Fossil and Biomass Fueled Power Plants Steam Turbine Auxiliaries

Steam turbines are one of the major drivers of power generators in todays power plants. There are several types of turbines and a number of mechanical arrangements to obtain maximum efficiency and output. The auxiliaries however are very similar, performing equally important tasks in their systems.

Steam Turbine Auxiliaries

Introduction In the previous article on power plant auxiliaries we looked at the important part played by the auxiliaries of a dual drum water tube boiler. Following on from there, here we will examine the main auxiliaries of the associated steam turbine, using the same method of locating and describing the functions of the different components within the relevant systems. Please refer to the drawing to when reading the component descriptions which are numbered in sequence as in the descriptions.

Lube-oil System
1. Pumps
The lubricating oil system has three separate pumps which supply the bearings and hydraulic system with oil. Lube oil Jacking pump this is used when the turbine is being rotated by the turning gear. Emergency Lube oil Pump this cuts in if the turbine trips through loss of power. Lube oil Booster Pump this pump is used at start-up and ensures an adequate flow at slow speeds. It cuts out when the turbine reaches operation speed Main lube oil pump this pump draws the oil from a lube oil tank and supplies the turbine bearings and governor. This is normally a centrifugal pump driven by the turbine or generator shaft.

2. L.O. Filters
Some systems have duplex filters on the suction and discharge pipework of the pumps, but at a minimum a set on the discharge. These remove any debris picked up by the oil before the oil is fed to the bearings.

3. L.O. Coolers
The oil lubricates the bearings absorbing the heat from friction. This heat is dissipated by the coolers. These are usually tube coolers, water being the medium used to cool the oil.

4. L.O. Centrifuge
The centrifuge is usually positioned above the lube oil tank and runs continually whilst the turbine is operating, only coming off line for cleaning. It draws the lube oil from the lube oil tank removing any water and particles by centrifugal force before discharging the clean oil back to the tank.

5. Turbine Governor
As the loads on the generator vary requiring more or less steam to the turbine, the governor responds by controlling the speed of the turbine. The governor is hydraulically operated by lube oil supplied by the main pump.

The Steam Condensate System

6. Steam Turbine Condenser
Expanded steam from the low pressure turbine is drawn into the tube condenser by a vacuum which is maintained at 28"- 29"Hg where it is condensed by water which has been cooled in the cooling tower.

7. Air Ejector
The air ejectors are used to create the initial vacuum in the condenser and maintain a vacuum of 28-29"Hg for optimum steam evaporation. The ejectors draw the air out of the condenser by passing high pressure steam through a vortex piping arrangement thus causing the vacuum.

8. Condensate Pump
This pump draws the water from the bottom of the condenser or hotwell and pumps it up to the deaerator.

9. Tray Deaerator
This is a pressure vessel with a horizontal and vertical section somewhat like a comic strip submarine shape. It effectively removes the air and oxygen from the feed water (condensate) which would otherwise damage the inside of the boiler tubes by corrosion. There are several types of deaerators; we will look at the tray type which is a vessel having a horizontal section with a vertical dome. The bottom horizontal section is used to collect and store the deaerated water; the vertical section has perforated trays set at intervals along its upper length. The condensate enters at the top of the vertical section cascading down through the trays, meeting steam injected from the sides and gathers at the bottom section where it is heated by steam coils or sprays. The air is vented from the very top of the deaerater vertical domed section.

10. Boiler Feed Pump

This pump takes the water from the deaerator and pumps it through a series of feed heaters into the boiler economizer (see boiler auxiliaries article) and into the boiler top drum through the feed water control valve. The water used to condense the steam to condensate is now pretty hot itself, so it needs to be cooled down before being used again. The cooling tower is used for this purpose. It is a vertical hyperboloid concrete structure with a honeycombed interior usually of plastic and the water enters at the top cascading down through the plastic sections. It draws in air from the bottom, which rising up through the tower mixes with the water thus cooling it helped by evaporation, the resultant plume rising out of the top of the tower.

12 Cooling Medium Pumps

These pumps circulate the cooling medium from the main vacuum condenser and LO cooler to and from the cooling tower.

*************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Boiler Tube Failure due to Opening a Drain Valve

A wrong operational procedure leads to boiler tube failure and furnace damage. What went wrong? Read this to find out. This happened almost ten years ago. A simple but wrong operational procedure led to a catastrophic boiler failure and a repair that cost a few million dollars. We had just erected and commissioned a circulating fluidized bed boiler for an industrial plant in Southeast Asia. The boiler was a state of the art CFBC and almost the largest boiler in the region at that time. It was capable of

producing nearly 400 tons per hour of steam for power generation and utility purposes, firing coal and biomass with superheated steam at a pressure of 140 bar and temperature of 540C. A basic understanding of a boiler is required to understand what went wrong.

Furnace
The furnace of a modern boiler is made of welded tubes called membrane panels. The carbon steel tubes of diameter 60.3 mm welded at a pitch of 75 mm forms the boiler furnace with a height of 40 meters, width of 12 meters, and depth of 8 meters. The heat transfer area was around 1700 square meters. The heat in the furnace transfers to the water in these tubes to produce steam. The furnace is at temperatures in the range of 800C to 1000 C. The water flowing through the tubes keeps the tube metal temperatures well below the deformation temperatures. If there is no water flow in these tubes, the tubes will overheat and fail. This is true for any vessel that boils water. Even in your house, if you heat a pot or a pan without water it will twist out of shape.

Circulation
How does water circulate in these tubes? Water flows into these tubes from the boiler drum located at the top of the furnace through large pipes called "down comers." Steam starts forming in these tubes as it absorbs the heat from the furnace. The steam water mixture is at a lower density than the water in the down comers. Consider this like a U tube having the down comer filled with denser fluid (water) and the water wall tubes with lighter fluid (a water and steam mix). Both legs connect to the top drum. This density difference between the two legs causes circulation in these tubes.

Blowdown
The steam and water mixture from the water walls enter the drum, the steam separates, and the water recirculates back. The chemicals in the water do not evaporate and remain in the water. Continuous circulation of the water increases the concentration of the chemical content. Continuous removal of a part of the water from the bottom of the drum by a process called "blowdown" controls the concentration level.

Drains
The water wall membrane panels connect to headers at the top and bottom. The down comers connect to the bottom headers distributing the water evenly to the tubes. The top headers connect to the drum through riser tubes that carry the water steam mixture to the drum. The bottom headers have drain pipes with valves. These manual operation valves are only for use during the initial operation for flushing and cleaning the headers or for filling or removing the water from the boiler.

The Incident
The incident occurred during the final stages of commissioning. The unit was operating at near full load at the maximum operating pressure. Because of higher than allowable concentration of chemicals in the drum, the commissioning engineer decided to use the water wall drains for blowdown for a short time. Since these were manual valves operating under high pressure differential, the quick open-close operation was not quick enough. How long the valve was in open condition is unknown. This opening of the drains at the bottom headers had the effect of breaking the U tube effect and killing or reducing the flow of water through the tubes. This resulted in higher than acceptable metal temperatures in the water wall tubes. A few tubes failed, and the failure led to a unit outage. In the ensuing inspection, the extent of the damage was visible. The entire water wall on the front and sides of the furnace for almost the entire height was distorted into a wavy pattern.

Repair
Since the plant was in an electrically islanded facility, the power and steam was necessary to keep the plant production levels. The boiler was back in operation after replacement of the burst tubes- at a lower load and pressure with the waterwall distortion. Because this was a CFBC boiler, the sand and ash circulating in the furnace required quick replacement of these wavy tubes before any failures due to erosion took place. The boiler operated with this condition for almost six months until the replacement tubes were available at site. It took thirty days to replace the walls and another fifteen days to put the unit back into service.

Conclusion
One should know the design basics and do some critical thinking before attempting to do something that is not normally done. ***************************************************************************************************

Water Recovery from Power plant Flue Gas

Combustion of fossil fuels produces water, which is expelled as waste along with the flue gas. This article tells you how much water forms during combustion and how we can capture this water for utility purposes.

We never know the worth of water 'til the well is dry. Thomas Fuller
Population pressures, climate changes and deforestation are driving mans most wanted resource to scarcity. Let us explore one more way to augment this resource. When you burn fossil fuels or hydrocarbon fuels, the exothermic combustion reaction of Hydrogen in the fuel and Oxygen in the air produces water. This water goes out as vapour along with the flue gas. In coal firing, moisture in the coal augments the water quantity. The quantity of water produced is much more than the steam cycle make-up quantity in fossil fuel power plants. If one can economically capture this water and use it for steam cycle make up and other utility applications in the power plant, it can greatly reduce the pressure on regional water balances. This will be a boon for low rainfall regions and desert economies.

How Much Water?

The combustion of hydrogen, the exothermic reaction, produces heat and water. The water quantity produced is almost nine times the weight of hydrogen. Bituminous coal contains around 3 % hydrogen which along with a 12 % moisture in coal produces almost 0.388 kilogram of water per kilogram of coal. A 500 MW plant consuming around 300 tons of coal per hour produces 116 tons of water per hour. Even with a fifty percent yield, a flue gas water recovery system can meet the steam cycle makeup water requirement. Natural gas contains 90 % methane which means one kilogram of natural gas produces almost two kilograms of water. A 500 MW gas turbine plant consuming 125 tons of natural gas per hour produces 250 tons of water vapor. The downside steam turbine cycle requires a make-up water of 50 tons per hour. A flue gas water recovery system with a fifty percent yield not only meets the steam cycle makeup, but also meets a part of the circulating water makeup. Fuel oil contains 13 % hydrogen, which means one kilogram of fuel oil produces 1.16 kilogram of water during the combustion.

Three Methods to Capture the Water

Capturing water from flue gas may not be economical with current technology. However, developments and necessity will make it possible in the future. Combined cycle plants with cleaner and low temperature exhaust flue gas is the prime candidate for water recovery. When the requirement for capturing CO2 becomes mandatory, flue gas cooling will become a necessity. Integrating water recovery with CO2 capture will be the new power plant norm. Use heat exchangers to condense the water. Heat exchangers using plant circulating water, or as part of the steam condensate cycle, cool the flue gas to temperatures below the dew point, in the range of 40 C. The condensate collection augments the water source in the plant. Since the volume of the flue gas is very high, it may be practical to cool and capture water only from part of the flue gas.

Additional cooling water, parasitic power, and capital investment are the main economic considerations. Removal of acidic constituents in flue gas like SO2 and NOx condensing at the 120 C range necessitates a two stage recovery. The first stage acidic condensate is sent to waste treatment. The heat exchangers are to be from acidic corrosion resistant materials.

Use a desiccant to absorb the water. Another method is to use a desiccant to absorb the water. Flue gas passes through a liquid spray in an absorber tower. The desiccant absorbs the water. Flashing releases the water and regenerates the desiccant. Cooling the vapors produces water. Cost of the desiccant, additional cooling water, parasitic power, and capital investment are the main economic considerations.

Use nano technology. This is the most promising method for flue gas water capture. Nano membrane tubes that allow permeation of only H2O molecules is the key. This is almost like a solid state system. This does not put undue pressure on auxiliary systems and can directly deliver water that is pure without any further processing. The nano membrane tubes are still in the development stage. Like the reverse osmosis membrane technology that is very popular today, higher production volumes will bring down the cost and make water recovery a reality.

As technology develops, water recovery from flue gas will be an integral part of the thermal power plant cycle, making it more environmentally friendly. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Chemical Recovery Boilers in Paper Plants

This part of the article deals with the effect of various specific parameters of black liquor fired chemical recovery boilers. Black liquor is a unique fuel in boilers, and a brief account of its properties and effect on boiler operation along with feed water and air is discussed.

Effect of Various Parameters in Recovery Boiler Operation

This part of the series deals with the various parameters of the chemical recovery boiler that are different from conventional coal and oil fired boilers. As the combustion in black liquor fired chemical recovery boiler takes place under a reducing atmosphere, the effect of various parameters are critical.

