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A brief
description of the working of soot blowers is given in this article.
In oil fired boilers, over a period of time the heat transfer tubes get
covered by a layer of soot or fine carbon deposit. This reduces the heat transfer
from the hot gases to the water and reduces the efficiency of the boiler.
In coal fired boilers, the furnace area gets covered by slag which is molten ash.
The ash also sticks to the heat transfer surface in the other heat transfer areas.
These ash accumulations reduce heat transfer and increase the tube metal
temperatures leading to failure of the tubes.
.
One with a very long lance called the long retractable soot
blowers. This is normally used to clean the ash deposit from between the
coils of superheaters and economisers.
The other type is the shorter lance type called the wall blowers.
These are used to clean the furnace walls. The lance extends a short distance
around 200 mm from the furnace wall. The nozzle direction is such that the
steam impinges on the walls cleaning the surface. During operation, the
lance rotates cleaning the radial area covered by the steam from the nozzle.
The deposits on the walls are due to the chemical constituents of ash, and
the amount of combustion air. If the ash contains more of Ferrous Sulphide,
then the melting temperature of the ash is low which makes the ash melt and
stick to the walls.
A large coal fired Thermal power plant will have around two hundred soot
blowers of both types arranged to cover all the area of the boiler. This will be
programmed to automatically operate to a required sequence.
Intelligent soot blower systems calculate the trends in the temperature increase
in different sections of a boiler. The program then decides which soot blowers
have to be operated and at what frequency.
High-pressure water lances are also used in some units where the slagging is
very heavy.
The Quattrosonics Story - The Alternative to Steam Soot Blowers
We have found your company on the internet while we have been searching for
alternatives to steam soot blowers for thermal power plants and we are
interested to learn about sonic soot blowers. With steam soot blowers our main
problem is water which occurs when we are using steam soot blowers. It reacts
with our ash to become like a stone in our boiler area and super heater pipe
surface.
Best Practice Guidelines for Boiler Soot Blowing
Utilities have been cleaning their boilers for many years using either steam or
high-pressure air. In the past, when air was used, due to the size of the boilers
and the reasonable quality of fuel used, a relatively small amount of cleaning
was required.
In the past decades, larger power-generating stations were built and the quality
of fuel was deteriorating, requiring a greater amount of cleaning with shorter
cleaning cycles.
With these changes, larger compressors, when air cleaning, became a necessity.
Reciprocating compressors were unable to compete on an economic basis in the
larger capacities due to their relatively small capacities, initial cost, high
installation costs, and space requirements for multiple compressor installations.
Centrifugal compressors have been used in utility soot blowing in a limited
amount since the early 1950s, but the reliability and efficiency of early high
pressure designs left a great deal to be desired.
From the late 1960s through the early 1980s, compressor manufacturers took
great strides in the development of the high-pressure, multi-stage, centrifugal air
compressors, utilizing the advances in centrifugal technology and
manufacturing capabilities. They extended these advances in efficiency,
reliability, and compactness to the high-pressure units (300 to 500 psig). This
makes them the most viable option for economic large volume, high-pressure
compressed air, such as required in a soot blowing system.
Air vs. Steam for Soot Blowing in Boilers
Generally speaking, soot blower manufacturers lances, with some
modifications, will handle either cleaning media steam or compressed air.
Cleaning energy is usually defined as:
Fluid Horsepower = WV (Px 144)/33,000
where:
W
V
is
P is Psig at the nozzle
is
Specific
Flow
Volume
in
in
lbs/min
Ft3/lb
This fluid horsepower relates equated kinetic energy at the point of impact to
relate to the surface soot removal. This relationship is called peak impact
pressure.
A nozzle designed properly for air or another designed for steam will clean an
area equally effectively. Other more important criteria that are used to determine
the boiler cleaning media are listed below:
Geographic Location An area that has quality water available may be
more prone to use steam.
Quality of Water chemically hard water would be a detriment with a
steam cleaning system due to the high cost of chemically treating the
water.
Capacity of Steam or Air - An excess of steam or air due to operational
changes may influence the decision including operator familiarity and
comfort with either media.
Looking at air vs. steam on an economic basis:
evaluate the total system. Measurement and observation gave us the following
demand profiles:
Estimated low pressure demand:
Ash air
1469 scfm
Control air
1212 scfm
Station air
2334 scfm
Total
5020 scfm
7480 scfm
12,500 scfm
4020
scfm
6730
scfm
This low pressure demand was satisfied with 6000 scfm base load compressor
and 1400 scfm of VSD driven trim unit. The remaining 6730 of high pressure
air (300 psig) demand was satisfied by running one of the 2000 HP original
units and a new additional 1500 HP smaller centrifugal with 25% turndown.
