Economizers

Colin French CEng, FlnstE, FBIMgt, in Plant Engineer's Reference Book (Second Edition), 2002
31.1 Introduction
Economizers for boilers have been available for nearly 150 years, almost as long as boilers
themselves. For modern shell boilers, high efficiencies have made it increasingly difficult to
justify the use of an economizer, the final decision being based in terms of payback period,
which is also heavily dependent on fuel prices. Watertube boilers, on the other hand, need
an economizer section in the gas passes in order to obtain satisfactory efficiency. For this reason,
the economizer is integrated into the overall design, normally between the convective super-
heater and the air heater if fitted.
In shell boilers with a working pressure of between 7 and 17 bar the temperature of the mass of
water in the boiler is typically in the range of 170–210°C. Allowing for, say a temperature
difference of 30–50°C between the exhaust gases and the water temperature, the boiler exit gas
temperature cannot be economically reduced beneath about 200–260°C, dependent on the
operating pressure. It becomes necessary, therefore, to modify the process principles to achieve
further heat utilization and recovery. By using an economizer this is done by conducting
the feedwater supply to the economizer wherein the exhaust gas passes over tubes carrying the
feedwater. The feedwater, normally at temperatures between 30° and 100° C, represents a further
cooling medium for the exhaust gases and provides the potential for the extra heat utilization.
This is shown in Figure 31.1.

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Figure 31.1. Temperatures in three-pass boilers and economizers the bulk gas temperature may be satisfactory, in practice,
the surfaces close to the tube wall will be nearly at water temperature due to the high conductivity of the metal tube. This
limits the minimum practical gas exit temperature from the economizer to, say, 170–180°C, remembering, of course, that
at low fire this will have fallen closer still to the acid dewpoint (which is typically in the range of 125–140° C, dependent
on the excess air and fuel sulphur content). The cold temperature of the heat transfer surface gives rise to heavy corrosion
which would reach a peak at about 95°C.
Read full chapter
Recovery Boiler
Esa Kari Vakkilainen, in Steam Generation from Biomass, 2017
11.4.7 Economizer Design and Materials
Modern economizers are of vertical design. The earliest horizontal economizers had severe
plugging problems and were replaced by a cross-flow design. The cross-flow economizer had
lower heat transfer coefficients and was more prone to plugging than the modern
vertical economizer. In economizers the loss of tube thickness can be caused by gas side
corrosion, sulfidation and acid dew pointcorrosion, or water side erosion corrosion. The lower
ends of economizers in recovery boilers suffer from water side erosion corrosion. Typically the
symptoms are worst in the first few meters of the economizer tube.
Recovery boiler economizers have hundreds of weld joints. Each weld, even after inspection, is
potentially problematic. Therefore the preference has been to avoid unnecessary welds and use
only continuous tubes without butt welds. The largest boilers have economizer lengths of 27 m.
The maximum length of carbon steeltubes is some 23 m. Therefore in the newest boilers this
preference for continuous tubes cannot be adhered to. Attention should be paid to the quality of
welds in economizer tube joints.
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Thermal Design of Boiler Parts
Esa Kari Vakkilainen, in Steam Generation from Biomass, 2017
5.3.3 Economizers
Economizers are one of the four main heat transfer surface types. The name economizer comes
from German Ekonomizierung (to economize). They were first used in shell and tube boilers to
preheat the feedwater. Feedwater preheating helps to capture more heat from the flue
gases. Economizers are usually convective heat transfer surfaces. They are often made
with finned tubes, especially in HRSGs.
In solid biomass boilers and recovery boilers, straight tubes are often preferred as finned tubes
are more prone to fouling. Economizersrarely suffer from corrosion or erosion. Therefore tighter
spacing than for superheaters can be used.
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Economizers and feedwater heaters
Yuri Rechtman, in Heat Recovery Steam Generator Technology, 2017
5.4 Mechanical details
5.4.1 Tube orientation
Economizer tubes are arranged horizontally in a vertical HRSG (exhaust flows vertically) and
usually vertically in a horizontal HRSG (exhaust flows horizontally). Horizontal HRSGs may
also have a horizontal tube arrangement. That could occur when height restrictions are present at
the job site, so the width of the HRSG is greater than its height. For example, a 20 ft W×10 ft
H economizerwould have sixty 10-ft-long vertical tubes per row if a 4-in. tube spacing is used
(20 ft×12 ÷ 4 in.) while there would only be thirty 20-ft-long tubes if the tubes were horizontal.
