Applied Thermo Fluids-II (Autumn 2016)

Module-2: Fuels & Combustion

Module Objectives
For a required power output, the thermodynamic analysis of power plant cycles
yields information on,
The amount of heat that is to be supplied to the cycle, and
The temperature at which heat is to be supplied

The required amount of heat at required temperature is to be provided by a heat

source, that is typically a combustion chamber in which a fuel is burnt
In this regard, the issues that need to be studied and decided are:
1.

What is the type of fuel to be burnt and under what conditions?

2.

What is the correct amount of air to be supplied for combustion?

3.

What is the type of equipment to be used for combustion?

4.

What is the efficiency of the combustion process?

5.

What are the effects of the combustion on environment?

6.

How to take care of the pollutants that are emitted during combustion?

The above issues will be addressed in this module

Power plant fuels

Commonly used fuels are based on:
1. Fossil fuels,
2. Nuclear fuels,
3. Synthetic fuels (Synfuels),
4. Agro based bio-fuels

Power plant fuels (contd.)

Currently the fuel is the largest cost component of thermal power plants
Fuels used in the power plants are also the largest contributors to global
warming and other environmental problems
At present, large thermal power plants use either fossil fuels (coal,
natural gas etc.) or nuclear fuels
Both fossil and nuclear fuels are non-renewable
Nature takes millions of years to manufacture fossil fuels
Nuclear fuels are believed to have originated with the universe!

The fossil fuels are expected to last at the most for another 200 years at
the current estimates
The nuclear fuels (fission) are expected to last for 600 years
Fuels can also be manufactured synthetically from coal, oil shale or tar
sands (synfuels) believed to offer a cleaner technology!
Long-term vision is to synthesize fuels using renewable technologies
such as solar e.g. the hydrogen economy!

Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels (contd.)

Fossil Fuels (contd.)

Currently, most widely used and are expected to
continue to play a major role for the next 200 years
Fossil fuels can be in the form of:
Solids, e.g., various types of coals
Liquids, e.g. petroleum oils
Gases, e.g. natural gas

Fossil Fuels (contd.)

For combustion analysis, the properties of fuels are required
The most fundamental property that is required is the
chemical composition of the fuel
The simplest of the fossil fuel is natural gas, which is mostly
methane
The chemical composition of natural gas and other gaseous
fuels can vary, but can be determined relatively easily
The chemical composition of liquid and solid fuels are very
difficult to determine as they are based on a complex mixture
of various substances
Generally, the composition is obtained in terms of proximate
analysis or ultimate analysis of fuels

Solid Fossil Fuels are believed to have formed from

vegetable matter

Liquid and gaseous fossil fuels are believed to

have formed from animal matter

Coal

Different forms of coal

Global coal reserves in BTUs at end of year 2009

1 BTU = 1055.1 J

Sources: BP Statistical review of world

energy June 2010

Coal production trends 1980-2012 in the top five coal-producing countries (US EIA)
1 Short Ton = 2000 lb = 907.2 kg

Solid Fossil Fuels

Coal is the largest solid fossil-fuel energy resource on earth
Coal is also the most widely used fuel in thermal power plants. In India,
approximately 1,50,000 MW of power is generated in coal based power plants
The term Coal covers a large number of solid, organic materials with widely
varying composition and properties
As per American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) coal can be
broadly classified based on its rank (highest to lowest) as:
1. Anthracite (Shiny black, dense, hard and brittle and Slow and clean burning. Carbon: 86 to
98 %, Volatile Matter: 2 to 14 %, HHV: 27.8 MJ/kg )
2. Bituminous coal (Greyish black and soft, Burns easily. Carbon: 46 to 86 %, Volatile Matter:
20 to 40 %, HHV: 25.6 to 33.3 MJ/kg)
3. Sub-bituminous (Brownish black, Burns easily. High moisture content (15 to 30 %), HHV:
19.3 to 26.7 MJ/kg)
4. Lignite (Brown and laminar in structure. High moisture content (30 % or higher) and volatile
matter (upto 30 %). HHV: 14.6 to 19.3 MJ/kg)
5. Peat (Heterogeneous material consisting of decomposed plant and inorganic material. Very
high moisture content (upto 90%)

Coal (contd.)