Input parameters
The basic input parameters to the recovery boiler are: Black liquor quality which includes concentration (% dry solids), temperature, Higher Heating Value, composition, % organic to inorganic ratio, and other physical properties The feed water temperature and feed water chemical quality The combustion air temperature which plays a major role in bed stabilization

Black liquor
The important properties include liquor composition, total dissolved solids, ultimate chemical composition, specific gravity and density, viscosity, specific heat, thermal conductivity, boiling point, surface tension, calorific value, latent heat of vaporization and solubility characteristics. Other properties that are mostly qualitative in nature, and not genera,l and very often used for comparison purposes are precipitation point, swelling volume ratio, foam index, etc. Black liquor is distinctly alkaline (pH varies from 10.5 to 13.5), but not caustic owing to the fact that a large part of the alkali is present in form of neutral compounds. The lignin has intense black colour shading to reddish brown on dilution and retains a dark straw to yellow colour even when diluted to 0.04% with water. It is foamy at low concentrations. Black liquor from the sulfate process is generally foamier than that from the soda process. The foaming increases with an increase in resin content of wood used for pulping. The amount of total solids in black liquor depends on the quantity of alkali charged to the digester and the yield of pulp. Under average conditions, black liquor going to evaporators will contain 14-18% solids for wood and bamboo. In general, the inorganic compounds in black liquor tend to decrease specific heat and thermal conductivity, increase density, specific gravity, viscosity, boiling point elevation, and have practically no effect on surface tension. The organic constituents of black liquor tend to decrease specific heat, thermal conductivity, and surface tension, and increase density and viscosity values. The data also shows that there are considerable differences among values for the different liquors attributed to the diversity of organic constituents in black liquors caused by the variation in pulping species, pulping conditions, and pulp yields. The black liquor obtained from agricultural residues, wheat straw, rice straw, and bagasse, etc. are characteristically different.

Black liquor generally contains 50%-70% organics and 30%-50% inorganics. It also contains minor amounts of impurities such as lime, iron-oxides, sodium chloride, and alumina. High silica content is a major obstacle in any recovery process. The concentration of silica is particularly high in rice and wheat straw black liquors. The presence of silica leads to problems related to scaling, clarification, and precipitation. The non-wood fiber black liquors have a high percentage of silica: 4 - 6% (even more) in case of straw and 1.% in case of bagassee. Silica enters both as intrinsic and external silica with raw material and cooking liquors. The magnitude of silica for different liquors is: rice straw 3 - 16%, wheat straw 3 - 6%, bamboo 2 - 5%, bagasse 1 - 3%, and eucalyptus 0.1 - 0.8%. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Cleaning High Pressure Boiler Internal Surfaces

High pressure boilers need very clean internal surfaces. The pre-commissioning cleaning involves Alkali boil out to remove any oily materials, Acid Cleaning to clean up mill scales and Steam blowing to clean superheaters, reheater, and piping. Post-commissioning cleaning is specific to each boiler. High pressure boilers are designed to produce steam at a specified quality. Improper steam quality can lead to tube failures in the boiler, as well as turbine blade damage, resulting in large availability loss. The cleaning of internal surface of high pressure boiler can be grouped into two main methods, one pre-commissioning and the other postcommissioning cleaning.

Pre-commissioning cleaning
During manufacturing of seamless steel tubes, a quantity of mill scales are bound to be formed, and some of these can remain inside. During fabrication and erection of the pressure parts, some amount of oil and grease can also get into the tube surface apart from the weld slag and other materials. Taking all of these into consideration, the precommissioning cleaning has three major steps. Alkali boil out - which is for removing the oil and grease from the internal surface. Acid cleaning - for removing the mill scales in the internal surface. Both acid cleaning and alkali boil-out are done for all water-touched surfaces. Steam blowing - In the case of super heaters, reheaters, and steam pipes, they are cleaned by steam blowing.

Alkali boil-out
This operation in boilers is taken up after hydraulic testing of the boiler is completed and the oil burners are commissioned. Alkaline flushing is carried out before the boiler is taken for alkali boil out. It is a practice to mechanically remove the oil and grease wherever possible. The drum internals are installed before start of alkali boil out. Normally sodium carbonate and sodium phosphate in equal quantity along with a detergent to about 0.05 to 0.1% by volume are used for alkali boil out.

10

After the boil out solution is added, the drum level is checked though a gauge glass and confirmed before firing the boiler. The boiler is brought to 20 kg/cm square in about 8 hours time keeping in mind the rate of pressure raise and temperature raise allowed for cold startup. The drum level is maintained at normal level during this operation. After about four hours at pressure, the fire is shut down and the boiler is allowed to cool. This ensures the sludge settle down and the boiler blow down is carried out using the bottom drain. Care should be taken to maintain the drum water level with in the visible range of gauge glass. This operation is done for four times to a total of about 16 hours. Solution samples are taken at regular intervals, and if the original concentration drops to half or below, chemicals are added to bring back the concentration. The boiler is then drained after the drum metal temperature is below 90 degree C. The boiler is then rinsed with clear rinse water and flushed.

Acid cleaning
Many methods are used by different boiler makers to clean the mill scale and rust inside the tube surface. It is very important that this operation is carried out by an experienced and reliable agency. The methods used are circulating acid method and soaking method. In the case of the circulating method, external acid cleaning pumps are used to keep the acid in circulation. However in the case of soaking method the acid is kept stationary for a specified time. Many combinations of acids are used for this purpose. The most popular acid is 5% hydrochloric acid with inhibitors that are used to inhibit the action of acid on the cleaned surface of the tube. The super heater tubes should be plugged and water filled and maintained under positive pressure so that the acid vapors do not enter the tube surface. The boiler is drained under nitrogen at a positive pressure; this is needed to protect the internal virgin surface. The sludge resulting from mill scales and rust will have to be flushed from the bottom headers. The boiler then goes though a passivation operation to ensure a protective layer formation inside the tube surface.

Steam blowing
Steam blowing is used to clean the super heater coils and the steam pipes like main steam and reheater pipes. There are two methods used for steam blowing: continuous blowing and intermittent blowing. In both cases, the idea is to create a disturbance on the surface of the tube or pipe well above that is possible during the peak load operation of the boiler. It is seen that at a pressure of around 40 kg/cm squared, the internal surface of the super heater and steam pipes are subjected to such a disturbance that any loosely adhering material is dislodged when the steam is allowed to blow out to the atmosphere. The completion of steam blowing is declared if the target plate of turbine blade material kept at the predefined point is free from any indentation or is within allowed limits. To complete the steam blowing in super heater, reheater, steam pipes, etc, steam blowing is done in more than one stage.

Post-operational cleaning
During operation boilers accumulate deposits inside the tube surface depending upon the quality of water chemistry maintained. Once the boilers have operated for about five years then it is a good practice to take tube samples from the high heat flux region and evaluate them for internal deposit. The samples are taken from all the four walls of the boiler furnace walls and tested for the amount of deposit and the chemistry of deposit. If the deposit quantity is above 40 mg/cm squared, then the tube is termed dirty and acid cleaning is recommended. The type of acid to be used for cleaning will depend upon the chemistry and adherence of the deposits to the tube surface. If the deposit contains copper from the pre-boiler system, then this has to be first removed. The other ingredients of the deposit are removed subsequently. Hence the post operational cleaning can have a few stages of acid cleaning. To decide this, tube samples taken are subjected to a cleaning test in the lab using the actual acid, temperature, time and stages planned at the site. Based on the results of the cleaning in the lab and result there achieved, the final recommendation is given to the boiler owner. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

11

Electric Power Generators- How They Work

Electricity is the most convenient form of energy. Like the genie from "Aladdins Magic lamp," at the flick of switch electricity is ready to do anything at the master's bidding. How do we generate this genie, electricity? What are the defining characteristics of the electricity we use? Nothing is too wonderful to be true if it be consistent with the laws of nature. Michael Faraday

History
The principle of electromagnetic induction is the basis of the generation of electricity. Discovered in 1830 by Michael Faraday, this later led to the development of the dynamo by Pixie. This started the generation of electricity by converting mechanical energy from steam turbines and hydro turbines. Be it the generation of a few watts of electricity or millions of watts (mega watts) of electricity, the basic principle remains the same.

The Basics of Generators

In its simplest form the electric generator consists of A magnet that produces a magnetic field. A movable copper conductor placed at right angles to the magnetic field,

When the copper conductor moves, the conductor cuts the magnetic field. This produces an emf (electromotive force) or voltage, which sends an electric current through the copper conductor. Mechanical energy moves the coil converting it to electrical energy.

Modern Electrical Generators

In real life, the electric generator is slightly different. The magnet is an electromagnet and it rotates. This is the 'rotor' or the 'field' and consists of wound conductors on the rotating part of the generator. The copper conductor is stationary called the ' stator' or the 'armature'. This consists of high current carrying copper coils wound on the stationary part of the generator. The rotor's rotating magnetic field cuts the stationary stator copper conductors to produce the electric current. The energy for rotation of the rotor is from a rotating turbine or an Internal Combustion engine.

All generators use this basic principle. Only the primary energy source and prime mover is different. The prime mover can be a steam turbine, a gas turbine, a wind turbine, or a hydro turbine. One very important factor about electric generators is their synchronised operation.

12

All the power plant generators connect to the national or the regional transmission grid. The domestic, public, or industrial users get the electricity from this grid. This means all these generators should produce electric power that has the same characteristics.

Three characteristics
The three important characteristics are Frequency: The power what we get is an alternating current with 50 Hz, which very simply means the voltage and the directional flow of the electric current changes 50 times a second. In the US, Japan, and some other countries the frequency is 60 Hz. Even though this is something we cannot see or feel this is a very important in the design of and operation of electric generators and appliances. Voltage: this is the main electromotive force that drives the electric current. Large generators produce electricity at 20,000 volts, smaller generators output at 400 volts or 6000 volts. These voltages are "stepped up or down" as required for transmission and distribution to the user. Transmission of electricity over large distances takes place at very high voltages in the order of 150,000 to 400,000 volts or more. A domestic user needs electricity at 230 volts (120 volts in US). Even though the different types of generators produce voltages at certain standard levels, at the connection point to grid they all have to have the same equivalent voltage. Phase: Large electric power generators produce 3-phase electric power. Very simply put this means there are three different circuits each generating power at the same voltage and frequency. The only difference is the highs and lows in each circuit takes place at different times in each of the 50 Hz cycle. The advantage is the electric current through each conductor is one third of that of a single phase making it very cost effective in transmission and application. In addition, it is easier to produce a magnetic field required to run an electric motor. Household appliances work only on a single phase, but almost all of industrial application at higher loads use three phase.

While connecting a generator to the grid it is very important that these three characteristics match with that of the grid to which it is connected. If not properly done this can disastrously damage the generator. The process of connection is known as synchronisation. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Bank Tube Failures in Bi-drum Boilers

Bank tubes in bi-drum boilers act as raisers and down comers between the two drums. They also carry the load of the bottom drum and its down comer. Failure in these tubes needs to be attended depending upon the type of failure and the location of failure. Bank tubes are used to connect the upper drum and lower drum in bi-drum boilers. These bank tubes not only act as raisers and down comers between the drums but also carry the weight of the bottom drum and the down comer of the bottom drum. Any failure of these tubes results in damage to the nearby tubes or drum or both, depending on the location of the leak. Attending to these failures require special care and methods. These joints are mechanically held by the expansion of the tube in the drum holes. The tube deforms to a plastic condition and the drum hole, being in elastic condition, exerts the required sealing force for the joint against the drum operating pressure. It is seen that an expansion resulting in about 7 to 11 % thinning of tube thickness results in a good joint. Normally these joints are more effective for pressures up to 120 kg/cm2. Tube wall thinning can be calculated by knowing the tube ID before and after expansion.

13

D1 = Tube ID before rolling when the tube OD just touches the drum hole. This is achieved after light rolling and is called touch rolling; not much torque will be required for this. Once the tube OD touches the drum hole ID, the expander torque will increase indicating the tube has touched the drum hole ID. D2 = Tube ID after rolling T1 = Tube wall thickness before rolling. Note: Even at touch roll point the thickness of the tube is the same as that before starting touch expansion.

Percentage thinning = 50 x (D2 - D1) T1

There is also a practice to measure the thickness before and after expansion and calculate the percentage of thinning. However it is my experience and opinion that measuring tube ID is more reliable after expansion. Hence I always prefer to use the diameter method.

Reasons for bank tube failure

The main reason for bank tube failure due to expanded joint failure is inadequate expansion. Many times it is very difficult to measure each tube ID for checking the percentage thinning, hence it is a practice to measure a few tubes in every 100 or 200 tubes and fix the expander torque to get the required thinning. This torque is applied to the tubes and is taken for granted that the expansion is achieved. This is true only if proper lubrication is done on the expander rollers so that minimal torque is lot in friction and the thinning is achieved. Expanded joint also fails due to thermal shock created due to large number of start-ups and shut downs in a short span; say 50 start-ups and shutdowns in about ten to twenty days. Internal deposits leading to long-term overheating failures Blockage leading to short term overheating failure Erosion and corrosion of tube surface

Attending to the bank tube failure mainly depends on the type of failure and the intensity of the failure. In case of expanded joint leakage resulting in puncture of the tube, generally it is the practice to plug both ends of the bank tube in top and bottom drum. This is mainly due to the reason many a times it will not be possible to reach this tube location without removing large number of tubes. Plugging tubes should not be adopted if locally there are many tubes to be plugged. This can cause problem in other tubes nearby. Plugging is adapted to other type of failures when approach is not there without removing many bank tubes. No spool piece welding is to be done on bank tubes as this can cause failure in the expanded joint. When the failure reason is established as low expansion carried out, then re-expansion has to be done in all the tubes. It is always better to restrict the thinning of the tube thickness to a maximum of 15 to 18%. Above this you will see that the tube material start flaking and lead to brittle failures. Seal welding of bank tubes is permitted after expansion. All precautions are to be taken during welding not to deviate from the welding procedure as any welding on drum has to be done with the utmost care. It is required to lightly re-roll the seal welded tubes and do not flare the tube end.

