Combustion, Boiling Heat Transfer and Circulation: Effects on Boiler Performance

Amitava Datta Department of Power Engineering Jadavpur University

Boiler Performance Indicators

High efficiency Stable performance Better operation and maintenance Low emission

Effect of Air Supply on Boiler Efficiency

Sub-stoichiometric air increases the Incomplete Combustion Loss from Boiler Improper mixing of fuel and air cannot entirely prevent the above losses even with stoichiometric air High excess air increases the flue gas loss due to increases quantity of the flue gas

Optimization in air supply is required

Stages of Coal Combustion

Temperature

I : thermal preparation stageevaporation of residual moisture and release of volatiles II : burning of volatiles
1: gas temp around particle 2: particle temperature

III/ : heating of coke particles due to burning of its volatiles III// : heating of coke particles from external sources IV : burning of coke particles

Time

Temperature vs. time plot for a burning coke particle

Source: Steam Boilers of Thermal Power StationsReznikov and Lipov

Effects of volatiles in coal combustion

Volatile combustion takes place in gaseous phase and requires only a short time: occurs close to the burner port Combustion of coke takes up the greater portion of the total time of coal combustion: therefore critical Stable flame requires that the coke particle temperature should be raised to its ignition temperature Heating rate of coke particle plays important role Higher content of volatile helps in coke particle heating: increases reactivity of coal

Coal Combustion Mechanism

Combustion of carbon in char: Processes involved O2 Transport Processes
Gas film Coke particle

Chemical Reaction

Reaction on the char surface: C+O2 CO O2 f CO formation reaction has less activation energy (E=60000kJ/kmol) than CO2 formation reaction (E=140,000 kJ/kmol) Boundary layer adjacent to the particle where gas phase reaction takes place

Coal Combustion Mechanism

Moderate temperature burning ~ 1200O C High temperature burning ~ 1700O C

Kinetic controlled combustion 4C+3O2 2CO+2CO2

Transport controlled combustion 3C+2O2 2CO+ CO2

Source: Steam Boilers of Thermal Power StationsReznikov and Lipov

Char burnout time

Char burnout time is an important parameter in deciding the combustion performance of coal in the furnace affects overall performance of boiler

MC A p kc O (s ) Char burnout rate = 2 MO

Specific reaction rate of char particle

conc, of O2 on char surface

= kco exp( E / R T )

Balance between chemical rate and transport rate

kc O ( s ) = hD [O () O ( s )]

hD O ( ) O ( s ) = kc + hD

 Char burnout time

dmc 3 2 = d ke O () dt 4
Constant diameter model
applies for extremely porous coal char density decreases from ci to zero as the char burns inside the pores particle diameter assumes to remain constant

ci di t= 4.5 ke O ()

Constant density model (Shrinking sphere model)

applies for non-porous coal char particle shrinks in size, density remains constant

c di t= 1.5 ke O ()

Controlling processes on char burning

Kinetic controlled reaction: kc << hD , ke kc , O ( s ) O () Transport controlled reaction:
hD << kc , ke hD , O ( s ) 0
Controlling process depends on
kinetic paramaters of coal char high particle temperature high kc : less influence of kinetics small particle size high hD : more influence of kinetics high fluid jet velocity and turbulence high hD

Effects of coal combustion on boiler performance: Summary

VM in coal increases its reactivity, helps to increase the char temperature to its ignition value faster Choice of burner and firing method depends on coal reactivity Char combustion takes the largest time share Burn out time depends on type of coal, kinetic parameters of char, transport properties in the combustion zone For fully transport controlled burning, change in coal does not affect burnout time

Types of Pulverized Coal Firing

Tangential or Corner Firing Front Wall Firing Opposed Jet Firing Downshot (U) or Double Downshot (W) Firing

The first three firing methods are used for normal VM coal The last one is used particularly for low VM coal

Corner Firing Arrangement

At each of the four corners there are coal burners, oil guns and air dampers present at specific positions Oil flames support the coal flames during start-up, shut down and low load operation Primary air carries coal from mill through burners Secondary air passed from windbox through Fuel air and Auxiliary Air dampers