The newer unit is then 20% more power efficient then the original with almost
15% more effective turndown.
The new 1500 HP compressor was more power efficient than the older
1995 units due to better manufacturing and advanced design.
The smaller centrifugal with more effective turndown was applied to the
demand at 75% flow, 80% power and generally not running in blow
off. Previously the three older units were all running normally with two
in Blow Off this improved the overall high pressure efficiency about
20%
The low pressure was obviously producing at a much better specific
power. An improvement of 48% compared to the previous high pressure
air regulated down.
The total savings reduced the annual electrical energy cost by 43% or
$1,387,638 per year. The total project cost was $1,462,700, a simple
payback of a little over one year (12.6 to 12.2 months)
Other Soot Blowing Operational Considerations:
Tube Erosion
When steam is used as a cleaning medium and a soot blower starts is blowing
cycle, there normally is a temperature differential between the soot blower and
the steam. When this happens, steam condenses and slugs of water are ejected
from the soot blower nozzle. After repeated cycles, the slugs may erode the
tubes in the boilers requiring plugging of the tubes and eventually replacement.
Tube erosion can often be a more significant problem in a steam system than in
a compressed air system.
Soot blowing Cycles and Considerations
A cleaning cycle is a period of time in which required blowers are cycled in a
pre-arranged sequence to clean given areas of a boiler over a period of time.
Many variables are intermeshed in determining a cycle, some of which are:
Size of boiler
Time period for cleaning
Type and quality of fuel used
Type of blowing (stacked or single)
Highest soot blower capacity requirement
Personnel preference for a given time period.
o Increase or decrease linear travel rate of long retractable lances
(soot blowers).
o Increase or decrease number of revolutions of the wall blowers.
o Increase or decrease pressure at the nozzles / change or modify
nozzles
o Operate parallel blowing systems when possible.
Most of these items are variable and should be considered in detail before
the system specifications are written. Some ways a blower cycle can be
reduced or expanded after installation are to:
Typical Bar Chart Typical compressed air soot blowing system with
stacking:
Jim Wood, Patti Van Der Meer, and Sid Van der Meer (owners)
of Northwest Equipment
Stacking Considerations Operating Parallel Blowers When Possible.
It is poor practice to blow in the pendant reheat surface at the same time
the wall blowers are in use. The control system can be arranged so this
will never occur. Blowing an air heater at any time usually has no
disturbing effect on the boiler, nor does blowing any horizontal boiler
surfaces, which usually includes primary reheater, superheater, and
economizer surface.
The concept of stacking which helps to level load the compressed air
system may create some problems for the boiler, with significant
temperature excursions. Larger boilers would experience much lower
magnitude of upsets. Pressure requirements vary greatly from lance to
lance. Normal ranges are from 135 to 260 psig at the nozzle of the
blower. Pressure is related to the cleaning energy (PIP) required for a
given area and cooling requirements.
Cooling long retractable lances in higher temperature areas of the boiler
use a substantially greater quantity of air for cooling than for cleaning and
at a higher pressure. A high pressure for the long retractable lances is
often required to accommodate the pressure drop associated with the high
flow rates and long lengths of the blowers. Typical cooling requirements
for long retractable lances are:
Lance Length
40 ft.
50 ft.
heat transfer decreases, this will lower the temperature of the steam going
to the superheated portion of the system, therefore decreasing overall
efficiency of the system.
A normal cycle for a wall blower starts when it energizes and moves out
into the furnace to its outermost position where the control valve opens
and air starts flowing. It takes three seconds to go from zero to full flow.
The wall blower rotates one or more times depending on the amount of
cleaning required and then the control valve closes in three seconds and
the blower retracts into the wall.
The time for a wall blower cycle is approximately three to six minutes
and the period of zero flow between wall blower flow to no-flow to flow
can be as high as 1 _ minutes in a normal sequence. This may be reduced
if cycle time needs to be reduced by overlapping.
Long Retractable Lances or IR Blowers
Long retractable blowers are used to clean pendant-type radiant surfaces
and convection surfaces in high temperature zones as well as convection
passes to reduce slag buildup on the walls of the boiler and for
temperature control. These areas are normally in the super-heater,
reheater, and the economizer section.
The long retractable lance cycle starts when the lance energizes and
extends into the boiler and air starts flowing with the three-second delay
from the control valve. The lance travels outward and rotates at the same
time. The linear speed varies from 65 to 150 inches per minute,
depending on the cleaning and temperature zone requirements.
Long Retractable Lance Cleaning Pattern
Long retractable lances vary in length with the boiler size and are onehalf the width of the boiler. Cooling is very critical with these lances
since they may operate in temperature zones up to 2,000_F and are
cantilevered out from the side of the boiler walls.
