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Oct. 2003
Higher efficiencies can be achieved only along the path of higher steam temperatures and pres-
sures.
Power plants operating at supercritical steam pressure have already demonstrated their opera-
tional capabilities and high availability over decades. The transition to steam temperatures of
600°C and higher is now a further major development step, which decisively affects many aspects
of the design of the power plant, especially of the boiler. Whether the transition to these high steam
temperatures is economical also depends not only on the choice of main steam pressure, reheat
pressure and feedwater temperature, but also on the range of fuel.
1
Benson is a registered trademark of Siemens AG
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prohibited. Offenders will be held liable for payment of damages. All rights created by patent
grant or registration of a utility model or design patent are reserved.
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To date, the focus Output Design Pre ssure *) Steam Temperature Year of
Power Plant
was on material de- [MW] [bar] Boiler Outlet [°C] Commisioning
3 Effect on design
- Size of heat exchange surfaces
Higher steam temperatures automatically diminish the temperature differences between the flue
gas and steam, with relatively large superheater and reheater heating surfaces as a consequence.
As higher tube wall temperatures also mean an increased tendency to fouling, corresponding
heating surface reserves must be provided.
Feedwater temperature has a large effect on the size of the heating surfaces in the cooler flue-gas
path. Values of 290°C to 300°C or higher are necessary for high-efficiency plants. As on the one
hand the flue-gas temperature downstream of the economizer is set in the design case at roughly
400°C – the temperature window for DeNOx – and on the other hand the water outlet temperature
from the economizer is limited to avoid steaming, the upstream superheaters must absorb more
heat with increasing feedwater temperature. At higher steam conditions, especially at increasing
reheat pressures, the exhaust steam temperatures from the HP section of the turbine and thus the
reheat inlet temperatures also increase. While these temperatures are still approx. 320°C at a de-
sign main steam temperature of 540°C, they already increase to over 350°C in a 600°C main
steam temperature design and even up to over 420°C in a 700°C design. This considerably de-
creases the temperature difference to the flue gas, with the consequence of still larger heating
surfaces in the reheaters.
Under consideration of a cost-effective heating surface design, feedwater temperatures should not
exceed 300°C, and HP exhaust steam pressures should lie in the range of 60 bar.
The location of the separator determines the location of the end of the evaporator on startup and
at low load in recirculation mode. Usually the separator is configured such that its temperature is
slightly superheated at the lowest once-through load point. Design of the boiler for high steam
temperatures and pressures leads to this being already the case in lower areas of the furnace
walls instead of as from the outlet first pass or in the boiler roof. The reason for this is the increas-
ing degree of superheat and correspondingly decreasing fraction of evaporation in the heat input
to the HP section with increasing steam parameters. At a load of 40%, the degree of superheat in
a 540°C boiler is
approx. 27%,
and this in- 100
creases to 39%, 90 HPSuperheating
HP Superheating
for example, in a 27
80 32
design for 700°C 39
main steam 70
temperature 60
(Fig. 3 and Fig. Q
50 Preheatingand
and
[%] 58 Preheating
4). As the highly 53
46 Evaporation
Evaporation
40
loaded heating
surface area 30
2200
1800
Corresponding
Furnace Design ∆h Evaporation full load steam
pressure:
and Size is given at 40% Load 350 bar
290 bar
by Coal and Ash (sliding pres- 250 bar
Quality sure) 190 bar
1000
0 100 200 bar
3900
703 °C / 358 bar 750
3800 Superheater Outlet 476 kg/s
3600
540 °C 544 °C / 261 bar 650
3500
200 bar 600 kg/s
3400
600
3300
3200
Water Wall
Outlet 550
3100 Roof Water Wall
Outlet
3000
2900 500
100% Load
2800 Roof
2700 Nose
Nose
2600
2500 450
2400
2300
h [kJ/kg]
2200
2100
2000
400
1900
1800 Evaporator
Inlet
1700
Evaporator
1600 Inlet 350
1500
1400
300
1300
1200
Economiser Inlet
1100 250
100% Load
1000
900
200
500
100
400
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 380 400
p [bar]
Water walls
The water walls in boilers for subcritical steam conditions are generally configured as evaporators.
