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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy
Control of ash related problems in a large scale tangentially fired boiler using
CFD modelling
Hari Babu Vuthaluru *, Rupa Vuthaluru
Curtin University of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, GPO Box U198, Western Australia 6845, Australia
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The objective of this study is to develop a three-dimensional combustor model for predicting the perfor-
Received 2 May 2009 mance of full-scale tangential fired (TF) boiler and to determine the flow patterns of the gas and coal par-
Received in revised form 2 August 2009 ticles, with an emphasis on formation mechanism of gas flow deviations and uneven temperature on the
Accepted 22 August 2009
super-heaters, re-heaters and divisional super-heater sections of the furnace. The importance of these
Available online 17 September 2009
simulations is to identify the locations of optimum additive injection ports to achieve maximum impact
of additives in the combustion process to minimize the temperature deviation and reduce ash-related
Keywords:
issues. This study is a classic example of numerical investigation into the problem of turbulent reacting
CFD
Combustion
flows in large scale furnaces employed in thermal power plants for the remediation of ash deposition
Industrial furnaces problems. Present work also provides an investigation of the influence of number of tripped burners
Tangential fired boilers on the characteristics of the flow and thermal fields. Excellent agreement between the simulation results
Ash deposition and key boiler design values and available site operation records following full-scale trials indicate that
the calculations are reliable. The results obtained from the present work are directly relevant to coal-fired
utilities for not only demonstrating the effectiveness of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based tools
in combating operational issues but also provides an alternative to conventional remediation strategies.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0306-2619/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.08.028
H.B. Vuthaluru, R. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 1418–1426 1419
In the present study, parameters which were investigated in- 610 MW. The boiler considered for the modelling studies is a sub-
clude temperatures achieved in various parts of the boiler, velocity critical one comprising of concentric firing system with tangential
of air and gases in the boiler during the combustion process, parti- firing burners. Twenty four burners are arranged in an array of six
cle residence time, and radiation distribution in the furnace. The burners positioned at different levels on four corners of the furnace
boiler geometry and operating conditions are described in the next walls. The specifications of the furnace geometry and original
section. This is followed by the description of the mathematical drawing are given in Table 1 and Fig. 1.
model. Then the results are presented and discussed following
the validation of model with plant trials. Finally, the paper ends
with a summary of the main conclusions and recommendations North
for future work.
2 3
4
1
South
(a)
Table 1
Specifications of furnace geometry.
Table 2
Dimensions (in mm) and metal temperatures (in °C) of heat transfer sections of the
boiler. h – height; w – width; t – thickness; d – gap; MT – metal temperature.
Section No h w t d MT
Re-heater (RH) 37 13,600 3146 63.5 508 570–
580
Super-heater P1 (SH P1) 29 16,561 2549.5 53.9 635 570–
580
Divisional super-heater 6 16,561 4765.6 50.8 2540 525
(Div SH)
(b)
Divisional super-heater 6 16,561 4765.6 50.8 2540 525
(Div SH) Fig. 2. Burner specifications. (a) Directions for burner arrangement and other
sections; (b) Windbox elevation designations.
1420 H.B. Vuthaluru, R. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 1418–1426
Table 3 converged after more than 2000 iterations. Based on the cold flow
Coal specifications. calculations, the coal combustion simulations are then carried out.
