INTRODUCTION TO BOILER

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CONTENTS
1. BASIC THERMODYNAMIC POWER CYCLES A GLANCE
2. BOILER DEFINITION & ITS APPLICATIONS
3. CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS
4. FUELS
5. COMBUSTION

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BASIC THERMODYNAMIC POWER CYCLES A GLANCE

RANKINE CYCLE

BRAYTON CYCLE

COMBIND CYCLE

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RANKINE CYCLE

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BRAYTON CYCLE

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COMBINED CYCLE

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REHEAT CYCLE

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REGENERATION CYCLE

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REHEAT & REGENERATION CYCLE

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SUPERCRITICAL STEAM CYCLE

3
Critical Point
T

SC Steam generator
Boiler Steam Pressure
above the critical point

221 bar

Simple Supercritical cycle

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2 . BOILER DEFINITION & ITS APPLICATIONS

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BOILER DEFINITION

In General
A pressurized system in which water is vaporized to steam, the desired end
product, by heat transferred from a source of higher temperature, usually the
products of combustion from burning fuels or from waste heat
As per IBR
"Boiler" means any closed vessel exceeding 22.75 litres (five gallons) in
capacity which is used expressly for generating steam under pressure and
includes any mounting or other fitting attached to such vessel, which is
wholly or partly under pressure when steam is shut off;

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BOILER - APPLICATIONS

In Industries where process steam / captive power is reqd.

Paper and Pulp Industry

Sugar mills
Oil & Gas industries ie., refinaries, petrochemical complex etc.,
Textile industries
Cement industry
Aluminium industry
Steel industries
Chemical industry and many more..

In power generation plants where power is exported to grid

All coal based power generating stations

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3 . CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS

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BOILER - CLASSIFICATION

Boiler

Industrial
Fire Tube
Generally used for process
steam generation limited to
small capacity (<10TPH)

Water Tube
Generally used for process
steam generation and for
captive power generation

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Utility

Water Tube
Generally used for power
generation purpose in major
power plants

FIRE TUBE BOILER

Fire tube boilers consist of long steel tubes through which hot flue
gases from the furnace pass and water around the flue gets heated to
form steam and gets collected in the vessel from where it is tapped.

These boilers are limited to small capacity and pressure range

only.

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BOILER - CLASSIFICATION

In Water tube boilers, water flows in tubes and hot flue gases pass around the
tubes (also known as heating surfaces)
These boilers are generally used for power generation purpose and can be
further classified as below by their important attributes

Water Tube Boiler

Circulation

Support

Pressure

Natural

Bottom

Sub critical

Assisted

Top

Super critical

Forced

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Fuel

Solid
Liquid
Gas

BOILER - CLASSIFICATION

Soild fuel fired boiler can be further classified based on firing technology as
below

Solid fuel fired Boiler

Coal
Stoker fired

Stoker fired

FBC Boiler

FBC Boiler

CFBC Boiler
PC fired

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Biomass

STOKER FIRED BOILERS

Stoker fired boilers

Chain grate stoker

Coal is fed onto one end of a moving chain grate. As the grate
moves along, the coal burns before dropping off at the end as ash.
Coal must be uniform as large lumps will not burn completely
before reaching the end of the grate.

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D-TYPE BOILERS OIL/GAS FIRED BOILERS

D Type Boiler

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CFBC BOILER

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GA OF TYPICAL SUPERCRITICAL BOILER - ELEVATION

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4. FUELS

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FUELS FOR BOILER

The following fuels are commonly used in boilers

Coal

Sub bituminous and Lignite

Oil

Heavy Fuel Oil, LSHS, LDO, HSD etc.,

Gas

Natural gas , Blast furnace gas, Coke oven gas

etc.,

Biomass fuels

Bagasse, Ricehusk , Wood and other agro fuels

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ANALYSIS OF COAL
Two types of coal analysis are in general use :

Proximate analysis
o
o
o

Gives information on the behaviour of coal when it is heated

Expressed in percent by weight
Items of Proximate analysis
-

Moisture Inherent and Surface moisture

Ash
Fixed carbon
Volatile matter
Sulphur is given as separate determination

ASTM standard 3172 followed for proximate analysis

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ANALYSIS OF COAL
Ultimate analysis
o
o
o

Gives elemental analysis of coal

Expressed in percent by weight
Required to compute air requirements, weight of products of combustion and
heat losses on boiler tests
Ultimate analysis determines:
-

Total Carbon

Hydrogen

Nitrogen

Sulphur

Moisture

Ash
Oxygen

ASTM standard 3176 followed for ultimate analysis

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ANALYSIS OF COAL
The analysis of coal can be represented in many ways as explained below:
As received basis
As dried basis
Dry basis
Dry ash free basis

