Unit 2

1. Combustion control of main header:

Combustion is the high temperature oxidation of the combustible element of a fuel with heat release.
The combustible elements in coal and fuel oil are carbon, hydrogen and sulphur. The basic equations
are as follows:

C + O2  CO2 + 33.94 KJ of heat

(1 gm) (2.67gm) (3.67gm)

2H2 + O2  2H2O

S + O2  SO2

When insufficient amount of oxygen is present, the carbon will be burned incompletely with the
formation of CO.

2C + O2  2 CO + 10.84 KJ of heat

(1 gm) (1.33gm) (2.33gm)

In order to burn a fuel completely, four basic conditions must be fulfilled:

1. Supply enough air for complete combustion of fuel.

2. Secure enough turbulence for through mixing of fuel and air.

3. Maintain a furnace temperature high enough to ignite the incoming fuel air mixture.

4. Provide a furnace volume large enough to allow time for combustion to be completed.

Combustion may be said to hinge upon the word MATT-

M is for mixing (turbulence), so that fuel molecules meet the oxygen molecule.

A is for air-fuel ratio in order to support combustion

T is for temperature

T is for time.

Since the complete mixing of fuel and air is virtually impossible excess air must be supplied to
ensure complete combustion.

Excess Air:
If the fuel is burnt with only theoretical amount of air present, the combustion will be very poor due
to incomplete mixing of air with fuel. After all it would be required a lot amount of air to have a

1
single oxygen particle exactly at the right place for combustion at right time, therefore it is necessary
to supply more air then the theoretical air and is known as excess air.

2. Air-fuel ratio control:

Stable combustion conditions require the right amounts of fuels and oxygen. The combustion
products are heat energy, carbon dioxide, water vapour, nitrogen, and other gases (excluding
oxygen). In theory there is a specific amount of oxygen needed to completely burn a given amount of
fuel. In practice, burning conditions are never ideal.

Therefore, more air than ideal must be supplied to burn all fuel completely. The amount of air more
than the theoretical requirement is referred to as excess air.

Power plant boilers normally run about 10 to 20 percent excess air. Natural gas-fired boilers may run
as low as 5 percent excess air. Pulverized coal-fired boilers may run with 20 percent excess air. Gas
turbines runs very lean with up to 300 percent excess air.

Typical values of excess air for some common fuels are shown in the table below:

Excess of Air
Fuel
(%)
Anthracite 40
Coke oven gas 5 – 10
Natural Gas 5 – 10
Coal, pulverized 15 – 20
Coal, stoker 20 – 30
Semi anthracite, hand firing 70 to 100

To determine the excess air at which the combustion system will operate we have to start with the
stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, known as the perfect or ideal fuel ratio, the stoichiometric combustion.
During stoichiometric combustion there is a chemically correct mixing proportion between the air
and the fuel. During the stoichiometric combustion process no fuel or air are left over.

Process heating equipment almost never runs stoichiometric. Even so-called "on-ratio" combustion,
used in boilers and high temperature process furnaces incorporates a modest amount of excess air -
10 to 20% more than needed to burn the fuel completely.

If insufficient amount of air is supplied to the burner, unburned fuel, soot, smoke, and carbon
monoxide are exhausted from the boiler. The result is heat transfer surface fouling, pollution, lower
combustion efficiency, flame instability and a potential for explosion. To avoid inefficient and unsafe
conditions, boilers normally operate at an excess air level. This excess air level also provides
protection from insufficient oxygen conditions caused by variations in fuel composition and
"operating slops" in the fuel-air control system.

3. Furnace draft:
Large amount of air are needed for combustion of the fuel. The gaseous combustion products in huge
quantity have also to be removed continuously from the boiler furnace. To produce the required flow
of air or combustion gas, a pressure differential is needed. The term “draft” or “draught” is used to

2
define the static pressure in the furnace, in the various ducts, and the stack. The function of the
draught system is basically twofold:

1. To supply to the furnace the required quantity of air for complete combustion of fuel.

2. To remove the gaseous products of combustion from the furnace and throw these through chimney
or stack to the atmosphere.

Field Draft Controls maintain consistent draft by counteracting the negative forces caused by changes
in temperature and barometric pressure, as well as the effects of wind.

How Draft Controls Work:

Static pressure of the cool air Illustration A (1) exerts

pressure on the outside of the furnace or boiler, the
breaching, and stack. The pressure difference
between the room air and heated gas (air) causes
products of combustion (2) to flow (draft) through the
unit and rise through the breach and chimney. Room
temperature air (3) enters through the barometric
draft control (4) in the precise amount needed to
overcome the excess drafts caused by temperature
variations, wind fluctuations, and barometric pressure
changes. Combustion of fuel is complete and the
process is stabilized. The velocity of combustion
gases through the heat exchanger is slowed so more
heat is extracted. The unit operates more efficiently,
reliably, and requires less maintenance.

