Sustainable Power Generation
MJ2405
Steam Boilers & Industrial Furnaces
Miro Petrov
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Reading material on boilers
Many books can be used –
Any chapter on combustors, boilers, furnaces, steam generators, etc., might
be good to look through!
The main suggested sources:
Advanced Energy Systems (Khartchenko&Kharchenko), CRC Press 2014
– section 3.7 and parts of chapters 6 & 7.
Energy Conversion – free e-book by courtesy of the University of Tulsa,
Kenneth C. Weston, 2000 – parts of chapters 4 and 9
http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~kenneth-weston/
På svenska:
Energiteknik - Del 2; Henrik Alvarez, Studentlitteratur 2006 – delar av
kapitel 9 & kapitel 10.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
2
Horizontal fire-tube water heater
Source: www.steamshowersauna.org
Simplest boiler type. Used typically to produce hot water or saturated steam.
The combustion zone (the flame) is inside a tube immersed in a water tank.
Fired with liquid or gas fuels. Mostly at small- to mid-scale district heating or
industrial applications. Not suitable for large sizes or for solid fuels.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
3
Purpose and parts of a large steam boiler
• Should properly be called a “steam generator”!
• Burns fuel to produce hot gases in the combustion zone (furnace)
which then transfer heat to the water/steam side in the steam
generation zone. Alternatively, some available waste hot gases
from another process can be used, instead of burning a fuel.
• The steam generation zone consists of economizer (water heater),
evaporator (boiling section), and superheater/reheater situated
along the flue gas path.
• Remaining heat from the flue gas is transferred back to the fresh air
supplied to the combustion zone, via an air preheater.
• The common subcritical steam boiler would have a steam drum
situated usually high up at the top of the evaporator section.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Conceptual setup of a modern steam boiler
Water-tube design! The combustion zone is surrounded by tubes filled with
boiling water. All other heat exchangers are hidden from the flame in the
horizontal and downward flue gas ducts.
Steam superheaters
drum
reheater
Flame zone with
evaporator tubes economiser
Air air preheater
Flue gas treatment
and to stack
Fuel
fly ash
Bottom ash
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Main boiler components
Steam generator schematic Source: Advanced Energy Systems,
for a large power plant, N.V.Khartchenko & V.M.Kharchenko,
CRC Press 2014.
with its major auxiliaries
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Water/steam path through the boiler
Saturated steam is drawn
from the steam drum and
flows to the superheater
Feedwater enters the
tubes, after which it is
boiler as liquid and is
directly sent to the turbine
heated up to almost
or to other users.
boiling point in the
economizer, situated
in the flue gas duct.
Evaporation should
The evaporator section is
not happen in the
situated around the
economizer.
combustion zone. Water boils
in vertical pipes around the
furnace. Saturated steam is
collected in the steam drum.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Natural circulation in a subcritical boiler
None (or very small) pumping
Feedwater from power is necessary for the
economizer natural circulation!
Heat from the
combustion zone
Saturated (slightly subcooled)
water flows down in the Vapor bubbles mixed with
“downcomers” (downpipes) saturated water. Only a small
outside the boiler walls part of the feedwater boils off
to steam in one circulation
round, the rest of the water
going for another round.
Source: Modified from:
Advanced Energy Systems, Water boils in the “risers” -
N.V.Khartchenko & V.M.Kharchenko, evaporator tubes inside the
CRC Press 2014. boiler wall, facing the furnace
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Steam Boiler with natural circulation
Combustion zone (d) surrounded
by tube walls where water is
partially evaporated under
continuous recirculation.
Superheater & reheater (g, l)
situated in the gas ducts.
Steam drum & steam header –
highest up on top – separates
the evaporated steam (k) and
sends liquid water down for
another evaporation round.
Economizer tubes (e) in the
downward gas duct.
Air heater (q) as a regenerative
preheater, or as a tube bundle
at the exit of the gas duct.
