walls or built as
panels hanging from the boiler roof. The
radiation superheater is located in the top of the
furnace, where the main means of heat transfer
is radiation.
Convection superheaters
Convection superheaters are the most common
superheaters in steam boilers. Convection based
superheaters are used with relatively low steam
temperature, and the heat from the flue gases is
mainly transferred by convection. They are Figure 9: Panel superheaters in production. [2]
placed after the furnace protected from the
corrosive radiation of the flames. This type of superheater can also be protected from radiation by a
couple of rows of evaporator tubes. Convection based superheaters can hang from the boiler roof or
they can be placed in the second pass of the boiler (in a two-pass design), and are called back-pass
superheaters.
Panel superheater
The panel superheater (shown in Figure 9 and
Figure 10) functions on both radiation and
convention heat transfer, depending on its
location in the boiler. It consists of tubes that are
tightly bundled in thin panel walls, which hang
from the roof in the exhaust of the furnace. The
distance between the panels is usually about
300-500 mm. The tubes are laid out according to
the inline arrangement. This kind of superheater
can be located e.g. first in the flue gas stream
after furnace in which coal with low heating
value is burned (brown coal). The panel
superheater is resistant to fouling and can
withstand high heat flux. Figure 10: Panel superheaters installed. [2]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
Back-pass
superheater
Reheater
A reheater is basically a superheater that
superheats steam exiting the high-pressure stage
of a turbine. The reheated steam is then sent to
the low-pressure stage of the turbine. By
reheating steam between high-pressure and low-
pressure turbine it is possible to increase the
electrical efficiency of the power plant cycle
beyond 40%. The reheat cycle is used in large Figure 12: Back-pass superheater. [1]
109
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
The small amount of saturated water still remaining in steam evaporates in the first superheater
section. This makes solid impurities of boiler water stick on inner surface superheater tubes and
thus decreases the heat transfer coefficient of the tubes. Superheater stages are therefore placed in
counter-current order, i.e. the first superheater stage is situated at the lowest flue gas temperature.
Superheated
Steam OUT
Reheated
Steam OUT
Feedwater
IN
Saturated Reheater
Steam IN IN
Reheater I
Superheater I
Reheater II
Superheater III
Superheater II
110
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
Air preheater
Air preheaters have two important functions in a
steam boiler: they cool the gases before they
pass to the atmosphere (thereby increasing the
efficiency), and they raise the temperature of the
incoming combustion air (thereby drying solid
fuel faster). The heated air from air preheaters is
also used for transporting the fuel in PCF boilers
and fluidized bed boilers. Air preheaters can be
Figure 16: Heat transfer surfaces of the rotor.
of a regenerative or recuperative type. [3]
[4]
Regenerative air preheaters
In regenerative air preheaters no media for heat
transfer is used - they use the heat accumulation
capacity of a slowly rotating rotor for
transferring the heat. The rotor is alternately
heated in the flue gas stream and cooled in the
air stream, heat-storage being provided by the
mass of the packs consisting of closely spaced
metal sheets (Figure 16), 0.5-0.75 mm thick,
which absorb and give off heat on both sides.
The rotor is divided into pie-shaped 'baskets' of
theses metal sheets, which in turn pick up heat
from flue gases and release it into the Figure 17: The heat-transfer principle of a
combustion air, as shown in the drawing in regenerative air preheater. [4]
Figure 17.
Regenerative air preheaters occupy little space; about 1/4 or 1/6 of the space required by
recuperative air preheaters and can be produced cheaply. Without exaggeration it can be claimed
that they have rendered possible the low flue-gas exit temperatures achieved today. Their reduced
tendency to dew point corrosion should also be stressed, in particular where sulphur-containing
fuels are used. Moreover, any sheet metal packs that have become corroded can be replaced easily
111
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
112
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
Flue gas
Air
Flue gas
Air
113
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Heat Exchangers in Steam Boilers
References
1. Vakkilainen E. Lecture slides and material on steam boiler technology, 2001
2. Andritz. Recovery Boiler Operation Manual, Ahlstrom Machinery Corporation 1999. CD-
rom. http://www.andritz.com/
3. Combustion Engineering. Combustion: Fossil power systems. 3rd ed. Windsor. 1981.
114
Boiler Calculations
Sebastian Teir, Antto Kulla
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................116
Steam/water diagrams used in boiler calculations ...........................................................................117
Temperature-heat (T-Q) diagram.................................................................................................117
Temperature-entropy (T-s) diagram.............................................................................................118
Application of the T-s diagram ................................................................................................119
Pressure-enthalpy (p-h) diagram..................................................................................................120
Enthalpy-entropy (Mollier, h-s) diagram .....................................................................................121
Determination of steam/water parameters .......................................................................................122
Given parameters .........................................................................................................................122
Pressure losses..............................................................................................................................122
Procedure for determination of specific enthalpies and mass flow rates.....................................122
Superheaters and reheaters...........................................................................................................123
Spray water group mass flow.......................................................................................................124
Calculations of heat load..............................................................................................................125
Evaporator................................................................................................................................125
Superheater...............................................................................................................................125
Reheater ...................................................................................................................................125
Economizer ..............................................................................................................................126
Air preheater ............................................................................................................................126
Determination of boiler efficiency...................................................................................................126
Standards......................................................................................................................................126
Major heat losses..........................................................................................................................126
Heat loss with unburned combustible gases ............................................................................126
Heat loss due to unburned solid fuel........................................................................................127
Heat loss due to wasted heat in flue gases ...............................................................................127
Heat loss due to wasted heat in ashes ......................................................................................127
Losses due to heat transfer (radiation) to the environment......................................................128
Losses of blowdown, sootblowing and atomizing steam.........................................................128
Internal power consumption.........................................................................................................128
Calculating boiler efficiency........................................................................................................129
Direct method...........................................................................................................................129
Indirect method ........................................................................................................................129
References........................................................................................................................................130
116
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
Figure 1: Examples of T-Q diagrams for a parallel flow heat exchanger (left), and a counter (or
cross) flow heat exchanger (middle). The hot stream is marked with red color and the cold with
blue color.
When designing or
1600
reviewing heat Flue gas stream
1200
The T-Q diagram is
therefore applied when 1000
designing boilers;
Temperature [C]
117
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
tant
tant
t
v = constan
visualize steam power processes. The
p = cons
p = cons
T-s diagram is also commonly used
for displaying reversible processes
(or real processes simplified as
reversible processes), which in the T- Critical point
s diagram appear as closed curves
(loop).
Sa
ted
tur
when heat is added and entropy is
a
ur
at
Liquid-vapour region
t
increased.
e
Sa
va
d
po
X = 0,2 X = 0,9 ur
The enclosed region in the middle is
the region where water is a mixture Entropy
of vapor and liquid. Steam that
contains water in any form, either as Figure 3: Simplified T-s diagram of steam/water.
minute droplets, mist or fog, is called wet steam. The quantity called x in the diagram represents
the amount (percentage by weight) of dry vapor in the wet steam mixture. This quantity is called the
quality of steam. For instance, if there is 10% moisture in the steam, the quality of the steam is 90%
or 0.9. The temperature of wet steam is the same as dry saturated steam at the same pressure.
The right border, down from the critical point, is the line where steam is saturated. When steam is
heated beyond that border, steam is called superheated.
Water boils under constant temperature and pressure, so a horizontal line inside the enclosed region
represents a vaporization process in the T-s diagram. The steam/water heating process in the boiler
represented by the diagram in figure 2 can also be drawn in a T-s diagram (Figure 4), if the boiler
pressure is assumed to be e.g. 10 MPa.
118
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
Figure 4: Detailed T-s diagram of the PCF boiler steam/water heating process from figure 2 (note:
color of the steam/water process line is changed from blue to red).
119
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
Temperature
lines are strictly vertical. If the losses in the
turbine and pump were considered, the 5 6 w
vertical lines would be slightly tilted so that
entropy increases. [1] w 4
x=1
Pressure-enthalpy (p-h) diagram 3 q 2
x=0
Another tool used in boiler calculation is the
pressure-enthalpy diagram for steam/water Entropy
(Figure 7). With the p-h diagram it is easy to
visualize the partial shares of the total heat Figure 6: T-s diagram of the Rankine cycle in
load on different heat exchanger surfaces in Figure 5.
the boiler: drawing the steam heating process
in the boiler onto the p-h diagram will give a
horizontal line (if we simplify the process and set pressure losses to zero). Figure 7 shows the same
boiler steam/water process from Figure 4, drawn in the steam/water p-h diagram.
Figure 7: Detailed p-h diagram of the PCF boiler steam/water heating process (red line) from
Figure 4.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
tant
ant
entropy (h-s) diagram, also called Mollier
p = const
p = cons
T = constant
diagram (Figure 8). If two properties of the
steam state are known (like pressure and
temperature), the rest of the properties for
steam (enthalpy, entropy, specific volume and
moisture content) can be read from the T = constant
diagram. A more detailed h-s diagram can be
found in Figure 9. Since the diagram is very
large, the diagram is usually found as two
versions, consisting of zoomed portions of the
r
ou
original: one for steam properties (Figure 8)
va p
X = 0,9
6
and another for water properties.
ted
u ra
X=0
,90
Sat
Critical point Liquid-vapour region
121
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
Pressure losses
The pressure losses in the heat exchanger units of the boiler are estimated according to the
following approximations:
Economizer: the pressure loss is 5-10% of the pressure of the feedwater entering the
economizer.
Evaporator:
Once through boilers: in once-through boilers the pressure loss of the evaporator is between
5 and 30%.
Forced and natural circulation boilers: the pressure drop in the evaporator part of drum-
based boilers does not affect the pressure loss of the main steam/water flow through the
boiler. This means that saturated steam leaving the steam drum has the same pressure as the
feedwater entering the steam drum. The pressure loss of the evaporator has to be overcome
using the driving force (natural circulation) or circulation pump (forced circulation).
Superheater: the total pressure drop of all superheater packages is less than 10% of the
pressure of the superheated steam.
Reheater: the pressure drop in the reheater is about 5% of the pressure of reheated steam
Pressure losses of connection tubes between different heat transfer surfaces (e.g. between
evaporator and superheater) can be neglected in these calculations.
2. The total pressure loss of the superheater stages should be chosen. Thus, the pressure in steam
drum (drum-type boilers) or pressure after evaporator (once-through boilers) can be calculated
by adding the pressure loss over the superheater stages to the pressure of the superheated steam.
3. Specific enthalpy of saturated water and steam (in the steam drum) can be read from an h-s
diagram or steam tables, as the pressure in the steam drum is known.
In once-through boilers the determination of specific enthalpy after the evaporator is based on
the temperature. The reason for this is the unclear state of supercritical steam after the
evaporator in once-through circulation. The temperature after the evaporator in once-through
boilers is typically between 400 and 450C.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
4. For removal of salts and minerals concentrated in the steam drum, a part of the water in steam
drum is removed as blowdown water from the bottom of the steam drum. Normally the mass
flow rate of blowdown is 1-3% of the mass flow rate of feedwater coming into steam drum.
5. In principle, the feedwater coming into steam drum should be saturated water. To prevent the
feedwater from boiling in the transportation pipes, the temperature of the feedwater reaching the
steam drum is 15-30C below saturation temperature. This temperature difference is called the
approach temperature. The feedwater is then called subcooled (in contrast to supercooled).
When the temperature in the steam drum and the value of the approach temperature are known,
the temperature after the economizer can be determined. The water pressure after the
economizer can be assumed to be equal to the pressure in the steam drum and specific enthalpy
after the economizer can then be read from a h-s diagram.
In once through boilers the pressure after the economizer can be calculated by adding the
pressure loss in the evaporator to the pressure after evaporator. The temperature after the
evaporator is normally between 300 and 350C (can be chosen as a unique value for the boiler).
Knowing the pressure and the temperature, the specific enthalpy after the evaporator can be
defined.
6. The pressure before the economizer can be calculated by adding the pressure loss in the
economizer to the feedwater pressure after economizer. The feedwater temperature might be
stated in the boiler design assignment. If it is not given, it should be chosen from the range of
200-250C. The mass flow rate before the economizer is the blowdown mass flow rate added to
the mass flow rate from the steam drum to the superheaters.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
heat transfer surfaces between the economizer inlet and the location of the spray water nozzle. An
example of a possible heat load share between the superheater stages is shown in Figure 10.
Pressure loss in superheaters can be divided into equal partial pressure losses corresponding to each
superheater stage. Pressure loss of the spray nozzles can be neglected. Temperature rise over all
superheaters can be divided into quite similar parts along the same principle.
where m& SHII is the mass flow rate of steam after second superheater stage [kg/s], m& SPRAYII the mass
flow rate of spray water to second spray water group, m& SHIII the mass flow rate of superheated
steam (live steam), hSHII , 2 the specific enthalpy of steam after second superheater stage [kJ/kg],
hSPRAY the specific enthalpy of spray water (feedwater), and hSHIII ,1 the specific enthalpy of steam
before third superheater stage. Figure 11 shows a flow chart with the symbols visualized of the
boiler arrangement used in this calculation model.