4. Excess air control:

If there is not enough air being introduced into the combustion process, all fuel will not be burned
and, consequently, it will be lost up the stack in the form of combustibles. Not only does this result in
an obvious waste of valuable energy, safety and pollution hazards are created. For each increment of
change, the energy lost due to excess CO in the flue gas is five- to ten-times greater than the energy
required to heat the excess air. To avoid this condition, there is a natural tendency by operators to
introduce excess air into the furnace.

Proper control of the right amount of excess air maintains optimum combustion efficiency. Amount
of CO2 and O2 in combustion gases are indexes of excess air. The desirable CO2 level depends on the
fuel and the optimum excess air for the furnace.

3
 Desirable O2 level depends much less on the type of fuel. This
makes O2 measurement the preferred method for combustion
control. If the measured O2 content is more than that desired the
air supply is to be decreased. If the O2 measured is less than that
desired, air supply is to be increased.

The excess air is then adjusted by controlling air supply to show

the optimal value of CO2 and O2. The optimum value of excess air
for best combustion efficiency is then ascertained.

CO- and O2-based control:

While it may seem convenient to have O2 as well as CO in the control loop, it is not necessary or
preferred.

CO provides the measurement directly related to combustion completeness and can be best used in
the exact control of the fuel burning process.

O2 is only an approximation of the burning condition. By controlling CO, the control system is
inherently limiting combustibles from exiting the stack, thereby maintaining a safer operation.

Operator changes of control set points are not needed upon variations in fuel or load with CO control.
O2 control requires operator attention, which results in a bias added to the excess air setting to cover
these conditions during normal operation.

5. Drum level control:

Feed water and therefore, steam flow is controlled to meet the load demand by the turbine and at the
same time maintain the level of water in the steam drum within relatively narrow limits. Normally the
water level in the drum is maintained half-full up to the diametral plane. High steam consumption by
the turbine, combined with low feedwater supply would lower the water level in the drum.

4
 From the figure we can see that the
drum level sensor responds to the error
between actual drum level and its set
point, such as in the case of high steam
consumption and low feedwater supply,
and acts on the controller to increase
the feedwater valve opening to meet the
steam flow demand. This action may be
too slow and is supplemented by
sensors for feedwater and steam flow.
The difference between the signals
from these two sensors anticipates
changes in the drum level and sends a
signal to the controller to actuate the
valve in the desired direction.

Steam pressure control:

It maintains the pressure by adjusting fuel and combustion air flow to meet the desired pressure.
When pressure drops, the flow increased. A steam pressure sensor acts directly on the fuel flow and
air flow controls, such as the pulverized coal power drives and FD fans, to affect the desired change.
A trimming signal from fuel flow and air flow sensors maintains the proper air-fuel ratio.

6.Reheater Temperature Control in Boilers:

Reheater temperature variation will have an impact on the cycle efficiency of the plant. Boiler
designers adopt methods like divided second pass, burner tilting, water injection, gas recirculation,
etc. to control reheater steam outlet temperature.

Power plant cycles have the steam from the high pressure turbine reheated before it goes to the
medium pressure and then to the low pressure turbine. This increases the cycle efficiency of the
plant. Designers sometimes use double-reheat turbines to increase cycle efficiency. As the steam
from the high pressure turbine has done work, the pressure and temperature are low. Hence the steam

5
around 40 bar is heated to even above the main steam temperature. The temperature at the outlet of
reheater will have to be maintained within a narrow band.

In designs where the reheater surface is kept in a more convective region, it is possible to control the
reheater temperature by simple mechanisms like increasing or reducing the flue gases flowing over
the sections.

As the convective heat transfer coefficient depend more on the mass flow, and in turn the velocity,
this method has been adopted by designers successfully. This method is most often used in wall fired
units.

Here the second pass of the boiler is divided in to two parallel paths up to the economizer. The two
parallel paths are so designed to have a normal one third and two third ratio of flow area. The two
third ratios of area being adopted for low temperature superheater surface and the one third flow area
for the reheater surface.

