Univerza v Ljubljani

Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 2

Steam boiler
Calculate the dimensions of heat exchanger surfaces in boiler and superheater of a steam
boiler. The results should include:
− heat flows in individual steam boiler heat exchagers (boiler, superheater, economizer
and air preheater)
− flue gas temperatures between heat exchangers
− dimensions of combustion chamber (boiler)
− number of pipes in boiler and their total length
− total heat transfer area of superheater
− number of pipe packs
− length of individual pipe pack
− schematic of a pipe pack and the needed correction of its length due to design
constraints

Total radiative losses (xrad)should be divided among heat exchangers in the following rates:
- boiler: 50 %
- superheater: 30 %
- economizer: 15 %
- air preheater: 5 %
For boiler wall types A and B should be compared and for superheater the triangular and
rectangular pipe distribution should be compared. Comment on the influence of the design
on the performance of the heat exchangers.


 Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 3

Data:
Costa Mota Salema Simoes
Fuel
see data for task 1
Ambient conditions
temperature T amb °C 15 15 15 15
pressure p amb mbar 970 960 970 960
Combustion air
temperature before preheater T a1 °C 30 30 30 30
temperature after preheater T a2 °C 200 230 220 210
fraction of preheated air ra % 85 85 80 80
air excess ratio λ 1,33 1,26 1,37 1,29
Water and steam
feedwater temperature T fw °C 180 150 150 160
superheated steam temperature T sh °C 500 510 480 500
feedwater pressure p fw bar 130 140 100 120
boiling pressure p boil bar 125 135 95 115
superheated steam pressure p sh bar 120 130 90 110
superheated steam flowrate ṁ st kg/s 20 22 8 11
Flue gas
outlet temperature T fg,out °C 140 145 155 150
Losses
total radiative loss xrad 0,005 0,005 0,005 0,005
unburnt fuel loss xub 0,004 0,004 0,004 0,004
Boiler
pipe diameter dout mm 52 54 48 50
pipe pitch t mm 80 80 70 75
flame to wall area ratio A fl/A boil 0,8 0,75 0,75 0,7
boiler width to height ratio a/h 0,4 0,42 0,39 0,43
Superheater
inner pipe diameter din mm 34 36 34 34
outer pipe diameter dout mm 42 44 40 42
heat conductance λ W/mK 40 40 40 40
pipe pitch t mm 100 90 90 110
 Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 4

Heat flows in boiler

water and steam:
1: feed water – temperature and 3500

pressure are known 4

2: boiling point – pressure is known, 3000
temperature depends on pressure 3
3: saturated steam – pressure is the
2500
same as in 2, temperature depends
on pressure
4: superheated steam - temperature 2000

h / (kJ/kg)
and pressure are known 2
1500

economizer
& st (h2′ − h1 )
Q& eco = m 1000

boiler
& st (h3′′ − h2′ )
Q& boil = m 500

superheater 1
& st (h4 − h3′′ )
Q& sup = m 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
total heat flow s / (kJ/(kg K))

& st (h4 − h1 )
Q& B = Q& eco + Q& boil + Q& sup = m
air preheater
& a ra (ha 2 − ha1 ) = m
Q& AH = m & f ra λ ma,min (ha 2 − ha 1 )

Energy balances in heat exchangers

boiler

heat flow from heat flow to heat losses

flue gases water through
radiation

& f ((H fg ,th − H i x ub ) − H fg 1 ) = m
m & st (h3 − h2 ) + m
& f H i x rad ,boil

initial enthalpy, enthalpy at the heat of

theoretical enth. is outlet of combustion evaporation
reduced due to unburnt chamber (will be
fuel, less energy is calculated later
available for heating flue
gases
 Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 5

superheater
& f (H fg 1 − H fg 2 ) = m
m & st (h4 − h3 ) + m
& f H i x rad,sup
economizer
& f (H fg 2 − H fg3 ) = m
m & st (h2 − h1 ) + m
& f H i x rad ,eco
air preheater

heat flow from heat flow to heat losses

flue gases air through
radiation

& f (H fg 3 − H fg ,iz ) = m
m & a ra (ha 2 − ha 1 ) + m
& f H i x rad ,ah =
& f ra λ ma ,min (ha 2 − ha1 ) + m
=m & f H i x rad ,ah = m
& f ΔH a + m
& f H i x rad ,ah

enthalpy at the mass flow of preheated enthalpy change of substitute enthalpy

boiler outlet at air expressed with mass
known flow of fuel and
temperature properties of fuel
(composition) and
combustion (excess air)
air calculated with change of air
specific heat and
temperature chage

ra – fraction of preheated combustion air (some cold air enters the boiler uncontrolled
through coal feeders and some cold air is blown into the boiler for temperature
regulation)