HP Steam HP Steam
OUT OUT
Reheat
IN
Flue Gas
SPRAYII SPRAYI OUT
2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1
Coal
IN ECO
EVAP 2
2
Ash
OUT Air
1 IN
APH
Feedwater
IN
Figure 11: Flow chart of the PCF boiler arrangement used in this heat load calculation model.
124
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
Evaporator
The heat load of the evaporator part of the boiler can be calculated as:
where m& SH is the mass flow of steam before superheater [kg/s], h the specific enthalpy of saturated
steam at steam drum pressure [kJ/kg], hECO 2 the specific enthalpy after economizer m& BD the mass
flow of blowdown water from steam drum, and h the specific enthalpy of saturated water at steam
drum pressure [kg/s].
Superheater
Normally superheating takes place in three or four stages in a big boiler. This calculation example is
based on three stage superheating. The heat load of the first superheater stage is
where hSHI , 2 is the specific enthalpy of steam after the first superheater stage. In the second
superheater stage the heat load added can be calculated as:
where m& SHII is the mass flow of steam before the second superheater [kg/s], hSHII , 2 the specific
enthalpy of steam after the second superheater stage [kJ/kg], and hSHII ,1 the specific enthalpy of
steam before the second superheater stage. Similarly, the heat load added in third superheater stage
can be calculated as:
wher m& SHIII = Mass flow of steam before third superheater [kg/s], hSHIII , 2 the specific enthalpy of
steam after third superheater stage [kJ/kg], and hSHIII ,1 the specific enthalpy of steam before third
superheater stage [kJ/kg].
Reheater
The heat load of the reheater stage can be calculated as:
where m& RH is the mass flow rate of steam in the reheater [kg/s], hRH 2 the specific enthalpy of steam
after the reheater [kJ/kg] , and hRH 1 the specific enthalpy of steam before the reheater.
125
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
Economizer
The heat load of the economizer can be calculated as:
where m& ECO is the mass flow rate of feedwater in the economizer [kg/s], hECO 2 the specific enthalpy
of feedwater after the economizer [kJ/kg], and hECO1 the specific enthalpy of feedwater before the
economizer.
Air preheater
In order to calculate the heat load for the air preheater, we need to know the combustion air mass
flow, the temperature of the flue gases and the incoming air. The combustion air fed into air
preheater, is taken from upper part of the boiler room. The temperature of the combustion air before
the air preheater is therefore between 25 and 40C (in Finnish conditions). The flue gases exiting
the boiler are usually kept above 130-150C in order to prevent corrosion. The enthalpies can be
taken from tables:
m& AIR
APH = m& FUEL (hAPH 2 hAPH 1 ) (8)
m& FUEL
m& AIR
where m& FUEL is the mass flow rate of fuel fed into the boiler [kg/s], the mass flow rate of
m& FUEL
combustion air divided by the mass flow rate of fuel fed into the boiler, h APH 1 the specific enthalpy
of combustion air before the air preheater [kJ/kg], and h APH 2 the specific enthalpy of combustion air
after the air preheater.
It should be marked that with the DIN standard it is possible to reach boiler efficiencies over 100%,
if the condensation heat of the flue gases is recovered.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
where m& CO is the mass flow of carbon monoxide [kg/s], m& H 2 the mass flow of hydrogen, H l ,CO the
lower heating value (LHV) of carbon monoxide (10.12 MJ/kg), and H l ,H 2 the lower heating value
(LHV) of hydrogen (119.5 MJ/kg). If a relevant amount of some other flue gas compound can be
found in the flue gases, it should be added to the equation.
where m& ubs is the total mass flow of unburned solid fuel (bottom ash and fly ash in total) [kg/s], and
H l ,ubs the lower heating value (LHV) of unburned solid fuel (fly ash and bottom ash in total)
[kJ/kg]. Some estimates of the losses with unburned solid fuels are presented in Table 1:
m& i
L 3 = m& fuel hi (11)
i m& fuel
where m& fuel is the fuel mass flow [kg/s], m& i the mass flow of a flue gas component, and hi the
specific enthalpy of a flue gas component (e.g. CO2) [kJ/kg].
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
where m& ba is the mass flow of the bottom ash [kg/s], c p ,ba the specific heat of the bottom ash
[kJ/(kgK)], Tba the temperature difference between the bottom ash temperature and the reference
temperature [C], m& fa the mass flow of fly ash, c p , fa the specific heat of fly ash, T fa the
temperature difference between the fly ash temperature and the reference temperature [C]. Usually
the reference temperature is 25C.
In recovery boilers the bottom ash is removed as molten ash in temperature of about 700-800C. In
addition, the amount of bottom ash divided by the amount of fuel is about 40%. The loss of sensible
heat of ash is therefore of great importance in recovery boilers.
m& bd is the mass flow of blowdown water [kg/s], h is the specific enthalpy of saturated water
(blowdown water from steam drum) [kJ/kg], m& sb is the mass flow of sootblowing steam, hsb is the
specific enthalpy of steam used for sootblowing (when leaving the boiler), m& atomizing is the mass flow
of atomizing steam, and hatomizing the specific enthalpy of steam used for atomizing the fuel (when
leaving the boiler) [kJ/kg].
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
Normally the internal power consumption is about 5% of the electricity produced by the power
plant. Since the power used is electrical (and taken from the grid), the internal power consumption
share is reduced from the final boiler efficiency in boiler calculations.
Direct method
In the direct method, the boiler efficiency is directly defined by the exploitable heat output from the
boiler and by the fuel power of the boiler:
output
= (14)
input
where output is the exploitable heat output from boiler, and input the fuel power of the boiler.
The direct method can be used for steam boilers where it is possible to measure the fuel heat input
accurately.
Indirect method
Indirect method determines the efficiency of a boiler by the sum of the major losses and by the fuel
power of the boiler:
losses
=1 (15)
input
where losses is the sum of the major losses within the boiler, and input is the fuel power of the
boiler.
The indirect method provides a better understanding of the effect of individual losses on the boiler
efficiency and is used for boilers where the fuel heat flow is difficult to measure (eg. Biomass and
peat fired steam boilers).
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Boiler Calculations
References
1. Khartchenko N. V. Advanced energy systems. Taylor & Francis 1998, U.S.
ISBN 1-56032-611-5
130
Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Sebastian Teir, Anne Jokivuori
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................132
General design issues .......................................................................................................................133
Heat transfer modes .....................................................................................................................133
Conduction ...............................................................................................................................133
Convection ...............................................................................................................................133
Radiation ..................................................................................................................................134
Pressure losses..............................................................................................................................134
Definition .................................................................................................................................134
Gas side pressure drop for inline tube arrangement.................................................................135
Gas side pressure drop for staggered tube arrangement ..........................................................135
Choice of tube surface..................................................................................................................136
Sizing of heat transfer surfaces ....................................................................................................136
Furnace design .................................................................................................................................137
Furnace strain level ......................................................................................................................138
Tube wall design ..........................................................................................................................139
Load characteristics......................................................................................................................140
Fuel type effect on furnace size ...................................................................................................140
Typical furnace outlet temperatures.............................................................................................140
Furnace air levels .........................................................................................................................141
CFB furnace design......................................................................................................................142
BFB furnace design......................................................................................................................143
Heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) design...........................................................................144
Furnace dimensioning, stirred reactor..........................................................................................146
Superheater design ...........................................................................................................................146
Design velocity ............................................................................................................................147
Design spacing .............................................................................................................................147
Tube arrangement ........................................................................................................................147
Economizer design...........................................................................................................................149
Design method .............................................................................................................................149
Air preheater design .........................................................................................................................151
References........................................................................................................................................152
132
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
t1 t 2
= A (1)
s
Heat power depends on the heat transfer area (A), temperature difference (t1-t2), thermal
conductivity of material () and the thickness of separating wall (s). The thermal conductivity is a
property of the material; metals conduct well heat whereas gases not. An example of thermal
conductivities in various materials is shown in Table 1. [1]
Convection
Convection is heat transfer between a moving fluid or gas and a fixed solid. Convection can be
natural or forced: if a pump, a blower, a fan, or some similar device induces the fluid motion, the
process is called forced convection. If the fluid motion occurs as a result of the density difference
produced by the temperature difference, the process is called free or natural convection.
= c A(t1 t 2 ) (2)
The heat transfer coefficient c varies much depending on e.g. flow velocity, type of fluid motion
and pressure. Heat transfer coefficients of liquids are much higher than those of gases, as can be
seen in the comparison presented in Table 2.
133
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Radiation
Radiation, or more correctly thermal radiation, is electromagnetic radiation emitted by a body by
virtue of its temperature and at the expense of its internal energy. All heated solids and liquids, as
well as some gases, emit thermal radiation.
The importance of radiation heat transfer will increase, when the temperature becomes higher.
Radiation heat transfer is the main heat transfer mode for the furnace and radiation superheaters.
where fw is the view factor between the flame and the water walls:
1
fw = (4)
1 1
+ 1
f w
where f is the emissivity of the flame (typically 0.35-0.85), w the emissivity of the water walls
(typically 0.6), the Stefan-Boltzmann constant (5.6787*10-8 W/m2K4), A the effective water wall
surface (m2), Tf the average gas temperature in the furnace and Tw the average water wall surface
temperature surrounding the flame.
Pressure losses
Definition
The difference between pressure gage readings in parts of a system operating with a positive
pressure relative to that of the atmosphere is generally called pressure drop. The pressure drop on
the gas side is equal to the friction losses, according to VDI Wrmeatlas [1]:
p gs = p f (6)
134
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
p = n r r p d (7)
where nr is the number of tube rows in the heat transfer unit, pd dynamic pressure calculated at
the gas side using the mean temperature and the smallest area. The single row pressure drop r for
inline tube arrangement is calculated as
Re1000
r = l + t (1 e 2000
) (8)
where
0.5
280 (( s l 0.6) 2 + 0.75)
l = 1 .6
(9)
(4 s t s l ) s t Re
0.94 0.6
(1 - )
sl
t = 10 0.47(s t /s l -1.5)
(0.22 + 1.2 + 0.03( s t 1)( sl 1) (10)
(s t - 0.85) 1.3
where l is the laminar part of the pressure drop coefficient, t is the turbulent part of the pressure
drop coefficient, s t is the dimensionless transverse pitch (s t = S t / d o ), s l is the dimensionless
longitudinal pitch ( s l = S l / d o ) and Re is the Reynolds number, calculated at the gas side mean
temperature and smallest area.
Re 200
r = l + t 1 e 1000
(11)
(
280 s l 0.6 + 0.75
0.5 2
)
l = (12)
(4st sl )c Re
1.6
where
c = st ; s l 2s t - 1/2
s 2 (13)
c = ( t ) 2 + s l ; sl < 2st 1 / 2
2
135
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
3 3
1 .2 s s
t = 2.5 + + 0.4 l 1 0.01 t 1
1.08 (14)
(s t 0.85 ) st sl
= kATlm (15)
136
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Tmax Tmin
Tlm = (16)
T
ln max
Tmin
where Tmax is the largest temperature difference and Tmin the smallest temperature difference:
Tmax = th1-tc2
Tmin = th2-tc1 (17)
Furnace design
The main parameters for the furnace sizing are furnace dimensions (height, depth, width and
configuration), furnace wall construction and desired furnace outlet temperature.
The heat transfer surface area of furnace consists of sides, base and beak, which is an "L"-formed
bending of the evaporator tubes that protect the superheaters from radiation. Most of utility and
industrial boiler furnaces have a rectangular shape. A large number of package boilers have a
cylindrical furnace. Furnace bottom for typical PCF boiler is double inclined or v-form, as shown in
Figure 5. Flat bottom is more typical for grate and fluidized bed boilers.
The ratio of height and width varies 1-5 for boilers with two-pass layout. The larger the boiler is,
the larger is also the ratio. The largest boilers have a width of 20 m and a height of 100 m. The fuel
and vaporization efficiency determines the size of the furnace. To be able to dimension furnaces the
overall mass balance, heat balance and heat transfer must be specified.
137
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
b2
where the heat fluxes are shown in Figure 7. If
the gas side temperatures and emissivities are b1
known, the furnace heat flux absorbed by the
furnace walls can be expressed as
Figure 5: Furnace dimensions. The painted
areas are the total effective furnace heat
w 4
transfer area.
fur = Aeff ( dg Tg
dg + w dg w (20)
dg Tw ) + c Aeff (Tg Tw )
4
m& fg
where Aeff is the effective heat transfer surface,
the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, w and dg
the emissivity of the wall and the (dusty) gas
respectively, dg the absorbability of the (dusty)
gas, c the convective heat transfer coefficient,
and Tg and Tw the temperature of the gas and m& air m& sootb
wall respectively. The effect of convective term
is usually fairly small, often less than 10%.
m& fi
Furnace strain level
The furnace is preliminarily dimensioned with a
m& ash
suitable strain level. The volume (marked with a
V in Figure 5) strain level is calculated as the
following: Figure 6: Fuel/flue gas side mass balance.
fuel
qV = (21)
b1b2 h
where pa is the heat released from the fuel in the furnace and other variables furnace dimensions
according to Figure 5. The strain level depends largely on different fuels. Reference values on strain
levels from different fuels are presented in Table 3.