Dampers at the bottom of this flue gas passage are used to control the flow. A set of dampers is
kept in the bigger area so that closing of these dampers will divert flue gas to the smaller area side
where the reheater surface is. This increases the pickup in the reheater steam and thus the outlet
temperature of the reheater is increased. Reducing the flow by opening the damper in the other
parallel path will reduce the flue gas flow through the reheater section and thus reduce the reheater
steam outlet temperature. Even though the logic of this design is simple, the construction and
maintenance aspect suffer considerably when coal and low grade fuels are used

Burner tilt method

This method of reheater steam temperature control is applicable to only tilting tangential firing
system boilers. Here the burners arranged in the corner are tilted up or lowered down so that the
flame envelope in the furnace can move up or down causing a good variation in the amount of
radiation heat the reheater receives. Many designers provide an emergency injection system for
reheater temperature control. Feed water is injected in the cold reheat steam side to control the final
temperature.

There are other methods like gas recirculation, non-contact type desuperheating, etc., which are
adopted in cases of combination fuel firing, lower capacity units, etc.

The third alternative is to use injection of water to de-superheat the reheater steam. This method
affects the cycle efficiency of power plant. Hence this method is generally used only as an emergency
system to control the reheater steam temperature during upset operation.

There are other methods like Gas Recirculation, Selective Burner Operation, etc.

Gas recirculation:

In the case of the gas recirculation method, the flue gas is tapped from the second pass at a
convenient location and re-circulated into the furnace. This changes the convective heat transfer
coefficient in the boiler thus changing the absorption in the convective heat transfer surface. The
amount re-circulated is sized in such a way the temperature control is achieved.

Selective burner operation:

6
 Selective burner operation is adopted by some designers and operating groups depending upon the
furnace outlet temperature requirement. This further controls the steam temperature in reheaters.

In all these methods it has to be remembered that whatever is done for reheater temperature control
will also affect the superheater temperature, the effect of which the designers take care while
designing the total process.

7. Superheater Temperature Control in Boilers:

Steam temperature control is carried out in all boilers to get a constant temperature within a range.
Methods like de superheating by water injection, flue gas flow diverting, burner tilting are few
systems adopted. Main steam and reheat outlet temperature are controlled by these methods in boiler.

All boilers used for both process and power generation plants have to maintain steam parameters
within a particular range. The pressure and temperature of steam at superheater and reheater outlets
are to be maintained to achieve optimum plant efficiency. In large capacity boilers, injection type
desuperheating is more popular. Reheaters in power boilers can also be technically classified as
superheaters; however the type of control adopted is mainly varying the heat available from the flue
gas side by bypassing the flue gas to the superheater side and the burner tilt to vary the radiant heat
availability.

Superheating system:
Superheaters in large capacity boilers are of both convective and radiant type. The convective type
superheaters are placed in the second pass of the boiler, and these are also called low temperature
super heaters. Generally about a 40 to 60 degree centigrade temperature pick up takes place on the
steam side in this superheater. The steam from this moves to a radiant type superheater called the
panel or platen superheater, and about a 70 to 100 degree centigrade pickup take place there. This is
followed by the final superheater, and the remaining required temperature is picked up here.

One has to understand that the designer can vary the pickup pattern depending upon his way of
practice or requirement. But in all the methods adopted, the final temperature must be within a
narrow range generally plus / minus five degrees centigrade. The superheaters are so surfaced that,
for the design fuel of the boiler, there will not be any desuperheating requirement.

Desuperheating system:

Three major systems are adopted the world over: the injection type, the flue gas flow diverting type,
and the burner tilt. The last two are adopted for reheater steam temperature control. The first one is
adopted for superheater temperature control. It also used in reheaters during emergencies when there
is a need to quench the temperature even after reaching the maximum of control on the normal
system adopted. The material selection for the superheater before the injection will be greatly
influenced by the quantity of injection.

Injection type desuperheating:

In almost all large capacity boilers there are two injection points provided. The first desuperheater is
placed between the low temperature superheater and the platen/panel superheater. The second one is
placed between the platen/panel and the final superheater. The control is done mostly by the
desuperheater, and the second one is more for fine tuning, as the response time for the first is long. In
both the cases the feed water is tapped at an appropriate point and injected as fine spray through

7
nozzles in the steam pipe of the desuperheater. The mechanical design aspect includes liners so that
the temperature differential is not directly felt on the pressure part side of the desuperheater.

Flue gas diverting design:

Here the flue gas path in the second pass of the boiler is divided in two. One houses the superheater
and part of economizer; the other houses the reheater and part of the economizer. The superheater
here is the low temperature (also called primary) superheater. The reheater here is called the
horizontal reheater and forms a considerable portion of the total reheater surface. There are dampers
provided in the bottom of each pass which can vary the flow in the section including a bypass flow
area in between the two flow paths. By varying the flue gas flow in the reheater section, the pickup
can be varied to control the final reheat steam temperature. Here also the superheater temperature
control is done by injection, however there will be an effect on the heat transferred in the superheater
section.