Replacing all the bank tubes

There are times when all the bank tubes need changing. The procedure will have to be carried out by an expert group knowing all the implications while carrying out this. Since the entire bank tubes are to be replaced, The bottom drum has to be properly supported before removing the old bank tubes After removing the bank tubes, each hole in the drums (steam and mud drums) has to be checked for its required dimension and for any damage before replacement of the tubes

14

For enlargement/ovality in the holes, the normal tolerance limit for acceptance is (d+0.032 ) + 0 / 0.015 ; where d is the outside diameter of the bank tube If due to steam or water erosion the hole size is more than the limit, then weld build up has to be carried out to get the required size with suitable preheating and post heating. After getting the required hole size, the insertion and subsequent expansion of the bank tubes have to be carried out in proper sequence If seal welding is carried out with suitable electrode and with required preheating. Do not weld the bank tube directly to the drum without achieving required expansion on the bank tubes, and no strength weld is allowed in this area.

Related Reading
Boiler tube failures are inevitable. There are twenty-two primary reasons for tube failures in a boiler. It is true that being forewarned is being forearmed. Knowledge and good operating and maintenance practice reduce tube failures. As carbon emission is a major concern today, more super critical pressure units are bound to be preferred due to the increase in plant cycle efficiency. This will make once through type boilers take over from drum type boilers . *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Wall Blowers Optimization in Boilers

There are many methods used for optimization of wall blower operation in boiler furnace, like the manual method, heat flux measurement method, and the automated method. The manual method is discussed as this will bring out the philosophy involved in optimizing wall blower operation. Wall blowers are provided in boilers to clean the furnace wall deposits. They seldom finds use in oil and gas fired boilers. The deposition and slagging in boiler furnace is required to be removed from the furnace walls at regular intervals. The interval period will depend on the area of deposition and the severity of deposition. Steam wall blowers are found to be very efficient in removing the furnace wall deposits. However, the steam wall blowers are not at all effective in the case of molten slag removal from the furnace walls. Water lancers, instead, are used for molten slag removal. In a large boiler of around 1500t/hr capacity, the total number of soot blowers can be around 120. In this, around 90 numbers will be wall blowers. The frequency of soot blowing will depend on the type of coal being fired. However the operating group must remember that the initial suggested sequence and frequency is more general and has to be adapted to each boiler. The purpose of these soot blowers is to keep the heat transfer surface clean so as to contribute towards optimal performance of the boiler.

Effect of the wall blower on boiler performance

Removes the deposits on the furnace wall and ensures good heat transfer in the furnace region The furnace outlet temperature slowly ramps up after wall blowing as time lapses Superheater spray quantity is seen to increase with time lapse after wall blowing Increases the bottom ash quantity depending upon the deposition on furnace walls Increases furnace tube material loss if blowing is done too frequently without any deposits. This leads to boiler outage or increased maintenance. In the case of water lancers for removing molten slag, while operating there will be a large dip in generation for the same heat input. This is mainly due to the increased boiler losses.

Optimisation of wall blowers

15

Before taking up wall blower optimization, the following will have to be ensured. All wall blowers are set to the right steam pressure recommended by the designer Check the alignment of the wall blower with respect to the furnace walls Ensure at least 50 degree centigrade of super heat in the steam being used. This is to prevent damage of the furnace walls due to wet team impingement. All wall blowers are operational It will be of great help if the boiler furnace walls are photographed just after a planned shutdown. Before shutting down the boiler, do not wall blow the furnace for one full sequence. This will ensure deposit collection on the walls between the adopted frequency. While shutting down the boiler ensure minimal thermal shock, by slowly lowering the load. This will ensure deposits stay on the walls. Take the photograph from a convenient man hole. But take all safety precautions as anytime the deposit can fall down due to cooling or thermal gradient.

There are many methods used for optimization of wall blower operation, like the manual method, heat flux measurement method, and the automated method. The manual method is discussed as this will bring out the philosophy involved in optimizing wall blower operation.

Need for wall blower optimization

To improve consistency in efficient operation of boiler To reduce steam wastage by identifying those areas of low or no deposits To reduce damage on furnace wall tubes due to excessive blowing

The change in SH spray without change in other parameters indicates that the furnace deposits are increasing. If the superheater spray increases above a particular level (to be determined for each boiler) operate wall blowers. These are two basic things to adhere to while optimising wall blowers.

Steps in wall blower optimisation

Assuming there are 88 wall blowers in a boiler furnace wall, the steps for optimisation is listed. Operate all 88 blowers See the effect on superheater spray and note all operating parameters of boiler Wait for the superheater spray to ramp up to the initial level and stay almost steady Wall blow each row - study effect Watch superheater spray drop and regain time The interval between blowers is to be maintained constant Repeat if required each row independently, waiting each time for the spray to reach the original level with other parameters of boiler remaining constant Repeat the study for two adjacent rows Repeat the study for two alternate rows Repeat the study for blowers in front, rear, left and right sides of furnace walls separately and study the effect on superheater spray flow. The blowing having the least effect on the superheater spray indicates low or no deposit on the walls. A plot of superheater spray drop when each blower is operated will give a good idea of deposition in that area Use the photograph of the furnace wall to validate the effectiveness of blowers Decide which blowers can be skipped during blowing as well as the effectiveness of the row

The procedure for wall blower operation can be evolved after the study and data analysis for the most effective way of wall blowing.

16

The use of heat flux meter by embedding thermopiles at appropriate location in the furnace walls to understand whether the tube in the region is clean or with deposition the operation of the wall blower requirement can be decided. In the case of fully automated intelligent wall blower system, the need to wall blow each blower is understood from the effective heat flux falling on the tubes. Designers use different methods to establish this. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Considerations for Coal Blending in Power Stations

Coal blending in power stations is mainly adopted to reduce the cost of generation and increase the availability of coal. The low-grade coals can be mixed with better grade coal without deterioration in thermal performance of the boiler, thus reducing the cost of generation. In many nations, the blending of high grade imported coal with low grade high ash coals has long been adopted. Many methods may be used. The blending can occur at the coal mine, preparation plant, trans-shipment point, or at the power station. The method selected depends upon the site conditions, the level of blending required, the quantity to be stored and blended, the accuracy required, and the end use of the blended coal. Normally in large power stations handling very large quantities of coal, the stacking method with a fully mechanized system is followed. To decide to blend or not, it is very important to understand the composition of the coals that are to be blended. This means one will have to understand the origin of coal, the organic and inorganic chemistry of coal, and the behavior of the coals in questions. It has been established that coals produced by the drift theory of coal formation and coals formed by the swamp theory of coal formation have to be blended with caution. The main difference is that coal formed by drift theory exhibits pronounced regional variation in thickness and quality of seams. They also have enormously high ash content with varying inorganic chemistry. The organics of drift origin coal also present problems mainly because the vegetation that lead to the forming of the coal drifted from different places having different kind of vegetation. In contrast, the coals formed by the swamp theory have much more uniform organic properties and much lower ash content with consistent inorganic chemistry. During combustion, it is necessary to understand the physical conditions and coal properties during heating of the particles, devolatalisation, ignition and combustion of the volatile matter, and ignition and combustion of the char. It is also equally important to know the phase changes in mineral matter and other inorganics present in coal. The combustion efficiency and carbon loss will have to be also addressed during blending of coals. It is also necessary to look into the aspects of slagging, fouling, and emission characteristics like NOx, Sox, and particulates. Because of the complexity of the combustion process and the number of variables involved (which are still not fully understood), it is difficult to extrapolate small scale results to a full scale power plant. Thus, operational experience with a wide range of plant configurations with a variety of coal feedstock is essential for determining the practical significance of results from bench and pilot scale tests. More published research about how the behavior of the coals and coal blends utilized in tests differ from their actual performance in power station boilers is required. Predicting the risk of spontaneous combustion of coal stocks is another aspect of current fuel quality research. In addition to the inherent dangers, uncontrolled burning can lead to the release of pollutants. The economic issues associated with the loss of a valuable energy resource are also a concern. For more basic information, read about how coal power plants generate electricity by burning coal and find some other interesting facts about the process.

17

The presence of trace elements in coal combustion has also received increased attention throughout the world during the last few years, with elements such as mercury of particular concern. One way to reduce trace element emissions is cleaning the coal prior to combustion. The use of cleaner coals those with lower ash and sulfur content can have the added advantage of substantially reducing operating costs. Again, however, some effects may be detrimental (ash deposition may be exacerbated, and the effects on corrosion and precipitator performance are uncertain), which makes testing vital. It has been found from field data that even if the blended coal closely resembles the design coal for the boiler, the blend need not perform the same way. This is mainly due to the transformation of inorganic particles during combustion and the way in which the organics are dispersed in coal. A limitation to blending coals is the compatibility of the coals themselves, and problems are more likely when blending petrographically different coals or coals with different ash chemistry. Non-additive properties make blend evaluation for power generation inherently complex. More work is required on understanding how the inorganic components of coals in the blend interact and how it affects ash behavior including its emissivity, reflectivity, and thermal conductivity. Blending decisions should be based on the knowledge of the specific behavior of a given pair of coals, rather than an assumption of linear variation of properties with blend traction. The ever more stringent constraints placed on coalfired power stations worldwide and the continuing development of new technologies means that the issue of fuel quality improvement will remain a primary factor. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Cold End Corrosion in a Boiler and Its Prevention

Using fuels with sulfur in steam generating units yields a potential hazard of sulfur corrosion at the cold end of the boiler. The severity depends on many factors like percentage of sulfur in the fuel, excess air, moisture in flue gas, etc. Many options are available to contain cold end corrosion Boilers generating steam for use in power generation and process power plants use different type of fuels. These fuels contain sulphur to differing percentages. The higher the percentage of sulphur, the higher will be the risk of cold end corrosion in the boiler. The sulphur in the fuel during combustion gets converted to sulphur dioxide. Depending upon the other impurities present in the fuel and excess air levels, some portion of the sulphur dioxide gets converted to sulphur trioxide. The presence of moisture in the flue gas due to moisture in fuel and air, sulphur dioxide, and trioxide, combines with moisture and forms sulphuric acid and sulphuric acid. These acids condense from around 115 degree centigrade to slightly higher than 160 degrees, depending upon the concentration of SO3 and water-vapour. The basic reactions taking place are

S + O2 SO2 SO2 + O2 SO3 H2O + SO2 H2SO3 H2O + SO3 H2SO4

Depending upon the ppm of SO3 and water-vapor concentration, the dew point temperature can vary from around 90 degree centigrade to 140 degree centigrade. Condensation of these acids results in metal wastage and boiler tube failure, air preheater corrosion, and flue gas duct corrosion. In order to avoid or reduce the cold end corrosion the gas temperature leaving the heat transfer

18

surface in boiler is kept around 150 degrees centigrade, ranging from 120 to 155. It is very important that the metal temperature of the tubes is always kept above the condensation temperature. It may be noted that the metal temperature of the tubes is governed by the medium temperature of the fluid inside the tubes. This makes it necessary to preheat water to at least 150 degrees centigrade before it enters the economizer surface. In the case of an air pre-heater, two methods are used to increase the metal temperature. One is an air bypass for air pre-heater, and the second is using a steam coil air pre-heater to increase the air temperature entering the air pre-heater. The amount of SO3 produced in boiler flue gas increases with an increase of excess air, gas temperature, residence time available, the amount of catalysts like vanadium pentoxide, nickel, ferric oxide, etc., and the sulphur level in fuel. The flue gas dew point temperature increases steeply from 90 degree centigrade to 135 degrees centigrade with sulphur percentage increasing up to 1%. A further increase in sulphur percentage in fuel gradually increases the dew point temperature from 135 degree centigrade to 165 degrees centigrade at 3.5% sulphur in fuel.