The area strain level is calculated as the heat power in the furnace per base area of the furnace
(marked with an A in Figure 5):
138
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
loss exit
fuel
qF = (22)
b1b2
If the electric power of power plant is known, strain levels for the volume and base area can be
chosen from the graphs in Figure 8, and thereby the physical dimensions of the furnace can be
determined.
6 0,25
[MW/m3] [MW/m2]
5 0,20
4 0,15
3 0,10
2 0,05
0 200 400 600 MWe 0 200 400 600 MWe
The effective heat transfer surface area of the furnace, consisting of sides, base and beak, can be
calculated as following (assuming the beak adds 0.4*base area):
The first two terms forms the effective projected radiant surface (EPRS), which is a widely used
concept.
The diameter of an evaporator tube is usually 30-80 mm and the wall thickness can be calculated
from the following equation:
139
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
du p
s= + C1 + C 2 (24)
l
2 p + 2 p
n
where du is the outside diameter of tube, p the design pressure, l the design strength, n a safety
factor (usually 1.5), the strength factor (usually 1.0), C1 an additional thickness, (normally 10%
of the wall thickness) and C2 an additional thickness considering corrosion.
Load characteristics
When designing a steam-generating unit it is necessary to determine the following load
characteristics:
The load factor is the actual energy produced by a power plant during a given period, given as a
percentage (share) of the maximum energy that could have been produced at full capacity during
the same period.
The design will determine the boiler's ability to carry a normal load at a high efficiency as well as to
meet maximum demand and rapid load changes. It will also determine the standby losses and the
rapidity with which the unit can be brought up to full steaming capacity. In smaller boiler sizes it is
possible to select a standardized unit that will meet the requirements; larger units are almost always
custom designed.
Firing oil in the furnace produces relatively small amounts of ash. Natural gas produces no ash. For
the same power output, due to larger volumetric flue gas flow, coal-burning boilers must have
larger furnaces. The velocities of the combustion gases in the convection-based heat exchangers
must be lower, due to the high ash content of coal. Figure 9 presents an example of the relative sizes
of furnaces using three different fuels: natural gas, oil and coal. The power of the boiler is the same
in all three cases. Peat, biomass and recovery boilers are even bigger than coal fired boilers.
140
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Coal
Natural gas
Oil
1,5*h
1,2*h
h
b2
b1 1,05*b1 1,1*b1
1,06*b2
1,12*b2
Ash characteristics; the control of ash behaviour at superheaters is a key design parameter
Fuel (gas and oil have low ash content and can have higher outlet temperatures)
Choice of superheater material
Desired superheating temperature
141
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Excess air reduces efficiency by lowering the furnace temperature and by absorbing heat that would
otherwise be available for steam production.
NOx is formed when nitrogen of air reacts with oxygen of air in high temperature, over 1400C.
NOx can be reduced decreasing temperature, decreasing air excess, or using low-NOx-burners. In
using low-NOx-burner air will be fed into flame in two or three phases.
The furnace of a CFB (circulating fluidized bed) boiler contains a layer of granular solids, which
have a diameter in the range of 0.1-0.3 mm. It includes sand or gravel, fresh or spent limestone and
ash. The operating velocity of the flue gas stream in a CFB boiler is 3-10 m/s. The solids move
through the furnace at much lower velocity than the gas; solids residence times in the order of
minutes are obtained. The long residence times coupled with the small particle size produce high
combustion efficiency and high SO2 removal with much lower limestone feed than in conventional
furnaces. Figure 10 shows a flow chart of a typical CFB boiler.
After the furnace flue gas moves through a cyclone (named compact separator in Figure 10), where
solids are separated from the gas and are returned to the furnace. Flue gas from the cyclone
discharge enters the convection back-pass in which the superheaters, reheaters, economizers and air
preheaters are located. A dust collector separates the fly ash before the flue gas exits the plant. The
combustion air from the fan pneumatically transports the solids for creating the circulating fluid.
The amount of cyclones also has an influence on the shape of furnace. Flue gas must flow to the
cyclone fast enough (20 m/s), and the diameter of the cyclone must be below 8 m in order to get an
efficient removal of solids.
Circulating fluidized bed boilers have a number of unique features that make them more attractive
than other solid fuel fired boilers. Fuel flexibility is one of the major attractive features of CFB
boilers. A wide range of fuels can be burned in one specific boiler without any major change in the
hardware. The combustion efficiency of a CFB boiler is high. It is generally in the range of 99,5 to
97,5 %. Sulphur capture in a CFB is very efficient, due to the possibility to inject sulphur absorbing
limestone directly into the bed. A typical CFB boiler can capture 90 % of the sulphur dioxide. The
low emission of nitrogen oxides is also a major attractive feature of CFB boilers.
CFB furnace design is explained in detail in the chapter about CFB boiler design.
142
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Steam Outlet
Steam
Water Foster Wheeler CFB
Steam Drum
Flow Chart
Downcomer
Water
Wall
Compact Economizer
Fuel Limestone Separator
Combustion
Chamber
Fly Ash
Induced Draft
Secondary Air Fan Fan
compact.eng/comflow.ds4/0801/tap
Bottom
Ash To Ash Silos Primary Air Fan
143
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
the pinch-point of the evaporator and the approach temperature of the economizer
the pressure drop of the flue gas side of the boiler
optimization of the heating surfaces
The pinch-point (the smallest temperature difference between the two streams in a system of heat
exchangers) is found in the evaporator, and is usually 6-10C, which can be seen in Figure 14. To
maximize the steam power of the boiler, the pinch-point must be chosen as small as possible. The
approach temperature is the temperature difference of the saturation temperature in the evaporator
and the output of the economizer. This is often 0-5C. The pressure drop (usually 25-40 mbar) of
the flue gas side has also an effect on the efficiency of power plant. The heat transfer of the HRSG
is primarily convective. The flow velocity of the flue gas has an influence on the heat transfer
coefficient.
144
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
vary a lot.
Fuel
IN
Supplementary burner
Flue Gas
IN
700
Flue gas stream
Water/steam stream
600
500
400
Temperature [C]
300
200
100
Superheater Evaporator Economizer
0
0% 10 % 20 % 30 % 40 % 50 % 60 % 70 % 80 % 90 % 100 %
Share of heat load [%]
145
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
The typical values of T to use for the different types of furnaces can be seen in Table 5. The stirred
reactor model is not optimal for designing a recovery boiler furnace.
Superheater design
The production of steam at higher temperature than the saturation temperature is called
superheating. The temperature added to the saturation temperature is called the degree of superheat.
Superheated steam has no moisture; hence it is less erosive and corrosive than wet saturated steam
carrying droplets. In order to have a sustainable turbine operation, the steam cannot contain any
moist at all.
The design procedure for a superheater can be divided into the following steps:
146
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Design velocity
Superheaters transfer heat from flue gas to steam (gas phase of water). Heat transfer between two
gases is not very effective compared to heat transfer from gas to fluid. For that reason, steam must
flow fast enough (10-20 m/s) in order to give the superheater tubes enough cooling. Lower steam
pressure weakens the heat transfer rate, so with lower pressures, steam must have a greater velocity
(15-40 m/s).
When flue gas is cooled, its volume decreases. In order to keep a constant flow rate of the flue gas,
the cross-sectional flow area decreases as well. In the radiant superheater, the velocity of gas is very
small (< 5 m/s). In the convection superheater, the velocity can be quite large (15-30 m/s). The
maximum velocity depends on the fuel used. To limit pressure-part erosion from fly ash, the flue
gas velocity must not exceed certain limits. Depending upon the ash quantity and abrasiveness, the
design velocity is generally 16-18 m/s. A furnace that burns coals yielding a heavy loading of
erosive ash (usually indicated by a high silica/aluminium content) may have a design velocity of
approximately 15 m/s. Such velocities are based on the predicted average gas temperature entering
the tube section, at the maximum continuous rating of the steam generator fired at normal excess-air
percentage.
Design spacing
Superheater of boiler consists of banks of tubes. A system of tubes is located in the path of the
furnace gases in the top of furnace. Heat transfer in superheaters is based mainly on radiation, but in
the primary superheaters convection often plays a major role.
A superheater must be built so that it superheats approximately the same amount of steam from low
to high loads. This can be achieved by a proper choice of radiative and convective superheating
surfaces. Changing tube lengths between passes can control temperature differences. The outermost
tube that receives the most radiative flux should be shorter than the rest of the tubes. Proper
superheater arrangement also eliminates much of the problems with uneven or biased flue gas flow.
Figure 15 and Figure 16 shows examples of the arrangement of superheater and reheater surfaces in
the form of a process scheme.
Tube arrangement
Tubes in superheaters can be arranged according to inline or staggered arrangement (Figure 17).
Inline tube arrangement is preferred for fouling, PCF, bark and recovery boilers. Staggered
arrangement is preferred for oil, gas and heat recovery steam generator. As free space with
staggered arrangement is much smaller than with inline arrangement the reason for decreased
fouling with inline is evident. The heat transfer for a staggered arrangement is better than for an
inline arrangement.
The superheater tube diameter is usually 30-50 mm. For convection heat surfaces the dimension a
(Figure 17) is 80-200 mm and b is 60-150 mm. For radiation heat surfaces a is over 500 mm
and b is approximately the same as the external tube diameter.
147
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
Superheated
Steam OUT
Feedwater
IN
Saturated
Steam IN
Superheater II
Superheater III
Superheater I
Superhe ated
Steam OUT
Reheated
Steam OUT
Feedwater
IN
Saturated Reheater
Steam IN IN
Reheater I
Superheater I
Reheater II
Superheater III
Superheater II
The number of tubes in the superheater is calculated according to the average flow velocity and
volume flow. In the convection superheater the width of the superheater is the same as the width of
the furnace. When the number of tubes is known, all tubes are preliminarily placed next to each
other in the flue gas channel. If the cross-sectional area of the flue gas pass between two tubes
(dimension a in Figure 17) becomes too small, the tubes have to be placed in two or more rows.
148
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
b b
Clear lane
a
Inline Staggered
Economizer design
An economizer consists of an arrangement of tubes through which the feed water is passed
immediately before entering the boiler. The combustion gases leaving the boiler convection
surfaces pass over these tubes. As the entering feed water has a lower temperature than that of the
boiler steam, the heat transfer is more effective at this point than in the convection surfaces of the
boiler. This fact has prompted the present trend in boiler design to increase the economizer surface
and proportionally decrease the evaporator heating surface. Economizers can be made of cast iron
or steel tube. Finned tubes are used, unless the flue gases origins from fuels with high ash content.
Design method
Inside and outside tube diameters di and do, from which we can calculate the wall thickness:
d di
= o (25)
2
Distance of tubes in direction of flow and in side direction: s1 and s2 (named a and b in
Figure 17)
The size of flue gas channel: b1 and b2
The number of tubes in one row (counter-flow) can then be calculated as:
b2
M = (26)
s2
The cross-sectional area of the flue gas channel can then be calculated from equation 27.
149
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
4 A fg
dh = (29)
U
T fg sup + T fgeco
Tf = (30)
2
The outside convection heat transfer coefficient is calculated from the following equation (turbulent
gas flow):
oc d h
Nu = = C Re m Pr 0,31
fg
fg
-> oc = C Re m Pr 0,31 (31)
dh
where fg is the thermal conductivity of the flue gas, Pr is Prandtl number, of flue gas, o the
outside convectional heat transfer coefficient and Re Reynolds number, which can be calculated as:
d h w fg
Re = (32)
where wfg is the flue gas velocity in the flue gas channel, dh the hydraulic diameter of the channel
(Equation 30) and the cinematic viscosity of flue gas.
The needed tube surface area in the economizer can then be calculated as:
G
A= (33)
k
where G is the conductance (kW/K) and k the heat transfer coefficient, which can be calculated
according to equation 35:
1 d 1
= o + + + mdirt (34)
k d i i o
1
do
150
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
where di and do are the inside and the outside tube diameter [m] respectively, i and o the inside
and outside heat transfer coefficient respectively, the tube wall thickness, the thermal
conductivity and mdirt the heat transfer resistance of a tube with a dirt layer on its surface. The
outside heat transfer coefficient is the sum of the outside radiative and convective heat transfer
coefficients:
o = oc + rad (35)
At = * do*b1 (36)
A
N= (37)
At M
he = N* s1 (38)
Wall thickness is sized according to the strength of the construction, because the pressure difference
between air and flue gases is small. The flue gas velocity in the air preheater is 10-14 m/s in the
tubular heat exchanger type, 9-13 m/s in the plate heat exchanger type, 10-11 m/s in a finned tube
heat exchanger, and 13-15 m/s if both sides of the heat exchanger are finned.