At increasing steam temperatures and pressures, the fraction of evaporator heating surfaces de-
creases, with the result that parts of the water walls must also be configured as superheaters, i.e.
downstream of the separator.
In the highly loaded furnace area, spiral-wound evaporator tubing is usually used with smooth
tubes and high mass fluxes – approx. 2000 – 2500 kg/m³s. As spiral-wound furnace tubing of this
type is not self-supporting, it is reinforced with support straps which are welded to the tube wall
with support blocks.
High steam parameters also lead to higher material loading in the evaporator. The previously ex-
isting design reserves are no longer available, with the result that a detailed stress analysis is re-
quired for the design of the evaporator tubing in each case. As a result of the requisite large wall
thicknesses, the design of highly loaded heating surface areas is in part no longer determined by
the primary stresses due to internal pressure but rather by the secondary stresses due to re-
At higher steam temperatures, materials such as HCM12 or T92 are required which must be heat-
treated after welding. In order to minimize the manufacturing expenditure in such a design, the
erection welds on evaporator tubes must be reduced to the absolute minimum possible. This is
currently feasible only with vertical tubing. The relatively complex welds in the corners for spiral-
wound furnace tubing are eliminated and the individual wall segments are welded together only at
the fins. Welding of tubes may become necessary only in the horizontal plane. Solutions are also
available for this which minimize expenditure on heat treatment on erection.
In all cases, it can be stated that the problems in the design of the water walls increase dispropor-
tionately with increasing steam pressures. A reduction of main steam pressure from 350 bar to
250 bar reduces the efficiency of a 700°C plant by 0.7 percentage points but it also reduces the
wall outlet temperature from 540°C to 500°C and makes a design with materials without post weld
heat treatment possible. Main steam pressures far above 250 bar should therefore be avoided,
also in plants with high steam temperatures.
At high steam parameters the water walls can no longer be designed entirely as an evaporator.
The transition from evaporator walls to superheater walls then lies above the furnace. This transi-
tion must be designed so as to minimize the temperature differences between the evaporator and
superheater sections of the walls which automatically result on water filling after shutdown, espe-
cially on water filling after an emergency shut down. Values of up to 80 K represent no cause for
concern. For higher values such as can occur at very high steam conditions as well as in large
furnaces, a flexible connection, not necessarily welded gas-tight, should also be taken into consid-
eration for this transition.
For steam temperatures up to approx. 550°C, all heating surfaces can be constructed of ferritic or
martensitic materials, while at 600°C austenitic materials are necessary for the final superheater
heating surfaces for both the HP section of the boiler as well as the reheater. In addition to the
strength parameters, corrosion behavior on the flue-gas and oxidation behavior on the steam
sides is especially determinative for material selection. Fig.7, Superheater materials for high tem-
peratures, shows a selection of available materials. With regard to strength parameters, construc-
tion of superheater heating surfaces for steam temperatures up to 650°C is currently already fea-
sible with austenitic steel materials. The corrosion resistance of the available materials however
reduces the design limits to about 630°C.
under
Alloy 617 A130 685 720 development
In the first steam generators with very high steam temperatures, austenitic materials were used for
the hot headers and connecting lines. However, the poor thermoelastic behavior – low thermal
conductivity, high thermal expansion – render these materials unsuitable for boilers which are im-
plemented in power plants with a large number of load changes and minimum startup times.
The development of chromium steels such as P91, P92 or E911 has enabled steam temperatures
up to 620°C without the use of austenitic materials for thick-walled components. More recent de-
velopments such Main steam pressure upstream of turbine [bar]
as NF12 and 360
Save 12 could
extend the limits NF 12
of implementation
E 911/
at moderate main NF 616
320
steam pressures TP 347H FG
up to 650°C in the P 91
near future.