Source: Karl Schröder ”Grosse
Dampfkraftwerke”,
Springer-Verlag 1966
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Furnace & water-tube walls
Boilers are built entirely on-site, all tubes are welded together by hand, only
some tube bundles of the gas duct may arrive preassembled but they still
need to be fitted and installed by hand. Enormously difficult, costly, dirty
and time-consuming job, demanding very skilled workforce.
Source: http://school.mech.uwa.edu.au/~dwright/DANotes/cylinders/applications/applications.html
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Retention time of a burning particle
Retention time is the average time that the burning fuel particles (and the produced hot gases)
spend in the furnace zone and along the gas path – all the way from ignition to the boiler exit.
This is a main design parameter for the boiler size and for the effective combustion process.
Too short retention time = incomplete combustion and/or insufficient heat exchange in the gas duct.
Too long retention time = slower flow of gases through the boiler = large, bulky and costly equipment.
Optimum retention time, depending on the type of fuel burned, would result in optimum boiler size and
well balanced thermal loading of the furnace and the heat exchangers.
Other important parameters: rated thermal output; type of fuel; moisture and ash content of the fuel;
steam pressure and temperature; desired performance at partial (off-design) loading…
The typical retention time in a modern heavy-loaded boiler fired with pulverized coal or with oil/gas fuels
is about several seconds!
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Steam boiler & steam plant
process layout
Source: www.jamarcompany.com/projects/alliant-energy.html Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Shell-&-Tube (fin-tube) Air Preheater
Used in small- to medium-
size boilers.
Becomes very bulky for
large-scale applications
due to poor gas-to-air
heat exchange process
across the tubes.
Source: http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Air_preheater
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Regenerative Air Preheater
(Ljungström)
The most commonly used air preheater for large steam boilers –
a massive rotating disk containing solid material acting as short-term heat storage
Source: www.balcke-duerr.com
Source: Karl Schröder ”Grosse Dampfkraftwerke”, Springer-Verlag 1966
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Example of Mass and Energy Balance for
the regenerative air preheater
Source: Karl Schröder
”Grosse
Dampfkraftwerke”,
Springer-Verlag
1966
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Once-through Steam Boiler
Used for supercritical
steam cycles. Also called
“Benson” boiler.
No steam drum, no The fundamental design of
recirculation. All water steam boilers remains the same
passing the furnace walls for the last ~100 years.
is evaporated completely. Improvements are made only
in terms of materials, welding
techniques, operation & control,
combustion zone fluid dynamics,
fuel delivery and flue gas
treatment methods & systems.
Source: Karl Schröder ”Grosse
Dampfkraftwerke”,
Springer-Verlag 1966
Source: …
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Benson boiler with spiral wall tubes
Source: Basics of Supercritical
Steam Generators,
at www.slideplayer.com
Steam separator
needs to be used
instead of a drum,
to safeguard the
superheaters from
receiving water
droplets that have
not evaporated fully
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Fluidized Bed
biomass-fired
steam boiler
Achieves low NOx emissions
and complete combustion for
slow-burning solid fuels at
long retention time
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Circulating Fluidized-Bed
Boiler
Usually used for coal, but
also applicable to biomass
or solid waste fuels
Example Steam Data:
Total fuel input 86.3 MWth
Steam flow 30.5 kg/s
Steam pressure 89 bar
Steam temperature 480°C
Feedwater temperature 120°C
Wood waste fuel
Sulphur 0.07%
Moisture ~30 %
Ash 3%
LHV 12 MJ/kg
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Advanced
Biomass
Combustion
The straw-fired boiler
at the Avedøre
steam power plant
near Copenhagen,
Denmark.
Superheat and reheat
at 600oC; with specific
ash handling solution.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Grate Combustor or Incinerator
Most common for biomass or waste (MSW)
fuels, which cannot be crushed/pulverized
and entrained in the air flow.