In a vertical tube heat exchanger flue gas flows inside tubes and number of tubes can be chosen
according to the flue gas velocity and volume flow. By choosing suitable tube divisions, dimensions
of horizontal cross section of heat exchanger can be calculated. Air is flowing horizontally outside
tubes. By choosing air velocity height of heat exchanger can be calculated. According thermal
sizing length of heat exchanger can be found. In horizontal tube heat exchanger air flows inside
tubes and number of tubes can be chosen according to the air velocity and volume flow.
Regenerative air preheaters are usually made of enamel coated ceramic elements. This is popular,
because ceramics are non-combustibles and have a low low-temperature corrosion rate. Another
option is metallic dimple elements. Metallic elements have higher efficiency, require lower height
and have lower pressure drop. Problems are a possible high corrosion rate of metallic elements.
151
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Thermal Design of Heat Exchangers
References
1. VDI Wrmeatlas.
5. Alvarez H. Energiteknik del 1 and Energiteknik del 2. Studentlitteratur, Lund. 1990. p. 368
10. V. Meuronen, 4115 Hyrykattiloiden suunnittelu, Opetusmoniste 1999, LTKK, ISBN 951-
764-382-9
11. Combustion Engineering. Combustion: Fossil power systems. 3rd ed. Windsor. 1981.
12. Vakkilainen E. Lecture slides and material on steam boiler technology. 2001.
152
Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Dianjun Zhang, Sebastian Teir
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................154
Introduction to fluidized bed boilers................................................................................................155
Fluidized bed principles ...............................................................................................................155
Basic principles of CFB boilers ...................................................................................................157
Characteristics of CFB systems ...................................................................................................159
The advantages of CFB boilers....................................................................................................160
Combustion in CFB boilers .............................................................................................................161
Fuel flexibility..............................................................................................................................162
Combustion zones in a CFB boiler ..............................................................................................162
Heat transfer in a CFB boiler ...........................................................................................................163
Bed to wall heat transfer ..............................................................................................................163
Bubbling bed to external heat surfaces ........................................................................................164
Heat transfer and part-load operation...........................................................................................164
Load control in CFB boiler ..........................................................................................................165
Emissions .........................................................................................................................................165
SO2 Emissions..............................................................................................................................165
NOx - emissions...........................................................................................................................166
Particulate matter (PM) emission.................................................................................................168
Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons ...........................................................................................168
References........................................................................................................................................169
154
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
The fluidization process was invented by Fritz Winkler in 1921. The process used for coal burning
was developed and promoted by Douglas Elliott in 1960s. After that Lurgi of Germany and
Alhlstrm Group in Finland developed FBC further. Foster Wheeler, Babcock & Wilcox, and Lurgi
are currently the largest FBC boilers manufacturers.
Fluidized bed boilers can be categorized into three main types, bubbling fluidized bed (BFB),
atmospheric circulating fluidized bed (ACFB, commonly referred to as CFB), and pressurized
circulating fluidized bed (PCFB). This chapter will focus on CFB boilers.
As the gas velocity increases through a bed of particles many changes occur in the gas/solid contact
mode. At low velocities the gas is essentially flowing through a fixed bed of particles, while at high
velocities the solids are entirely entrained in the gas stream. When comparing various combustion
technologies, stoker-fired boilers operate with a fixed bed, while pulverized boilers operate with
solids completely entrained. The furnace of a CFB boiler operates in a regime somewhere between
these two extremes.
The principle of fluid bed systems can also be explained by examining the relationship between
differential gas pressure across a bed of particles and the superficial gas velocity through that bed
(Figure 1).
For a fixed bed, the log of differential pressure is proportional to the log of gas velocity and
represents the frictional pressure drop of the gas through the bed.
As the gas velocity increases beyond the minimum fluidization velocity, the bed begins to expand
and the particles become fluidized. A distinct bed level is visible in the fluid bed. As the gas flow
rate through the fixed bed increases, the pressure drop continues to rise until the superficial gas
velocity reaches the critical minimum fluidization velocity, Umf.. At that point the gravitational
forces are overcome by the buoyant drag forces on the particles and they become suspended (i.e.,
fluidized). The minimum fluidizing velocity depends on many factors including particle diameter,
gas and particle density, particle shape, gas viscosity, and bed void fraction. The following formula
calculates the minimum fluidizing velocity:
155
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
s d p s ( g s )g
U mf = 33.7 2 + 0.0408 33.7 (1)
d p s g 2
where
g is dynamic viscosity
dp is particle diameter
g is gas density
p is particle density
g is acceleration of gravity
p
(LOG)
VELOCITY (LOG)
At velocities above Umf, the pressure drop through the bed remains constant and equals the weight of
solids per unit area as the drag forces on the particles barely overcome gravitational forces. The
following equation shows the pressure drop:
p = ( g s )(1 ) gH (2)
where
g is gas density
p is particle density
is ratio of empty volume in bed
g is acceleration of gravity.
156
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
As gas velocity is further increased above the minimum fluidization velocity, the differential
pressure remains almost constant until the bed material begins to elutriate at the entrainment
velocity of the so-called bubbling bed. The degree of turbulent mixing of the solids continues to
increase between the minimum fluidization and the entrainment velocity.
Beyond the entrainment velocity or the terminal velocity, the particles are carried out of the vessel
and an inventory of particles can only be maintained by collecting and recirculating the entrained
particles back to the vessel or by adding additional solid particles. The entrainment velocity marks
the transition from a bubbling bed to a circulating bed. Beyond this velocity, the differential
pressure becomes a function of velocity and solid recirculation rate. The terminal velocity for a
fluidized bed can be calculated as
4 d p ( p g )
Ut = g (3)
3 g Cd
In the context of its use in power generation, the circulating fluidized bed may be defined as a high
velocity gas-solid suspension where particles are elutriated by the fluidizing gas. The particles are
recovered and returned to the base of the furnace at a rate high enough to cause a degree of solid
refluxing that will insure a uniform temperature level in the furnace.
The CFB mode of fluidization is characterized by a high slip velocity between the gas and solids
and by intensive solids mixing. High slip velocity between the gas and solids, encourages high
mass transfer rates, that enhance the rates of the oxidation (combustion) and desulfurization
reactions, critical to the application of CFBs to power generation. The intensive mixing of solids
insures adequate mixing of fuel and combustion products with combustion air and flue gas
emissions reduction reagents. [1]
Figure 2 and Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of a CFB boiler. The boiler can be divided into
two sections. The first section consists of the furnace, solid separator, recycle device, and possible
external heat exchanger surfaces. The second section of the boiler is called back-pass where the heat
of the high temperature flue gas is absorbed by the reheater, superheater, economizer, and air-
preheater, which are installed one after one in downstream order.
Coal and limestone (sorbent for SO2 capture) is injected from the lower part of the furnace into the
sand bed. The injected coal and limestone is fluidized by primary air (less than stoichiometrical
amount) entering the furnace through an air distributor or grate in the furnace floor. Coal is heated
by hot segregated particles in the bed above its ignition temperature so that it can be burnt. The
sulfur in the coal reacts with limestone, thus lowering the possibility of SO2 formation and
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
emissions from the furnace. Secondary air is injected at some height above the grate to complete the
combustion.
Bed solids are well mixed throughout the height of the furnace to ensure the uniform bed
temperature in the range of 800-900C. Some particles segregate and return to the bed before
leaving the furnace, while some particles are captured in a gas-solid separator (e.g. cyclone) and are
recycled back to the furnace (Figure 4). The separator is designed for a very high solid collection
efficiency with nearly 100% efficiency for particles greater than 60 microns in diameter.
Cyclone
Furnace Superheaters
and reheaters
Economizer
Secondary
air supply
Air
preheater
Recycling of
solids
Figure 2: Shematics of a CFB boiler (157 MWth, 55.5/48 kg/s, 170/37 bar, 540/540 C). [1]
Finer dust that escapes from the separator is collected by bag-house filters or electrostatic
precipitators (Figure 3), which are installed downstream after the boiler.
The collected solids are returned to the combustion chamber via the loop seal, which provides a
pressure seal between the positive pressure in the lower furnace and the negative draft in the solids
separator. This prevents the furnace flue gas from short circuiting up the separator dipleg and
collapsing the separator collection efficiency. The recirculation system has no moving parts and its
operation has proven to be simple and reliable. By injecting small amounts of high pressure
fluidizing air into the loop seal, the solids movement back to the lower furnace is maintained.
Typically gravity / mechanical feeding of fuel directly into the combustor have proven satisfactory
for meeting the desired level of efficient mixing.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Superheaters
and reheaters External heat
transfer surfaces
Furnace
(water walls) Economizer
Electrostatic
Air precipitator
preheater
Figure 3: CFB boiler in Rovaniemi, Finland (95.8 MWth, 38 kg/s, 115 bar, 535C). [1]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Solids separator to separate entrained particles from the flue gas stream and recycle them to
the lower furnace.
Aerated sealing device, loop seal, which permits return of collected solids back to the
furnace
Extensive fuel flexibility: In the furnace bed, fuel particles constitute less than 1-3% by weight of all
bed solids. The rest are non-combustibles, such as sorbents, flue ash and sand. This feature makes
CFB boilers flexible enough to use a wide range of fuels, coal (with ash content up to 40-60%),
peat, bark, wood waste, and straw.
High combustion efficiency: Normally the combustion efficiency of CFB boilers is 97.5-99.5%. The
good result is due to the following factors:
Efficient sulfur removal: The long combustion zone in the furnace gives a long reaction time for the
sorbents to react with SO2. The average residence time of gas in the combustion zone is 3-4
seconds. The furnace temperature of CFB boilers is also ideal for the capture of sulfur (850C
optimal). SO2 reacts with CaO in calcined sorbents and forms calcium sulfate. SO2 removal during
combustion is much cheaper and simpler than flue gas desulfurization.
Low NOx emission: Low emission of NOx is a major attractive feature of CFB boilers. Combustion
air in stages (primary and secondary air) and low combustion temperature in the limits the
formation of NOx. This is a major advantage of CFB boilers compared to PC boilers.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Compact structure: Due to the high combustion efficiency and high heat release rate at 3.5-
4.5MW/m2, the cross section area of furnace is quite small compared to the furnaces of bubble
fluidized bed boilers, and is close to the area of PC boiler furnaces. Therefore, fewer coal-feeding
points are needed. Normally a 100MWth CFB needs only one feeding point, while BFB boiler
needs 20 to 30 points for the same capacity. This makes retrofitting of existing PC boilers or oil
fired boilers into CFB boilers for suitable.
Good turndown and load following capacity: One good feature of the CFB boiler is its quick
response to varying loads: approximately 4% of its capacity per minute. The output turndown ratio
can be 3-4:1. Thus CHP plants with CFB boilers can be used as base load plants or peak load plants.
Typical operating parameters for CFB boilers is shown in Table 2.
In typical full load operation, about 40-50% of the heat generated by combustion is absorbed by the
water-cooled membrane walls of the combustion chamber. Also, the high circulating solids and
back-mixing intensity provide the high heat transfer rate typical of circulating fluidized beds.
Typically, a CFB furnace operates at a temperature level of 800-900C. The reasons are:
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
The amount of primary air needed for initial fluidization of the bed material has to be maintained
under all conditions. The proportion of the total air that is introduced as primary air varies from 40
to 70 % depending on the fuel. The remaining portion of the combustion air is typically divided
between upper and lower secondary air levels. The distribution of air between primary and
secondary air location is important to avoid excessively high temperatures in the lower combustion
chamber and to insure good combustion efficiency as well as low NOx production.
Fuel flexibility
Fuel flexibility is one of the major attractions of the CFB technology. Fresh fuel and combustible
matter make up less than 1 - 3% by weight of the hot solids present in the furnace. The remaining
hot solids are noncombustibles: sorbents, sand and other inerts such as fuel ash. This large source
of thermal energy, provides an extremely stable combustion environment that is insensitive to
variations in fuel quality.
The special fluid dynamic condition of the CFB provides excellent gas-solid and solid-solid mixing.
Thus fuel particles fed to the furnace are quickly dispersed into the large mass of bed solids, that
rapidly heat the fuel particles above their ignition temperature without any significant drop in the
temperature of the bed solids. This feature of a CFB furnace allows it to burn any fuel without
auxiliary fuel support, provided its heating value is enough to raise the combustion air and the fuel
itself above its ignition temperature. Thus, a wide range of fuels can be burned in one specific
boiler without any major change in the hardware. CFB boilers have been designed to burn a wide
variety of fuels and fuel qualities, including plant wastes, de-inking sludge, sewage waste, tire
derived fuel, low ash fusion coals, petroleum coke and others in combination or alone.
To maintain the combustor temperature within an optimum range, it is necessary to absorb a certain
portion of the generated heat in the combustion zone. The amount of heat that must be absorbed
varies from one fuel to another. Some CFBs accomplish this variation in furnace absorption for
different types of fuels by means of an external heat exchanger. In boilers without the external heat
exchanger the fluid dynamic condition of the furnace must be adjusted to alter the heat absorbed by
the furnace. Typical means of altering the furnace heat absorption are: changing air split and/or
excess air, flue gas recycle, and changing bed inventory.