X 20 Alloy 617
With regard to the 280
thick-walled com-
ponents, espe-
cially for the main
steam headers, it
proves that the 240
main steam pres- Ferritic
sures should Austenitic Ni-based
more likely lie be- material
low 300 bar for 200
optimum compo- 540 560 580 600 620 640 660 680 700 720
nent utilization Main steam temperature upstream of turbine [°C]
(Fig.8) [2].
Figure 8: Optimum Main Steam Conditions with given
Main Steam Header Dimensions
- Effect on operation
Power plants which are designed for fast load changes and short and frequent starts must neces-
sarily be operated in sliding-pressure mode. Only then does the material loading of the turbine re-
main acceptable: in sliding-pressure operation– usually between full load and 40% load - the tem-
perature curve in the turbine remains nearly constant over the entire load range. These advan-
tages for the turbine contrast with disadvantages for the boiler. For example, the temperatures in
the water walls decrease from full load to part load by approx. 100 K. Due to their magnitude and
the ordinarily larger wall thicknesses at the elevated steam parameters, the temperature changes
during start up and load variations place increased requirements on the design of the thick-walled
components such as multiple parallel passes, but also on the design of the tube walls, such as
vertical tubing, in order to achieve similar startup times and load change rates to those in plants
with conventional steam parameters.
With increasing steam parameters, the degree of superheat at the outlet of the evaporator sections
of the water walls at the lowest once-through load point also increases. A high degree of superheat
Transmittal, reproduction, dissemination and/or editing of this document as well as utilization
Siemens AG . Power Generation of its contents and communication thereof to others without express authorization are
prohibited. Offenders will be held liable for payment of damages. All rights created by patent
grant or registration of a utility model or design patent are reserved.
H30-K0018-X-X-7600 Textseite, engl. 2001-09 D97 H:\BENSON\Homepage\Parsons_2003.doc Page 9 of 13
leads to a temperature reduction at the evaporator end and in the superheaters in the transition to
recirculation mode. The separators are therefore moved as far as possible toward the burner zone.
Operating measures to reduce the degree of superheat are increased excess air, flue-gas recircu-
lation and use of the uppermost burner levels. The higher the steam temperatures and pressures
become, the more important is the lowest possible load point in once-through operation, so that the
once-through/recirculation mode transition need be traversed only on startup.
The large degree of superheat in the separator at the lowest once-through operating point also
results in changes in startup behavior at high steam parameters. On warm and hot startup in recir-
culation mode, the achievable hot steam temperatures are below the values required by the tur-
bine. The earliest possible transition to once-through operation is necessary in order to shorten
startup time, as full main steam temperatures are also already possible at low load in this operating
mode.
High feedwater temperatures can restrict the sliding-pressure range in plants with very high main
steam pressures. In order to prevent the economizer from approaching the evaporation point at low
load, the pressure must be already fixed below 50% load or still higher depending on the design.
Increasing steam parameters also decrease the design reserves of nearly all pressure part com-
ponents, as, not least for reasons of cost, the decision for advanced materials is not made until the
reserves of lower quality materials become insufficient. This also increases the requirements on
control quality: temperature deviations from the design value, such as on load changes, must be
kept to a minimum. The conventional cascade controller is no longer sufficient for superheat tem-
perature control;
concepts such as Evaporator outlet temperature
two-loop feedback Previous feedwater
control or observer 470 control concept
features provide °
New feedwater
significantly better 460 control concept
control quality. with allowance for
450 - inlet enthalpy
Special attention - storage of thermal
must be given to energy
feedwater control. 440
Conventional sys-
tems which employ 430
only simple delay
modules to account
for the dynamic 420
differences be-
tween heat release 410
by the fuel and
heat absorption by
the evaporator 400
0 250 500 750 1000 1250 s 1500
tubes usually lead
to large tempera- Time
ture fluctuations at
Figure 9: Comparison of Feedwater Control Concepts
the evaporator out-
Load reduction from 100% to 50%
let on load
changes. New con-
trol concepts which account for effects such as those of changes in the evaporator inlet tempera-
For high degrees of superheat at the lowest once-through load point, the transition from recircula-
tion mode to once-through operation and back can no longer take place without delay due to the
relatively large temperature change; the control must be adapted accordingly for a sliding transi-
tion.