Coal type Kideco (K) Berau (B) 50% K and
50% B blend
Proximate analysis
Total moisture (%ar) 25.20 26.50 25.72
Inherent moisture (% adb) 17.00 19.00 17.80
Ash content (% adb) 2.66 5.50 3.80
Volatile matter (% adb) 41.50 38.50 40.30
Fixed carbon (% adb) 38.84 37.00 38.10
Total sulphur (% adb) 0.08 0.94 0.43
Calorific value (kcal/kg, adb) 5.435 5.400 5.421
Calorific value (kcal/kg, ar) 4.898 4.900 4.899
Ultimate analysis (%daf)
C 70.27 74.18 71.83
H 4.90 4.58 4.77
N 1.16 1.50 1.30
TS 0.10 1.25 0.56
O 20.75 18.49 19.85
3. Model description
The combustion simulations are validated with some key global 4. Results and discussion
design parameters, including the total heat transfer rate in the fur-
nace, the average temperature and the average O2 mass fraction at The computational model has been applied to the furnace of
the furnace exit etc. According to present boiler design, the total 610 MW boiler fired with low ash coal, high volatile coal. The input
heat transfer in the furnace should be around 610 MW; the average data for simulations (including boiler operational conditions) have
temperature and O2 mass fraction should be around 1600 K and been selected in accordance with data related to the experimental
3.5%, respectively. The reported data from the simulation results tests done for the boiler considered. The properties and the lower
agree very well with the design parameters (with average temper- heating value of fuel mass ‘‘as–received” from utility are assumed
atures and O2 mass fractions to be around 1645–1690 K and 3.7– in calculations. These values are presented in Tables 3. The yield of
3.9%). volatile matter was taken according to the data provided (dry-ash-
Fig. 4. Contours of temperature for Case 5 (50% Kideco–50% Berau with all burners switched on). (a) Burner A; (b) Burner B; (c) Burner C; (d) Burner D; (e) Burner E; (f) Burner
F; (g) Y = 10 m plane.
1422 H.B. Vuthaluru, R. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 1418–1426
free ash) by the utility. Although, the boiler is equipped with 24 Particle trajectories and contours of temperature and velocity
conventional burners of the swirling type arranged on each corner vectors for Case 5 are shown as examples in Figs. 3 and 4, which
of the furnace walls in six tiers, only five of the burner sets are usu- establish resulting temperature deviations in the upper part of
ally in operation and one set is used as a standby. the furnace. Additionally, predicted velocity vectors were also
Particle trajectories and temperature distributions were deter- found to be useful as uneven velocities cause non-uniform absorp-
mined for several of the following cases: tion of heat creating deviations in the temperature. Table 4 pre-
sents the summary of observations for each burner for Case 5
Case 1 (60% Kideco and 40% Berau with burner A switched off) with all burners in operation. Similar observations have been
Case 2 (60% Kideco and 40% Berau with burner F switched off) recorded following simulations and summary of all cases are re-
Case 3 (40% Kideco and 60% Berau with burner F switched off) ported in Table 5. From these observations it was concluded that
Case 4 (40% Kideco and 60% Berau with burner A switched off) particle trajectories from burner ports 2D or 2E are even for most
Case 5 (50% Kideco and 50% Berau with no burner switched of the cases and profiles from burner ports 3E or 4E are more to-
off) wards left (SH) in most of the cases. However, profiles from burner
Case 6 (40% Kideco and 60% Berau with burner B switched off) ports 1D or 2F more towards right (DIV SH) and evenly spread in
Case 7 (40% Kideco and 60% Berau with burner C switched off) most of the cases.
Case 8 (40% Kideco and 60% Berau with burner D switched In TF boilers, the particles travel around the furnace volume
off) providing sufficient residence time for the very fine particles.
Due to the concentric firing system in the furnace, and the distance
It is well known that as the scale of the tangential fired boiler between the upmost burner and the furnace exit, the long period of
becomes large, a series of problems occur. The gas temperature intensive mixing is observed depending on which burner is opera-
deviation in the upper part of the furnace is among them, which tional (see Fig. 3 for a typical Case 5 for particle trajectory profiles).
can result in pipe explosion of super-heaters and re-heaters. Unlike
many researchers, who investigated the causes of temperature
deviations and attempted to develop the technique for decreasing Table 5
the temperature deviations, present research focussed on exploit- Summary of particle trajectories from burner ports for all case runs.
ing the fact of existence of these temperature deviations in the fol- Burner ports Case runs
lowing manner.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Using numerical simulations, areas of temperature deviations
were established. Particle trajectories were predicted with their 1A – E E – TL TR ML TL
1B TL TL TL TR TR – ML MR
time and temperature history. Based on these particle trajectory 1C TL E E TL TR TL – MR
paths, appropriate burner ports were identified, which have the 1D TR TL TR E MR TL TR –
most impact on these temperature deviations. Once the ports were 1E TL TR TR TL TL TL TR TR
identified, coal additive injections were performed in the actual 1F TL – – TL TL E TR ML
2A – E E – TL TL TL MR
boiler to reduce the ash deposition with the help of additives.