At the lower zone, the bed is fluidized by primary combustion air, which is about 40-80% of the
stoichiometric quantity of the air required for the coal feed. Also char particles, re-circulated by the
separator, are feed to this zone. To prevent the boiler tubes from possible corrosion and erosion, the
walls in this zone are lined by refractory material. This zone is denser than the other zones, and also
serves as an insulated storage of hot solids. The preserved solids can be used for controlling the
boiler load. When the load increase, the primary air quantity increases and more solids are
transported to the upper zone to enhance the heat transfer in the furnace. Fuel fed into the lower
combustion chamber mixes quickly and uniformly with bed materials. There is no visible bed level
in the CFB combustor. Instead the bed density decreases progressively with height.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Gas to particle
Bed to water walls
Bed to the surfaces immersed in the furnace
Bubbling bed to immersed surfaces in the external heat exchanger
Circulating particles to particle separator/cyclone
Gas to water and steam in the back pass
The most important and interesting processes are bed to water walls and the heat transfer in external
heat exchanger.
Heat transfer from gas to particles takes place in the bed. Above the bed, the heat transfer rate is
decreased due to the decreasing temperature difference between gases and particles. The main heat
transfer mechanism is convective HT.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Clusters transfer heat to the walls through conduction and radiation, dispersed particles transfer
through convection and radiation. Particle suspension density is a major factor to influence heat
transfer.
Heat transfer coefficient increases proportionally to the square root of the density. Thus HT rate at
lower part of the bed is higher than the upper part. Heat transfer coefficient isnt affected by bed
fluidization velocity considerably, but it decreases along the height of the bed due to the
temperature difference between cluster and wall and reaches an asymptotic value after a certain
height. The coefficient increases with bed temperature, which will be attributed to the higher
radiation and thermal conductivity when high temperature. In the case of short heat transferring
surfaces finer particles result in high coefficients but the influence is less significant for longer
surfaces.
A complete analysis of bed to wall heat transfer is quite complex. Through the solving equations of
mass, momentum and energy balance on both gas and particles near the wall can help get a detailed
comprehension, but it is complex. A simplified method found by Basu (1988) based on the cluster
renewal model can explain the mechanism quite well. Since the wall is either covered by clusters or
bared to gas, the time-averaged overall heat transfer coefficient can be written as the sum of
convective and radiative HT coefficient:
( )
Q = A C * b0.5 + hr (Tb Ts ) (5)
No matter how high the load is, the bed density at the lower section of the boiler is always very
high. But as the load decrease, the density at upper section is decreased and the bed is dilute. At
70% of full load, particle concentration at upper section of the furnace where most of heat transfer
surfaces are located is weak. Therefore, convection heat transfer becomes weak, while radiation
process becomes dominant. If the load is reduced to 40%, the bed operates like a bubbling fluidized
bed boiler, and radiation can be regarded as the only process of heat transfer.
In the back-pass section, heat transfer from gas to heat exchanger occurs mainly by convection and
partly by gas radiation at temperatures above 600C.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Emissions
SO2 Emissions
Circulating fluidized bed combustors in general have the advantage of removing SO2 from the flue
gas in the combustion chamber during the fuel combustion. The sulfur is captured by sorbent
particles that make up the entrained bed material. The sorbent is either limestone or dolomite and
has the ability, after being calcined in the combustor, to capture sulfur effectively. The reactions are
as follows:
for limestone
The reaction products leave the combustor along with fuel ash.
The limestone requirement needed for achieving a desired sulfur capture is a measure of the sulfur
reduction efficiency. This requirement is normally specified as Ca/S-mole ratio, which is the ratio
between the molar flow of calcium in the limestone feed and the molar flow of sulfur in the fuel.
The limestone calcining conditions effects the sulfur absorption reaction. The calcining conditions
in fluidized bed combustion are good and no inertization of limestone occurs.
Sulfur capture characteristics of different limestones vary by wide margins. Generally, younger and
more amorphous limestone has a better reactivity, i.e., ability to absorb SO2.
When limestone is crushed for CFB combustion, the surface area of the particles increase. This
improves the limestones ability to capture sulfur and reduces sensitivity to the reaction
temperature. On the other hand it should be remembered that retention time in the combustor is
also affected by the particle size of a sorbent. Friability of the sorbent and the collection efficiency
of the solids separator must also be considered in the efficient utilization of sorbent.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
Limestone consumption is also affected by the fuel quality. This is a result of the capability of fuel
ash to absorb part of the sulfur. Thus, the Ca/S - ratios defined for different fuels cannot necessarily
be compared with each other. The fuel volatility also affects the distribution of sulfur in the
combustion chamber and thus affects the local concentrations of sorbent and SO2.
A high sulfur capture ratio is easy to achieve when the sulfur content of the fuel is high. If the sulfur
content in the fuel is low, the remaining SO2 content is low. This requires a greater surplus of
unreacted limestone to achieve the same sulfur reduction percentage.
From the point of view of the sulfur reduction, in the circulating fluidized bed combustion the
optimal reaction temperature is 840 880C. This temperature range is also sufficient for good
combustion efficiency.
Distribution of combustion air between the primary (grid fluidizing) air and secondary air has an
effect on the intensity of turbulence in the gas-particle suspension, and therefore on the
effectiveness of the gas-solids contact. In CFB combustion the intensive fluidization (i.e. higher
ratio of primary air) leads to a high concentration of solids also in the upper part of the combustor
and also minimizes reducing atmosphere, giving an advantage in sulfur capture. The NOx
emission, however, tends to increase due to the highly oxidizing atmosphere in the lower bed.
With a suitable staging of the combustion air it is possible to reduce the NOx emissions without a
significant reduction in sulfur capture. By increasing the bed inventory it is possible to increase
solids concentration in the gas-solids suspension. Recycling of fly ash increases the solids
concentration as well as the retention time of lime particles in the CFB system.
The reaction of SO2 with calcium oxide to calcium sulfate requires oxygen as shown in Equation 4
above. In practice, noticeable reduction in sulfur capture has not been observed until the O2 content
in the flue gas has dropped below 2.5%, or when the staging of the combustion air has been very
strong.
NOx - emissions
One of the primary incentives for burning coal in the CFB is its low NOx emission level.
Compared to a pulverized coal combustor, the fluidized bed is operated at a much lower combustion
temperature (850 900 C) and subsequently, NOx compounds are formed primarily from fuel
nitrogen with negligible amounts of thermal NOx (less than 5%). Figure 6 gives the temperature
effect on the various NOx formation reactions.
The formation mechanism of nitrogen oxides in combustion is very complicated. During initial fuel
pyrolysis, NH3 and HCN are the major precursors of NOx emissions. Char from the fuel tends to
reduce the nitrogen oxides forming from the volatiles, but also generates them when it combusts
itself. The nitrogen oxides are mostly nitrogen monoxide, NO, and nitrous oxide, N2O. Only a
minor part of NO is oxidized to NO2. Of these oxides, typically only NO and NO2 are under
regulation. NO forms into NO2 in the back-pass section and atmosphere.
Generally speaking, the best strategy for limiting NOx generation from fuel nitrogen in a CFB
combustor is the application of staged combustion. Then the sub-stoichiometric firing at the lower
furnace location limits the NOx formation while the injection of the secondary air at higher furnace
locations insures combustion efficiency with high carbon burnout and CO and hydrocarbon
conversion.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
2100
1800 Prompt
Fuel
1500 Thermal
NO and NO2 mg/m3
1200
900
600
300
0
1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Temperature oC
Staged combustion is an integral part of the design of a CFB combustor. One, two or three levels of
air ports (dependant on design fuel(s)) are located above the primary air distributor plate. Multiple
levels of air staging allow for more flexibility in staging air ratios to obtain optimal NOx reduction
for various types of fuels, while still ensuring high combustion and sulfur capture efficiencies. The
high CO concentration produced in the first stage, i.e., in the lower bed section coupled with high
amounts of entrained chars are major contributors to the low NOx emissions from a CFB fluidized
bed boiler.
The use of flue gas recirculation in the CFB has been shown to help in the reduction of NOx,
especially in boilers designed for a wide variety of fuels. Flue gas recirculation helps to maintain
the gas flow throughout the combustion chamber and boiler convection section when switching
from a low grade fuel, (wood wastes and lignite) to a higher heating value / lower moisture fuel
(bituminous coal and petroleum coke). This practice allows both combustion and steam
temperature to be effectively controlled under a wide variety of operating conditions.
Under typical operating conditions in the CFB, fuels of various ranks have been found to emit low
levels of NOx, ranging from 70 - 180 ppm. By appropriate application of the methods described
above, it is possible, in most cases, to maintain NOx emissions below 120 ppm.
By injecting ammonia or urea into the solids separator, higher NOx reduction can be achieved. This
method, patented by Foster Wheeler, is in continuous use in several Foster Wheeler CFBs
worldwide. In these boilers, the NOx emission is controlled by the ammonia injection to 40 - 65
ppm. Ammonia/urea selectively reduces NO to molecular nitrogen. The optimum temperature
range for the NOx reduction reactions is 800 950C that matches the typical combustion
temperature of the CFB.
Combustion at 800-900C creates small amounts of N2O, which is a greenhouse gas. The formation
of N2O increases with increasing combustion pressure.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boilers
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References
1. CFB Engineering Manual, extract supplied by Foster Wheeler. http://www.fwc.com/
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Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Dianjun Zhang, Sebastian Teir
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................172
Introduction......................................................................................................................................173
Combustion calculation....................................................................................................................173
Chemical reactions.......................................................................................................................174
Air required ..............................................................................................................................174
Sorbent requirement.................................................................................................................174
Solid waste produced ...............................................................................................................174
Gaseous waste products ...........................................................................................................175
Heat and mass balances....................................................................................................................175
Heat balance.................................................................................................................................175
Mass balance ................................................................................................................................177
Control of particle size in bed ......................................................................................................177
Furnace Design ................................................................................................................................178
Grate heat release rate (GHRR) ...................................................................................................178
Cross section of the furnace .........................................................................................................179
Shape of the furnace.....................................................................................................................179
Air nozzles ...................................................................................................................................180
Fuel feed ports..............................................................................................................................180
Limestone feed ports....................................................................................................................180
Secondary air injection port .........................................................................................................180
Recycled solid entry.....................................................................................................................180
Bed solid drain .............................................................................................................................181
Height of the primary zone ..........................................................................................................181
Effect of Fuel ...............................................................................................................................181
Boiler performance modeling ......................................................................................................181
Design of heating surfaces ...............................................................................................................181
Arrangement of heat exchanger surfaces .....................................................................................182
Heat distribution...........................................................................................................................184
Gas-solid separators .........................................................................................................................184
Cyclones.......................................................................................................................................184
U-Beams particle separators ........................................................................................................185
Recycling of solids.......................................................................................................................186
Bottom Ash Removal System ......................................................................................................187
References........................................................................................................................................188
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Introduction
Figure 1 illustrates the structure of CFB boiler. This chapter focuses on the design issues of CFB
boilers. The design of CFB boilers involves the following major steps.
Combustion calculation
Heat and mass balance calculation
Furnace design
Heat absorption by medium (water and steam)
Mechanical component design
Design for combustion and emission performance
Combustion calculation
Based on the boiler design capacity and fuel proximity analysis, stoichiometric calculation is carried
out. It is the basis of boiler design. The amount of fuel, combustion air, sorbent injection, flue gas
flow, etc. for the capacity is determined. Based on these calculations, the equipment can be
dimensioned, such as coal and sorbent feeder, forced combustion air fan, induced flue gas fan, and
ash handling system.
Figure 1: Structure of a CFB boiler in Germany with flue gas treatment facilities (94 MWth, 33.4
kg/s, 89 bar, 480C). [2]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Chemical reactions
In CFB boilers, the following chemical reactions take place.
In addition to the calculated stoichiometric combustion air, an excess air of around 20% is
demanded for complete combustion and desulfurization.
Air required
The dry air required for complete combustion of a unit weight of coal (Mda) is determined by the
formula below.
O
M da = 11.53C + 34.34 H + 4.34S + A.S kg / kg.of .coal (2)
8
The moisture content in the air must be considered when calculating the amount of air required.