Nature of Flame in Corner Firing

Interaction among the streams and the resulting aerodynamics take active part in establishing good mixing and turbulence

Wall Firing
Burners placed on the front wall or on both front and rear walls The required turbulence for efficient combustion is set by the flow pattern effected by the burner Two flames from consecutive burners should not overlap or should not touch the wall Uniform incident heat flux on the water wall surface should be ensured

Downshot Firing

Particularly suited for low volatile low reactivity coal Increases the residence time of coal particles in the flame Ensures complete combustion

Role of Burner
What is a burner?
Burner issues the fuel and air into the furnace zone in such a way that proper and complete combustion can take place Burner design plays important role in the heating process of coke up to the ignition temperature

Straight flow burner: corner firing Turbulent or vortex burner : wall firing

Straight flow burner

Mutual jet interaction promotes mixing Suitable for wide range of fuels: brown coal, peat, bituminous coal, etc.

Straight Flow Burner Jet

1: Jet supply; 2: Potential Core; 3: Boundary Layer; 4: Temperature distribution; 5: Concentration distribution; 6: Plug velocity profile; 7: Decaying jet velocity; 8: Jet Spread Angle; 9: Internal Angle

Turbulent or vortex burners

Two-scroll burner

Straight-scroll burner

Scroll-vane burner

Vortex Burner Jet

Swirled jet Wider expansion angle More turbulence More intensive entrainment of surrounding gases Central recirculation causing internal mixing Increased rate of external heating More suitable for low VM coal
Source: Steam Boilers of Thermal Power StationsReznikov and Lipov

Combustion generated air pollutants

|

NOx (90 95% NO + 5 10% NO2)

z z z z

Thermal NO (<25% of total NOx in PC-fired units) Fuel NO (~75% in PC-fired units) Prompt NO (~5% in PC-fired units) N2O intermediate route (important for highpressure lean burning systems e.g., gas turbine)

| | |

SOx Fly Ash CO2

Thermal NO
|

Extended Zeldovich Mechanism

38370 k1 = 1.8 1012 exp T 31273 k2 = 6.4 109 exp T k3 = 3 1013

k1 O2 + N 2 NO + N

(1) ( 2) ( 3)

k2 N + O2 NO + O k1 N + OH NO + H

Rate Limiting step Requires high temperature and residence time

Fuel NOx
Formed from the nitrogen in coal Rapid reaction; time scale comparable to combustion steps
Volatiles N Raw Coal N O2 Char + NO N +O

NO NO Formation + OH, O2 Oxygen rich pathway

HCN

NH + CO Fuel rich pathway NO Destruction

N2

Incomplete combustion products in fuel rich environment

Prompt NOx (Fenimore NOx)

Formed during hydrocarbon combustion Little in coal combustion
+ O O , 2 H

NO

(NO formation pathway)

CHx + N2

HCN+ N
+N (NO destruction pathway) O N2

+CHx

The factors

Source: Zou and Bourquin, U.S.-China NOx and SOx Control Workshop, 2003,

NOx abatement strategies

|

| | |

Burner optimisation for NOx control (excess air control, burner fine tuning) Air staging (OFA /two-stage combustion) Flue gas recirculation Fuel staging (burner out of service, fuel biasing, reburning or three stage combustion) Low NOx burners

* IEA Clean Coal Center, UK

Air Staging
|

Staging the air in the burner (internal air staging): generally done in low NOx burners (e.g., RSFC Burner)
z

Sub-stoichiometric primary combustion: Reducing environment promotes N2 formation pathway (70 90 % of total air) Overfire air (OFA) introduced (10 30 % of total air) in the post-combustion region to complete gas-phase combustion and reduce the peakflame temperature reduces thermal NOx Unburned carbon loss is a limitation