Anthracite

Lignite

Bituminous

Sub-bituminous

Peat

Indian Coal
The coal commonly used in Indian power plants is either bituminous or subbituminous, even though lignite is also used to some extent
Indian coal is graded into 7 types based on the calorific value, with the highest
grade coal, Grade A having a calorific value greater than about 26 MJ/kg and
the lowest grade coal, Grade G having a calorific value of 5.4 to 10 MJ/kg

Higher the fixed carbon, higher is the calorific value of the coal
Higher the moisture content, lower is the calorific value. However, moisture in coal helps
in binding the fine coal and improves radiation heat transfer
Ash in coal affects combustion and boiler efficiency, increases handling costs and causes
clinkering and slagging
Volatile matter in coal helps in ignition of coal, increases flame length and sets a lower
limit on the furnace height

Coal Mining

Though the existence of coal is known for thousands of years,

its large scale commercial use started in 18th century

A view of Murton colliery near Seaham, United Kingdom, 1843. (Source: wikipedia)

Coal Mining
Coal is found deep inside the earth in layers
called as seams.
The seams may be horizontal or at an angle
When the coal seams are at an angle, drift
mines are developed by a making a road at an
angle from the surface
Open cast mining is used in places where the
coal seams are closer to the surface
In open cast mines, the top rocky layer
covering the coal seams is removed to
facilitate mining of coal
Deep mines use vertical tunnels or shafts
Miners, mine equipment and mined coal are
transported underground along horizontal
roadways to the vertical shafts.

A drift mine

An open cast mine

A deep mine

Children hauling coal up the slope of an

English mine; from an engraving of the
1840s.

Tavantolgoi coal mine, southern Gobi,

Mongolia.

Inserting steel bolts to support the roof of an

underground mine in West Virginia, U.S.

Longwall method: miner shearing coal

A longwall miner shearing coal at the face of
a coal seam; from an underground mine in
southern Ohio, U.S.

Coal Mining in India

The 1st coal mine was established in 1774
by M/s Sumner and Heatly of East India
Company in the Raniganj Coalfield along
the Western bank of river Damodar
The coal mines were nationalized in
1971-73
In 2009, India with 526 Mt, was the 3rd
biggest hard coal producer after China
(2971 Mt) and the USA (919 Mt)
Currently, around 80 % of the Indian coal
comes from open cast mining
Around 75 % of the coal mined in India is
used by the energy sector with the
remaining in steel and other industries
However, due to low quality and
increasing domestic consumption, India
imports a large amount of coal (about 85
Mt in 2011)

These men unload a cart from a rat hole mine that is 400 feet underground and prepare to load a 2ton bucket for removal to the surface.
Many of the mines in Meghalaya are not legal which means they are not engineered and very unsafe.
The coal has brought prosperity and jobs to the region but has caused tremendous environmental
problems and human suffering, including child labor. PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBB KENDRICK

Coal is lifted out of the mine shaft two tons at a time and trucked to a depot, where it is sorted by size
and quality. PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBB KENDRICK

Meghalaya, India. A coal miner climbs a shaky ladder to daylight. A 19th-century mine in the U.S. or
Europe might have looked just as hellish; mines there are safer now.
But coals environmental costs have grownand become global. PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBB KENDRICK

Jharkhand, India. In this mining camp the air is thick day and night with smoke from coal
fires. PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBB KENDRICK

A coal mine in Bihar, India. (Source: wikipedia)

Coal storage

Due to uncertainty associated with

availability and transport, all coal based
power plants stockpile coal sufficient for
7 to 45 days
Most of the coal stockpiles are open type
and are formed by rail mounted stackers
Stored coal is transported to the power
plant by conveyors or by rail wagons
Storage of large quantities of coal is
associated with problems related to:

http://www.tce.co.in/Coal stockpile in Indian power plants.pdf

Carryover of the fine dust particles by wind

Spontaneous combustion of coal due to self
oxidation
Decreased heating value and increased ignition
temperature due to oxidation etc.

Minimizing the amount to be stocked,

proper compaction and stocking methods
and early detection of self-ignition are
some of the important precautions to be
taken during storage of coal

Self-ignition of coal

Coal Firing in coal based power plants

Coal

Air

Coal Supply &

Preparation

Coal Furnace

Components of a coal based power plant

Flue Gas

De NOx

Steam Boiler

ESP*
Dust Removal

FGD SOx

Ash
Steam Turbine
Power

Generator

Condenser &
Cooling Tower

Heat Rejection

ESP: Electro static precipitator

De NOx: Selective catalytic (SCR) or selective non-catalytic
converter (SNCR) system for removal of NOx. NOx causes
formation of Ozone in troposphere and also causes acid rain
FGD SOx: Flue Gas Desulphurization system. SOx in the
atmosphere causes corrosion, acid rain, and other
environmental problems

FGD scrubber

Solid
residual matter

Movement of coal in the coal based power plant

Coal Storage
(7 45 days stock)

Coal Bunker
(1 day stock)

Coal
feeders

Drying &
Pulverizing mills

Coal firing
furnace

Hot air (350 400oC) Secondary air

Ash &
Flue gases

Firing of fuels from chulhas to power plant furnaces!