Air Heaters
The long retractable blowers are often also used in the air heater section.
Sometimes a swing arm type blower may be used in the air heater
section. This will use a lower magnitude of compressed air, but will
generally require a longer cycle.
System Interlocks
Several safety interlocks can be provided on soot blowing systems. One
or more of the interlocks listed below may be used:
These safety interlocks are used to prevent damage due to low air
pressure or flow to the lances, especially the long retractable lances while
they
are
operating
in
the
boiler.
The loss of a lance will reduce boiler efficiency and eventually will lead
to a plant shutdown.
Improved Performance from Priority-Based Intelligent Sootblower Systems
The Jim Bridger Plant, located in Rock Springs, Wyo., is the largest coal-fired
plant operated by PacifiCorp Energy. The plant consists of four 560-MW units;
all have corner-fired Combustion Engineering (CE, now Alstom Power)
controlled circulation steam generators. Each boiler produces 3.98 million lb/hr
at 2,660 psi with 1,005F superheat and 1,005F reheat steam temperatures. Each
unit was commissioned in the 1970s and has been upgraded with Alstoms
TFS2000 low-NOx firing retrofit.
Jim Bridger is also a mine-mouth plant burning southwest Wyoming
subbituminous coal primarily from two company-owned mines, supplemented
by coal delivered by train from another local mine. All of the coal produced by
the company-owned mines must be consumed by the plant, even if the coal
properties are unfavorable. Thus, the plant blends delivered coal to produce the
most favorable coal possible.
The Effect of Coal Selection on Slagging
The factors affecting coal energy content include Btu/pound, ash, and moisture
level. The table shows the plant design, current target, and percent of time
targets were met. The targeted heating value of the coal is 10% lower, and
moisture content 20% higher, than design. This means that higher fuel input is
required to achieve the unit-rated load. The ash content target is 50% higher
than design, meaning that the sootblowing effort required to maintain boiler
performance is higher than design. Target-met percentages of 50% to 65%
illustrate the variability of heating value, ash content, and moisture. This
variability can quickly change sootblowing needs at the plant.
Coal quality at Jim Bridger plant. Source: Diamond Power International Inc.
and PacifiCorp Energy
There can be significant operational limits due to high-slagging coals, as
measured by high sodium (reheater fouling), high calcium, or high iron (water
wall slagging), and low ash-softening temperature under reducing (combustion
with less oxygen than is ideally required) conditions (reheater and secondary
superheater fouling). The slagging potential factors listed in the table meet
targeted values more than 99% of the time. Low-slagging coal is emphasized at
Jim Bridger, as the units historically require a load drop within two hours of
burning coal outside of the slagging targets.
Original Equipment Blowers
The retractable sootblowers on the Jim Bridger units are mostly vintage CopesVulcan blowers. Diamond Power IK-600 blowers clean the front of the platen
superheat section. There are 28 retractable blowers on each unit at Jim Bridger,
all using steam as the cleaning media. The retractable blowers are positioned to
clean the platen superheat pendant, reheat pendant, finishing superheat pendant,
primary superheat pendant, and economizer sections of the boilers.
The Bridger plant uses Diamond Power IR-3Z wallblowers with steam as the
blowing media. Each unit has 76 wallblowers. There are 20 wallblowers on
each of the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors. These 60 blowers are in service and
available for use by operations.
The steam wallblowers are intended to blow steam in a path that is nearly
parallel to the furnace wall. The parallel flow path of the wallblower cleaning
arc results in ow energy impact on the furnace wall tubing. In EPRIs Boiler
Tube Failures: Theory and Practice, Volume 2: Water Touched Tubes, the
authors identify excessive sootblowing as one root cause of boiler tube failures,
in addition to insufficient steam temperature, condensate in blowing media,
improper operation of the thermal drain system, excessive blowing pressure,
improper location of the sootblower, improper alignment of the sootblower, and
malfunction of the sootblower. In PacifiCorps experience, correction of the
other factors will prevent excessive sootblowing from causing erosion on the
water wall tubing that has the potential to cause a boiler tube leak.
In general, retractable sootblowers are a higher erosion liability than
wallblowers. A retractable sootblowers steam arc is perpendicular to the tubes
of each panel in its path. The force of the steam removes ash deposits present on
the panels. The force of the steam will also remove minute amounts of tube
metal if blown directly on clean tubing, which results in significant erosion after
many blower operations. In EPRIs Boiler Tube Failures: Theory and Practice,
Volume 3: Steam-Touched Tubes, the authors identify sootblower operations
that occur on a time basis rather than an as-needed basis as a primary cause of
sootblower erosion tube leaks in the areas around retractable sootblowers.