A horizontal economizerarrangement in this example would result in a more economical design.
Horizontal tube economizers are easier to vent through the vertical headers.
A vertical tube economizer has a limited capability for circuitryvariation due to the industry
standard requirement that each HRSG coil have the ability to be completely drained. A
horizontal economizer has almost an unlimited choice of the circuitry.
Horizontal economizer tubes in a vertical HRSG, which usually has a long side and a short side,
may run in either direction depending on water velocity needs. For example, in a district
heating application, where the water flow is very high, a large number of short tubes will have a
lower pressure drop than a small number of long tubes.
5.4.2 Venting
Upper return bends in custom design economizers can get vapor locked, resulting in reduced or
even no flow in several circuits. Economizer performance may significantly degrade due to
vapor locked circuits with no water flow. A minimum tube side flow must therefore be
established for each custom configuration to assure that water velocity is high enough to clear
tubes of any trapped vapor or air.
Standard design economizers have upper headers, but venting from jumper pipes requires vapor
or air to rise to the top of the jumper through buoyancy forces while water is pumped in to fill the
coil. Ends of headers are away from the header nozzle or jumper connections and could result in
trapped vapor or air at these points.
5.4.3 Steaming
Steaming is a phenomenon that can occur at the hot end of any economizer, especially at startup
or during load swings. Steaming can reduce performance by deactivating the heating surface if
the steam is not released from the tubes.
Using several up-flow rows of tubes for steam venting is a unique feature of custom
designed economizers. Any steam generated in the hottest rows would flow up into the steam
drum.
Standard designs use a vent connecting the last one or two economizer headers to the steam
drum. The vent may have an automatic valve that can be remotely opened when steaming
conditions exist. This does not help any down-flow tubes where steam buoyancy forces are
countered by flow forces. Once the valves are closed, there is no provision for venting.
Many users are not comfortable with steaming in economizers. Two simple techniques can be
utilized to prevent steaming in economizers:
•
The feedwater control valve is usually located at the outlet of the feedwater pump before
the condensate enters the economizer in a typical HRSG arrangement. This control valve
could be located at the outlet instead of the inlet of the economizer. Such an arrangement
could operate at a higher pressure with a saturation temperature that is above the exhaust
gas temperature at the economizer outlet location. Increasing the economizer saturation
temperature above the exhaust gas temperature at the economizer outlet eliminates the
possibility of steaming. Steaming will then occur in the economizer outlet piping at the
feedwater control valve outlet where the pressure is reduced. Feedwater control
valves with cavitational trim are typically provided in order to extend the control valve
life. A safety valve may be required at the economizer outlet piping since
the economizer can be manually isolated by the inlet and the outlet valves. Locating the
feedwater control valve at the economizeroutlet costs more than a conventional setup,
due to thicker tubes and headers required for operation at a higher pressure.
•
A partial water side bypass can eliminate most of the economizersteaming. A certain
percentage of the incoming feedwater, as shown in Fig. 5.6, bypasses the cold end of
the economizer. The outlet feedwater temperature is controlled by the difference between
the saturation temperature in the steam drum that is being fed by the economizer and
the economizer feedwater outlet temperature. The temperature differential is typically set
to less than 5°F, so the economizer does not steam throughout most of the operating
modes.

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Figure 5.6. Partial bypass.
5.4.4 Corrosion fatigue
The Electric Power Research Institute’s Heat Recovery Steam GeneratorTube Failure
Manual [1] states that corrosion fatigue is one of the leading causes of HRSG tube failures. All
inlet headers experience some stress because of abrupt temperature changes when flow is
established at startup. Stress and less-than-optimal water chemistrywill lead to corrosion fatigue
failures at header connections.
As can be seen in Fig. 5.4, differential growth between the inlet row and the following row will
create stress at the lower jumper pipes because of the rigidity of the large bore pipes connecting
the rows.
The arrangement shown in Fig. 5.4 has additional stress associated with the tubes in the down-
flow pass within a row being a different temperature than the adjacent up-flow pass especially at
startup. The stress is greatest in the two center tubes where one has downward flow and the other
has hotter upward flow. This stress is further magnified by the moment created by the tube
bends. This additional stress can be a main contributor to corrosion fatigue in this type design.