M wa = EAC * M da (1 + X m ) (3)
where
EAC = excess air coefficient, equals 1.2
Xm = the weight of moisture in the air, 0.013kg/kg of air
Sorbent requirement
If the amount of CaO in ashes can be neglected, the sorbent required for sulfur retention in one unit
weight of coal (Lq) can be calculated as
100S
Lq = R (4)
32 X CaCO3
where
XCaCO3 = the weight fraction of CaCO3 in the sorbent
R = the calcium to sulfur molar ratio in the feed of sorbent and coal
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
(5)
where
Esor = the fraction of sulfur captured in the bed
Xinert = weight fraction of inert in limestone
Ec = fraction efficiency of combustion
ASH = weight fraction of ash in coal
X MgCO3
WCO 2 = 3.66C + 1.375SR1 + 1.19 (6)
X CaCO3
Calcination loss takes place during the calcinations reaction of calcium carbonate and magnesium
carbonate.
feed .rate.of .CaCO3 *1830 *100
Calcination loss from CaCO3= % (8)
Fuel. feed .rate * HHV
feed .rate.of .MgCO3 *1183 *100
Calcination loss from MgCO3= % (9)
Fuel. feed .rate * HHV
Sulfate credit is the heat gain when sulfur dioxide reacts with calcined limestone due to the
exothermic reaction. The value of the heat gain can be calculated by
Unburned carbon loss in ash is normally in the range of 0.5-2%. Higher furnace and efficient
cyclone can ensure lower loss of combustibles. If Xc denotes the fraction carbon in solid waste, the
loss can be calculated as
X cWa * 33488 *100
Unburned carbon loss in ash = % (11)
HHV
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Dry flue gas loss is due to the sensible heat carried away by the dry flue gas at the boiler exit
temperature, and can be calculated as
He Hi
Dry flue gas loss = *100 % (12)
HHV
He is the sensible heat of dry flue gases at the boiler exit temperature, and Hi is the sensible heat in
fuel and air at ambient temperature. The lower the flue gas temperature is, the more efficient is the
boiler. But low flue gas temperature causes condensation of H2O and SO2 in the air preheater.
Commercial CFB boilers are designed an exit temperature of around 130C after the air preheater.
Figure 2 shows the minimum average cold-end temperature of coal burning.
Moisture loss of fuel is caused by heating water content of fuel into steam and can be calculated by
multiplying moisture content of fuel with flue gas enthalpy Hf.
MfHf
Moisture loss of fuel = *100 % (13)
HHV
Moisture loss of air is due to the heating of moisture in air from ambient temperature to the flue gas
exit temperature. It can be calculated as
X mHe
Moisture loss of air = *100 % (14)
HHV
where
Xm = moisture content of the combustion air
He = the enthalpy of steam at the exit flue gas temperature
195
190
Temperature oC
185
180
175
170
165
160
155
150
0 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Sulfur content of coal %
9H * H f
Loss due to hydrogen burning = * 100 % (15)
HHV
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Radiation and convection heat loss: Due to the large external surface of the furnace, external heat
exchanger and cyclone, the heat loss through radiation and convection is considerable, 0.2-0.5% of
the total heat released from the furnace.
Sensible heat in ash: The ash from the furnace or bed is collected partly as fly ash from the
baghouse filter or ESP and partly as bed drain. The bed drain (20-80% of the total ash) at furnace
temperature is cooled at an ash cooler, by heating air, so that the ash can be transported by trucks.
But the ash temperature is still 300C. Still, the fly ash is collected at 140C, which makes a
considerable heat loss.
FD fan credit means that part of the power to forced draft fans is converted into heat through
fractional losses as heat gain of air.
Mass balance
The mass balance of a CFB boiler can be listed as follows:
Solids reinjection into the furnace is needed due to the fact that the escape of fly ash from cyclone
exceeds the feed of ash and sorbent to the furnace. This condition will lead to the depletion of
furnace inventory of bed particles. In order to keep the inventory stable, part of the fly ashes
collected at the baghouse filter or ESP has to be reinjected in to the furnace continuously. The
reinjection of fly ash into the furnace can improve combustion efficiency and sulfur capture.
For combustion of coal with very low ash or sulfur content, an inert material, such as sand, is added
into the bed to maintain the inventory.
Normally, 30-100% of solid waste passes through the baghouse filter or ESP, and the bed drain is
only as low as 3-5% of the total solid waste. For conservative design, the collection equipment for
fine dust is selected for the disposal of 100% of solid waste, and the bed drain may be designed for
50% of the total solid waste.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Transports heat to the external heat exchanger, and to some extent to the back-pass
The realization of these functions depends on the solid size that must be kept within the limits.
Coarser particles tend to congregate near the bottom of the furnace, while finer particles are
entrained out of the cyclone as fly ash. Finer bed solids result in higher bed density in the upper
regions of the furnace than from by coarser solids. The benefit is that a higher heat transfer
coefficient is gained in the most parts of the furnace. The control of the inventory of fine bed solids
is guided by the loss through entraining, bottom ash, and decrepitation of finer sizes, and the gain is
due to fresh ash feed and decrepitation of coarser sizes.
Furnace Design
The success of any CFB boiler design and operation depends on the furnace design. The most
important aspects of the furnace design are furnace temperature, solid inventory and distribution,
limestone and fuel particle size, gas residence time, furnace depth and furnace heating surfaces.
The furnace is designed on the basis of the heat and mass balances. The furnace temperature
impacts the SO2 capture, NOx emissions, combustion efficiency, and the heat transfer to the furnace
walls. The furnace temperature is set regarding fuel properties and emission control consideration,
normally 800-900C.
The dimensions of the furnace are set by the velocity and residence time of gas-solids. The
dimension design of the furnace of a CFB boiler involves three main aspects:
The shape and size of furnace cross section comes from combustion considerations. Furnace height
is determined from heat transfer and solid residence time. Furnace openings are determined from
the feeding of air, fuel and sorbent, and affect the mechanical design of the boiler.
Ash and moisture content of coal, and its other properties such as reactivity, mechanical attrition,
ash properties, sulfur content, heating value, have important effects on the overall design and
performance of a CFB boiler. Table 1 illustrates the effect of coal properties on the design and
performance of a CFB boiler.
3.3U 0
GHRR = MW/m2 (16)
[EAC ]
where U0 is the superficial gas velocity through the furnace and EAC the excess air coefficient. For
large capacity CFB boilers, the depth of furnace is so large that it is not easy to have a good mixing
of coal volatiles.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
The breadth of the furnace should not be too large, so that it results in a poor penetration of the
secondary air into the furnace and non-uniform dispersal of volatile matter. A suitable breadth of
the furnace should be selected on the basis of simulation. Normally it is less than 8 meters.
The lower combustion chamber section has an air distribution grid for introducing the primary air
and a bottom ash removal system. The lower combustion chamber also has openings for the
recirculated solids, secondary air nozzles, fuel, limestone, make-up sand and recycled fly ash feed,
startup burners and bed lances as required. There are no heat transfer tubes inside the high-density
lower combustor. In this region, a rapid change of solids flow pattern occurs, thus heat transfer wall
tubing is protected by a thin layer of abrasion-resistant refractory. It is designed tapered upwards to
maintain similar superficial velocities above and below the secondary air level under all operating
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
load, and to minimize the risk of agglomeration under a low load and formation of clinker near the
grid.
Air nozzles
To distribute the air in the fluidized bed special nozzles are needed. The nozzles introduce primary
air, which is used for the combustion and fluidization of the bed particles. The nozzles must also
keep the bed material from entering the air system. Primary air is delivered through a cooled
membrane wall bottom (Figure 3). Replaceable nozzles are used because the erosion on the lower
part of the furnace is high. Most typical nozzle types are S-type and Cap-type.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
absorbed in the primary loop, therefore more heating surface should be arranged at the backpass of
the furnace (Figure 5). Conversely, if high grade fuel is used, a large part of the heat generated is
absorbed in the CFB loop, which means that a superheater or reheater should be placed in the loop
(Figure 5). According to the heat duty of each heating surface and energy balance of the process,
the heat transfer area of each surface can be determined.
Economizer
Evaporator (consists of furnace wall tubes)
Superheater
Reheater (optional)
Air preheater
Saturated steam from the evaporator is heated in the superheater, which is located in the backpass,
to the required steam temperature, normally 540C, before it is led to the turbine for expansion
work. The flue gas velocity through the superheater is as low as 7.6 to 8.5m/s and uniform across
the channel area in order to reduce erosion. The steam velocity in the tubes is about 20 m/s.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Steam that has partially expanded in a HP turbine can be led back to the boiler and reheated in a
reheater. The reheater is located in the back-pass.
The air preheater, where combustion air is heated by the flue gas, is located after the economizer in
the flue gas channel. Tubular air preheaters are used for recovering the remaining heat in the flue
gas to meet the boiler efficiency
requirement. Similarly to the economizer,
the spacing of the tubes is arranged Superheaters
and reheaters External heat
according to inline arrangement to transfer surfaces
minimize fouling potential and erosion.
Flue gas flows on the outside of the tubes
with a flue gas velocity of 9 to 12 m/s. It Furnace
should prevent entering air from saturation (water walls) Economizer
and cold end tube corrosion, which is true
especially for burning of fuel with high
Air
sulfur content. preheater
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
Heat distribution
In general, heat duty distribution of different heat transfer components is designed as below.
The economizer and air heater heat duty split requires a careful evaluation. The heat transfer
coefficient of the economizer is 56.8 to 65.1W/m2K, around 2 to 3 times higher than that of the air
preheater.
Gas-solid separators
Two different gas-solid separators are used in CFB boilers for different reasons. Cyclone or other
impingement separators are used within the CFB boiler loop to trap hot solids and return them to
the bed. This makes the residence time of fuel in the furnace long enough for complete combustion.
This is called the primary particles collection. Electrostatic precipitators (ESP) or bag-house filters
are used at the cold end stream of the boiler process to reduce fine particle emission to the
atmosphere. This is called the secondary collection. These chapters are focused upon the primary
separators, since they are a unique feature for CFB boilers.
The solids separator is a vital part of the CFB technology. The solids separator is primarily designed
to provide an efficient separation of the entrained solids from the hot flue gas and return most of the
unburned carbon and available calcined limestone for more efficient use. Sand and inert ash
particles are also returned. These particles are needed to maintain the proper bed inventory and
quality. The separator, located at the outlet of the combustion chamber, collects particles greater
than 60 microns with 99.5% or higher efficiency. The solids captured in the separator are
recirculated through a non-mechanical sealing device back to the combustion chamber.
Cyclones
Cyclones are commonly used for the separation of hot solids. It has a simple construction, since it
has no moving parts, and a high efficiency. Cyclones are located in the hot loop of CFB boiler, and
hot particles are entrapped and recycled to the furnace bed. Flue gas flows out from the top of the
cyclones to the backpass. The efficiency of the cyclone can be improved by several factors:
To evaluate the probability of particles captured, one cut-off size is defined as the size of particles
that are likely to be collected with 50% efficiency by a given cyclone.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
9 L
d th = (17)
2N cVin ( p g )
where, Nc is the effective number of turns made by the gas-solid stream in the separator, normally 5
is assumed.
Higher mixture inlet velocity to the cyclone helps to capture much finer particles and increase
efficiency, but the pressure drop of gas through the cyclone increases. The aim of the design is to
find the optimum velocity.
Mechanical design of the solids separator varies in both construction and shape. Based on customer
preference, fuel fired, unit size and/or cycle condition the separator walls may be steam cooled,
water cooled or of refractory construction. The conventional solids separator design is a refractory
lined, uncooled cyclone. This type of cyclone is lined with a two-layer refractory (Figure 8). The
inner refractory layer is abrasion resistant material to resist the erosive effects of high velocity ash
particles. The outer refractory layer, against the metal shell, provides insulation to minimize heat
loss and protect the carbon steel outer casing from overheating. The amount of refractory in this
type of cyclone is very large and therefore high maintenance costs and availability problems are
envisioned. Typically, a cooled separator design is preferred (Figure 8).
FEATURES
Square
Integrated with furnace
No expansion joints
Membrane walls
Water or steam cooled
Normal insulation
Mineral wool
Refractory ca. 50 mm
Membrane wall
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
two rows discharge downward directly to the furnace along the rear wall, and return by gravity to
the furnace through opening distributed across the width of the unit. Solids collected by 4 additional
rows of U-Beams return to solid storage hopper. Figure 10 shows a schematic of the U-Beams.
The U-Beams are made of stainless steel. Individual U-beams are in the form of channels, 152 mm
wide by 178 mm deep. Two bolts through the water-cooled roof suspend each beam, protected by
an enclosure. Dynamics (gas and solids)
stresses, static (dead load) stresses, design
temperatures and material creep strength are
used to design the U-Beams.
Recycling of solids
In a solids return from uncooled cyclone to
combustor, a loop seal (Figure 12) is used to
provide the gas seal for pressure difference
between lower furnace and separator. Loop
seal has similar mechanical structure as the
cyclone, i.e. it is manufactured of carbon steel
plate and lined with a two-layer refractory.
This further increases the amount of
refractories. A split loop seal design is used
particularly in larger units to provide two
solids outlets from one cyclone. The bottom of
the loop seal is fluidized with high-pressure
air.