Retractable sootblower nozzle performance is assessed by measuring the peak
impact pressure (PIP) of the cleaning media jet at points downstream of the
nozzle outlet. To reduce the erosive impact of retractable sootblowers, in the
1990s, the Jim Bridger plant replaced original Hi-PIP nozzles on retractable
blowers with ground flush nozzles that have a much lower peak impact
pressure. Lowering the PIP of these retractable blowers also made them less
effective at removal of ash deposits and platenized build-up.
Sootblowing Side Effects
The Jim Bridger plants history of sootblower erosion and fouling in the pendant
sections made sootblower optimization critical (see sidebar). When sootblower
operation frequency is too high, a plant risks losing power generation from tube
leaks; but when sootblower frequency is too low, there is a risk of boiler
pluggage. Intelligent sootblowing (ISB) is the plants chosen tool to optimize
sootblowing. Plant operators expect ISB to operate sootblowers when and
where necessary to minimize tube erosion and avoid pluggage. They also expect
no heat rate loss from the use of ISB.
operations for the month, divided by the average monthly load in gross
megawatts, yielding a unit of sootblower operations per MW.
ISB Performance Results
A comparison of wallblower operations per MW on both units is shown in
Figure 1. The comparison data span one year.
4. This figure illustrates the reduction in retracts in the reheat section that
resulted from using ISB. Unit 2 retracts operated through ISB, while Unit 3
retracts were operated manually. The data are from February 2010. The total
number of retract operations for the reheat section that month was 28% lower
on Unit 2, with 2,326 operations on Unit 3 and 1,664 operations on Unit 2.
Source: Diamond Power International Inc. and PacifiCorp Energy
Not only were the number of sootblower operations reduced, but the distribution
of retract operations also reflected improved slagging patterns on Unit 2.
Looking at K5 and K6 operations in Figure 4, the reduction and redistribution of
blower operations between Unit 2 and Unit 3 is most prevalent. K5 and K6,
located on the left and right side of the boiler respectively, clean the bottom of
the reheat pendant section. The right sides of the boilers have higher furnace
exit gas temperatures and slag more heavily at the bottom of the reheater, which
corresponds with higher retract counts for K6 (295 operations) than K5 (220
operations) on Unit 2. Unit 3 has a similar number of operations for both K5
and K6 (about 475 each). When operating manually (Unit 3), left and right
blower operations are weighted equally. Similar observations can be made for
each of the right and left side pairs of retractable blowers shown in Figure 4.
Tube Erosion Reduced
Ultrasonic tube thickness measurements were taken along the K5/K6 retractable
sootblower path, historically the path with the highest erosion rate, during the
springs of 2005, 2009, and 2010. Gemini nozzles were installed on the K5 and
K6 retractable blowers during spring 2009. Because minimizing sootblower
erosion is a plant goal, increasing impact pressures by upgrading to Gemini
nozzles was a major concern. Annual erosion rates are calculated as the change
in tube thickness (inches) divided by the change in time (years). The calculated
tube erosion rates are illustrated in Figure 5. The average erosion rate dropped
from 0.015 in/year to 0.009 in/year. The reduced sootblower erosion is a result
of the tandem performance of the Gemini nozzles and the ISB system (both
were installed spring 2009). The reduction in erosion rate meets the plants goal
to minimize tube erosion and extends the projected life of the tube panels from
eight years to 16 years (based on a four-year outage cycle).
5. This chart shows erosion rates for the K5/K6 path of the platen superheat
section. The average erosion rate calculated for 2009-2010 indicates an overall
reduction from 2005 to 2009. Source: Diamond Power International Inc. and
PacifiCorp Energy
It should be noted that erosion rates vary from tube to tube largely due to the
inspection process. Tube metal thicknesses are taken by an inspector who is
searching for the thinnest spot on a section of tubing, based on multiple readings
and a visual inspection of the tube surface. Normally, the results are repeatable,
but occasionally the thinnest spot is not located. This likely happened on Panel
11 during the 2009 inspection, because the panel showed a lower than average
erosion rate for the 2005-2009 inspection interval and an erosion rate more than
twice the average for 2009-2010.
Maintaining Boiler Performance
The first boiler performance goal of the Jim Bridger plant was to avoid boiler
pluggage, measured in lost megawatts. No megawatts have been lost on Unit 2
due to boiler pluggage since commissioning the ISB system.
The heat rate metrics chosen to monitor boiler performance are superheat steam
temperature, reheat steam temperature, and economizer gas outlet temperature.