Read full chapter
Steam Generators
Dipak K. Sarkar, in Thermal Power Plant, 2015
2.7.2 Steaming economizer
A steaming economizer may be defined as an economizer in which the temperature rise in
the economizer is equal to or more than two-thirds of the difference between
the economizer inlet feedwatertemperature and the saturation temperature of the fluid at that
pressure. This may be expressed mathematically as (TO−TI)=(2/3)*(TS−TI), where TO is
the economizer outlet feedwater temperature, TIthe economizer inlet feedwater temperature,
and TS is the saturation temperature of feedwater at its prevailing pressure. The steam content of
water at the economizer outlet should not exceed 20% of the feedwater flow at full load, and
should be lower at part loads.
When feedwater make-up is low, it is advantageous to produce part of the steam in
an economizer rather than in the evaporating section. From commercial point of view steaming is
not allowed in the economizer, since there is the possibility of tube failure due to two phase
flows through the tubes.
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Boiler Mechanical Design
Esa Kari Vakkilainen, in Steam Generation from Biomass, 2017
7.3 Economizer
The economizer has the lowest steel temperature of any heat exchanger surface in the pressure
vessel. Therefore it can usually be constructed from carbon steel (Teir, 2004). The economizer is
placed as the last of the flue gas to steam–water heat exchanges. The flue gas flow has a low
temperature, so fouling is normally not a big problem. Therefore both the transversal spacing
and longitudinal spacing can be tight. Economizers are almost without
exception countercurrent heat transfer surfaces. If the flue gases are cooled below 150°C, the low
temperature corrosion can result in restrictions to the economizer design and construction.
The most common economizer has carbon steel tubes from 30 to 50 mm outer diameter.
Transversal and longitudinal spacing is almost the same, from 50 to 150 mm. Because of low
temperatures, the heat transfer coefficient in economizers tends to be small. To increase the heat
transfer surface the economizer tubes can be made with fins. In biomass applications the finned
heat transfer surfaces tend to become fouled and are seldom used.
Read full chapter
Industrial boilers
E Walker CEng, BSc, MIMechE, R J Blaen, in Plant Engineer's Reference Book (Second
Edition), 2002
10.6 Economizers
Economizers are installed in the exhaust gas flow from the boiler. They take heat from
the flue gases which they transfer via extended surface elements to the feedwater immediately
prior to the water entering the boiler. They therefore increase the efficiency of the boiler and
have the added advantage of reducing thermal shock. In watertube boilers they may be
incorporated within the structure of the boiler or supplied as a free-standing unit. With shell
boilers they will be a separate unit fitted between the boiler flue gas outlet and the chimney.
Figure 10.8 is a schematic illustration of such a unit. It is desirable for each boiler to have its
own economizer. Where one economizer is installed to take the exhaust gases from more than
one boiler special considerations must be taken into account. These will include gas-
tight isolation dampers. Consideration must be made of flue-gaspressures at varying loads and
maximum and minimum combined heat load to match economizer and a pumped feedwater
ringmain. Economizers may be used for both forced-draught and induced-draught boilers, and in
both cases the pressure drop through the economizer must be taken into account when sizing the
fans.
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Figure 10.8. Schematic illustration of an installed economizer
Economizers are fitted to most watertube boilers. An exception is on a waste-heat application,
where it may be desirable, due to the nature of the products being burned, to maintain a relatively
high gas outlet temperature to prevent corrosive damage to the boiler outlet, ductwork and
chimney.
With watertube boilers economizers may be used when burning coal, oil or gas. The material for
the economizer will depend on the fuel, and they may be all steel, all cast iron or cast iron
protected steel. All steel would be used for non-corrosive flue gases from burning natural gas,
light oil and coal. Cast iron may be used where the feedwater condition is uncertain and may
attack the tube bore. Fuels may be heavy fuel oil or coal, and there is a likelihood of metal
temperatures falling below acid dew-point. Cast iron protected steel is used when heavy fuel oil
or solid fuel firing is required and feedwater conditions are suitably controlled. As cast iron can
withstand a degree of acid attack, these units have the advantage of being able to operate without
a gas bypass, where interruptible natural gas supplies are used with oil as standby.
With shell boilers, economizers will generally only be fitted to boilers using natural gas as
the main fuel and then only on larger units. It would be unlikely that a reasonable economic case
could be made for boilers of less than 4000 kg/h F and A 100°C evaporative capacity.
The economizer will incorporate a flue gas bypass with isolating dampers to cover for periods
when oil is used and for maintenance. The dampers require electric interlocks to the selected
fuel.
As the majority of shell boilers operate in the pressure range 7–10 bar, the flue gas outlet
temperature will be in the range of 190–250°C. It may be appreciated from this that the boiler
needs to operate at 50–100% of its maximum continuous rating for most of the working day to
produce an economic return.