2B TL E E TR TH – TL MR
2C TL E E TR E TR – TR
2D E E E E E EM E –
2E E E E E MR E E TR
2F TR – – TR TR TR TR TL
Table 4 3A – E TR – TL TL E ML
Case 5 (50% Kideco and 50% Berau all burners in open condition, left panel – SH and 3B E TR TL TL TR – E TR
right panel – Div SH). 3C MR TR TL TL TR ML – ML
3D E TL TR TL TR TR TL –
Burner Trajectory path
3E E TL TR E E E EM MR
location
3F TL – – E E E TL TR
1A Many streams first going towards hopper and then reaching to 4A – E TR – TR TR TL TL
the divisional panels, more towards left panel 4B TL TR TR E TR – E ML
1B Fewer streams more towards right panel 4C TR E TR E E E – MR
1C More towards right panel 4D TR E TR MR MR TL TL –
1D More towards right panel and middle 4E TL TL TR TL MR TL MR MR
1E More towards left panel and then some towards right panel 4F TR – – TL MR TL TL TL
1F More towards left panel and then some towards right panel
2A Many streams first going towards hopper and then reaching to Note: E – Even impact on left and right panels; EM – Equally towards middle
the divisional panels, more towards left panel section.
2B Many going to hopper and few reaching up evenly ML – More towards left panel and middle part; MR – More towards right panel and
2C Even on both sides middle part.
2D Even on both sides TR – Towards right divisional SH or panel; TL – Towards left SH or panel.
2E More towards middle and right panel
2F More towards right panel
3A Many streams first going towards hopper and then reaching to
the divisional panels, more towards left panel Table 6
3B Few streams going towards right panel Trial (T) run schedules.
3C Towards right panel after going towards hopper
3D More towards right panel straight upwards T1 1 3 h: July 5, LRC
3E Even on both sides Activities: performance monitoring 1 and sampling
3F Even on both sides T2 2 24 h: July 5 (21:00) until 7 (21:00), LRC
4A Many streams first going towards hopper and then reaching to Activities: injection 1, performance monitoring 2 and sampling
the divisional panels, more towards right panel T3 1 9 h: July 7 (21:00) until July 8 (6:00), LRC
4B More towards right panel with towards left panel Activities: performance monitoring 3 and sampling
4C More towards right panel T4 3 24 h: July 8 (6:00) until 11(8:00), LRC
4D Even on both sides Activities: injection 2, performance monitoring 4 and sampling
4E More towards right panel and some to middle T5 1 3 h: July 11 (08:00–11:00), LRC
4F More towards right panel and some to middle Activities: performance monitoring 5 and sampling
H.B. Vuthaluru, R. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 1418–1426 1423
Fig. 5. Observations from trial runs with bar lines showing the trial schedules T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T5.
During particle combustion, all of the fuel species except char are at a slower rate, and normally is not consumed until it reaches the
consumed within 1 or 2 m of the burner throats, while char burns furnace centre. This is exemplified by the temperature spread near
1424 H.B. Vuthaluru, R. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 1418–1426
the burner throats up to the furnace centre (as shown in Fig. 4 for Table 7
various burners for Case 5). In particular the high temperature re- Unburnt carbon during trial runs.
gion is expanding in the central section of burner plane from bur- 6th July, 7th July, 2007 10th July, 2007 11th July, 2007
ner A–F. 2007 (9:08 PM) (10:15 PM) (10:15 AM)
At the furnace exit cross-section (SH P1 and Div SH sections), (10 AM)
the gas temperature is fairly uniform between the two side-walls % Un-burnt 1.56 0.19 0.03 0.17
and the average temperature deviation between the two side-walls carbon
Acknowledgments
Fig. 7. Slagging growth observed on super-heater ports during trial runs (green and red dots in photographs correspond to trial schedules). Note: Up to green dot – T1; green
dot to red dot – T2; red dot to green – T3; green dot to red dot T4; red dot to green dot – T5. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)
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prediction and control of industrial combustors by mathematical modelling.
M. Parinussa for assisting with the retrieval of plant data.
Paper presented at 2002 Australian symposium on combustion and the seventh
Australian flame days, Adelaide; February 2002.
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