Prevention of cold end corrosion

There are many methods used world over to contain cold end corrosion. These methods fall in the category of incombustion reduction and post-combustion reduction. The in-combustion reduction methods include: Burning low sulphur fuel Low excess air burners Fuel additives Fluidized bed combustors

Going in for low sulphur fuel sometimes become economically unviable for the process for which the steam generators are used. Today many low excess air designs are available in the market. These burners adopt many ways to reduced excess air requirement without affecting the unburnts in the flue gas after combustion. Fuel oil additives like simple magnesium oxides are used to contain cold end corrosion due to sulphur. The magnesium oxide is injected in to the furnace or mixed with fuel which combines with sulphur oxides to form magnesium sulphate. In fluidized bed combustors, lime addition is a simple method used to reduce sulphur corrosion. The post-combustion technologies adopted are: Designing with higher exit gas temperature Air bypass across air pre-heater Ammonia injection Flue gas desulphurization (FGD)

Designing boilers with higher exit gas temperature reduces the boiler efficiency. As a rule of thumb approximately every 20 degree centigrade increase of flue gas temperature at boiler outlet reduces the efficiency by 1%. Hence this is not a preferred method in the present days. Air pre-heater bypass is for mainly for startup purposes until the metal temperature can be maintained above condensation temperature even when the cold air enters. Some designers use steam coil air pre-heater for full operation of the boiler. Ammonia injection was a method adopted by a few designers in certain process plant boilers burning high sulphur oil due to the availability of ammonia. Ammonia is injected in the economizer region where the temperature of flue gas is below the ammonia dissociation temperature and sufficient time is available for the chemical reaction. Ammonia combines with sulphur trioxide to form ammonium sulphate. The rate of ammonia injection will depend upon the SO3 concentration. The problem with this method is it produces a high volume of loose deposits of

19

ammonium sulphate, which increases the pressure drop in the flue gas path. Removal of these deposits is done by water washing of the air pre-heater online. Flue gas desulphurization is a very common method adopted in the present day. Here the flue gas with acid vapors is scrubbed to remove it as a byproduct. Most of the FGD processes use alkali to scrub the flue gas. Many designers of FGD adopt the limestone gypsum process. This process has gained acceptance due to the saleable gypsum byproduct. Sea water availability makes it possible to use it as an absorbent of sulphur oxides in acid form. There is another process called the Wellman-Lord Process, which is a regenerative process that uses aqueous sodium sulphite solution for scrubbing flue gas. The saleable byproduct, depending on the plants design, could be elemental sulphur, sulphuric acid, or liquid SO2. There are many working plants using this technology in Japan, USA, and Germany. The Sodium Bicarbonate Injection Process is a direct injection method adapted to de-sulphur the flue gas. Here the sodium bicarbonate is injected in the duct after the air pre-heater and before the dust removal system like an electrostatic precipitator or bag filters. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Using Coal Petrography for Combustion Problem Solving

Petrographic analysis can give useful information about the combustion of pulverized coal. Petrographic analysis of coal has been used to evaluate the efficiency of a pulverized coal fired boiler since 1968.

What is Coal Petrography

The discipline wherein coal is studied as a rock consisting principally of macerals is called coal petrology (Petro: rocks; logy; the science of) and the description or classification of coal as a rock is referred to as coal petrography. Coal is not a uniform mixture of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, and other elements; nor is it, as is often implied, simply a uniform polyaromatic substance. Rather it is an aggregate of microscopically distinguishable, physically distinctive, and chemically different substances called macerals and minerals. The study of coal maceral constituents based on the structure is important to know the coal type. Two basic systems of petrography have been used over the years, the Stopes-Heerlen (SH) and the Thiessen Bureau of Mines systems. The former, almost universally now accepted, was developed by Marie C Stopes, a British Coal Scientist. The nomenclature system of Stopes began by her description of the different components of coal visible to the unaided eye, called litho types or rock types. Later, she revised her system of nomenclature to include components visible by microscopic examination of polished section of coal in reflected light. The term macerals was suggested for these microscopic components of coal, in analogy to minerals in rocks.

Microscopic Identification of Macerals

Macerals are microscopically identifiable components. The coal under study is powdered, mixed with binder, formed into a block and polished. These blocks are looked at through a microscope to study the structure and reflectance. Depending upon the structure and reflectance of the macerals, it is classified into different categories. The total macerals in coal can be broadly grouped into two major categories, namely the reactive and inert. The reactive group consists of the Vitrinites and Exinites and the inert group has Inertinites. With increasing percentage of inertinites, the coal properties like combustion or gasification reactives deteriorate very much. This is true both in the case of coking and non-coking coals. Mineral matter in coal is generally classified as inherent or extraneous. These are present in coal in addition to purely organic substance. Both macerals and the microlitho types contain small or larger amount of inorganic components.

Petrography and Coal Combustion

20

The petrographic composition affects the ignition process, combustion, and the efficiency of combustion. Maceral types and reactivity need not have simple relations, all inertinites are not inert and not all vitrinites are reactive. The reflectance values of the maceral groups and the association of the different macerals, determined as micro lithotypes also need to be taken into account. Mineral matter also affect the type of char formed, and the situation gets further complicated by different char characterization. Pulverised fuel combustion is used widely in power plants for the generation of electricity. Selection and testing of coals is an important factor for the efficient operation of boilers, and many different tests are carried out for this purpose. Coal petrography has gained importance in order to understand how combustion behaves from the fuel side. Changes occurring during pyrolysis determine the morphology of the char and the char types present affect the overall combustion efficiency. The type of char formed can depend on the macerals present, the rank of the coal, the particle size, and the temperature of char formation. The main influence on char formation is associated with the organic part of the coal. The presence of certain types of minerals can affect the type of char formed. Reactivity can also be influenced by mineral matter. Vital properties such as flame stability and burnout efficiency can be affected by the presence or absence of certain minerals. Even though it is evident that mineral matter adversely affects complete combustion, the total removal of mineral matter is impractical and is also undesirable as regards the requirements of modern burners. These inorganic compounds can be classified into four groups according to their origin: Inorganic matter from original plants Inorganic - organic complex minerals formed due to inorganic and organic interaction during the first stage of coalification process. Minerals introduced by water or wind into the coal deposits as they were forming. Minerals deposited, during the second phase of coalification process after consolidation of the coal, by ground water solutions in cracks, fissures, or cavities by alteration of primary minerals.

Many variables affect complete combustion including temperature, oxygen level, residence time, and char morphology (mainly structure, porosity, density, and optical texture). Some workers clearly state that vitrinite chars are more reactive than inertinite chars. Vitrinite char has been estimated to burn two to four times as fast as inertinite char. Some semifusinite has been found to ignite before vitrinite and burn faster. The rank of a coal can be expressed by the reflectance of the vitrinite, which is related to C H and C/O ratios and volatile matter. The use of rank appears to be the most accurate means of predicting combustion behaviour. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Combustion Tuning in High Ash Pulverized Coal Fired Boilers having Direct Tangential Firing System
Combustion tuning in boilers will lead to optimizing the performance more so in high ash coal fired boilers. In high ash coal fired boilers having direct tangential firing systems, proper combustion will ensure minimum water wall deposits and thus an optimal furnace outlet temperature.

Pulverised coal combustion

Pulverised coal combustion involves two main sequential, but possibly overlapping, stages. (1) Rapid heating and devolatilisation as a result of pyrolysis followed by (2) combustion of char residue emanating from the

21

devolatilisation stage. The first stage is fast, taking times in the order of 0.1 sec. only. The second stage is slow, requiring times in the order of 1 sec. to 2.5 sec. and therefore, thus has a major effect on the size of the combustion chamber. In practical combustion situations, such as in a large pulverized coal combustor, different particles can undergo concurrently different processes such as pyrolysing, oxidising reactions under different temperature regimes.

Tangential firing
In a tangential firing system the coal is pulverized in coal mills and is carried by primary air to the furnace through coal pipes. The mills are usually a constant airflow mill and have a specific output in mass of coal ground depending on coal properties like hardness, moisture, and fineness which affect the mill output. In direct tangential firing systems, the pulverized coal from the coal mills is directly taken to the furnace. Coal properties such as FC/VM (Fixed Carbon / Volatile Matter), particle size, oxygen, calorific value of the coal, reactivity, and ash content seem to be the most important variables for pulverised coal combustion in tangentially fired boilers, and they are highly inter-related. The total quantity of coal to be pulverized for a specified size of boiler at a designed efficiency will depend on the calorific value of coal. As the ash content in coal goes up, the calorific value per unit mass of coal comes down. This increases the mass of coal to be prepared, which in turn increases the number of mills or elevations needed in a tangential firing system. The secondary air required for combustion is sent into the furnace through a windbox housing the coal nozzles, oil guns, and the secondary air nozzles. Behind the coal nozzles there are fuel-air dampers which are used for keeping the flame front away from the coal nozzles by at least one meter from the tip. This is required to prevent the coal nozzle tips from getting burnt due to radiation from coal flame. The flame front is predominantly affected by the volatile matter in coal and the fuel air damper is modulated for controlling the flame front. As the fuel air dampers are opened, more secondary air goes through this damper and physically pushes the flame front away. However, when the flame front is already away from the nozzle tip, the fuel air damper needs to be closed fully.

Combustion air
The total air quantity for combustion in a boiler will depend upon the million kilocalories being fired to generate steam at a specified parameter. This total air is divided into primary air and secondary air in the ratio of 30 % and 70%. As the ash percentage goes up in coal, the amount of mill air flow goes up, as the number of mills to be in operation goes up. This results in an upset between primary and secondary air ratio. Tuning combustion in high ash pulverized coal fired boilers having direct tangential firing systems should address all the above said factors.

Combustion tuning steps

Operate the boiler at a constant load and designed steam parameters Keep the excess air around 20 to 25% Load all the mills equally and keep only the minimum number of mills required Adjust the mill fineness to the required level normally 75% through 200 mesh and less than 2% on 50 mesh sieve Keep the mill outlet temperature close to 85 to 90 degrees centigrade Adjust the mill air flow to just above the settling velocity o Note the operating mill air flow reading and reduce the mill air flow in steps of 0.5 to 1 t/hr wait for a minimum of 15 minutes before reducing again o Watch the furnace draft while doing this, when a small fluctuation starts then stop reducing the air flow and note the reading o Increase the air flow above that was being maintained before reduction and keep it for 30 minutes this clears off any settling in the coal pipe

22

Now keep the mill air flow at the flow value noted when furnace fluctuation started plus about 1 t/hr, make sure no furnace pressure fluctuation is seen o Repeat this for all the mills one by one This ensures minimum primary air flow being used for transporting the high ash coal powder to the furnace Check the flame front if it is one meter away from the coal nozzle tip then close all fuel air dampers. If volatile matter in coal is 20% or less this condition gets satisfied Keep the windbox pressure of 80 to 100 mm of water column Watch the furnace for the flame conditions like brightness and flickering

The steps carried out will help to achieve combustion at optimal level. Optimum combustion in the boiler will ensure performance of the boiler within a desired limit. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

System Levelised Energy Cost

For the investment analysis and fixing cost of energy for the different electricity generation scenarios the Levelized Cost of Energy method is used. Why do we require this method? How to calculate the Levelized Cost? Read more... Energy conversion to electricity can be in many ways. From the most common coal fired plants to the renewables like solar and wind, the methods are many. The investment pattern and the return on investment for each method is different making it difficult to compare cost and evaluate investment strategies. The initial investment required to construct a coal fired power plant is comparatively less, about 1000 $/kW. But the operational cost, mainly the cost of fuel, is very high which continues during the life of the plant, say twenty or thirty years. Also the fuel cost will be subject to escalation. The same is the case with a gas turbine power plant. The fuel prices are subject to high escalation costs. On the other hand a nuclear power plant requires a very high investment, in the range of 3000 $/kW. But in the long run the fuel costs are considerably less. In the case of a solar power plant the initial investments are high, in terms of land area and equipment. The output energy units is very low only 12 to 20 % of the installed capacity, even though the input energy cost is zero. Wind, hydro and geothermal power plants also require high initial investment, but considerably lower operational costs. Also many renewable energy projects get government incentives. Today carbon capture costs are also a consideration for investment analysis.

These are some of the very different scenarios in power generation investment. How to compare and calculate the economics of each type of power generation? How to arrive at a cost to charge the consumer? The Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) is the method that is commonly used. The method can also compare different technologies competing for a utility bid. Utilities use this to calculate the electricity cost to be charged to the consumer. In the electricity bidding market this LCOE is a very important factor.

What is Levelized Cost of Energy?

Very simply put this is the sum of all the costs incurred during the lifetime of the project divided by the units of energy produced during the lifetime of the project, expressed as $/kwhr.

23

Since most of the costs or expenses and the sales revenue occur in a future time, one has to account for the time value of money and the risks. This is done by calculating the Present Value of these cash flows. A discount rate is used to calculate the Present Value. The discount rate varies within organizations and industries. This takes into account the risk factors, economic fundamentals, the investment mix, and the debt structuring. The present value of the future returns less the investment in the beginning gives the Net Present Value (NPV). The $/Kwhr rate used to calculate sales revenue to achieve a zero NPV is the Levelized Cost of Energy.

