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Typeofboilers

ENERGYEQUIPMENT
Typeofboilers
This section describes the various types of Boilers: Fire tube boiler, Water tube boiler, Packaged
boiler, Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler, Atmospheric Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler, Pressurized
Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler, Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion Boiler, Stoker Fired Boiler,
PulverizedFuelBoiler,WasteHeatBoilerandThermicFluidHeater.
FireTubeBoiler
In fire tube boiler, hot gases pass through the
tubes and boiler feed water in the shell side is
converted into steam. Fire tube boilers are
generally used for relatively small steam
capacitiesandlowtomediumsteampressures.
Asaguideline,firetubeboilersarecompetitive
for steam rates up to 12,000 kg/hour and
pressures up to 18 kg/cm2. Fire tube boilers
areavailableforoperationwithoil,gasorsolid
fuels. For economic reasons, most fire tube
boilers
are
nowadays
of
packaged
construction (i.e. manufacturers shop erected)
forallfuels.
WaterTubeBoiler
In water tube boiler, boiler feed water flows through the
tubes and enters the boiler drum. The circulated water is
heated by the combustion gases and converted into steam
atthevapourspaceinthedrum.Theseboilersareselected
when the steam demand as well as steam pressure
requirementsarehighasinthecaseofprocesscumpower
boiler/powerboilers.
Most modern water boiler tube designs are within the
capacity range 4,500 120,000 kg/hour of steam, at very
high pressures. Many water tube boilers nowadays are of
packagedconstructionifoiland/orgasaretobeusedas
fuel. Solid fuel fired water tube designs are available but
packageddesignsarelesscommon.
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Thefeaturesofwatertubeboilersare:
Forced,inducedandbalanceddraftprovisionshelpto
improvecombustionefficiency.
Lesstoleranceforwaterqualitycallsforwatertreatment
plant.
Higherthermalefficiencylevelsarepossible
PackagedBoiler
The packaged boiler is so called because it comes as a
complete package. Once delivered to site, it requires only
the steam, water pipe work, fuel supply and electrical
connections to be made for it to become operational.
Package boilers are generally of shell type with fire tube
design so as to achieve high heat transfer rates by both
radiationandconvection.
The
Fig:SimpleDiagramofWaterTube
Boiler
Reference:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/
images/ahd/jpg/A4boiler.jpg
featuresofpackageboilersare:
Smallcombustionspaceandhighheat
releaserateresultinginfaster
evaporation.
Largenumberofsmalldiametertubes
leadingtogoodconvectiveheat
transfer.
Forcedorinduceddraftsystems
resultingingoodcombustionefficiency.
Numberofpassesresultinginbetter
overallheattransfer.
Higherthermalefficiencylevelscomparedwithotherboilers.
These boilers are classified based on the number of passes the number of times the hot
combustiongasespassthroughtheboiler.Thecombustionchamberistaken,asthefirstpassafter
whichtheremaybeone,twoorthreesetsoffiretubes.Themostcommonboilerofthisclassisa
threepassunitwithtwosetsoffiretubesandwiththeexhaustgasesexitingthroughtherearofthe
boiler.
FluidizedBedCombustion(FBC)Boiler
Fluidizedbedcombustion(FBC)hasemergedasaviablealternativeandhassignificantadvantages
overconventionalfiringsystemandoffersmultiplebenefitscompactboilerdesign,fuelflexibility,
highercombustionefficiencyandreducedemissionofnoxiouspollutantssuchasSOxandNOx.The
fuels burnt in these boilers include coal, washery rejects, rice husk, bagasse & other agricultural
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wastes.Thefluidizedbedboilershaveawidecapacityrange0.5T/hrtoover100T/hr.
When an evenly distributed air or gas is passed upward through a finely divided bed of solid
particlessuchassandsupportedonafinemesh,theparticlesareundisturbedatlowvelocity.Asair
velocityisgraduallyincreased,astageisreachedwhentheindividualparticlesaresuspendedinthe
airstreamthebediscalledfluidized.