To measure the impact of the ISB system on these metrics, a comparison of
before and after implementation of ISB on Unit 2 was made. There were no
major surface area changes in the boiler or steam demand changes in the
turbine, so there was no change anticipated in steam temperatures or gas
temperatures caused by outage work.
Figure 6 shows the averages of the heat rate metrics before and after using ISB
on Unit 2. Average economizer gas outlet temperature changed less than three
degrees, which is the margin of error on the plant thermocouples. Overall, the
numbers show an improvement in net unit heat rate. This met the plants goal of
avoiding a heat rate loss.
6. Unit 2 steam and gas temperatures at full load are shown. The "Before ISB"
evaluation period was February 2008 through February 2009, before the spring
2009 overhaul. The "After ISB" evaluation period was October 2009 through
October 2010, after the spring 2009 overhaul. The bars depict averages.
Superheat and reheat steam temperatures both increased. Source: Diamond
Power International Inc. and PacifiCorp Energy
Conclusions
Overall, implementation of the ISB system on Jim Bridger Unit 2 satisfied all
the plants goals. Wallblower cycle counts increased, but they have not caused
any sootblower erosion tube leaks. Retractable sootblower counts dropped, the
distribution improved, and measured erosion rates decreased. There is also a
lower risk of sootblower erosion boiler tube leaks in the pendant section. Boiler
heat rate performance did not degrade, and there were no generation losses due
to boiler slagging.
Slagging and Fouling
Based on different mechanisms involved in ash deposit on the heat surface, two
general types of ash deposition have been defined as slagging and fouling.
Slagging is the formation of molten or partially fused deposits on furnace walls
or convection surfaces exposed to radiant heat. Fouling is defined as the
formation of deposit on convection heat surfaces such as superheater and
reheaters.
Slag formed when melt or soften ash particles is not cooled down to solid state
when they reach the heat surface. Typical initial deformation temperatures (or
so called ash fusion temperatures) are 2100 to 2200 F. With furnace gas
temperatures in excess of 2500 F, we have semi-molten ash that may stick to the
relatively cooler walls. Most ash tend to be resolidified due to the raltaively
lower temperature at the tube surface and the particles factures on impact and
partially bounce back into the gas stream. However, if the furnace is too small,
the exit gas temperature is too high or the melting point of ash is relatively low,
molten ash may not have enough time to be resolidified when they hit the heat
surface, therefore they are easy to stick to the surface and cause the
accumulation of deposits leading to slagging. Depending on the strength and
physical characteristic of the deposit, steam or air sootblower may be able to
remove most of them. However, the base deposit generally remains attached to
the tube, allowing subsequent deposits to accumulate much more rapidly.
Fouling is generally caused by the vaporization of volatile inorganic elements in
the coal during combustion. When heat is aborbed and temperatures decrease in
the convection area of the boiler, compounds formed by these elements
condense on ash particles and heating surface, forming a glue which initiate
deposition.
Factors Influencing Slagging and Fouling
The processes of slagging and fouling and the structure of deposits are varialbe
due to a number factors. Furnace design, ash content, ash fusibility, ash
components, particle size, flow pattern and other factors influence the extent
and nature of ash deposition.
Furnace Design
To avoid slagging on the furnace wall, the furnace should be able to keep ash
particles in suspension and away from furnace surface, distribute heat evenly to
avoid localized temperatures, and remove enough heat to achieve appropriate
temperatures at the furnace exit that will minimize deposition on convection
surface. The furnace should have sufficient wall surface to cool the furnace gas
and ash particle to the desired temperature before they reached any superheater
surface.
EEGT/SCR inlet flue gas temperatures were reduced by about 10F on average.
This increased boiler efficiency and eliminated most load reductions due to
catalyst temperature concerns.
Superheat and reheat steam temperatures were maintained closer to their
desired setpoint, and large excursions were significantly reduced, increasing
reliability.
Superheat attemperation spray flows were lower by about 20 klb/hr to 40
klb/hr on average, and reheat attemperation spray flows were lower by about 15
klb/hr on averagea significant efficiency gain.
Generally, calculated cleanliness of various boiler surface areas is the same or
better.
There are about 5% to 10% fewer sootblowing operations on the whole,
reducing media usage and auxiliary power consumption.
Plant heat rate has improved by an estimated 1%.
The payback of sootblowing optimization technology can typically be measured
in months, with a strong likelihood of seeing immediate positive results.
KCP&Ls implementation on Hawthorn 5 has increased boiler efficiency and
reduced sootblowing-related load constraints. Blowing operations have been
reduced while maintaining boiler cleanliness, so there is less damage to the
tubes and less energy wasted on unnecessary sootblowing operations. Prior to
this technology, the reheat spray valves would frequently run wide open,
reducing cycle efficiency and allowing the reheater tube temperatures to
increasepotentially resulting in long-term damage to the boiler surfaces.
