Combustion

equipment

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It is a component of steam generator
Basic requirements :
 Through mixing of fuel and air
 Optimum fuel-air ratios leading to most complete
combustion possible maintained over full load range
 Ready and accurate response of rate of fuel feed to load
demand
 Continuous and reliable ignition of fuel
 Practical distillation of volatile components of coal
followed by adequate action

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 Solid fuels fired

Hand fired Stoker fired Pulverized fuel fired

Underfeed stockers Overfeed stockers

Unit system Central system

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 Burning systems
 Fuel is burnt in a confined space known as
furnace. The furnace provides supports and
enclosures for burning equipment.
 Solid fuels such as coal, coke, wood are
burnt by means of stockers whereas
burners are used to burn pulverized coal
and liquid fuels.
 Solid fuels require a grate in the furnace to
hold the bed of fuel.
Selection of fuel firing methods
 The characteristics of the available coal
 Capacity of the plant
 Efficiency and reliability of the combustion
equipments.
 The power plant load factor
 Nature of load fluctuation.
 Solid fuel firing
 Hand firing system: it is simple and
suitable for small power plant.
 Stoker firing: stoker is a power operated
fuel feeding mechanism and grate.
 Hand fired system

 Manual feeding system

 Very old system
 Used in small scale applications.

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Hand fired system

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 A stoker is a power operated fuel feeding
mechanism and grate
 A cheaper grade of fuel can be used
 A higher efficiency can be attained
 A greater flexibility of operations assured
 Less smoke produced
 Generally less building space is necessary
 Can be used for small or large boiler units
 Very reliable , maintenance charges are
reasonably low
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 Construction is complicated.
 In case of very large units the initial cost
may be rather higher than with pulverized
fuel.
 There is always a certain amount of loss of
coal in the form of riddling through the
gates.
 Sudden vibrations in the steam demand
cannot be met to the same degree.

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 Types of stoker
 A grate is used at furnace bottom to hold a
bed of fuel.
 There are two ways of feeding coal on to
the grate
 stockers may be classified as overfeed and
under feed stockers.
Principles of overfeed stokers
Types of overfeed stoker
 It may be classified as
◦ Travelling grate stoker
◦ Spreader stoker
Travelling grate stoker
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Travelling grate stoker
Advantages:
 Simple in construction
 Maintenance cost is low
 Initial cost is low.
 Self cleaning stoker
 Heat release rate can be controlled just
by controlling the speed of chain.
Travelling grate stoker
Disadvantages:
 Always some loss of coal in the form of
fine particles carried with the ashes.
 Temperature of preheated air is limited to
180°C.
 Not suitable for high capacity boiler
 Clinker trouble are very common.
Spreader stoker
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 Spreader stoker
Advantages:
 A wide variety of coal can be burnt easily
 A thin fuel bed on the grate is helpful in
meeting the fluctuating loads.
 Operation cost is low
 Use of high temperature preheated air is
possible.
 Clinkering difficulties are reduced.
Spreader stoker
Disadvantages:
 Spreader does not work satisfactory with
varying size of coal.
 Possibility of some fuel loss,
 Fly ash is much more due to suspension
burning of fine fuel particles.
 Clinker problem can not be avoided.
Principle of underfeed stokers
Single retort stoker
Multi retort stoker
Multi retort stoker
Advantages:
 Higher efficiency
 High part load efficiency
 Grate is self cleaning
 Smokeless operation
 Combustion rate is high
 Grate bars, tuyeres, retorts are not subjected
to high temperature
 Substantial amount of coal always remains on
the grate so that boiler may remain in service
in the event of temporary breakdown
 Different varieties of coal can be used.
Multi retort stoker
disadvantages:
 Initial cost high
 Space requirement high
 Clinker formation
 High rate of wear and tear
 Low grade fuels with high ash content can
not be burnt economically.
 Pulverized fuel handling systems
 In pulverized fuel firing coal is reduced to a
fine powder in grinding mills or pulverizers.
 The coal is pulverized in order to increase
its surface area.
 The amount of air which is used to dry the
coal and convey the powdered fuel to the
furnace is known as primary air.
 Amount of air which is blown in separately
to complete the combustion is known as
secondary air.
Process of coal pulverization
 Stage 1: raw and lump coal is crushed to a
particle size not more than 15-25 mm in the
crusher.
 Stage 2: crushed coal is delivered into raw
bunkers and from here it is transferred to
grinding mills that grind the feed into the
final particles of 200-300 mesh size.
 During grinding hot air is blown through the
fuel to dry it to impart good fluidity of the
coal dust.
Advantages of pulverized coal firing
 Large surface area per unit mass allows faster and
efficient combustion.
 Less excess air is required for complete combustion
 Any type of coal can be used
 Better response to variation in load
 Large amount of heat release makes it suitable for super
thermal power station
 Carryover of unburnt fuel to ash is nill
 Low ash handling problem
 Operate successfully with gas and oil fired system
 Less furnace volume required
 Smokeless operation
 Use of highly preheated air helps for rapid flame
propagation
 No moving parts in furnace so life of the system is more.
Disadvantages of pulverized coal
firing
 Capital cost is high
 Operation cost is high
 Lost of fly ash in the exhaust which makes
the removing of fine dust uneconomical.
 Special equipment is required for starting
 Maintenance of furnace is costly
 Skilled operators are required
 High air pollution due to emission of fine
particles of dirt and grit.
Pulverized fuel handling system
 It is a family of equipment in which coal is
ground, dried and fed to the burners of
a boiler furnace.
 There are two methods used to feed the
pulverized fuel to the combustion
chamber of the boiler
Unit system
Central or bin system
Unit system
Unit system
Advantages:
 Simple in layout, design, operation
 Initial cost is less
 Allows direct combustion control from the
pulverizer
 Lower maintenance charge
 Less space required
 No drying unit required.
Unit system
Disadvantages:
 If one pulverizing unit goes out then its
corresponding boiler unit has to be shutdown.
 Pulverizing unit operates at variable load as per
the load on power plant which results in
poor performance at part load.
 Lesser degree of flexibility.
 Greater wear off an blades as these handle
both air and abrasive coal particles.
 Exhaust fan is subjected to excessive wear
since it handles coal dust particles.
Central systems
Central system
Advantages:
 Greater flexibility and better response.
 Less power consumption
 Operation of burner is independent
 The fan handles only air therefore no problem
of excessive wear of fan blades.
 Pulverizer can be shut down where there is
enough reserve of pulverized coal.
 Offers good control over the fineness of coal
 Less labor
 Pulverized capacity is low
Central system
Disadvantages:
 Initial cost is high
 More floor space.
 Possibility of fire hazard is more
 Dryer is essential
 Operation and maintenance cost are high
 Coal transportation system becomes more
complex.
Pulverized mill
 Pulverized mill is also known as pulverizer.
It is used to convert raw crushed coal into
powder form in order to increase surface
area. A pulverizer is the most important
part of a pilverized coal system.
 Impact mills (a) ball mill (b) hammer mill
 Attrition mills (a) bowl mill (b) ball and
race mill.
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