Theoretical enthalpy of flue gas

Hfg,th = Hi + ma ha
enthalpy of combustion air
ha = (1 – ra)·ha1 + ra·ha2


 Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION
HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 6

Boiler
transferred heat flow
  T fg 4  Twall 4 
Q = Arad σ  
& ′  −  
  100   100  
 
Tfg = Tfg1
Twall = Tsat(pboil) + ∆Twall
ΔTwall = 15...50 K

total radiative coefficient

1
σ′ =
1 A fl  1 1
+  − 
σ fl Aboil  σwall σ 
Stefan-Boltzmann constant:
σ = 5,6704 W/m2K4
radiative coefficient
ent of flame
fuel σfl / (W/(m
m2K4))
oil 4,88
wood, brown coal 4,07
hard coal 3,49
anthracite 2,62
gas 2,33
radiative coefficient of walls
σwall = 4,88
area ratio
Afl/Aboil = 0,45...0,95 (see data)

radiative heat transfer area factor (see diagram)

Arad
Ψ=
Aboil

boiler dimensions
Aboil = 4a h
total number of pipes
4a
nboil =
t
total length of pipes
lboil = nboil h
 Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION
HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 7

Superheater
transferred heat flow
Q& sup = k Asup ΔTln

log
log mean temperature difference
mean temperature difference

ΔTln =
(T fg1 − Tsh ) − (Tfg2 − Ts (pboil ))
T fg1 − Tsh
ln
T fg2 − Ts ( pboil )

total heat transfer coefficient (outer

pipe area)
1
k=
1 dout dout 1 dout
+ ln +
α 1 2λ din α 2 din

flue gas heat transfer coefficient

α1 = α1con + α1rad

convective heat transfer coefficient

α1con = c dout
n−1
w nfg b (see diagram)

number of pipe rows perpendicular to flue ga

gas flow
asup
nsup = −1
t sup

mean temperature of gas boundary layer

T fg ,mean + Twall ,mean
Tm =
2

mean flue gas temperature ((see diagram)

T fg1 + T fg2
T fg ,mean = + ΔT fg
2

mean wall temperature

Tsh + Ts (pboil )
Twall ,mean = + ΔTwall
2
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Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 8

flue gas velocity

V& fg
w fg =
A fg
T fg ,mean
V& fg = m
& f V fg ,m
T0
A fg = (asup − nsup dout ) bsup

addition to convective heat transfer coefficient due to radiation (see diagrams)

qCO2 + qH2O
α 1 rad =
Δ Tln

steam heat transfer coefficient

λ st
α 2 = 0 ,0267 Re0 , 8 Pr 0 , 4
din

steam velocity
4m & st
w st =
π din2 ρ nsup

Reynolds and Prandtl number

w st din ρ
Re =
η
η cp
Pr =
λ

All properties of steam are considered at average temperature and average pressure of
steam in superheater.
Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 9

Example:
for pipes with outside diameter d = 45 mm and pitch t = 75 mm
t/d = 1,67
if wall type A is chosen radiative area factor is
Ψ = 0,796
with theoretical radiative heat transfer area Arad = 150 m2 actual boiler surface should be
Aboil = Arad/Ψ = 188 m2
Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 10

Example:
with flue gas inlet temperature Tfg1 = 1100 °C and outlet temperature Tfg2 = 800 °C mean
temperature increase is
ΔTfg = 9,7 K
and mean temperature of flue gas within heat exchanger is
Tfg,mean = ½(Tfg1 + Tfg2) + ΔTfg = 960 °C
Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 11

Example:
with mean flue gas temperature Tfg,mean = 960 °C, mean wall temperature Twall,mean = 450 °C
and 40 rows of pipes in triangular configuration
Tm = ½(Tfg,mean + Twall,mean) = 705 °C
n = 0,690
c=1
b = 5,95
with flue gas velocity wfg = 20 m/s and pipe diameter dout = 40 mm convective heat transfer
coefficient is
n−1
α 1con = c d out w nfg b = 128 W/m2K
Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 12

Example:
with mean flue gas temperature Tfg,mean = 960 °C, pitch to diameter ratio t/d = 1,6 and CO2
partial pressure pCO2 = 0,085 bar and triangular configuration
s = 74 mm
s·pCO2 = 0,0063 m·bar
qCO2 ≈ 5400 W/m2
Univerza v Ljubljani
Fakulteta za strojništvo
Laboratorij za termoenergetiko HEAT GENERATORS / FUELS AND COMBUSTION 13

Example:
with mean flue gas temperature Tfg,mean = 960 °C, pitch to diameter ratio t/d = 1,6 and H2O
partial pressure pH2O = 0,08 bar and triangular configuration
s = 74 mm
s·pH2O = 0,0059 m·bar
q(s·pH2O) ≈ 1100 W/m2
q(pH2O) ≈ 220 W/m2
qH2O ≈ 500 W/m2