As received basis will be used for combustion calculations

A Ash ; C Carbon ; H Hydrogen ; O Oxygen ; N Nitrogen
S Sulphur ; Mi Inherent Moisture ; Ms Surface Moisture
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Significance of various parameters in coal analysis

Fixed carbon:

Fixed carbon gives an indication of coking properties of coal, a guide in

the choice of fuel firing equipment

Volatile Matter:

The main constituents of volatile matter are hydrogen oxygen, carbon

monoxide, methane and other hydrocarbonos.
Used to establish the rank of coal
High volatile matter makes the coal easy to burn

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Significance of Various Parameters in Coal Analysis

Ash Content:
Ash is an impurity that will not burn.

Typical range is 0.5 to 40%

Reduces handling and burning capacity.
Increases handling costs
Affects combustion efficiency and boiler efficiency
Determines the slagging and fouling tendency in boiler

Moisture Content:
Moisture decreases the heat content per kg of coal.
Typical range is 0.5 to 35%
Increases heat loss, due to evaporation

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Significance of Various Parameters in Coal Analysis

Sulphur Content:

Typical range is 0.5 to 1.0 %. Some imported coals have sulphur up to 3 %

Increase in sulphur increases acid dew point corrosion in low temperature areas
like economisers, airheaters , fluegas ducts and chimney.

Oxygen Content:
Typical range is 6 12 % .

Guide to the rank of coal.

Amount of oxygen is high in low rank fuels like lignite
High oxygen fuels have low heating values
It is calculated by subtracting from 100 the sum of other
components of ultimate analysis.

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Typical Proximate analysis (As fired - % by wt.)

Indian Coal Imported Coal Imported Coal
(Australia)
(Indonesia)
Total Moisture

6.70

15.00

38.00

Ash

36.50

13.71

1.70

Volatile Matter

26.50

21.00

31.42

Fixed Carbon

30.30

50.29

28.88

Sulphur

0.40

1.09

0.06

GCV (Kcal/kg)

4549

5255

4100

Note: FC + VM + M + A = 100 %

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Typical Ultimate analysis ( As fired - % by wt.)

Indian Coal

Imported Coal Imported Coal

(Australia)
(Indonesia)

Carbon

45.90

54.89

42.33

Hydrogen

3.20

3.87

3.20

Oxygen

6.30

9.83

13.87

Nitrogen

1.00

1.61

0.84

Sulphur

0.40

1.09

0.06

Ash

36.50

13.71

1.70

Moisture

6.70

15.00

38.00

GCV

4549

5255

4100

Note:
C + H + O + N + S + M + A = 100 %
All above combustible of fuel are obtain by chemical process at
Laboratory
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Heating Value of Coal

It is the heat content of coal and gets released when complete

combustion of coal takes place

Heating or Calorific value shall be expressed in kCal/kg of coal on as
received or dry or dry-ash free basis
Heating values as determined by Bomb Calorimeter are termed high
or
gross calorific value which include the latent heat of water vapour
Heating value of coal can also be calculated by the Dulong formula
HHV = 8050 x C + (H - O / 8) x 34400 + 2220 x S , kCal/kg
where
C- carbon , H Hydrogen , O- Oxygen , S- Sulphur in fuel

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Lower Heating Value of Coal

In actual boiler operation , the water vapour in the combustion gas

leaving is not cooled below its dew point and this latent heat is not
available for making steam. This reduced heating value is called Lower
Heating Value
LHV of coal = HHV 583.3 * (8.937 x H + H2O) / 100, kCal/kg

where
H Hydrogen , H2O Moisture in fuel

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Ash Characteristics of coal

The ash characteristics plays a major role in the selection of
boiler size.
Coal ash consists almost entirely of metal oxides
Ash in the coal influences Slagging and Fouling on the
heating surface of boiler
Slagging - Fused deposits or resolidified molten
material that forms primarily on furnace walls or high gas
temperature zone
Fouling - Bonded ( sintered or cemented ) ash builtup
that forms primarily on convection surfaces such as
superheater and reheater tube
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Ash Characteristics of coal

Chemical analysis of coal ash is generally expressed as :
Fe2O3
CaO
MgO
Na2O
K2O
SiO2
Al2O3
TiO2
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100 %

Coal - Ash Behaviour in Boiler

The following are the key parameters for evaluating the
Coal ash behaviour

Ash Fusibility temperatures

Base / Acid ratio
Iron Calcium ratio
Silica Alumina ratio
Iron / Dolomite ratio
Dolomite percentage
Ferritic percentage