8. Master fuel trip:

LONV: light oil non regulated valve

HONV: heavy oil non regulated valve

IONV: ignition oil non regulated valve

LOTV: light oil trip valve

HOTV: heavy oil trip valve

IOTV: ignition oil trip valve

8
Generally, furnace oil or any kind of fuel is susceptible to explosion hazards. It has been established
that the majority of explosion occurs during start-up, shutdown and low load operations.

The furnace safeguard supervisory system (FSSS) is designed to ensure the execution of a safe,
orderly operating sequence in the start up and shutdown of fuel firing equipment.

Function of FSSS:
1. Prevent any fuel firing unless a satisfactory furnace purge sequence has been completed.

2. Prevent start-up of individual fuel firing equipment unless certain permissive interlock has been
satisfied.

3. Monitor and control proper sequence during start-up and shutdown of fuel firing equipments.

Furnace purge:
Furnace purge is required after a boiler trip and before light up of the boiler to expel all unburnt fuel
particles/ gases from the boiler, so the possibilities of explosion are eliminated, when ignition energy
is made available.

Boiler purge cycle is of five minutes with air flow being 30%-40%. Only when all purge permissive
are satisfied “purge ready” signal appears. Purging can be start by pressing “purge start” push button.
When purge cycle is completed “purge complete” signal will come. This is an indication that boiler
MFR is reset and now boiler can be light up.

Master Fuel Trip (MFT) signals are coming from many ways.
1. MFT Push Button.
Example, when super-heater spray is stuck open and the temperature is rapid increase, operator
should initiate MFT by push button to prevent boiler damage.

2. Fuel Input to Zero (Black Furnace).

Example, when all pulverizer trip. One pulverizer can be trip if mare than two coal pipe valve are
shut, mill outlet temperature high and no flame detection. Signal flame can lost by flame dirty or
scanner cooling air blower is getting interrupt.

3. By Pass System Failure (Lost of Flow Path).

Example, all electro-hydraulic control pump trip means turbine main steam stop and control valve,
re-heater stop and control valve, HP and LP by-pass are getting lost of power. They will be directly
shut and get signal turbine trip with boiler still high coal flow.

4. Drum Level High

5. Drum level Low.

Example, Drum level high or low frequently happen when even unit runback and Feed-water control
valve conversion master control between single elements to three elements.

6. Furnace Pressure High.

7. Furnace Pressure Low.

9
Example, Furnace pressure high or low frequently happen when even unit runback

8. Secondary air duct pressure high.

9. Total Air Flow Low.

10. All FD Fan trip.

11. All ID Fan trip.

9. Furnace pressure control:

Furnace pressure control is a fairly simple loop, but it’s also one that has important safety
implications. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes, such as NFPA 85: Boiler and
Combustion Systems Hazards Code, are dedicated to fire and furnace explosion and implosion
protection. Before you begin tuning a boiler, you must read and understand the NFPA codes that
apply to your boiler.

Balanced draft boilers use induced draft (ID) fans and/or their inlet dampers to control boiler furnace
pressure. The typical control system has one controller that compares the difference between the
furnace pressure and the furnace pressure set point that uses a feed forward signal usually based on
forced draft (FD) fan master output. The output from the controller typically is fed through an ID fan
master control station. Smaller units may have a single ID fan, but larger units usually have two or
more ID fans. The most I have seen is eight ID fans for a single unit. In this case, the output from the
control loop or master is distributed to the individual fan control stations.

The NFPA also requires some additional logic for the furnace pressure control loop to ensure
adequate operating safety margins. There should be high and low furnace pressure logic to block the
ID fan from increasing or decreasing speed, as is appropriate. For example, because this fan sucks
flue gas out of the furnace, on a high furnace pressure signal the fan should be blocked from
decreasing speed and on a low furnace pressure signal it should be blocked from increasing speed.
On a very negative furnace pressure signal, there should be an override that closes the ID inlet
damper or decreases ID fan speed. The settings of these signals are determined by the boiler and fan
supplier during the design of the plant.

Also, on a main fuel trip (MFT) there should be MFT kicker logic. An MFT occurs when the burner
management system detects a dangerous condition and shuts down the boiler by securing the fuel per
NFPA and boiler manufacturer requirements. When fuel is removed, the flame within the furnace
collapses violently, which can cause a lot of wear and tear on the boiler and related boiler equipment.
It also presents the very real danger of an implosion. The MFT kicker should immediately reduce the
control output to the fan(s) proportional to the load being carried at the time of the MFT and then
release the device back to normal operation.

10