Looking at the future of the optimizer from a performance and life-cycle cost
standpoint, KCP&L is pleased with the results so far. Currently, the performance
engineer at KCP&L is spending less time on sootblowing, with improved
results. The optimizer continues to be used for over 95% of the plant operating
hours since it was commissioned in 2012.
When were talking about optimization, we look at it as the true future of all
coal plants, says Dominic Scardino, Hawthorn plant manager. Were not
planning on building more coal units at this time, so its important to be
proactive in maximizing the value of the existing units. Were actively trying to
Ball Mill or Bowl mills are used for pulverisation of coal in powder form for
efficient
firing
in
boiler.
Raw Coal Feeders are used to supply coal to ball mills in controlled quantity.
Primary Air Fan is used to transport and preheat pulverised coal to burners.
Induced Draught Fan is used to exhaust flue gases to Chimney and create
vacuum
in
Furnace.
Electrostatic Precipitators are used to separate ash particles from flue gases to
control pollution. Here collecting electrode, emitting electrode and rapping
mechanism
used
to
dislodge
fly
ash
particle.
FD Fan used to provide air to boiler for help in firing which is called secondary
air.
Steam produced in boiler is further superheated in Super heaters. There are lot
super heaters such as platen, pendent, convection and final super heaters.
Boiler drum used for separation of steam from water and storage. Nowadays
drum less once through boiler also used which operates at super critical
temperature
and
Pressure.
Boiler circulation pump used for forced circulation of water in water wall
because at high pressure natural circulation is not possible.
Soot Blowers used to remove soot from water wall, Super heater, Re heaters and
Air
Heaters
by
injecting
steam
into
heating
surfaces.
Ash
slurry
Boiler
De
Feed
aerator
pumps
Pump
used
are
used
to
used
to
separate
to
provide
dissolved
flush
ash
with
water.
water
to
boiler
Drum.
air
from
Feed
water.
ESV which is called emergency stop valve used to stop supply of steam to
turbine
when
unit
trips.
Barring gear or shaft turning gear is used to rotate turbine rotor at 3.15 rpm
when turbine is not running to check bending of rotor due to its own weight.
LP Heaters and HP Heaters are used to heat condensate and feed water supplied
to boiler to increase efficiency by steam bled from turbine extraction.
Economiser is used to heat feed water by flue gages to increase efficiency. Heat
of
waste
flue
gas
is
utilised
here.
Air Heaters uses heat of waste flue gases to preheat primary and secondary air.
There are two types of air heaters tubular and rotary.
How
to
avoid
Clinker
Formation
in
Boiler?
Clinker Formation in Boiler of Thermal Power Station is due to high Ash
Content which have low fusion temperature below 1470 degree Centigrade and
Minerals present in it. Due to poor Quality of Coal ash got fused and mineral
content stick into Water Wall which is very difficult to remove often requires
removal by pneumatic machines. This Clinker deposition may be stopped to
some extent if sufficient water is sprayed into hopper and regular poking and
using good quality of coal. Ash fusion temperature must be above 1470 degree
Centigrade and soot blowing regularly at load by injecting steam by wall
blowers. Over firing is also responsible hence firing must be properly adjusted
by
proper
balance
of
primary
and
secondary
air
in
boiler.
Once clinker formed into hopper than outage of unit is evident otherwise clinker
may deposit in huge quantity which will be very difficult to remove because
minerals content present in coal fused with ash deposit into water wall. Such
hard Lumps of Clinkers requires pneumatic hammering which takes very much
time
resulting
in
forced
closure
of
unit
for
weeks.
Although cause of clinker formation is poor coal quality and high mineral
content in coal but accumulation in Water Wall is result of negligence by
Workers and Engineers who do not poke hopper regularly and spray insufficient
amount of water into hopper which may not flush fused slag to channels.
Outage of clinker grinder and soot blower is also matter of concern may be
termed
as
negligence.
Hence it is advised never blame to low coal quality, low GCV, low ash fusion
temperature and high mineral content in coal. Instead of blaming to above
factors try regular poking and provide sufficient water in hopper. Clinker
Grinders must be made operational. Soot blowing must be done regularly by
injecting steam. In India coal supplied to power plants is mostly of low quality
which has high ash content so precaution is best solution here to avoid
deposition
and
formation
of
clinkers
in
Boiler.
Boiler
Tube
Leak
Detection
by
Acoustic
Monitoring
Instruments
Acoustic Instruments may be used to detect early boiler tube leak to avoid
secondary damage to pressure parts. Boiler acoustic tube leak detection system
must be used as it prevents damage to costly boiler parts and it is very much
cost effective. An increase in boiler availability of just one day will more than
cover
the
cost
of
a
leak
detection
system.