Calculation of LCOE
To calculate LCOE one would require The capacity of the plant expressed in megawatts or kilowatts. The capacity can remain the same throughout the lifetime or can be reduced due to operational wear and tear. The yearly plant load factor . This accounts for the availability and utilization of the plant, the maintenance outages, and load reductions due to demand or machine defects. This two will give the units of electricity generated during the life time of the plant. This together with unit cost of electricity will give the Sales revenue. The costs can be of five major types: Investment costs. This includes the yearly interest charges, the paybacks, and other financial charges. The initial investment or the overnight charges is considered as occurring at the end of the construction phase of the project and is used to calculate the Net Present Value. Taxes. Depending on regulations and policies. Also to be included are subsidies or incentives for renewable power. Fuel cost. To calculate this one would require the heat rate or efficiency of the plant (kilojoules per kilo watt hour) , the cost of fuel ($/kg or $/Kg) and escalations to the cost of the fuel. Operation and maintenance costs. This is taken as a fixed number for each unit of electricity generated. Depreciation and major replacement costs. To calculate the Net Present Value one will require the discount rate expressed as percentage. It could be in the range of 10 to 18 %, which is matter of national and organizational policies. Using an Excel spreadsheet will be the easiest way to do this calculation. The cost can be calculated for each year. The sales revenue for each year is calculated based on the units generated and an assumed value of unit electricity cost. The difference of the sales revenue and the costs give the yearly cash flow. The present value for this series of cash flow is calculated by the NPV function in Excel. The present value less the initial investment gives the Net Present Value. The assumed value of electricity cost is adjusted or iterated to get a zero NPV. The Goal seek function in an Excel spreadsheet also can be used for this. The unit electricity cost to achieve zero NPV is the Levelized Cost of Energy.

*************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

24

Clean Coal Fired Power Plants

Coal has been in an imbroglio with environmentalists on one hand and the power generation industry on the other. In the midst are the proponents of Clean Coal. Can Coal be clean? Is it a myth or a reality? Our civilization is founded on coal, more completely than one realizes until one stops to think about it. The machines that keep us alive, and the machines that make machines, are all directly or indirectly dependent upon coal. - George Orwell in his essay Down The Mine. Our main energy source has been coal since the invention of the steam engine, through the Industrial Revolution and continues to be so today. With Global warming taking the center stage, the question asked is should coal be our main energy source? Consider these three facts about coal combustion. Coal gives us energy in the form of heat. Heat release takes place by the exothermic reaction of carbon in coal with oxygen in air to form carbon dioxide. Therefore, if coal is to give heat, then there will be carbon dioxide. 3.67 mols of CO2 will be formed for every mol of carbon burned - no more and no less. This reaction has made coal the biggest energy supplier.This has also made coal the biggest producer of CO2, the green house gas affecting Global Warming. This is the inevitable truth. Coal exists in nature not as pure carbon, but as a mineral rock containing predominantly carbon with ash and water. It also includes small amounts of hydrogen, sulphur, and other elements. Depending on the rank of coal and the location of the mines, the carbon percentages vary. When coal burns, it is only the carbon and the hydrogen that contributes to the heat energy. All other components convert to residue (ash) and gaseous emissions like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide. These along with trace elements like mercury disperse into the atmosphere. This residue and emissions is what earned coal the tag dirty fuel. Coal lies deep below the earths surface. To mine or reach the coal layer the top layers of soil have to be moved. This destroys the vegetation, trees, and agriculture above. This also works against the clean coal image.

For a given coal, the elimination or reduction of the residual matter and emissions are not possible. These are chemically fixed. What can change is only the method of capture and its disposal. What the proponents of Clean Coal Technology are doing is only this. In earlier days, dispersion of the ash and gaseous emissions to the atmosphere was through the chimney. The after effects were disastrous, affecting a large population base. Acid rain, ground level ozone, respiratory diseases, and reduced visibility all were a result of this. Strict environmental regulations helped in developing technology to capture these emissions. Today electrostatic precipitators collect almost all of the ash particles. Flue gas Desulphurization Units and Selective Catalytic Reduction units capture most of the emissions. The captured ash and residues will turn out to be environmental issues as these coal fired power plants age. The collected ash or the sulphate from the desulphurization units over the years make massive piles that will lead to environmental issues. A 600 MW Coal fired power plant produces almost a million tons of ash in three years. It affects agriculture, groundwater, and the health of the people living nearby. It may take many years to notice the effects. This does not make the coal clean.

25

NOx and CO
The process of combustion itself generates some undesirable gaseous emissions like NOx and CO. These, though not necessarily a part of the basic reaction, are present in everyday combustion. Advances in combustion technology and operation philosophy have seen considerable reduction of these emissions. This is really eliminating an unwanted emission and a success of clean coal technology.

CO2 emissions
CO2 still emits into the atmosphere. Commercial scale capturing of CO 2 ( Carbon Sequestering Systems ) and sending it to underground reservoirs is yet to be viable. CO2 emission will continue to be the main burden of coal, unless large scale forestry takes place to absorb the emissions.

New Combustion Process

Advanced technologies like Integrated Coal Gasification, Circulating Fluidized Bed technology, and coal washeries improve the utilization and efficiency of coal combustion. This also makes it easy for capturing the emissions and residues. Even though these are termed clean coal technologies, they are in fact only making the coal combustion cleaner.

Residue Utilization
Utilizing the captured residue, substituting for other natural resources, is an environmentally better disposal method. Technologies like: Mixing fly ash in cement, Using fly ash for road laying Using fly ash to make bricks Using sulphate from flue gas desulphurization for making gypsum boards Even though this is only a smaller percentage of the residue or emissions captured, this is a constructive clean coal method. Nature has taken millions of years to sequester the carbon into coal. In a few milliseconds, man has found the means to release it back to the atmosphere. The Pandoras box has been opened, and we can only wait for Hope. A real clean coal with no emissions or environmental effects is impossible, but a cleaner coal is a must.

*************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Fly Ash Erosion in Boilers Firing High Ash Coals

Coal is one of the the main fuels for power production. Coal quality deterioration over the years has created challenges for boiler designers the world over to compact and minimize erosion in pressure parts. Fly ash erosion is a major factor for pressure parts damage in high ash coal fired boilers. In high ash coal fired boilers, fly ash erosion is a major concern and the tube failures due to fly ash erosion are almost 35% of the total tube failures. The amount of ash in coal and its velocity are major factors in the rate of

26

pressure part erosion. Fly ash erosion is experienced in the economizer, primary SH, and inlet section of steam reheater tubes. When non-uniform flue gas flow distribution occurs in these areas, the rate of erosion increases multifold. Factors influencing fly ash erosion in coal fired boilers are The velocity of flue gas The temperature of flue gas The mineral content in coal The change in direction of flue gas The arrangement of pressure parts and The operation above the maximum conditions design rating or with excess airflow above design rate.

Of these factors, the velocity of flue gas, the temperature of flue gas (ash), and mineral matter in coal are the main influencing factors.

The velocity of flue gas

For low ash coals, the weight loss in pressure parts due to erosion is proportional to flue gas velocity to the power of 1.99. However for high ash Gondwana coals the erosion rate is velocity to the power of 3 to 5. The power depends upon the percentage of ash in coal, the percentage of silica in coal ash, the percentage of quartz in this silica, the percentage of alpha quartz in this quartz, and the structure of alpha quartz.

Temperature of flue gas

Higher temperature softens the minerals in the ash as well as reduces the strength properties of the material of pressure parts; due to this ash erosion is not predominant in high temperature zones like furnaces, final superheaters, exit reheaters, etc. The ash erosion mainly starts in the conventional two-pass boilers from the area where gas temperature is around 700 750 deg.C. The low temperature superheater (LTSH) and economizer are the areas where ash erosion is severe in a conventional two-pass boiler. The temperature of flue gas entry to LTSH can be around 650 to 700 degree C and leaving, the economizer can be around 350 300 degree C. The minerals, which mainly constitute the ash in flue gas at these temperatures, become hard and attain its full abrasiveness.

*************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Predicting Combustibles in Pulverized Coal Fired Boilers - Fly Ash and Bottom Ash
Predicting the percentage of combustibles in fly ash in a tangential fired boiler using proximate analysis of coal gives boiler designers an edge during the proposal and contract stages. Here is how to predict fly ash and bottom ash combustibles in order to compute carbon loss in a boiler. In boilers with pulverized firing systems, about 80% of the ash in coal being fired is carried as fly ash. The other about 20% get collected as bottom ash. During the combustion of coal, some portion of the hydrocarbon, mainly char, leaves the furnace as unburned particles. The amount of such unburned particles leaving the furnace depends on many factors like the coal property, the type of burning system, the resident time available in the furnace, the ash percentage in coal, the calorific value of coal, the fuel ratio, the operating conditions, etc. The existence of unburned carbon in ash decreases not only the combustion efficiency, but also the grade of fly ash for commercial sale.

27

Carbon loss is influenced by the following: (1) coal preparation and grinding, such as changes in ash and maceral content ; mean, standard deviation, and higher moments of the particle size distribution; moisture remaining in the pulverized coal, (2) properties of the pulverized coal and its char like heating value, char yield on pyrolysis, char structure, char reactivity, ash content and composition, and characteristics, and (3) adjustments of the burners and furnace such as air preheat, excess air, mixing, residence time, and furnace temperature. Hottel and Stewert (1940) were the first to consider the interaction between furnace design and coal properties in the determination of carbon conversion, analyzing the effects of grind, reactivity, temperature, excess air, and residence time on unburned carbon loss. With the estimated values of percentage combustibles in fly ash as well as bottom ash, the carbon loss can be calculated by using the formula given in BS_EN_12952, ASTM, PTC 4 and any other International Standards. Boiler designers during the design stage have only proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and ash composition of coal. Carbon loss calculation involves calculating the carbon loss in fly ash and bottom ash. This article provides a tool for the designers and others to predict the percentage of combustibles in fly ash and bottom ash in a tangential fired boiler using proximate analysis of coal and the residence time in the boiler furnace. Based on combustibles in flyash and bottom ash, it is possible to compute the carbon loss in a boiler.

Fly ash unburned prediction

The major portion of carbon loss in a boiler is from unburned carbon in fly ash. A method was developed by me after a large volume of data was subjected to analysis and validation. It is seen from the analysis and literatures that the fuel ratio i.e. the ratio of fixed carbon and volatile matter in coal has a very significant effect. The ash in coal is a burden for combustion and can cause large problems during and after combustion. Deposits and slagging in boiler furnaces using high amounts of medium slagging and slagging coals are common. After combustion they can foul the heat transfer surface in the convection region. So it is seen that log of ash % correlates well with fly ash combustibles. Coal calorific value indicates the heat value of the coal being fired hence has to be taken into account when we want to predict the fly ash combustibles. The calorific value of the coal in question divided by the calorific value of carbon gives meaning to the factor. This indicates the relative stage where the coal in question lies with respect to its ultimate transformation and also is an indirect indicator of the difficulty to ignite and burn. I would not like to call it as reactivity as the same has not been studied / understood much with respect to this ratio of coal. Inverse of residence time is another major factor which affects the fly ash combustibles. As boilers are operated within a close range of excess air and fineness of coal, these variables do not affect the unburned to any significant level. A factor combining all the parameters is evolved which is used for fitting a curve with percentage combustibles in fly ash. The factor is defined as

[{(FC/VM)+(HVV/8080)*100+Log(A)}/Res^2] The equation governing the curve fitted on a fourth order polynomial is Y = -3E-06 X4 + 0.0004 X3 - 0.0161 X2 + 0.2969 X - 0.9438 with a R square value of 0.8824.
As this predictive equation is only made for a pulverized coal tangentially fired boiler, this has to be verified for pulverized coal wall firing, down shot firing, opposed firing, etc. However, more than 50% of the pulverized coal fired boilers in the world are equipped with tangential firing system.

Bottom ash unburned prediction

28

The single most independent variable affecting the bottom ash combustibles is the plus 50 mesh size of pulverized coal. A plot of percentage bottom ash combustible plotted against percentage plus 50 particle sizes has a fourth order polynomial curve with an R2 value of 0.9412. The equation governing this fit is

Y1 = 0.0233X14 - 0.3925X13 + 1.9277X12 - 0.1593X1 + 0.2357

where, Y1 is percentage combustibles in bottom ash and X1 is plus 50 mesh particle percentage in the pulverized coal. It is seen that this percentage plus 50 in the pulverized fuel should be retained below 2% to minimize the percentage combustible in bottom ash. This is generally recommended by boiler manufacturers.