Where an economizer is installed it is essential to have water passing through the unit at all times
when the burners are firing to prevent boiling. Therefore boilers fitted with economizers will
have modulating feedwater control. Even then, it is possible that the water flow requirement can
become out of phase with the burner firing rate. To prevent damage, a temperature-controlled
valve allows a spillage of water back to the feedwater tank, thus maintaining a flow of water
through the unit. Each economizer will be fitted with a pressure-relief safety valve.
Due to the amount of water vapour produced when natural gas is burned, it is important not to
allow the exhaust gas temperature to fall below 80°C, otherwise the water dewpoint will be
reached. Not only the economizer but also the ductwork and chimney must be considered and
provision incorporated for drainage.
In the event of a separate use for low-grade hot water being available, it is sometimes practical to
install a secondary condensing economizer. With this, the material of which the economizer is
constructed allows for condensate to form and drain away without excessive attack from
corrosion.
A recent development in heat recovery has been the heat tube. This is a sealed metal tube which
has been evacuated of air and contains a small quantity of liquid which, for boiler applications,
could be water. When heat from the flue gases is applied to one end of the heat pipesthe water in
the tube boils, turning to steam and absorbing the latent heat of evaporation. The steam travels to
the opposite end of the tube which is surrounded by water, where it gives up its latent heat,
condenses and returns to the heated end of the tube. Batteries of these tubes can be arranged to
form units, usually as a water jacket around a section of a flue.
Read full chapter
Boiler design for ultra-supercritical coal power plants
K. Zhang, ... D. Zhang, in Ultra-Supercritical Coal Power Plants, 2013
5.7 Economizers and air heaters
Economizers and air heaters perform a key function in providing high overall thermal efficiency
of the boiler by recovering the low level, that is, low temperature heat from the flue gas before it
is exhausted to the atmosphere. For every 20 °C that the flue gas is cooled by the economizer or
air heater, the overall boiler efficiencyincreases by approximately 1%. The economizers recover
the energy by heating the boiler feedwater while the air heaters preheat the combustion air. Coal
combustion is enhanced and coal ignitionbecomes stable when the air is heated before being
introduced into the furnace. Economizers and air heaters require a greater heat transfer
surface per unit of heat recovered than water-cooled walls, superheaters and reheaters; this is
mainly due to the relatively small temperature difference between the flue gas and the feedwater
or the combustion air. Both the economizer and the air heater are positioned near the end of the
convection pass.
5.7.1 Economizers
The term economizer comes from the early use of this type of heat exchanger to reduce operating
costs or economize on fuel by recovering extra heat from the flue gas. Economizers are basically
tubular heat transfer surfaces used to preheat the feedwater, and are the last water-cooled
heat transfer units before the air heaters. The major functions of an economizer are to reduce the
temperature of the exhaust gas, raise the overall thermal efficiency of the boiler, and reduce coal
consumption. The economizers used in coal-fired power plants can be classified into two types
based on their material properties: the cast iron type and the steel pipe type. Steel
pipe economizers are generally used in ultra-supercritical boilers due to the high steam
temperatures and pressures involved.
Economizers are usually counter-current flow heat exchangers for recovering energy from the
flue gas. The pipe bundle is typically an arrangement of parallel horizontal serpentine pipes with
water flowing inside and flue gas flowing outside. The pipes are as tightly spaced as possible to
promote heat transfer while still allowing enough of the pipe surface to be cleaned, and limiting
the pressure drop on the flue gas side. In order to improve the heat transfer and reduce fouling,
the pipes are arranged either in a staggered formation or in a line, depending on the combustion
properties of the coal used and the operational conditions of the boiler.
In light of the above, the most common and reliable type of economizer is the bare pipe, in-line,
cross-flow design. When coal is fired, the fly ash creates an environment with a high level of
fouling and erosion. The bare pipe, in-line arrangement minimizes the likelihood of erosion and
reduces ash trapping; it offers advantages over the staggered arrangement in this regard. When
low-grade coals with high ash content are burned, necessary precautions should be taken to
prevent erosion, which should be kept in mind in the design of economizers. To reduce capital
costs, most boiler manufacturers have built economizers with a variety of fin types to enhance
the heat transfer rate in the flue gas side: the fins are not subject to high pressure and thus
inexpensive to install, which can reduce the overall size and cost of economizers. However,
successful application of this method is heavily dependent on the flue gas environment,
especially for surface cleaning. Moreover, the efficiency of the boiler is directly related to the
temperature of the feedwater as listed in Table 5.4(Editorial department, 2010).