Coal Firing
Coal is fired in a variety of coal furnaces
The issues to be considered in the design of coal furnaces are:
1.

Combustion efficiency complete combustion

2.

Handling of ash

3.

Handling of SO2

4.

Handling of NOx

5.

Capacity control, and

6.

Effect on downstream components (e.g. steam generator)

The design of the combustion chamber must ensure that:

1. Temperature inside is high enough so that ignition of coal can be initiated and
sustained
2. Turbulence inside the chamber is high enough to ensure proper mixing of coal
particles and the oxidizer (air), and
3. Time, sufficient for the combustion process to be completed is available for the coal

 The 5 steps in coal combustion process

1.

Drying evaporation of surface water & water in pores (100 to 300oC)

2.

Pyrolisis decomposition of organic substances in coal and formation of

gaseous products (300 to 600oC)

3.

Ignition Initiation of the process of combustion of both volatile matter

and residual char (carbon + ash forming materials) (500 to 900oC)

4.

Combustion of volatile matter (above 800oC)

5.

Combustion of the residual char (900 to 1400oC)

In an actual furnace, there could be overlap of the above processes

Depending upon the furnace type and particle size the entire combustion
of the particle may take 1 to 1000 seconds

Coal Firing
The systems used for combustion of solid fossil fuels can be
classified into:
1. Grate firing or mechanical stoker systems
2. Pulverized fuel firing systems
3. Fluidized bed firing systems
1.
2.

Bubbling fluidized bed

Circulating fluidized bed systems

Oscillating grate furnace

1. Mechanical Stoker or Grate Furnaces:

All types of coal can be fired in mechanical stokers

However, stokers have low combustion efficiency and low burning rates

Limited to lower steam generation rates ( < 50 kg/s)

Chain-grate stoker

Spreader stoker with travelling grate

2. Pulverized Coal (PC) Furnace systems:

Development of PC systems can be considered as a landmark event in the
development of coal fired steam power plants
It is based on the idea that coal can be made to burn cleanly and
efficiently like a gas, if the particle size of the coal can be reduced
significantly Energy required for pulverization - Rittingers law!
In PC systems the coal is first pulverized to a size of 200 mesh (particle
size less than 70 microns) or less and then burnt in the PC furnace
The complete system consists of:
1. A Pulverizer
2. A Delivery system for pulverized coal, and
3. Burning equipment

Coal from the bunker is continuously fed to the pulverizer and then to the
furnace through the burners using primary air
The pulverized coal carried by the primary air enters the furnace through
the burner and mixes there with main combustion air coming from the preheater of the steam generator
Initial ignition is achieved by a variety of ways, e.g. use of a light-fuel oil jet

Pulverized coal burner

http://navier.engr.colostate.edu

Pulverized coal firing system

i.

Depending upon the type and capacity there may be

one or more than one burners, arranged in a variety
of ways
ii. The burners can be used to burn only PC fuel or any
other fuel, e.g. oil or gas
iii. The burners are designed to produce turbulence and
thorough mixing and efficient combustion
iv. Due to the above, the excess air requirement is much
less in PC furnaces, compared to stoker furnaces

PC Furnace with 4 tangential burners

3. Cyclone Furnace:

Cyclone furnace is widely used for burning lowgrade coals, e.g. coals with high ash content
(as high as 25%) and a high volatile matter
(>15%)

The coal need not be pulverized

However, the coal should have low sulfur

content

The tangential entry of high speed primary and

secondary air impart centrifugal motion to coal
particles

The whirling motion of air and coal leads to

large heat release rates in small volume (as
high as 8000 kW/m3), leading to high
combustion temperatures ( around 1650oC)

Cyclone Furnace

The main advantage of this furnace is the removal of almost 60 % of the ash formed as slag,
collected on the furnace walls due to centrifugal action and drained off through the bottom

Only 40 % of the total ash leaves the furnace along with the flue gases, which reduces the
fouling of the boiler substantially.