Flyash & Bottom ash Combustible

*************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

29

Remaining Life Estimation in Boiler Pressure Parts

Remaining life estimation in boiler pressure parts is a very important tool towards predictive maintenance of boiler pressure parts. Boilers are made up of large amount of tubing and pipes of different materials which will have to withstand high pressure and temperature. Boilers are made up of a large amount of tubing and pipes of different materials which will have to withstand high pressure and temperature. These pressure parts undergo aging due to various reasons including internal and external deposition. Above a particular limit of aging these pressure parts start failing frequently, which leads to higher outage of the units. To understand the health condition of these pressure parts there are many scientific methods used today which can estimate the remaining life of the pressure parts.

Reason to estimate remaining life

The high temperatures to which the pressure parts are subjected at elevated pressure lead to creep stress. The starting and stopping of the unit results in fatigue stress, and the fuels burnt can cause corrosion in various areas in the boiler. The water used for steam generation leaves deposits inside the tube which increases the metal temperature leading to long term overheating. Residual stresses during manufacturing, the vibrations due to flow over the tube, mechanical vibrations, erosion due to the abrasive nature of the fuel, etc, do occur in a boiler. Operation of the boiler at elevated temperature and parameters leads to stresses higher than the design levels. All of these, individually or combined, lead to material degradations of different magnitude resulting in failure. To avoid any such forced outage, boiler owners would like to have a preventive method. Remaining life estimation of pressure parts helps this requirement by a scientific method of analysis.

Steps involved in remaining life estimation

The first and foremost requirement of remaining life estimation is to study the past data of the plant. The predicted performance data, The guarantee performance test data, The operating data for the period of time of operation of unit, Operating practice adopted The maintenance data, Failures and repairs Previous inspection reports The outage data, Areas of frequent failure if any, Inadequacy of any nature in boiler, Modifications carried out for achieving the performance, Other major modifications, The procedure adopted for welding during the years, Any special welding method used, Variation in water chemistry Any post operational acid cleaning done The number of startups and shutdowns of the unit Temperature excursions in various areas Any special study carried out and the reason for the study The owners requirement after the life extension program

30

After consolidation of the data and understanding the data, the next step is to do a set of field tests. These field tests include. Visual inspection for o Erosion, corrosion o Swelling, scaling o Deposits, misalignments o Supports, pipe hangers etc Dimensional checks o Thickness o Outside diameter Non-destructive examination Penetrant testing including fluorescent type Magnetic particle inspection (Wet fluorescent & Dry) Ultrasonic tests In-situ hardness checks Eddy current testing Tube sampling water walls for internal deposit analysis Superheater and reheater sample if needed Special examinations for o WW H2 embrittlement o Superheater/Reheater for oxide scales, o Metallographic examination of thick wall component o Fibroscopic inspection of headers and other regions needed o Spot chemical check when needed

Once when the field tests are completed, a few laboratory examinations and tests are carried out. The tube samples taken from the water walls, superheater, and reheater are subjected to microscopic examination (Light Microscopy & Scanning Electron Microscopy) to understand the microstructure of the tube material. The water wall tubes are subjected to internal deposit analysis. Both the quantity of the deposit and the chemical composition are carried out to evaluate the need to carry out post operational acid cleaning. Based on this, the solvent for post operational acid cleaning is decided. Other mechanical and metallurgical tests are also carried out for the tube samples collected. If any external deposits are collected from locations in the boiler, they are also analysed to understand the cause of the deposition. The presence of both external and internal corrosion is also evaluated based on the deposit analysis and the tube sample study. If the failure data gives a clue for any hydrogen embrittlement in the water wall tubes, a detailed field test and analysis is carried out to decide the area requiring replacement. The samples taken from the thick walled components are analysed for spheroidisation and cavitation level. Based on the level the repair and replacement strategy is arrived at.

Remaining life prediction techniques

There are many methods used by engineers to predict the remaining life of boiler pressure parts. The most commonly used technique is the steam side oxide scale thickness growth and life fraction rule using Larson-Miller parameter. Every tube in service has a Larson-Miller parameter that increases with time.

*************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

31

Reducing Deposition, Slagging in Coal Fired Boilers

There are two major areas that the coal fired boiler operator has to concentrate on in order to prevent deposition and slagging. One is the operating parameters of the boiler and the other is the coal being fired. Slagging and deposition in coal fired boilers is a complex phenomenon. The reasons can be due to coal characteristics, operating conditions, the design of the boiler furnace, or can be a combination of any of the three with others or all. When heavy deposition or slagging starts in the boiler, the boiler operating group can contain the problem, to a large extent, by taking corrective action. As the boiler has been designed and put in operation, the design shortcomings, if any, can be overcome by suitably changing the operating practice. In most cases this is seen to be successful. For example, when the boiler elevation heat loading is set at a higher value then operating, one more mill will increase the number of burners or the elevation depending upon the type of firing. There are two major areas where the boiler operator will have to concentrate: on the operating parameters of the boiler and on the coal being fired.

Operating parameters
First check the excess air being given to the boiler for combustion. If it is lower than recommended by the designers, then increase it. It may even help if the excess air is increased slightly above the design recommendation. Check the primary air through the mill. If they are much higher than required, this reduces the secondary air available for combustion, since the excess air in the boiler is maintained. Once the primary air is ensured to be the minimum required, then check the secondary air distribution between the burners or elevation accordingly. Check if the number of mills in operation can be increased, if yes then cut in new mill and reduce the load on the operating mills. During this suitably take care of secondary air distribution. If for any reason a high reactive fuel like oil or gas is fired in combination with coal then it will be good to remove this fuel. High reactive fuel will reduce oxygen availability for coal molecules resulting in a localized reducing atmosphere. This increases the potential for coal ash to slag. Check the soot blower operation, both the wall blowers in the furnace and the long retract. Increase the frequency of wall blowers as this can cool the flame more and reduce the slagging potential. Check the pulverized coal fineness ensure 75% through 200 mesh sieve and only less than 1% is left over 50 mesh sieve. If with all the above the heavy deposition / slagging does not reduce then this may even warrant a load reduction on the boiler.

Coal being fired

The coal being fired can be outside the design range and could be causing the problem. This warrants checking the coal ash characteristic in detail. Check the chemical composition of the ash and work out the slagging propensity ratios. If it fits in a matrix of these ratios, then it can give an idea whether the coal being fired can slag in the boiler. Check the ash fusion temperatures starting from initial deformation temperature to fusion temperature. Normally this is carried out in an oxidizing condition; it will be a good practice to check the fusion temperature in the reducing atmosphere. A high differential between this will indicate a higher propensity to slag. In this case air distribution and excess air level play a high role.

Elaborate studies both in the field and laboratories by collecting large volume data on all required area has not yielded a single or multiple set of rules to predict coal slagging in boiler furnaces.

32

Controlling Slagging in Boiler

*************************************************************************************************** **************************************************************************************************

Importance of Boiler Water Treatment

Maintaining water quality is high on the agenda of all boiler operators. What makes it so important? Why is it all the more important in a Supercritical unit? Boiler water quality has long been an important factor in the operation of boilers. As the power plant operating pressures increase, water quality requirements also become stricter. With the current units operating at Supercritical pressures, the requirements are tough. Continuous improvements and changes in the methods of maintaining water quality, understanding the corrosion mechanisms, and the development of new chemicals have resulted in a more economical and efficient water regime management.

Four Reasons Why Boiler Water Treatment is Important

There are four main reasons why water quality is so important. Impurities in water form scales.

33

Water contains dissolved salts, which upon evaporation of water forms scales on the heat transfer surfaces. Scales have much lower heat transfer capacity than steel: the heat transfer coefficient of the scales is 1 kcal/m/C/hr against 15 kcal/m/C/hr for steel . This leads to overheating and failure of the boiler tubes. Scale also reduces flow area, which increases pressure drop in boiler tubes and piping. Low pH or dissolved oxygen in the water attacks the steel. This causes pitting or lowering the thickness of the steel tubes, leading to rupture of the boiler tubes. Contaminants like chlorides, a problem in seawater cooled power plants, also behave in a similar way. Flow assisted corrosion occurs in the carbon steel pipes due to the continuous removal of the protective oxide layer at high flows. Impurities carried over in the steam, causing deposits on turbine blades leading to reduced turbine efficiency, high vibrations, and blade failure. These contaminants can also cause erosion of turbine blades. Silica at higher operating pressures volatilizes and carries over to the turbine blades.

The first step is to get the make-up water to the steam cycle as pure as possible. The correct operation of the DeMineralisation (DM) plants ensures this. The second step is to form a magnetite layer on the inside surface of the tubes which protects the metal surface from any further corrosion attacks. The third step is to maintain this magnetite layer throughout the life of the plant. If the water quality goes down, this protective layer will be destroyed and corrosion starts damaging the tubes. In a 500 MW power thermal plant around 1300 Tons of water is circulating per hour continuously in the water steam cycle through the boiler, turbine, condenser and heaters. As the water circulates, there is an increase in contaminant level and a change in water quality. This is due to many reasons like: contact with almost 25000 m area of wetted steel in the tubes, piping and heat exchangers the residue of chemicals added entrapped oxygen and other gases especially in the vacuum area returning condensate from traps, glands, vents and drains impurities in the DM water make-up

Major parameters that require monitoring for water treatment are: 1. 2. 3. 4. The dissolved solids. The pH of the boiler feed water. Dissolved Oxygen in the feed water entering the boiler. Silica in boiler water.

34

Water Steam Circuit- Sub Critical vs Super Critcal

35

Differences in a Supercritical Unit

The Water Steam circuit in a Supercritical unit is different from that of a sub-critical unit. This makes the water quality requirement more stringent in a Supercritical unit. In a subcritical unit, water steam separation takes place in the drum. Any contaminants remain in the water. As their concentration level increases, continuous blow down removes these. The drum, water walls, and down comers act as a reservoir and an internal circulation circuit and help in concentrating and removal. In supercritical once-through boilers this is not possible, which means any contaminants will adhere to the tubes or caries out through the steam. To prevent this, purity of the water entering should be very good. This makes it mandatory to have a full condensate polishing unit before the water enters the heating sections.

PH control is by the addition of chemicals like Tri-Sodium Phosphate in the boiler water or the caustic treatment. This helps in maintaining the pH levels in the range of 9.0, slightly alkaline. The chemical reactions result in the formation of salts, which increases the dissolved solids level. In subcritical unit, blow down removes this. This is not possible in supercritical units. So an all volatile treatment (AVT) is used. This method uses amines whose reaction products are volatile, leaving behind no solids. This passes along with steam and removal takes place in the de-aerator or polishing systems. AVT is also the new method in subcritical drum type units. Super critical units also use the oxygenated treatment (OT) system, which involves injecting a known quantity of oxygen in the feed water. This helps in maintaining the magnetite or hematite layer, which provides the barrier to prevent any further corrosion in the piping and tubes. During start-ups and at lower loads where the water chemistry regimes are fluctuating, boiler water control is by the AVT method.

. Dissolved oxygen removal is in the deaerator where at saturation temperatures oxygen stripping is easier. Addition of hydrazine at the deaertaor outlet also removes the dissolved oxygen if any in the feed water. Supercritical units also use deaerators. But some plants using only OT operate without a deaerator.

Silica control can is by blow down in a subcritical unit. In Supercritical units the only way is to ensure very low Silica in incoming DM water and good removal in the condensate polishing unit.

As the thermal plant operating pressures increase and become supercritical, water chemistry management also becomes critical. Along with adopting the correct water treatment method, a high quality DM plant and precision analytical instruments for monitoring online water chemistry is a must to eliminate outages of the plant.

36

Low Drum Level in Boilers - A Major Cause of Concern

Drum level in a boiler indicates the level of water in the drum available for steam generation. Low drum level operation leads to availability loss of the boiler. Low-level trips in a boiler must always be responded to quickly and correctly. The drum level in a boiler is maintained near the previously defined normal water level, which generally is below the geometric center of the drum. Maintaining a high drum level has its own problems like carryover of salt to superheaters etc., but low drum level operation has much more serious effect on the boiler tubes. Whenever this happens, the operator is warned by alarm to take corrective action. If this is not responded to and the drum level goes further down to a dangerously low level, the boiler trips on auto to protect the boiler. The specific causes for a drum level trip, the boiler response, and the immediate action of the boiler control room operator and the local operator are given in outline form below.