5.7.2 Air heaters
The air heater utilizes the heat in the flue gas leaving the economizerto preheat the combustion
air and enhance the combustion process, with the resulting hot air employed for drying and
transporting coal into the furnace. Air heaters can be classified as either recuperative or
regenerative. In a recuperative heat exchanger, heat is transferred continuously through
stationary solid heat transfer surfaces which separate the hot flow stream from the cold
flow stream. Heat transfer surfaces are usually arranged as pipes and parallel plates in
recuperative heat exchangers. In a regenerative air heater, however, heat is transferred indirectly
as a heat storage medium is alternately exposed to hot and cold flow streams. A variety of
materials can be used as the medium. Periodic exposure to hot and cold flow streams can be
accomplished by rotary or valve switching devices.
In all modern boilers, regenerators are used principally to preheat combustion air. The
advantages of regenerative air heaters over recuperative air heaters include: (1) a significant
reduction in overall size and weight; (2) ease and low cost of replacing the heating surface with
separate cold and hot end packs; (3) low metal weight, allowing the economic use of alloy
steel or enamelled elements in the low temperature sections; (4) lower metal temperatures at the
cold end; and (5) no adverse effect caused by holing of element plates due to corrosion until the
plates actually disintegrate. Nevertheless, the regenerative system does have certain
disadvantages, which have in some instances caused significant reductions in unit output: (1) risk
of outage of moving parts; (2) leakage of air into gas and gas into air due to entrainment, and air-
to-gas leakage through seals due to the air/gas pressure difference; and (3) potential reduction in
flow area and increase in fluid pressure losses caused by a relatively thin layer of deposit on the
elements.
Read full chapter
Main Equipment
Swapan Basu, Ajay Kumar Debnath, in Power Plant Instrumentation and Control Handbook,
2015
2.4.4 Economizers
The economizer is made up of a bunch of horizontal water tubes usually located in the back pass
or second pass (after the primary superheaters and reheaters) of the boiler through which
the feedwater enters the boiler to absorb residual heat from the exhaust flue gas and transfer it to
the steam production cycle. This process, on one hand, helps improve overall thermal efficiency
(thus justifying its name) and on the other hand reduces the stack outlet temperature for better
environmental conditions as per various government stipulations. It has been observed that loss
(through cooling) of flue gas temperature by every 22.2°C affects boiler efficiency by ∼1%. This
also means comparatively less fuel would be required to produce the same amount of steam,
resulting in lower carbon emission.
According to the location, it is necessarily a convection-type of heat exchanger providing forced
and once-through flow path of feedwater, effectively making it heater inside the boiler or steam
generator. The economizer tubes may be of different types, such as bare tubes, finned
tubes (e.g., spiral or long finned), etc., but bare tubes are preferred, keeping in mind the problem
associated with ash fouling. However, the economizer’s design has always been guided by
economic considerations, the stack outlet temperature, provision of air preheaters, and so on. or a
given temperature of the stack outlet. The higher gas temperature at the economizer outlet calls
for a smaller size of economizer and a larger size of air preheater. In many cases, the size of
an economizer is restricted to make way for the need of increased air temperature vis-à-vis air
preheater size for better fuel conditioning and in turn for efficient combustion.
It is preferable that the flue gas from the boiler flows down across the economizer tubes and for
the water to go up after entering the boiler at the bottom. This counterflow-type design
minimizes the requirement of surface area as well as the draft loss experienced by the flue gas.
The concept of an upward feedwater flow direction eliminates the possibility of unstable water
flow, assists uniform flue gas distribution, and realization of the idea of
steaming economizersthat makes provision for generating some steam in the outlet section even.
Steam or vapor formation in the economizer is a common phenomenon and is also advantageous
to some extent rather than in the boiler surface. Generally, there is no such restriction for a
percentage of vaporization to take place in the economizer but, practically speaking, a maximum
limit of ∼20% of the feedwater flow at full load operating output is normal.
It is should be borne in mind that the economizer is provided not to just take advantage of waste
heat from the by-product of combustion but also to assist, at the same time, with the increased
life expectancy of the boiler. Had cold feedwater (without an economizer) been injected into the
boiler, the high temperature differential could have caused excessive wear and tear on the boiler
over time because all the associated pipes and fittings are subjected to heating and cooling down
cyclically. For preheated feedwater through the economizer, the temperature differential is much
less and consequently would cause less thermal stress on the boiler metals and thus a longer
operating life.
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