Air staging in tangential firing

Offset

Furnace air staging in front firing

|

Main combustion zone is operated with = 1.0 1.25 OFA introduced to complete burnout of the coal

|
OFA OFA

Combust Air Main Burner

Combust Air

Low NOx Distributed Mixing Burner

Fuel staging
|

Primary zone:
z z

Coal fired through conventional or low NOx burners Low excess-air conditions to reduce initial NOx formation A secondary fuel injected or blown into the upper section of the furnace (10 30% of total heat) No combustion air. Re-circulated flue gas is sometimes used as a carrier for the reburn fuel. (Mostly natural gas, also coal and oil, Biomass?). Favors the N2 forming pathway Gases exiting the reburn zone undergo additional combustion with overfire air

Secondary sub-stoichiometric reburn zone:

z z

z | z

Burn out zone:

Fuel staging layout (reburn)

Fuel lean primary combustion zone (~0.9) | Fuel rich secondary zone (~1.1) | Burn out region
|

OFA Reburn Fuel Combust Air Main Burner Main Fuel

Boiling Heat Transfer

Boiling takes place in the evaporator tubes placed in the furnace zone as waterwalls Incident heat flux is very high in the furnace zone

& = h(Tw Tsat ) q

High heat transfer coefficient is required to keep wall temperature within limit Heat transfer coefficient in boiling heat transfer contributed by convection and bubble motion

Types of Boiling
Pool boiling Forced flow boiling

Pool boiling phenomenon has relevance in forced flow boiling too

Pool boiling curve: Nukiyamas experiment

critical heat flux DNB Film boiling

nucleate boiling

Different regimes free convection subcooled boiling nucleate boiling film boiling

ONB

Departure from nucleate boiling to film boiling occurs beyond CHF: resulting possible burnout

Forced flow boiling: low heat flux

Source: Heat Transfer- Ozisik

Effects of heat flux

Heat flux subcooled Subcooled film boiling saturated superheated

Saturated film boiling

Liquid deficient zone Locus of burnout Convective heat transfer to vapour

Subcooled boiling Saturated nucleate boiling

Convective heat transfer to liquid

Dry out

Two phase forced convection heat transfer

x=0

x=1

distance

Circulation
Circulation is the flow of water and water-steam mixture through the downcomer-riser circuit of a drum type boiler Proper Circulation is required to avoid dry out of evaporator tubes Circulation ratio =
mass flow rate of water in downcomer mass flow rate of vapor at riser exit

C.R. = 1/xtop

Role of Pressure
Circulation ratio depends upon operating boiler pressure Pressure (bar) 170 - 190 140 - 160 100 120 20 30 15 Steam Generation capacity (t/hr) 800 185 670 160 420 35 240 20 - 200 C.R. 46 58 8 15 15 25 45 - 65

Void fraction and Dryness fraction

1 = Ag + Al 1 x 1+ S x

Void fraction =

Ag

vl = Ratio of density / specific volume = l vg

Slip velocity S =
Vg Vl

l Zivis correlation S = 3 g

Circulation Ratio at different Pressure

1 0.9 0.8 Void fraction 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 Dryness fraction
critical void fraction increasing pressure

10 bar 40 bar 80 bar 160 bar 1

Effects on boiler performance

When incident heat flux on evaporator tube exceeds critical heat flux (CHF) boiling regime departs from nucleate to film boiling : may lead to tube burn out In case of improper circulation evaporator tube failure may occur due to dry out For proper circulation, effective circulation head should be equal to the required pressure head for desired flow

Types of Circulation
Natural circulation Forced or assisted circulation
PNC = ( l r )gH
H

Critical Pressure

When natural circulation head is insufficient, forced circulation pump will be used to supplement natural circulation Once through boiler: C.R.=1 Once through boiler with part load recirculation

Summary
Fuels and Combustion Properties of fuel: coal, blended coal, oil Combustion of fuel: Fundamentals Stoichiometry and thermochemistry Chemical Kinetics Combustion Applications Gaseous fuel flames Flame stabilization, flickering Solid fuel combustion, firing methods and burners Low NOx burning Boiling Heat Transfer and Circulation

Thank you