4 Other effects
Design of the tube walls in particular is impeded by the high steam temperatures and pressures.
The design parameters should be selected as best as possible so as not to necessitate the use of
materials for which heat treatment must be performed after welding. A significant aspect for this is
selection of the fuel. Coals with low ash deformation temperatures require large furnaces, associ-
ated with high heat input to the walls. A 100K lower ash deformation temperature leads in a com-
parable boiler concept to a temperature increase at the wall outlet of about 25K. Because of this for
the currently
available wall ma- Wall exit temperature °C
terials without
post-welding heat 600
treatment, the ash
deformation tem-
perature for a
600°C boiler may
not be much lower
than 1200°
(Fig.10). TFD = 700°C
500 pFD = 350 bar
The implementa-
tion of flue-gas TFD = 600°C
recirculation – pFD = 300 bar
extraction of the A617
flue gases if pos- P92 TFD = 540°C
sible upstream of 7CrMoVTiB1010 pFD = 250 bar
the air heater in 13CrMo44
400
order to reduce
the negative effect 1100 1200 1300
on exhaust-gas
temperature– can
Ash deformation temperature °C
shift the limits to
higher steam pa-
Figure 10: Design Limits for Water Wall Materials
rameters.
Steam generators for power plants with high steam parameters and hence high plant efficiencies
are consequently also designed for high boiler efficiencies. The lowest possible exhaust-gas tem-
peratures – 115°C to 110°C can be achieved depending on the coal – and lower excess air are
prerequisites for this. Both of these factors lead to an increased heat input to the evaporator and
thus impede the design of the wall heating surfaces.
The advantages of CFB technology are uncontested for low-grade fuels or for fuels with widely
fluctuating quality as well as for low exhaust-gas emissions without post-combustion control meas-
ures. CFB plants up to capacities of 350 MWe are currently in operation. However, only once-
through operation with high steam conditions render CFB technology serious competition for pul-
verized-coal firing. A plant for approx. 460 MWe with steam parameters of 560°C/580°C and 265
bar was developed in an EU research program. The BENSON "Low Mass Flux" design was se-
lected as the evaporator concept. It fulfills the requirements of a fluidized bed to a special degree:
the tube orientation parallel to the flue gas/ash flow ensures low susceptibility to erosion, and tem-
perature variations between the evaporator tubes are extensively prevented, as non-uniform heat
inputs are evened out by the natural circulation flow characteristic of the low mass flux design. It
also features an especially simple construction, as flow through all of the tubes in a single pass is
parallel, thus eliminating the need for elaborate water/steam distribution.
The suitability of this evaporator system for sliding-pressure operation also fulfills all requirements
for a power plant with regard to operating flexibility.
Heat-recovery steam generators downstream of gas turbines are usually designed as drum boil-
ers. Increasing exhaust-gas temperatures downstream of gas turbines as well as the increasing
requirements on flexibility of a combined-cycle plant with frequent starts also make the use of
once-through systems interesting here. Elimination of the drum on the one hand increases operat-
ing flexibility and on the other hand is a noticeable cost aspect. In the Cottam combined-cycle
plant, a heat-recovery steam generator with a once-through evaporator based on the Benson "Low
Mass Flux" design was constructed for the first time and runs successfully in commercial operation
since Sept.1999. This evaporator concept is characterized by extremely low mass fluxes which still
lie far below those of fired boilers.
The Low Mass Flux Design provides an evaporator concept which meets the new requirements
and which permits further development to higher steam parameters for pulverized-coal-fired boil-
ers and for boilers with circulating fluidized bed firing as well as for heat-recovery steam genera-
tors downstream of gas turbines.
A further increase in steam temperatures appears possible in the next years with continuous ma-
terials development, but without using nickel based materials not more than 10K to 20K. From the
current standpoint, the jump to 700°C will not take place until the next decade. However, from an
economic perspective, the high steam temperatures will only be selected given correspondingly
competitive materials prices and if, among other things, the appropriate main steam and reheat
pressures are selected and the fuel ranges are limited.
References