With cooled separators a wall seal -design is used to provide the gas seal. The wall seal is
constructed of water cooled panel walls, which minimize the amount of refractories. The bottom of
the wall seal is fluidized with high-pressure air.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
187
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler Design
References
1. CFB Engineering Manual, extract supplied by Foster Wheeler. http://www.fwc.com/
188
Recovery Boilers
Esa Vakkilainen
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Table of contents
Table of contents..............................................................................................................................190
Kraft recovery principles .................................................................................................................191
Function of recovery boilers ........................................................................................................192
First recovery boilers ...................................................................................................................193
Development of recovery boiler technology................................................................................193
Improving air systems..................................................................................................................194
Multilevel air............................................................................................................................195
Vertical air................................................................................................................................195
Black liquor dry solids content ................................................................................................195
High temperature and pressure recovery boiler ...........................................................................197
Safety ...........................................................................................................................................197
Chemical processes in the furnace ...................................................................................................198
Smelt ............................................................................................................................................199
Reduction and sulfidity ................................................................................................................199
Sodium .........................................................................................................................................200
Recovery boiler design.....................................................................................................................201
Key recovery boiler design alternatives.......................................................................................201
Key design specifications.........................................................................................................201
Single drum ..............................................................................................................................202
Screen or screenless boiler.......................................................................................................202
Evolution of recovery boiler design.............................................................................................203
Two drum recovery boiler........................................................................................................204
Modern recovery boiler............................................................................................................204
Current recovery boiler ............................................................................................................206
State of the art and current trends ............................................................................................206
Steam generation......................................................................................................................207
Heat transfer surface design and material selection.........................................................................207
Furnace design and materials.......................................................................................................208
Furnace tube materials .............................................................................................................208
Membrane materials.................................................................................................................210
Refractory and studs.................................................................................................................210
Superheater design and materials.................................................................................................210
Effect of steam outlet temperature ...........................................................................................210
Typical materials......................................................................................................................211
Sealing the roof ........................................................................................................................211
Boiler bank design and materials .................................................................................................212
Economizer design and materials ................................................................................................212
References........................................................................................................................................213
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Recovery of black liquor has also other advantages. Concentrated black liquor can, when burnt,
produce energy for generation of steam and electricity. In the most modern pulp mills, this energy is
more than sufficient to cover all internal power use.
Sales
Black liquor
Makeup
chemicals Recovery boiler Electricity
Green liquor
Lime kiln
Causticizing Bark boiler Sludges
Weak liquor
White liquor Bark
Pulp
Soap
Sales
Pulp Drying
The principal Kraft recovery unit operations are (Figure 1), evaporation of black liquor, combustion
of black liquor in recovery boiler furnace including of formation of sodium sulfide and sodium
carbonate, causticizing of sodium carbonate to sodium hydroxide, and regeneration of lime mud in a
lime kiln.
There are other minor operations to ensure continuous operation of the recovery cycle. Soap in the
black liquor can be removed and tall oil produced. Control of sodium - sulfate balance is done by
addition of makeup chemicals such as sodium sulfate to mix tank or removal of recovery boiler
flyash. Removal of recovery boiler flyash removes mostly sodium and sulfur, but serves as purge
for chloride and potassium. Buildup of non-process elements is prevented by disposal of dregs and
grits at causticizing. Malodorous gases are processed by combustion at the recovery boiler or lime
kiln. In some modern and closed mills chloride and potassium removal processes are employed.
With additional closure new internal chemical manufacturing methods are sometimes applied.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Figure 2: One of the latest recovery boilers constructed, Gruv from Kvaerner.
Combustion in the recovery boiler (Figure 2) furnace needs to be controlled carefully. High
concentration of sulfur requires optimum process conditions to avoid production of sulfur dioxide
and reduced sulfur gases emissions. In addition to environmentally clean combustion, reduction of
inorganic sulfur must be achieved in the char bed.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Secondly the combustion is aided by spraying the black liquor into small droplets. Controlling
process by directing spray proved easy. Spraying was used in early rotary furnaces and with some
success adapted to stationary furnace by H. K. Moore. Thirdly one can control the char bed by
having primary air level at char bed surface and more levels above. Multiple level air system was
introduced by C. L. Wagner.
Recovery boilers also improved the smelt removal. It is removed directly from the furnace through
smelt spouts into a dissolving tank. Some of the first recovery units employed the use of Cottrells
electrostatic precipitator for dust recovery.
Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) was founded in 1867 and gained early fame with its water tube boilers.
The company built and put into service the first black liquor recovery boiler in the world in 1929
[1]. This was soon followed by a unit with completely water cooled furnace at Windsor Mills in
1934. After reverberatory and rotating furnaces the recovery boiler was on its way.
The second early pioneer, Combustion Engineering based its recovery boiler design on the
pioneering work of William M. Cary, who in 1926 designed three furnaces to operate with direct
liquor spraying and on work by Adolph W. Waern and his recovery units.
Recovery boilers were soon licensed and produced in Scandinavia and Japan. These boilers were
built by local manufacturers from drawings and with instructions of licensors. One of the early
Scandinavian Tomlinson units employed a 8.0 m high furnace that had 2.8*4.1 m furnace bottom
which expanded to 4.0*4.1 m at superheater entrance [2]. This unit stopped production for every
weekend. In the beginning economizers had to be water washed twice every day, but after
installation of shot sootblowing in the late 1940s the economizers could be cleaned at the regular
weekend stop.
The construction utilized was very successful. One of the early Scandinavian boilers (Figure 3) 160
t/day at Korsns, operated still almost 50 years later [3].
The first recovery boilers had severe problems with fouling [5]. Tube spacing wide enough for
normal operation of a coal fired boiler had to be wider for recovery boilers. This gave satisfactory
performance for a week, before a water wash was required. Mechanical sootblowers were also
quickly adopted. To control chemical losses and lower the cost of purchased chemicals electrostatic
precipitators were added. Lowering dust losses in flue gases has more than 60 years of practice.
193
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
The first generation air system in the 1940s and 1950s consisted of a two level arrangement;
primary air for maintaining the reduction zone and secondary air below the liquor guns for final
oxidation [7]. The recovery boiler size was 100 300 tds/d and black liquor concentration 45 55
%. Frequently to sustain combustion auxiliary fuel needed to be fired. Primary air was 60 70 % of
total air with secondary the rest. In all levels openings were small and design velocities were 40
45 m/s. Both air levels were operated at 150oC. Liquor gun or guns were oscillating. Main problems
were high carryover, plugging and low reduction. But the function, combustion of black liquor,
could be filled.
The second generation air system targeted high reduction. In 1954 CE moved their secondary air
from about 1 m below the liquor guns to about 2 m above them [7]. The air ratios and temperatures
remained the same, but to increase mixing 50 m/s secondary air velocities were used. CE changed
their frontwall/backwall secondary to tangential firing at that time. In tangential air system the air
nozzles are in the furnace corners. The preferred method is to create a swirl of almost the total
194
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
furnace width. In large units the swirl caused left and right imbalances. This kind of air system with
increased dry solids managed to increase lower furnace temperatures and achieve reasonable
reduction. B&W had already adopted the three-level air feeding by then.
Third generation air system was the three level air. In Europe the use of three levels of air feeding
with primary and secondary below the liquor guns started about 1980. At the same time stationary
firing gained ground. Use of about 50 % secondary seemed to give a hot and stable lower furnace
[8]. Higher black liquor solids 65 70 % started to be in use. Hotter lower furnace and improved
reduction were reported. With three level air, higher dry solids and a hotter furnace the sulfur
emissions could be kept on an acceptable level.
Fourth generation air systems are the multilevel air and the vertical air. As the feed of black liquor
dry solids to the recovery boiler have increased, achieving low sulfur emissions is not anymore the
target of the air system. Instead, low NOx and low carryover are the new targets.
Multilevel air
The three-level air system was a significant improvement, but better results were required. Use of
CFD models offered a new insight of air system workings. The first to develop a new air system
was Kvaerner (Tampella) with their 1990 multilevel secondary air in Kemi, Finland, which was
later adapted to a string of large recovery boilers [9].
Kvaerner also patented the four level air system, where additional air level is added above the
tertiary air level. This enables significant NOx reduction.
Vertical air
Vertical air mixing (Figure 4) was invented by
Erik Uppstu [10]. His idea is to turn traditional
vertical mixing to horizontal mixing. Closely
spaced jets will form a flat plane. In traditional
boilers this plane has been formed by secondary
air. By placing the planes to 2/3 or 3/4
arrangement improved mixing results. Vertical
air has a potential to reduce NOx as staging air
helps in decreasing emissions [11].
If the black liquor dry solids content is below 20 % or water content in black liquor is above 80 %
the net heating value of black liquor is negative (Figure 5). This means that all heat from
combustion of organics in black liquor is spent evaporating the water it contains. The higher the dry
195
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
solids content is, the less water the black liquor contains and the hotter the adiabatic combustion
temperature is.
The black liquor dry solids content has always been limited by the ability of available evaporation
technology to handle highly viscous liquors [12]. The virgin black liquor dry solids contents of
recovery boilers are shown in Figure 6 as a function of purchase year of the boiler.
15.0
NET HEATING VALUE, MJ/kg dry solids
10.0
5.0
0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
-5.0
-10.0
90
85
Maximum
80
Virgin dry solids, %
75
Average
70
65
60
55
50
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Delivery year
Figure 6: Virgin black liquor dry solids contents as a function of the purchase years of recovery
boilers.
According to Figure 6 the average dry solids content of virgin black liquors has increased. This is
especially true for latest very large recovery boilers. Design dry solids contents for green field mills
have been either 80 or 85 % dry solids. 80 % (or before that 75 %) dry solids has been in use in
Asia and South America. 85 % (or before that 80 %) has been in use in Scandinavia and Europe.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
600 6000
Steam temperature, oC, Steam
500 5000
400 4000
Capacity, tds/d
pressure, bar
Temperature
300 Pressure 3000
Capacity
200 2000
100 1000
0 0
1937 1942 1947 1952 1957 1962 1967 1972 1977 1982 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007
Delivery year
Safety
One of the main hazards in operation of recovery boilers is the smelt-water explosion. This can
happen if even a small amount of water is mixed with the solids in high temperature. Smelt-water
explosion is purely a physical phenomenon.
The smelt water explosion phenomena have been studied by Grace [14]. The liquid - liquid type
explosion mechanism has been established as one of the main causes of recovery boiler explosions.
In the smelt water explosion even a few liters of water, when mixed with molten smelt can violently
turn to steam in few tenths of a second. Char bed and water can coexist as steam blanketing reduces
heat transfer. Some trigger event destroys the balance and water is evaporated quickly through
direct contact with smelt. This sudden evaporation causes increase of volume and a pressure wave
of some 10 100000 Pa. As the surface areas are large in the boiler, the force caused by this
pressure wave is usually sufficient to cause all furnace walls to bend out of shape. Safety of
equipment and personnel requires an immediate shutdown of the recovery boiler if there is a
possibility that water has entered the furnace. All recovery boilers have to be equipped with a
special automatic shutdown sequence.
The other type of explosions is the combustible gases explosion. For this to happen the fuel and the
air have to be mixed before the ignition. Typical conditions are either a blackout (loss of flame)
without purge of furnace or continuous operation in a substoichiometric state. To detect blackout
flame monitoring devices are installed, with subsequent interlocked purge and startup. Combustible
gas explosions are connected with oil/gas firing in the boiler. As also continuous O2 monitoring is
practiced in virtually every boiler the noncombustible gas explosions have become very rare.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Other furnace requirements are even more complex. A recovery boiler should have a high thermal
efficiency. It should produce low fouling ash. Processes in the recovery boiler should be
environmentally friendly and produce a low level of harmful emissions. In spite of successes,
optimizing recovery boiler chemical processes is difficult. Processes are complex and there are
several streams to and from the recovery boiler.
Combustion
SO2
Volatiles
Spraying
Droplets Drying H2S
Na
Devolatilization
NaOH
Char combustion
Reoxidation Release of Na
of Na2S
Carbon
Gasification
Reduction Na2S
Na2S
Na2CO3
There are many simultaneous reactions going on in the lower furnace, Figure 8. First there are the
black liquor combustion processes. Drying occurs when water is evaporated, Devolatilization
occurs when droplet size increases and gases generated inside the droplet are released. Finally char
combustion takes place when carbon is burned off. In the lower part of the furnace there are char
bed reactions. These consist mostly of inorganic salt, especially melt reactions. In the upper furnace
there is volatiles combustion. Almost all other combustion reactions are concluded. Sodium sulfate
and carbonate fume formation with other aerosol reactions take place. There are a multitude of
chemical reactions taking place in the recovery boiler. The best way to study them is to look at them
main component by main component.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Smelt
The smelt is the product of inorganic reactions in the recovery furnace. At the same time the carbon
is consumed by the residual inorganic portion melts. Inorganics flow out of the furnace through
smelt spouts (Figure 9). The amount of smelt inside recovery boiler furnace has been measured by
Kelly et al. [15]. They found the smelt content per furnace unit area to be about 250 kg/m2 for a
decanting CE unit and about 140 kg/m2 for a B&W unit. The residence times found were 44 and 25
minutes respectively.
Smelt temperature is about 100oC higher than initial deformation temperature [3]. In older low
solids boilers the smelt temperatures are 750 810oC [17]. In modern boilers with a high content of
dry solids the typical smelt temperatures are 800 850oC. The smelt flow corresponds typically
from 0.400 to 0.480 kg per kilogram of incoming black liquor dry solids flow.