With further increase in air velocity, there is bubble formation, vigorous turbulence, rapid mixing
and formation of dense defined bed surface. The bed of solid particles exhibits the properties of a
boilingliquidandassumestheappearanceofafluidbubblingfluidizedbed.
If sand particles in a fluidized state is heated to the ignition temperatures of coal, and coal is
injectedcontinuouslyintothebed,thecoalwillburnrapidlyandbedattainsauniformtemperature.
Thefluidizedbedcombustion(FBC)takesplaceatabout840OCto950OC.Sincethistemperature
ismuchbelowtheashfusiontemperature,meltingofashandassociatedproblemsareavoided.
The lower combustion temperature is achieved because of high coefficient of heat transfer due to
rapidmixinginthefluidizedbedandeffectiveextractionofheatfromthebedthroughinbedheat
transfer tubes and walls of the bed. The gas velocity is maintained between minimum fluidisation
velocity and particle entrainment velocity. This ensures stable operation of the bed and avoids
particleentrainmentinthegasstream.
AtmosphericFluidizedBedCombustion(AFBC)Boiler
Most operational boiler of this type is of the Atmospheric Fluidized Bed Combustion. (AFBC). This
involves little more than adding a fluidized bed combustor to a conventional shell boiler. Such
systemshavesimilarlybeinginstalledinconjunctionwithconventionalwatertubeboiler.
Coal is crushed to a size of 1 10 mm depending on the rank of coal, type of fuel fed to the
combustionchamber.Theatmosphericair,whichactsasboththefluidizationandcombustionair,is
deliveredatapressure,afterbeingpreheatedbytheexhaustfuelgases.Theinbedtubescarrying
water generally act as the evaporator. The gaseous products of combustion pass over the super
heater sections of the boiler flow past the economizer, the dust collectors and the air preheater
beforebeingexhaustedtoatmosphere.
PressurizedFluidizedBedCombustion(PFBC)Boiler
InPressurizedFluidizedBedCombustion(PFBC)type,acompressorsuppliestheForcedDraft(FD)
airandthecombustorisapressurevessel.Theheatreleaserateinthebedisproportionaltothe
bedpressureandhenceadeepbedisusedtoextractlargeamountofheat.Thiswillimprovethe
combustionefficiencyandsulphurdioxideabsorptioninthebed.Thesteamisgeneratedinthetwo
tubebundles,oneinthebedandoneaboveit.Hotfluegasesdriveapowergeneratinggasturbine.
The PFBC system can be used for cogeneration (steam and electricity) or combined cycle power
generation. The combined cycle operation (gas turbine
& steam turbine) improves the overall conversion
efficiencyby5to8%.
AtmosphericCirculatingFluidizedBedCombustionBoilers(CFBC)
Inacirculatingsystemthebedparametersaresomaintainedastopromotesolidselutriationfrom
the bed. They are lifted in a relatively dilute phase in a solids riser, and a downcomer with a
cycloneprovidesareturnpathforthesolids.Therearenosteamgenerationtubesimmersedinthe
bed. Generation and super heating of steam takes place in the convection section, water walls, at
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theexitoftheriser.
CFBCboilersaregenerallymoreeconomicalthanAFBC
boilersforindustrialapplicationrequiringmorethan75
100 T/hr of steam. For large units, the taller furnace
characteristics of CFBC boilers offers better space
utilization, greater fuel particle and sorbent residence
time for efficient combustion and SO2 capture, and
easier application of staged combustion techniques for
NOxcontrolthanAFBCsteamgenerators.
StokerFiredBoilers
Stokers are classified according to the method of
feeding fuel to the furnace and by the type of grate.
Themainclassificationsarespreaderstokerandchain
gateortravelinggatestoker.
Spreader
Stokers
Spreader
stokers
utilize
a
combination
of
suspension
burning and
grate
burning. The coal is continually fed into the furnace
above a burning bed of coal. The coal fines are burned
in suspension the larger particles fall to the grate,
where they are burned in a thin, fastburning coal bed.
This method of firing provides good flexibility to meet
load fluctuations, since ignition is almost instantaneous
when firing rate is increased. Due to this, the spreader
stokerisfavoredoverothertypesofstokersinmanyindustrialapplications.