Also the size of the filtration system at steam-generator exit reduces drastically

However, as the combustion temperatures are much higher in this furnace comapred to others,
there is a danger of NOx formation

4. Fluidized bed combustion (FBC):

In these systems, the combustion takes

place with coal particles in a suspended
state - Fluidization

Fluidization is achieved by maintaining

suitable velocities such that the buoyancy
and drag force are balanced Minimum
fluidization velocity

In fluidized bed combustion, crushed coal in

the range of 6 to 20 mm is injected into the
bed just above the air distribution grid

The products of combustion leaving the furnace contain large amount of unburnt coal,
which is returned back to the furnace by the cyclone dust collector
One major advantage of FBC is the removal of sulfur (which forms SO2 during
combustion) in the furnace itself by the addition of lime stone (CaCO3) directly to the
bed with coal
CaCO3 + SO2 + (1/2)O2 = CaSO4 + CO2
CaSO4 produced in the above process is a dry waste product that can be disposed off
Since the combustion temperature is much lower, low grade coals can be used and the
formation of NOx is minimized.

4. Fluidized bed combustion (contd.):

Fluidized bed combustion yields high

combustion efficiency at low combustion
temperatures

Also there is no need for pulverizing the coal

Also the boiler can be integrated with the

furnace resulting in very high volumetric heat
transfer rates (10 to 15 times higher than
conventional boilers) - very compact

Due to absence of sulfur in exhaust, lower

stack gas temperatures can be tolerated
leading to high overall plant efficiency

Fluidized bed furnace integrated with boiler

However, proper design and control of fluidized bed boilers are difficult and complex
Some of the important issues that need to be addressed are:
Proper feeding of coal and limestone particles together into the bed
Proper control of coal particle carry-over with the flue gases
Regeneration or disposal of calcium sulfate
Quenching of combustion by the cooler water tubes inside the bed, and
Operation under variable loads

Fluidized beds (FBC) can be classified:

Depending upon fluid velocity:

Depending upon the pressure:

Bubble FBC (BFBC)

Circulating FBC (CFBC)
Atmospheric pressure FBC (AFBC)
Pressurized FBC (PFBC) Higher heat transfer rates

Atmospheric FBC uses a fan for circulation of air, whereas

Pressurized FBC requires an air compressor to obtain the reqd. pressure (10-15
bar)

Output ranges of different firing systems

Firing system
Grate firing
Pulverized fuel firing
Bubbling fluidized bed firing
Circulating fluidized bed firing

Output range (MW)

2.5 to 175
40 to 2500
Up to 80
40 to 750

Source: Power generation from solid fuels, H. Spliethoff, Springer (2010)

Currently most of the large coal based power plants use Pulverized fuel firing only
Recently Neyveli Lignites Corporation (NLC) has introduced the Circulating Fluidized
Bed (CFB) Boiler of around 300 MW capacity in India (made by BHEL)

Liquid fuels
Most of the commonly used liquid fuels are mixtures of hydrocarbons
with the generic formula CnHm (m is a function of n)
Crude oil is a mixture of an extremely large no. of hydrocarbons
Crude oil mainly consists of C (83 to 87 %) and H (11 to 14 %) with
some amount of O, N, S and H2O
Crude oil is fractionally distillated or cracked into:
Petrol, Aviation Kerosene, Diesel, Fuel oil, Lubricating oil etc

Liquid fuels are easier to handle and store

Liquid fuels burn easily & have narrow heating values (43 to 46 MJ/kg)
The important properties are:
specific gravity, viscosity, pour and flash points

Normally emulsion firing is used for heavy oils for good atomization
However, due to scarcity of oil, high fuel costs and need for oil in other
applications, oil fired power plants are getting converted into coal or
other alternate fuel fired plants

Gaseous fuels
The commonly used gaseous fuels are:
Natural gas
Producer gas (A combustible mixture of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen,
generated by passing air with steam over burning coke or coal in a furnace)
Blast furnace gas (a by-product of blast furnaces that is generated when the iron ore is
reduced with coke to metallic iron)
Coke oven gas ( a fuel that is produced during the manufacture of metallurgical coke by
anerobic heating of bituminous coal to about 1000oC )

Natural gas (95 % or more CH4) is most widely used gaseous fuel

Natural gas (NG) has high heating value (about 39 MJ/m3)

NG mixes readily with air does not produce soot or smoke

NG can be stored in liquefied form (LNG), in compressed form (CNG) or in

adsorbed form (ANG)

Other gaseous fuels e.g., Coke oven gas, producer gas etc can be produced
from coal coal gasification

Hydrogen is one of the fuels considered for future applications

Due to clean combustion and environmental benefits, there is an increasing

interest in gaseous fuels obtained from coal or other sources

Agro-based fuels

These include:
Bagasse
Paddy husk
Saw dust
Coconut shell
Deoiled bran etc.

The typical calorific values of these fuels vary from about 13 MJ/kg to 20 MJ/kg

The biomass obtained from the agro-products can be converted into gaseous or
liquid fuels by using a variety of conversion techniques such as:
Thermochemical conversion
Biochemical conversion
Fermentation etc.