Na 2 S (1)
Reduction =
Na 2 S + Na 2 SO 4
The higher the reduction the lower the amount of sodium that reaches the cook unusable. Reduction
rates of 95 ... 98 % are not uncommon in well operated recovery boilers. Usually the reduction
efficiency increases as the char bed temperature increases. From thermodynamical equilibrium we
can note that there should be very little of sodium oxides and thiosulfate.
Sulfidity is the molar ratio of sodium sulfide to the total alkali content.
S tot
Sulfidity = (2)
Na 2 + K 2
199
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
This equation is widely in use because of ease of measuring Sulfidity depends on the liquor
circulation of the mill. Too high a sulfidity causes operating problems for the recovery boiler.
Especially increased sulfidity increases SO2 and TRS emissions [18].
100
98
96
Reduction, S/(S+SO4)
94
92
90
88 95 % reduction in WWL
90
86
85
84 80
75
82 70
80
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Alkali in weak white liquor, g(NaOH)/l
Figure 10: Effect of weak white liquor composition on reduction in green liquor, reduction is smelt
95 %, sulfidity 35 %.
Often the typical mill analysis of reduction rate is done for green liquor. Alkali in the green liquor
will typically result in lower values that what is measured in smelt, Figure 10. Typically in modern
mills the reduction in green liquor is 2 3 percent units lower that in the smelt.
Sodium
Sodium is released during the black liquor combustion and char bed reactions through vaporization
and reduction of sodium carbonate. Sodium release increases as a function of temperature. At the
beginning of combustion a large portion of sodium is connected to the organic portion of the black
liquor. At the end of volatiles release almost all of it is inorganically bound.
40
35
30
Na-release g/kgka
25
20
15
10
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
CO3(ESP), w-%
Figure 11: Sodium release to ESP ash as function of carbonate in ash in industrial boilers.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Sodium release in Kraft recovery boilers increases with increasing lower furnace temperature
(Figure 11). It has been assumed that in industrial boilers all of the ESP dust is from reactions with
vaporized sodium. In addition the amount of sodium released as a function of carbonate in ESP dust
seems to increase. Increase in carbonate indicates increase in lower furnace temperature [19].
Sodium content in black liquors is around 20 w-%. This means that sodium release in recovery
furnace is about 10% of the sodium in black liquor.
Much studied reactions involving sodium are hydroxide formation, reduction reactions, and sulfate
formation with hydroxides, sulfate formation with chlorides, sulfate formation with carbonate and
carbonate formation.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
economizer flue gas outlet temperature. Sometimes the desired superheated steam temperature
control point is also given in % of MCR (Maximum continuous rating).
4500
4000
Maximum
3500
3000
Capacity, tds/d
2500
2000
Average
1500
1000
500
0
1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Delivery year
Black liquor dry solids flow is the key design criteria. It establishes the required size of the boiler.
With elementary analysis and dry solids one can calculate the heat released in the furnace. With
water and steam values the MCR steam flow is established. It should be noted that when black
liquor is sprayed to the furnace it contains ash collected from the electrostatic precipitator and ash
hoppers. Because ash free black liquor is the input flow to the recovery plant, it is usually chosen as
the design base.
Single drum
All modern recovery boilers are of single drum type. The single drum has replaced the two drum (or
bi-drum) construction in all but the smallest, low pressure boilers. The same trend but 20 years
earlier happened with coal fired boilers.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Changes in investment costs, increases in scale, demands placed on energy efficiency and
environmental requirements are the main factors directing development of the recovery boiler [24].
Steam generation increases with increasing black liquor dry solids content. For a rise in dry solids
content from 65% to 80% the main steam flow increases by about 7%. The increase is more than
203
STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
2% per each 5% increase in dry solids. Steam generation efficiency improves slightly more than
steam generation itself. This is mainly because the drier black liquor requires less preheating.
There are recovery boilers that burn liquor with solids concentration higher than 80%. Unreliable
liquor handling, the need for pressurized storage and high pressure steam demand in the
concentrator has frequently prevented sustained operation at very high solids. The main reason for
the handling problems is the high viscosity of black liquor associated with high solids contents.
Black liquor heat treatment (LHT) can be used to reduce viscosity at high solids [25].
For pulp mills the significance of electricity generation from the recovery boiler has been
secondary. The most important factor in the recovery boiler has been high availability. The
electricity generation in recovery boiler process and steam cycle can be increased by elevated main
steam pressure and temperature or by higher black liquor dry solids [26].
Increasing main steam outlet temperature increases the available enthalpy drop in the turbine. The
normal recovery boiler main steam temperature 480C is lower than the typical main steam
temperature of 540C for the coal and oil fired utility boilers. The main reason for choosing a lower
steam temperature is to control superheater corrosion. Requirement for high availability and use of
less expensive materials are often cited as other important reasons.
Two drum recovery boilers are constructed with water screen to protect superheaters from direct
furnace radiation, lower flue gas temperatures and to decrease combustible material carry-over to
superheaters. The two drum boiler was the first type to use vertical flow economizers, which
replaced horizontal economizers because of their improved resistance to fouling.
The effect of increasing dry solids concentration has had a significant effect on the main operating
variables. The steam flow increases with increasing black liquor dry solids content. Increasing
closure of the pulp mill means that less heat per unit of black liquor dry solids will be available in
the furnace. The flue gas heat loss will decrease as the flue gas flow diminishes. Increasing black
liquor dry solids is especially helpful since the recovery boiler capacity is often limited by the flue
gas flow.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
ensures maximum protection against corrosion. With wide spacing plugging of the superheaters
becomes less likely, the deposit cleaning is easier and the sootblowing steam consumption is lower.
Increased number of superheaters facilitates the control of superheater outlet steam temperature
especially during startups.
The lower loops of hottest superheaters can be made of austenitic material, with better corrosion
resistance. The steam velocity in the hottest superheater tubes is high, decreasing the tube surface
temperature. Low tube surface temperatures are essential to prevent superheater corrosion. A high
steam side pressure loss over the hot superheaters ensures uniform steam flow in tube elements.
The current recovery boiler can be much larger than the previous ones. Boilers with over 200 square
meter bottom area have been bought. Largest recovery boilers are challenging circulating fluidized
boilers for the title of largest bio-fuel fired boiler.
The superheater arrangement is designed for optimum heat transfer with extra protection to furnace
radiation. Mill closure and decreased emissions mean higher chloride and potassium contents in
black liquor. Almost all superheaters are placed behind the bullnose to minimize the direct radiative
heat transfer from the furnace. Increasing superheating demand with increasing pressure decreases
the need for boiler bank and water screen arrangement.
The higher main steam outlet temperature requires more heat to be added in the superheating
section. Therefore the furnace outlet gas temperature has increased. The alternative is to
significantly increase superheating surface and decrease boiler bank inlet flue gas. If boiler bank
inlet gas temperature is reduced the average temperature difference between flue gas and steam is
also decreased. This reduces heat transfer and substantially more superheating surface is needed.
This approach has been abandoned because of increased cost. With increasing dry solids content the
furnace exit temperature can safely increase without fear of corrosion caused by carryover.
Increasing recovery boiler main steam temperature affects the corrosion of the superheaters.
Designing for higher recovery boiler main steam pressure increases the design pressure for all boiler
parts. The recovery boiler lower furnace wall temperatures increase with higher operating pressure.
New better but more expensive lower furnace materials are used. The air flow per unit of black
liquor burned in the recovery boiler furnace decreases. Therefore the number of air ports will
decrease.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
The design changes occurring can be listed. Current trends for recovery boilers are
Higher design pressure and temperature due to increasing demands of power generation
Use of utility boiler methods to increase steam generation
Superheater materials of high-grade alloys
Further increase in black liquor solids towards 90% by concentrators using elevated steam
pressure
Combustion of biological effluent treatment sludge and bark press filtrate effluent
CNCG burner (LVHC gases)
Dissolving tank vent gases returned to the boiler
Advanced air systems for NOx control
Steam generation
Steam generation will depend on recovery boiler design parameters. A rough estimate can be seen
from Figure 17. About 3.5 kgsteam/kgBLdry solids is often used as a base value. Specific steam
production can be used to size the other components in recovery boiler plant.
Both black liquor dry solids and higher heating value affect the steam generation. Also black liquor
sulfidity and main steam values affect the steam generation efficiency. For accurate steam
generation one should always calculate the mass and energy balances.
4.5
3.5
Steam flow, kg/kgds
2.5
Mill operating data
2
1.5
0.5
0
60 65 70 75 80 85
Black liquor dry solids, %
Figure 17: Specific steam generation kgsteam/kgBLdry solids as function of black liquor dry solids.
Water side corrosion occurs in the steam/water side of the boiler tubes. Most often the cause is
impurities in the feedwater. High temperature corrosion occurs typically in the superheaters. Low
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
temperature corrosion occurs in the economizers and air heaters. Low temperature corrosion is often
associated with formation of acidic deposits.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
corrosion. It should be noted that bare carbon tubes can not resist firing of black liquor or contact
with the smelt. Some care should be taken when operating recovery boilers with carbon steel floors.
Extensive research related to corrosion of different materials in molten polysulfides has been
carried out in Finland. This research showed that Sanicro 38-type composite material had the best
corrosion resistance among the steels studied [39]. Test panels made of Sanicro 38 installed in 1991
and 1994 have not shown any alarming corrosion. Nor have there been any reported cracking found
in recovery boiler bottoms made from Sanicro 38 since 1995. This highly alloyed material seems to
have good corrosion resistance, but it is fairly expensive.
Stainless steel 304L seems to last well in the furnace walls above the char bed. It is very resistant to
sulfidation. SCC in the tubes at the furnace bottom tubes has made manufactures and recovery
boiler owners search for replacement materials in that area [40].
Suppliers current recommendations are to use modified alloys in the front and rear bends and close
to the side walls. To facilitate weld inspection the whole lower furnace is often made of modified
alloys up to and over the primary air ports. The present favorite is Sanicro 38 composite tube. In
addition of high content of chrome and nickel the tube has about the same thermal expansion
coefficient that the carbon steel.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
Sanicro 65 (Alloy 625) composite tubing is another possibility. It has very favorable properties
considering thermal fatigue and stress corrosion cracking. There are some reports of failure. Thus,
the use of 625 needs more study at the moment. Another area under research is the air port cracking
[41]. Primary air ports and smelt openings seem to exhibit cracking. Thermal cycling and smelt
contact are suspected causes.
Use of compound tubing has about 30 year history in recovery boilers. Compound tubing is
expensive and the selection of materials is limited. Some competing alternatives are chromizing of
tubes [42, 43]. Another popular method is spray of plasma coating. Compound surface can also be
replaced by welded surface. Of all above methods quality control is easiest with compound tube.
Membrane materials
Membrane materials should be similar to the tube material used. Carbon steel fin is used in the case
of carbon steel tubes. Either composite membrane or totally stainless steel membrane is used in case
of composite floor tubing.
Fins receive thermal radiation and need to conduct heat to the tube proper. Fin surface is thus at
higher temperature than the tube surface. In high heat flux areas and with wide fins this can lead to
tube cracking. A composite membrane has better thermal conductivity as compared to solid
material, which is important especially in case of wide tube spacing.
Loss of tube thickness can be caused by sulfidation, alkali or chloride corrosion. Typically
superheaters exhibit higher corrosion resistance if their tube materials have higher contents of
chromium [45].
Steam side heat transfer coefficients in typical recovery boiler superheaters are low. Superheater
surface temperature can be tens of degrees higher than the bulk steam temperature. It can easily be
seen that surface temperatures and thus corrosion rates are greatly affected by superheater
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
positioning. Furnace radiation can effectively be reduced by placing a screen to block radiation heat
flux. Therefore placing the hottest superheaters behind the nose or screen will significantly decrease
corrosion.
Typical materials
Typical primary superheater materials, when they are protected from direct furnace radiation are
carbon steel. Secondary and tertiary superheater materials contain often 1 to 3% Cr. These kinds of
materials are easy to weld and have good corrosion protection. T22/10CrMo910 material can
usually be used up to 495oC steam outlet temperatures [47]. With higher temperatures and higher
chloride and potassium contents in the black liquor it is advisable to use higher chromium
containing tubes.
Figure 20: Effect of chromium content on corrosion rate in laboratory tests. [48]
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
supported. Hanger rods are tied to seal box. Individual tubes hang from horizontal supports inside
the box. Thermal movement needs to be accounted for. This means that superheater tubes can not
hang from headers.
Lower ends of economizers in recovery boilers suffer from water side erosion corrosion. Typically
the symptoms are worst in the first few meters of economizer tube.
Recovery boiler economizers have hundreds of weld joints. Each weld even after inspection is
potentially problematic. Therefore the preference was to avoid unnecessary welds and use only
continuous tubes without butt welds. Largest boilers have economizer lengths of 27 meters. Carbon
steel tubes maximum length is some 23 meters. So in the newest boilers this preference can not be
adhered to. Attention should be paid to qualification of welds in economizer tube joints.
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
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STEAM BOILER TECHNOLOGY Recovery Boilers
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