Acoustic leak detection sensors detect high frequency emissions from site of
leak and Sensitive piezoelectric sensors mounted to the structure transform
these acoustic waves to electronic voltage signals, which are amplified, filtered,
and
processed
to
determine
energy
content.
http://www.acousticmonitoring.com/
Acoustic
monitoring
international
http://www.proconeng.com/mainfiles/boilerleak.html
procon
engineering
http://www.triple5industries.com/
http://www.steamleak.com/
It is well known that air preheater leakage is a major factor in the loss of boiler
efficiency, but it is routinely viewed as a low-priority issue. Pavan Kumar
Ravulaparthy argues that there needs to be a change in attitude and explains the
benefits of employing adaptive brush seals.
The design of radial, axial and circumferential seals installed on rotary,
regenerative air preheaters (APHs) have not evolved significantly from the
original metal strip arrangements that date back to the inception of the
Ljungstrm preheaters nearly a century ago. However, these metallic strip seals
tend to start to degrade immediately following installation, allowing excessive
air-to-gas leakage, which translates to increased fuel consumption and fan
power draw over the life of the seals.
The well-known heat transfer, temperature and efficiency-related benefits for
rotary APHs make them a key component of any power plant. As a critical
injection rates and thus SO2 removal efficiency. Finally for particulate matter
control systems, higher air-to-cloth face velocities in fabric filters can lead to
decreased bag life. Pulverizer capacity can also be negatively impacted with
lower air volumes and temperatures due to air-to-gas leakage.
The optimisation of APH performance, often not considered a priority, is truly a
low-cost, easily implemented solution to decrease the consequences of leakage.
A key component of APH optimisation is the upgrade of its radial, axial and
circumferential seals.
Conventional rigid metal strip seals, in common use since the introduction of
the Ljungstrm rotary APHs in the 1920s, are vulnerable in the surrounding
harsh environment. Repeated thermal expansions and contractions in the large
rotors (up to 18 metres in diameter) in constant motion lead to continual
changes in gap sizes. At operating temperatures, the outer edges of large APHs
can droop or turn down by 7.5 cm or more compared to under cold conditions.
However, because they are unable to yield to the warpage of sector plates, the
conventional metal strip seals are prone to stress and breakage.
An interesting alternative are brush seal products, which are witnessing
increased adoption as radial, axial, circumferential/ bypass and rotor seals on
Ljungstrm rotary regenerative APHs on fossil fuel-fired boilers. Brush seals
are in fact ideally suited for replacing strip steels on rotary, regenerative APHs.
As radial, axial, and circumferential seals, they provide a high degree of
abrasion resistance, adaptability to operating conditions and bend recovery not
possible with rigid strip seals. Rigid strip seals rapidly wear down to the
smallest gap size allowing leakage to occur at wider gaps. The strip seals are
also vulnerable to damage at high differential pressures and expansion because
of temperature increases where induced drag can shut down the rotor.
A brush seal, in contrast, produces an extremely dense barrier as thousands of
filaments nestle tightly together to create a high-integrity seal. Each bristle is
independent and flexible allowing deflection to conform to any irregularities
and gap variations, and recovery to its original position. Several distinct features
are incorporated into the brush seal design.
A malleable alloy foil membrane is nestled within the brush filaments to
enhance sealing by up to 80 per cent. This resilient barrier to- leakage feature
provides 2-5 times greater functional sealing life (Figure 2).
additional 10 per cent increase in AHL would cost a 13 per cent increase in fan
power consumption.
In other words, for every 1 per cent increase in AHL the plant essentially
sacrifices116 kW, which is unavailable for sale, or 1.16 MW for every 10 per
cent increase in AHL. If the sale value of a MWh is $30 off-peak and $150
peak, the plant operating on an 85 per cent capacity factor running six hours a
day peak and 18 hours a day off-peak would stand to lose a sizeable $520,000
per year.
The major air heater performance indicators are air-in leakage, flue gas
temperature drop, air-side temperature rise and air/gas side pressure drop. The
leakage of the high-pressure air to the low-pressure flue gas because of the
differential pressure, termed as AHL, is the major contributor for reduction in
boiler efficiency. Increased AHL reduces air heater efficiency, increases fan
power and produces higher gas velocities and a loss of fan margins. AHL is
associated with poor air heater seal performance, such as increased seal
clearances in hot condition, seal erosion, inappropriate seal material and
improper seal settings.
An adaptive brush type air heater seal is a demonstrated technology that
provides an extended functional service life with measurable improvement in
performance and an increased control for plant operators with low total cost.