Specific causes
One feed pump trips Mal-operation of feed control auto Mal-operation of feed pump scoop Mal-operation of feed control / regulating valve Sudden reduction in load Sudden tripping of one or more mills Tube failure in water wall with large opening Mal-operation of emergency drain valve Mal-operation of low point drain

Plant response
Low drum level alarm Very low drum level trip

Immediate boiler desk operator action

Start reserve feed pump if needed Change to manual feed water control if required Never by-pass the very low drum level trip Trip the unit if the visible level goes out even if auto did not act

Immediate local operator action

Check the tripped pump, rectify cause and inform boiler desk operator that it is ready for restart Check for possible tube leak in furnace first and other areas if needed Check drum drain and low point drain for possible opening Check the feed water auto controller in local and inform condition, also arrange for rectification Check feed controller for any link failure

The effect of very low drum level operation is very severe that it can cause the water wall tubes to get overheated; it can cause snaking of water wall tubes leading to lot of projection in and out of furnace. It can cause instant short term fish mouth tube failures in water wall. This kind of failure has led to furnace explosion under certain specific conditions and based on the location of the failure. If the failure of the tube is in such a location in furnace that the

37

steam coming out of the tube mixes with the coal particles to form producer gas, then an explosive mixture forms and the boiler furnace explodes. The overheating is seen to happen in many water wall tubes rather than a single tube as experienced in many cases. Rectification of the furnace wall becomes more difficult and time consuming as it requires extensive checking both by an NDT (non-destructive testing) method as well as a sampling method. Leaving tubes that have snaked may not lead to any adverse effect in performance of the boiler except in certain specific locations, like near the burner where fuel impingement can occur and cause fuel ash erosion. The reason for such major failure of water wall tubes when the drum level goes to lower than the very low limit is due to the fact that the steam in the drum gets entrained in the down comers of the circulation system, and this upsets the whole natural circulation in the boiler. When the circulation in furnace tubes is upset, the cooling of tubes does not take place effectively, which leads to failure of tubes due to short term overheating.

Low Drum Level

38

Coal Power - the Backbone of Power Generation

Coal fired power plants form the major percentage of boilers used for power generation across the globe. The main reason is coal availability and its economics for power generation. Looking only from a technical aspect, gas fired boilers will be preferred when compared to oil and coal boilers. Any power plant will have fuel storage and handling equipment and systems, the fuel preparation system, water treatment system, the boiler, the ash handling system, compressed air system, lighting system, firefighting system, turbine, generator and electric power gridding system. The coal power plant is no exception. The pros and cons of these systems individually has to be looked into to understand the total value of a coal fired power plant. Here the discussion will be mainly on the fuel handling, fuel preparation, ash handling system, and boiler point of view.

Fuel storage and handling

The calorific value of coal varies very widely across the globe. It can be as low as 2800 kcals/kg to as high as 7000 kcals/kg on an air dried basis. This means the quantity to be stored, and handled per million kilo calories, will also vary widely. Oil and gas, which are classified under fossil fuels, do not have such large variation. Hence storage and handling does not differ much. Coal is stored in the open generally; however closed storage is also adopted in a limited basis. Storage of oil and gas need special tankers and equipment. Coal requires large and heavy equipment to handle, however oil and gas requires much simpler and compact equipment to handle. Coal can result in lot of dust problems, but gas and oil can result in leakage which can explode. Coal requires large bunkers near boiler area; oil can be stored in day tanks and gas can be pressure reduced and needs, in most cases, no storage.

Fuel preparation system

The fuel preparation system in the case of oil is a simple heating and pumping unit. In the case of gas it is also a simple pressure reducing and water removing system. In the case of coal fired boiler it is an elaborate system starting from a crushing unit to a grinding unit with a rejects handling system, if the mills in the grinding system have rejects. Optimizing the milling system for optimum performance requires knowledge about the coal being fired and the combustion characteristics, which involves large laboratory tests. In the case of oil, simple laboratory tests estimating the temperature for firing viscosity will be enough. The need to know the chemical composition is for all fuels.

Ash handling system

This is unique to the coal fired boiler. There are two ash handling systems to be provided: the fly ash and bottom ash handling system. This size of this system will depend upon the ash percentage in the coal. However no such system is required for an oil or gas fired boiler.

Boiler
Boiler design depends on the type of fuel being fired; gas fired boilers have the smallest furnace and the coal fired the biggest. The coal fired boiler furnace size further changes with respect to the amount and type of inorganics (ash) the coal contains. When we compare two boilers firing with the same percentage ash coal- one slagging type and the other non-slagging- the one with the slagging nature will have to be designed with a larger furnace size. Except for the economics of coal fired boiler for steam generation, in all other aspects it has a lesser preference with the users. Coal fired boilers have many more auxiliaries, are cumbersome to operate, the uncertainties in fuel

39

characteristics are high, higher pollutants have to be addressed, etc. There are many types of design available for all fuels, and more so for coal firing with combinations of auxiliaries. The amount of auxiliary power consumption is the highest for coal fired boilers.

Other systems
All other systems like the compressed air system, lighting system, firefighting system, turbine, generator and electric power gridding system can have the same features for any type of boiler used with any fuel as they all are independent of boiler type and fuel.

Related Reading
Boiler classification can be based on many factors like usage, fuel fired, fuel firing system, type of arrangement etc. Commonly known types are pulverized coal fired boilers, fluidized bed boilers, super critical boilers, oil and gas fired boilers. All cater to industrial and power generation. Hydrocarbon fuels are the major source of energy for power and process steam generation, and coal takes a major share in this. Boiler furnace design will depend more on fuel characteristics, and further heat transfer surface sizing will depend on furnace outlet temperature. Furnace sizing is a very important for a successful boiler design. The variation in boiler furnace size can upset the performance drastically. Oil and gas fired units have more uniform sizes, but the coal fired units have large variation. Optimization of combustion in high ash Indian coal fired boilers is of special interest due to the organic and inorganic mix up and the large amount of variation in the organics.

*************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Understanding Flame Quality in Tangential Firing Boilers

In a tangential coal fired boiler, the furnace act as a single burner and so it is required to look at and understand the quality of the flame. It is necessary to start from the control room of the boiler, then go to the mill, furnace, bottom ash and fly ash areas and study all in detail. Understanding the quality of flame in any boiler furnace is very important in tuning the boiler to the optimal level of performance. The aspects of combustion tuning involve looking at the boiler furnace and making sure the quality of flame is acceptable and good.The gas and oil fired boilers do not pose much problem in establishing a good flame in the furnace. The available instruments like flame scanners, CO monitors and oxygen indicators, along with the exit gas temperature, give a good indication to perceive if the quality of the flame is good. In coal fired boilers and mainly in tangential fired boilers, the furnace acts as a single burner, so it is required to look at the flame and understand the quality of the flame. It is necessary to start from the control room of boiler then go to the mill area, to the furnace, and then to the bottom ash and fly ash area to fully make sure of combustion quality in furnace.

The control room of the boiler

Look at the load at which the boiler is operating, availability of support fuel, SH & RH parameter

40

Look at the number of mills operating Note the load, air flow, and outlet temperature on each mill Check the oxygen level at Eco / APH outlet Check the furnace pressure, scanner performance- watch for a few minutes for any fluctuations Look at the coal proximate analysis within 8 hours- if not available then at the max 24 hrs Check the PC fineness reading of each running mill if available Keep a note of those mills which have plus 50 more than 2% and minus 200 below 65%

Check each running mill in the mills area

Bowl mills o Check each spring loading by feeling the bumping of the pressure spring shaft o Regular bump indicate the springs are loaded - how much cannot be estimated by feel - low minus 200 & or mill reject can be an indicator o Watch for any abnormal sound o Check the level of mill reject - look for coal in rejects - if nil or very low then ok o Look at classifier vane position check if they are equal in each mill. Close further to improve fineness - if needed Ball mills o Check for ball noise in the mill area - high noise indicates low coal levels or low speed o Check the mill speed and by-pass air o Check classifier settings o Look for any gear box noise

*************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Burning High Ash Coals in Power Plants A Need of the Hour

Optimization of combustion in high ash coal fired boilers is of special interest due to the organic and inorganic mix and the large amount of variation in the organics. One such experience with Indian low reactive coal in a tangential fired steam generator of 670 T/hr capacity is given here. Indian coals, by virtue of their formation, are in some characteristics different from the European and American coals. Indian coal formation due to the drift origin gives more chances for variations in property and a high amount of inorganic inclusions resulting in high ash content. Petrographic analysis of Indian coals indicates the presence of very high percentages of low reactive constituents like semifusinites, fusinites, etc. apart from subjugation to oxidation/weathering. The above variations have their impact on combustion performance in large capacity boiler furnaces. Pulverised coal combustion involves two main sequel, but possibly overlapping, stages: (1) rapid heating and devolatilisation as a result of pyrolysis followed by (2) combustion of char residue emanating from the devolatilisation stage. The first stage is fast, taking times of the order of 0.1 sec. only. The second stage is slow, requiring time of the order of 1 sec. to 2.5 sec. and therefore, thus has a major effect on the size of combustion chamber. Optimization of combustion in Indian high ash coal fired boilers is of special interest due to the organic and inorganic mix up and the large amount of variation in the organics. It is found that the high percentage of ash, the low reactives in the organics of coal, the encapsulation of organics in inorganics, the presence of oxidized coals in many cases, and the blending of many types of coals are some of the reasons for varying behavior of coals during combustion.

41

Detailed measurements of furnace flame temperature profile in the field were carried out while varying the air distribution pattern. The results of the study shows that the proper understanding of the fuels combustion characteristics could help in tuning the combustion regime whereby the flat furnace gas temperature profile could be changed to match closely the normal profile experienced with reactive coals. The temperature in the burner zone could be increased by about 50 Degree C and the furnace outlet temperature could be reduced by about 90 Degree C.

This can be achieved by keeping in mind:

Indian high ash coals result in high primary air requirements- primary combustion dilution. As an indirect effect, the high percentage of ash in coal makes it necessary to use a higher amount of primary air than required for actual combustion, as the transportation velocity requirement limits the minimum primary air. Secondary air distribution at required elevation is very important. Avoid/reduce all unwanted secondary air at any location and divert them to another needy elevation. Keep mill air flow just above settling velocity. Keep total air flow - 20% excess air @ eco out. Close all fuel air dampers if VM less than 20 - 22% - look at the flame front - decide for higher VM coal. Keep wind box pr. 100 - 150 mm - better distribution across elevation. Adopting these steps has given a large benefit in combustion optimization in Indian power plants.

Understanding the Coal is Key

The combustion behavior of Indian coals can vary widely, hence combustion optimization is a must for Indian boilers, and that for low reactive coals, the air distribution plays a very important role. The height at which the maximum quantity of the hydrocarbon is to be burnt will depend upon the reactivity, the petrographic characteristic, and the burning profile of the coal being fired. Understanding the type of coal being fired and correspondingly making proper operational adjustments/modifications will help in combustion optimization and the reduction of unburned carbon in bottom ash/fly ash. The Indian high ash coals are found to give large variation in properties due to its virtue of formation which also affects the performance of the boiler and needs a regular watch and tuning of the operational regime. The low reaction rate of the organic in Indian coals makes it necessary to provide a higher residence time. This means that firing coals significantly different from design coal can drastically vary the amount of unburned. In boilers with low residence time, the percentage unburned can be very high both in fly ash and bottom ash if coals of high fuel ratio are used. Oxidized coals need much higher residence time for complete combustion and are not amenable for accurate prediction of unburned carbon loss percentage. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Operating Clean Coal Power Plants

The burning of coal results in the emission of polluting gases, mostly carbon dioxide. Clean coal technologies promise the reduction of this dangerous pollutant and a cleaner environment despite the burning of coal. Is this promise solid enough to justify this ambitious energy goal?

Clean Coal Technologies

Coal is considered a highly polluting energy source - for many it is the worst. This is attributed to the fact that it is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel available. The burning of coal results in dangerous emissions including carbon dioxide that is responsible for global warming, sulfur dioxide, the main responsible for acid rain and a number of other dangerous toxins and cancer-causing dioxins.

42

The newly introduced clean coal operation technologies are aiming at reducing the amounts of these pollutants escaping into the atmosphere. They are targeted mostly toward the reduction of carbon dioxide since global warming is the most severe environmental impact. The first clean coal energy plant, actually a pilot plant using US FutureGen technology and operated by a Swedish firm called Vattenfall, started operating in 2008 in Spremberg, Germany. The facility uses the technique of carbon capture and storage to clean coal. More specifically, carbon dioxide is captured and then compressed into a liquid state and stored. This way the CO2 does not escape into the atmosphere. The technique is described in more detail below, along with other clean coal technologies that are currently under development.

Carbon Capture and Storage - The Most Popular Techniques

Carbon capture and storage or sequestration (CCS) is currently in the forefront of 'clean' carbon operation techniques, with more than 80 CCS projects underway in the United States already. This group of techniques involve the capturing of carbon dioxide before it escapes into the

atmosphere and placing it in undergound storage.