ChaingrateorTravelinggrateStoker
Coalisfedontooneendofamovingsteelgrate.Asgratemovesalongthelengthofthefurnace,
thecoalburnsbeforedroppingoffattheendasash.Somedegreeofskillisrequired,particularly
when setting up the grate, air dampers and baffles, to ensure clean combustion leaving the
minimumofunburntcarbonintheash.
The coalfeed hopper runs along the entire coalfeed end of the furnace. A coal gate is used to
controltherateatwhichcoalisfedintothefurnacebycontrollingthethicknessofthefuelbed.Coal
mustbeuniforminsizeaslargelumpswillnotburnoutcompletelybythetimetheyreachtheend
ofthegrate.
PulverizedFuelBoiler
Most coalfired power station boilers use pulverized coal, and many of the larger industrial water
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tubeboilersalsousethispulverizedfuel.Thistechnology
is well developed, and there are thousands of units
around the world, accounting for well over 90% of coal
firedcapacity.
Thecoalisground(pulverized)toafinepowder,sothat
less than 2% is +300 micro meter (m) and 7075% is
below 75 microns, for a bituminous coal. It should be
noted that too fine a powder is wasteful of grinding mill
power.Ontheotherhand,toocoarseapowderdoesnot
burn completely in the combustion chamber and results
inhigherunburntlosses.
The pulverized
coal is blown
with part of the
combustion air
into the boiler
plant through a
series of burner
nozzles.
Secondary and
tertiary air may
also be added.
Combustion takes place at temperatures from 1300
1700C, depending largely on coal grade. Particle
residencetimeintheboileristypically2to5seconds,and
the particles must be small enough for complete
combustiontohavetakenplaceduringthistime.
Thissystemhasmanyadvantagessuchasabilitytofirevaryingqualityofcoal,quickresponsesto
changesinload,useofhighpreheatairtemperaturesetc.
Oneofthemostpopularsystemsforfiringpulverizedcoalisthetangentialfiringusingfourburners
cornertocornertocreateafireballatthecenterofthefurnace.
WasteHeatBoiler
Wherever the waste heat is available at medium or high
temperatures, a waste heat boiler can be installed
economically. Wherever the steam demand is more than
the steam generated during waste heat, auxiliary fuel
burners are also used. If there is no direct use of steam,
the steam may be let down in a steam turbinegenerator
set and power produced from it. It is widely used in the
heat recovery from exhaust gases from gas turbines and
dieselengines.
ThermicFluidHeater
In recent times, thermic fluid heaters have found wide application for indirect process heating.
Employingpetroleumbasedfluidsastheheattransfermedium,theseheatersprovideconstantly
maintainable temperatures for the user equipment. The combustion system comprises of a fixed
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gratewithmechanicaldraftarrangements.
The modern oil fired thermic fluid heater consists of a
double coil, three pass construction and fitted with
modulated pressure jet system. The thermic fluid, which
acts as a heat carrier, is heated up in the heater and
circulated through the user equipment. There it transfers
heatfortheprocessthroughaheatexchangerandthefluid
is then returned to the heater. The flow of thermic fluid at
the user end is controlled by a pneumatically operated
control
valve,
based on the
operating
temperature. The
heater operates
onloworhighfire
depending on the
return
oil
temperature,
which varies with
thesystemload
Theadvantagesoftheseheatersare:
Closedcycleoperationwithminimumlossesascompared
tosteamboilers.
NonPressurizedsystemoperationevenfortemperatures
around2500casagainst40kg/cm2steampressurerequirementinasimilarsteamsystem.
Automaticcontrolsettings,whichofferoperationalflexibility.
Goodthermalefficienciesaslossesduetoblowdown,condensatedrainandflashsteamdo
notexistinathermicfluidheatersystem.
The overall economics of the thermic fluid heater will depend upon the specific application and
reference basis. Coal fired thermic fluid heaters with a thermal efficiency range of 5565% may
compare favorably with most boilers. Incorporation of heat recovery devices in the flue gas path
enhancesthethermalefficiencylevelsfurther.
Totop

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