The calculated payback on efficiency improvements alone has been
demonstrated to provide ROI valued at many times the cost of the adaptive
brush seal and installation. Added to this, savings related to pollution control
systems performance is a nice multiplier. AHL reduction, therefore, is a lowrisk, low-cost, high-return-value modification to rotary air heater systems, so
effective sealing through innovative approaches such as brush seals is highly
recommended to improve O&M practices.
Neural Network Intelligent-Sootblower Optimization Project
05/12/2008
Project
Description
This neural network project was implemented under the Power Plant
Improvement Initiative (PPII), a DOE program designed to demonstrate plant
improvement technologies and processes in commercial settings. At the time of
the award, this installation was the first domestic project to use neural network
technology to optimize the sootblowing process within a boiler. Started in 2001
after a series of brownouts and blackouts had plagued major regions of the
country, the initiative targeted new technologies that could help coal plants
boost their output and improve their environmental performance. The Big Bend
project was designed to be a full-scale demonstration of the neural-networkdriven technology on a large commercial boiler, using state-of-the-art controls
and instruments to optimize boiler operation and systematically control boiler
slagging and fouling.
In a coal-fired boiler, the continuing buildup of ash and soot on the boiler tubes
leads to reduced boiler efficiency. If periodic ash and soot removal
(sootblowing) is not performed, this leads in turn to higher flue gas
temperatures and ultimately to higher NOX formation and reduced efficiency.
Therefore, cleaning the heat-absorbing surfaces is one of the most important
boiler auxiliary operations. Typically, sootblowing uses mechanical devices for
online cleaning of fireside boiler ash and slag deposits on a periodic basis.
Sootblowers clean by directing steam or water through nozzles against the
accumulated soot and ash on the heat-transfer surfaces in order to remove the
deposits and maintain heat-transfer efficiency. Basically, sootblowers consist of
four components: a tube or lance that is inserted into the boiler and carries the
cleaning medium, nozzles in the tip of the lance to accelerate and direct the
cleaning medium, a mechanical system to insert or rotate the lance, and a
control system.
Results
The automated closed-loop activation of the sootblowers during this project
confirmed that neural-network, adaptive sootblowing can benefit efficiency.
There was a clear improvement at low loads, with the benefit decreasing as the
load increased. During closed-loop operation of the NN-ISB, Pegasus reported
that efficiency gains were in the range of 0.1 to 0.4 percentage points compared
to baseline. Results with open-loop operation were slightly lower. With more
operating experience, gains at the high end of the load range should be
achievable.
NN-ISB closed-loop (automatic) operation was shown to be better than openloop (non-neural network baseline) operation. Other Pegasus results indicated
an improvement of 1.0 to 1.5 percent in opacity for closed-loop compared to
open-loop operation during certain tests.
While it is reasonable to expect that optimizing sootblowing would be
beneficial for NOX reduction (due to an improved temperature profile in the
furnace), the Big Bend project was unable to clearly demonstrate this.
Supporting equipment and material issues (e.g., unavailability of the water
cannons during the NN-ISB tests, underperformance of much of the
instrumentation) greatly limited the optimization software from performing as
expected.
Prior to this project, sensors and controls related to sootblowing were usually
treated as isolated systems. In contrast, the Big Bend NN-ISB system had the
ability to understand, evaluate, and optimize the process as an entire system
with multiple, real-time objectives. Integration of the sensors went well and
communication was established to the neural network system with all sensors
and elements of the project. The project demonstrated that such systems can be
linked together despite the use of proprietary networks. Further, it confirmed
that the sensors can provide data that can be correlated to achieve a set of
objectives. Generally, the NN-ISB system appears to have merit and can
improve boiler performance.
(i.e., existing systems can be integrated within the overall solution) and is
extendible (new modules/new equipment can be readily modeled and
incorporated).
In general, the project provided a testing ground for several innovative
measurement devices and feedback on their operation that may also lead to
improved instruments. Since some equipment and instrumentation (e.g., water
cannons, heat flux sensors, slag sensors, and acoustic pyrometers) did not fully
operate as expected during this testing, an additional project with improved
equipment and instrumentation may be needed in order to fully quantify all the
benefits. Other project goals were also achieved:
Enabled rapid deployment into the market. All coal-fired boilers employ
sootblowers which, in turn, require control systems. Since current
systems cannot achieve the desired results in sootblowing operations, a
neural network control system appears to offer significant advantages.
Further, no new hardware needs to be developed since the hardware is
"off the shelf" and readily available.
instrumentation issues may have precluded the NN-ISB project from achieving
all of its goals, the project clearly demonstrated the validity of using AI to
control a major aspect of boiler operation.