Fuel rolls down along the grate as it dries,
ignites, and burns out slowly.
Air is supplied from below the grate (primary)
and above the combustion zone (secondary).
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Small-scale biomass furnace
with traveling or vibrating grate
Fuel supply
Flue gas hopper
recirculation
Fuel
Secondary air feeder
Grate surface
Exhaust duct
Hydraulics
to boiler section
for grate
Source: www.kmwenergy.com
actuation
Ash removal
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Municipal Waste Incineration Process
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) incinerator with heat recovery and flue gas cleaning – showing here
the old unit at the Gärstad plant, Tekniska Verken AB in Linköping, Sweden.
The flue gas treatment section is larger than the boiler itself. Vicious pollutants could be produced during incineration
of waste, therefore rigorous flue gas cleaning is required.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Heat Recovery Steam Generator
Generating steam by using any available flow of hot gases coming from another process, with or without
additional combustion, usually from gas turbine exhaust or industrial furnaces.
Horizontal and vertical arrangements of a typical HRSG for combined cycles:
Source: www.bhpi.com.ph Source: www.cicloscombinados.com
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Pollution from the power sector
Pollutants are resulting primarily from the combustion process in the boiler furnace
(or in a combustion chamber), not by the thermodynamic cycle itself.
• Local pollution (dust, soot, flyash)
Solution: Higher chimney for better spreading of flue gases in the atmosphere.
Scrubbing away fly-ash to >99% by electrostatic precipitators (large plants) or in
bag-filters (smaller plants).
• Regional pollution (SOx, NOx, other acid or toxic compounds)
Solution: DeSOx and DeNOx systems plus low-NOx burners are now state-of-art
for all new boilers. Gas scrubbers continue to be improved. Other pollutants can
be captured by the bottom-ash or extracted from the gas flow by water-wash or
absorption/adsorption processes; or entrained in the fly-ash and separated in the
ash filter or in the de-SOx unit.
• Global pollution (CO2)?
Solution for fossil fuels: Carbon capture before or after combustion by several
possible methods...
Follow the lecture about CO2 capture and sequestration later in this course.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Energy losses in a boiler
Types of losses in a typical steam boiler:
• Thermal losses with the high temperature of flue gas released to the
atmosphere through the stack (after all heat exchangers).
Cannot be too low because gases should be able to rise high and spread out well in the
atmosphere, plus that corrosive condensation on cold surfaces should be avoided.
• Thermal losses with ash being discarded from the combustion zone.
Heat from ashes could be used for feedwater preheating in various sorts of “ash coolers”.
• Chemical losses with unburned solid fuel particles (soot).
Should be decreased by combustion improvements.
• Chemical losses with unburned gaseous compounds –
mostly CO (carbon monoxide) and UHC (unburned hydrocarbons).
Again, should be decreased by combustion improvements.
• Mass losses with water blow-down for salt control and with
steam injection in gas duct for cleaning of soot from tubes.
Mostly unavoidable and comparatively small.
• Thermal losses with heat radiation from boiler walls to surroundings.
Decreased by better outside wall insulation. If the boiler is housed in a building, the air for
combustion will be taken from the upper part of the building so that most of the radiation
and convection loss is thus brought back into the boiler with the warm air.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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Defining the boiler efficiency
Can be done in two ways – direct and indirect:
Direct efficiency calculation: Indirect efficiency calculation:
Energy transferred to steam Measuring all major losses and subtracting them from unity
vs. Energy contained in the fuel
Advantages:
Challenges: It is often easier, cheaper and more precise to measure the
loss parameters rather than the steam and fuel flows!
Both the steam flow and the fuel mass flow can often be
very difficult to measure precisely!
Major losses can be defined by measurements of
temperature and chemical composition, very easy.
Sometimes the indirect method is the only applicable option
for assessment of old boilers or at partial load conditions.
Dept. of Energy Technology, KTH - Stockholm
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