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Coal - Ash Behaviour in Boiler

Ash Fusibility temperatures
Initial deformation
temperature (IT)

The temperature at which tip of ash sample

pyramid begin to deform

Softening
temperature (ST)

The temperature at which ash sample has

fused in to a spherical shape in which the
height is equal to the width at the base

Hemispherical
temperature (HT)

The temperature at which ash sample has

fused in to a hemispherical shape where the
height is equal to the width at the base

Fluid temperature
(FT)

The temperature at which ash sample has

fused down in to a nearly flat layer with a
maximum height of 1/16 inch

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Coal - Ash Behaviour in Boiler

Ash Fusibility temperatures

1
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Cone before heating

Initial deformation temperature
Softening temperature
Hemispherical temperature
Fluid temperature

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Coal - Ash Behaviour in Boiler

Base

/ Acid ratio

Fe2O3+CaO+MgO+Na2O+K2O

SiO2+Al2O3+TiO2

It is an indication of the fusion characteristics and slagging potential of coal ash

Slagging potential increases with increase in the ratio

Alkaline metals in ash has low fusibility temperatures whereas acidic metals
has higher fusibility temperatures
Non slagging coal generally has the ratio of < 0.6
Silica

/ Alumina ratio - SiO2 / Al2O3

For two coals having equal base/acid ratios, the one with higher silica / alumina

ratio will have lower fusibility temperature

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Coal - Ash Behaviour in Boiler

Iron / Calcium ratio - Fe2O3 /CaO
This ratio in conjunction with iron oxide in ash will indicate the slagging nature
of the ash.
In the absence of lime(Cao) , iron oxides do not make most fusible slags
For example, The ash having Fe2O3 of 31.8 % and Cao of 0.3 % ( ratio 106)
will have less slagging potential when compared to ash having Fe2O3 of 21.3
% and Cao of 4.4 % ( ratio 4.4)
Total alkalies (Na2O+K2O)
The presence of sodium and potassium in ash will reduce the ash fusibility

temperature.
Sodium having more than 5 % will have severe slagging and fouling potential

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5. COMBUSTION

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What is COMBUSTION ?

High speed, high temperature chemical reaction

Rapid union of an element or compound with oxygen to liberate
heat controlled explosion
Combustion occurs when elements of fuel such as carbon and
hydrogen combine with oxygen
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Chemical reaction in Combustion

Moisture (%)
Mineral matter
(%)
Carbon (%)
Hydrogen
(%)

C + O2 CO 2
2C + O2 2 CO

+ 8084
+ 2430

2H 2 + O2 2H2O

+ 28922 Kcals/kg of Hydrogen

Nitrogen (%)
Sulphur (%)
Oxygen (%)
GCV
(Kcal/kg)

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+ O2 SO2

+ 2,250

Kcals/kg of Carbon
Kcals/kg of Carbon

Kcals/kg of Sulphur

Stoichiometric or theoretical air is ideal

amount of air required for burning 1 kg of fuel

of Combustion
TIME
All combustion requires sufficient Time which depends
upon type of Reaction
TEMPERATURE
Temperature must be more than ignition temperature
TURBULENCE
Proper turbulence helps in bringing the fuel and air in
intimate contact and gives them enough time to
complete reaction.
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What are the three types of combustion?

Stoichiometric

Combustion is achieved when all the fuel is

burned using only the theoretical amount of air, but 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. Complete combustion is always
our goal. With complete combustion, the fuel is
burned at the highest combustion efficiency with low
pollution.
Incomplete / partial Combustion occurs when all the fuel is
not burned, which results in the formation of soot and smoke.

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Actual Combustion in Boiler

Flue gas
Air

O2
H2O
Unburnt carbon

O2

CO2

N2
Fuel
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N2

ATMOSPHERICAIR

COMBUSTION
PRODUCTS

CO2

Dry Air
Moisture

COMBUSTION SYSTEM

H2O
N2
O2
CO

HEAT

Combustibles
Ash

HC (Unburnt)
C (Unburnt)

Moisture
SOx
Particulates
Condensable
Vapours

FUEL

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POLLUTANTS

E
F
C
I
E
N
C
Y

R
E
D
U
C
E
R
S

COMBUSTION in Tangential fired boilers

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Relation Between CO2 and Excess air

100
90

Excess air %

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
8.4

10

11

12

Carbon dioxide %

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13

14

Relation Between Residual O2 and Excess air

250

Excess air (%)

200
150

100
50
0
1

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7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Oxygen (%)
Relation between residual oxygen and excess air

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION

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