43

More specifically, the idea is based on capturing carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, including coal and natural gas (methane). As soon as the CO2 is separated from the rest of the fuel, it has to be safely stored. Storage or sequestration take place in deep geological formations or deep in the ocean. Although leaks are a major problem in both cases, geological formation storage is considered to be safer since storage in the oceans runs a greater risk of acidification.

Other Clean Coal Operation Techniques

A variety of other clean coal techniques are under investigation. Some of them are: Coal washing: When the coal arrives at a power plant, it contains minerals that have to be removed before the process of burning takes place. First, the coal has to be ground into small pieces and then exclude/separate the unwanted material through gravity separation. A method involves the use of barrels that contain fluid. The coal floats and the rest of the material sinks into the bottom. The pulverization of coal follows, and then it is ready to be used for power production. Gasification: Plants that use gasification techniques have high efficiencies and low emissions, but there are yet to be proven in a large commercial scale. In this technique coal reacts with oxygen and produces syngas. The syngas is cooled and cleaned, and then burned inside a combustor. The heat generates steam that eventually powers steam turbines. A well-known method of gasification is the Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle or IGCC.

44

Removal of SO2 and NOx pollutants: The burning of coal results in the emission of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Several methods are used to remove these pollutants, for instance : Sulphur dioxide - Flue gas desulphurization (FGD) systems use limestone and water, a mixture that reacts with the SO2 of the flue gas to form gypsum, a very popular material used in the construction industry. Nitrogen oxides - The specially designed low NOx burners prevent the formation of the gas by reducing the amount of oxygen available in the hottest part of the coal combustion chamber.

Conclusion
There is a great deal of concern regarding the future of these technologies. Greenpeace suggests that no coal-fired power plant is ever truly clean. All that clean coal techniques manage is to circulate the pollutants and finally release them back into the environment. Apart from that, the economic viability of these technologies is in question. Research on clean coal technologies is taking place "for over 10 years and $5.2 billion have already been spent in the US alone" (Greenpeace). It is expected that it will take hundreds of millions of dollars and many more years before they are commercially available. Despite the concerns, clean coal technology is now shifting toward a newly modified coal gasification technique that may provide what is called "zero emissions" or actually low emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Although the US DOE planned to have commercial designs for power plants using the technology by 2012, the project was postponed *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Advantages and Disadvantages of Coal for Power Plants

Fossil fuels are indeed the top fuels used all over the world for generating power and electricity. Among the fossil fuels, coal is the most widely used fuel in power plants. Coal fired plants use different kinds of machinery that convert heat energy produced from combustion into mechanical energy. Coal, gas, and oil are the fossil fuels responsible for most of the world's electricity and energy demands. Coal, which is readily available in most of the developing and developed world, has been used as a major source of fuel even in ancient human civilizations. It also found its use in historic steam engines at the dawn of the industrial revolution.

Advantages of Coal as Power Plant Fuel

Today, advances in technology have allowed coal to improve living conditions with its current role in meeting mans fuel needs. Coal has been used extensively in power generation where better technology is employed to ensure that there is a balance between ecology and economics in producing sustainable and affordable energy. But, is coal really the answer to affordable and sustainable energy? To find answers for this question, it is best to learn about the advantages- and disadvantages- of coal fired plants. Some of its advantages include reliability, affordability, abundance, known technologies, safety, and efficiency.

45

Reliability. One of the greatest advantages of coal fired plants is reliability. Coals ability to supply power during peak power demand either as base power or as off-peak power is greatly valued as a power plant fuel. It is with this fact that advanced pulverized coal fired power plants are designed to support the grid system in avoiding blackouts. Affordability. Energy produced from coal fired plants is cheaper and more affordable than other energy sources. Since coal is abundant, it is definitely cheap to produce power using this fuel. Moreover, it is not expensive to extract and mine from coal deposits. Consequently, its price remains low compared to other fuel and energy sources. Abundance. There are approximately over 300 years of economic coal deposits still accessible. With this great amount of coal available for use, coal fired plants can be continuously fueled in many years to come. Known technologies. The production and use of coal as a fuel are well understood, and the technology required in producing it is constantly advancing. Moreover, coal-mining techniques are continuously enhanced to ensure that there is a constant supply of coal for the production of power and energy. Safety. Generally, coal fired plants are considered safer than nuclear power plants. A coal power plant's failure is certainly not likely to cause catastrophic events such as a nuclear meltdown would. Additionally, the welfare and productivity of coal industry employees has greatly improved over the years. In fact, injuries, time lost, and fatalities have decreased significantly in the past years.

Fig.1. 2009 US Electricity Source Generation

46

Disadvantages of Coal-Fired Power Plants

On the other hand, there are also some significant disadvantages of coal fired plants including Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions, mining destruction, generation of millions of tons of waste, and emission of harmful substances. Greenhouse gas emissions. It cannot be denied that coal leaves behind harmful byproducts upon combustion. These byproducts cause a lot of pollution and contribute to global warming. The increased carbon emissions brought about by coal fired plants has led to further global warming which results in climate changes. Mining destruction. Mining of coal not only results in the destruction of habitat and scenery, but it also displaces humans as well. In many countries where coal is actively mined, many people are displaced in huge numbers due to the pitting of the earth brought about by underground mining. Places near coal mines are unsafe for human habitation as the land could cave in at anytime. Generation of millions of tons of waste. Millions of tons of waste products which can no longer be reused are generated from coal fired plants. Aside from the fact that these waste products contribute to waste disposal problems, these also contain harmful substances. Emission of harmful substances. Thermal plants like coal fired plants emit harmful substances to the environment. These include mercury, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, mercury, selenium, and arsenic. These harmful substances not only cause acid rain but also are very harmful to humans as well. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Furnace Size Varies for Gas, Oil and Coal Firing

Furnace sizing is a very important for a successful boiler design. The variation in boiler furnace size can upset the performance drastically. Oil and gas fired units have more uniform sizes, but the coal fired units have large variation. Chemical recovery boiler furnace is sized for drying fuel. Boilers designed to generate steam for both industrial and power generation applications use fuels like coal, oil and gas. Fuel characteristics have a great impact on boiler design. The furnace designed in a boiler must be so sized that the furnace outlet temperature is predicted and achieved within reasonable limits. The furnace outlet temperature is the basis for further heat transfer surface design. It is seen that the furnace size varies considerably between coal fired boilers and oil and gas. The variation between oil and gas fired boiler furnace size is to a smaller extent only.

Design criteria for boilers

To understand why the furnace size varies between different fuels, we have to have a broad idea about the design criteria for boilers. First we should know the energy input level, this will depend on steam flow, feed water temperature, pressure and temperature of steam, and an assumed efficiency of boiler based on experience. The energy absorption level needed in boiler and other heat transfer system will have to be defined or worked out.

47

Based on the fuel given, for design calculate the fuel quantity, air and flue gas flow required. Now determine the size and shape of furnace which will require knowledge of burner size, other combustion systems, emission requirements, ash handling, furnace outlet temperature limitation, etc. Design superheaters, reheaters, ecomomisers, and air heaters so that the second pass can be finalized. Care must be taken to size the heat transfer areas such that any requirement due to fouling and the erosive nature of fuel is addressed. Design the desuperheating requirement, location and number of equipment for cleaning of pressure parts. Boiler enclosures, supports, piping, expansion guides, and movements are all to be designed and checked. The code to which the boiler is designed is very important and has to be adhered.

Coal fired boiler furnace

The coal fired boiler furnace size is generally higher in volume by 20 to 35 %, depending on coal types, when compared to an oil fired boiler. The factors that increase the furnace size are many. The reactivity of coal is much lower than oil and hence need more residence time. Even though the adiabatic flame temperature is higher than oil, the practically obtained flame temperature is much lower around 1700 degree Celsius. The lower flame temperature needs more radiant surface to be provided. The ash in coal needs to be addressed and hence the rule of thumb is to keep the furnace outlet temperature lower than initial deformation temperature of ash by 50 degree Celsius. The ash deposits on the walls reduce the effectiveness of heat transfer and this is lower in the case of coal fired boilers. As it is not possible to have an accurate analytical solution for heat transfer in a steam generator furnace, this leads to conservative sizing by designers. There are three furnace heat loading adopted by designers, the EPRS (Effective Projected Radiant Surface), the plan area and the volumetric. By virtue of experience and field results from boilers, these loadings are much lower for coal fired boilers. Being a solid fuel, the burner size and numbers go up when compared to oil or gas burners; this factor also influence the furnace size to the higher side. The bottom ash handling requirement increase the size of coal fired boiler. Normally about 20 % ash is collected as bottom ash in coal fired boiler. The oil and gas fired boilers have nearly flat furnace bottoms.

It is to be remembered that among coal fired boilers themselves, the furnace sizes will vary considerably depending on the age of the coal, ash characteristics, the reactivity, etc.

Oil fired boiler furnace

Oil flame emissivity is higher than coal flame and so results in higher furnace absorption. The furnace heat loadings can also be maintained much higher due to near zero % ash. The very low % of oil ash needs to be addressed from point of view of high temperature corrosion in heat transfer surface. As a very general rule the volume of oil fired boiler furnace will have only 65 % of volume of a coal fired boiler furnace.

Gas fired boiler furnace

When compared to oil, gas is a much more reactive and cleaner fuel. This allows still higher heat loadings in the furnace, higher second pass gas velocity, etc. All these factors reduce the furnace size further and result in the lowest furnace size for a similar capacity boiler. Just to give an idea, a size comparison between coal, oil and gas fired boiler furnace is shown. This is a very rough comparison and is for a specific nature of coal.

48

Boiler Furnace Size Comparison

49

How Long Term Overheating Tube Failures Happen in Boilers

Long term overheating tube failures are due to operating metal temperature of the boiler tubes going above the allowable limit. These types of failure are seen in steam cooled tubes like superheaters and reheaters and in water cooled tubes of waterwalls. Boilers used for industrial steam generation and power generation have kilometers of tubes that carry water and steam in circulation system and superheaters, respectively. These tubes are of various sizes and thicknesses depending upon the pressure and the mid-wall metal temperature. The tubes selected are boiler quality tubes manufactured under various standards like ASME, BS, DIN, JIS, etc. While selecting the tube there is a requirement to select the correct material for withstanding the metal temperature. This will depend upon the location where the heat transfer surface is located. Normally the water cooled areas like economizer and waterwalls are made of carbon steel of boiler quality. Superheaters and reheaters will have combination of low alloy tubes to stainless steel tubes selected to withstand the metal temperature.

Mid-wall metal temperature

When heat is transferred from the burning fuel or hot gases by radiation or convection, the outside tube temperature is very high; the heat is then transferred to the medium inside the tube which is water or steam. There is a temperature gradient that exits from the outermost layer of the tube to the inner most layer of the tube. The temperature at the middle of the tube thickness is called the mid-wall metal temperature. The waterwalls in the boiler furnace face the highest temperature, namely the flame temperature, and since the water flowing though the tube is so designed to carry the heat away and the cool the tube by proper circulation, the mid-wall temperature is maintained within allowable limit of the material. The mid-wall metal temperature can be accurately determined, however there are many rules of thumb used by the operating engineers. In the water wall area the metal temperature will be saturation temperature of water at the drum operating pressure plus 30 degree centigrade. In the superheater area it is steam temperature inside the tube at the location plus 50 degree centigrade for radiant heat transfer surface and 40 degree for convective heat transfer area.

Overheating of tubes in boiler

When the mid-wall metal temperature exceeds the allowable metal temperature of the tube material, overheating sets in. This can happen due to many reasons like internal deposit, low flow though the tube due to partial choking of the tube internal diameter, due to sudden load raise, due to sudden fuel input, etc. When the metal temperature of the tube exceeds the allowable limit the material strength reduces drastically, depending upon the material composition. Long term overheating of the tube happens over a period of time, as the tubes are subjected to temperatures which are not so high to cause instantaneous bulging of the tube to a failure point. During this period of long term overheating the tube outer surface develops bulging, creeping elongate fissures along the axis of the tube. There will be little or no wall thickness reduction in the non-blistered area. These are the typical identifiable signs of long term overheating. These failures are also called as high temperature creep failures. (Please see the photos below.) Areas in boilers prone for long term overheating Waterwalls and superheaters are more prone to long term overheating. Waterwalls normally, due to internal deposits and partial choking of the tube internally, are subjected to long term overheating. Superheaters are subjected to long term overheating over and above the said two reasons due to high desuperheating, higher radiant heat fluxes in the region, and lower grade material at transition points. Reheaters are also prone for long term overheating, but not so much like superheaters. How to avoid long term overheating failure in boilers Operating the boiler within the specified range of parameters and regime can almost eliminate this type of failure in boilers

50

Flushing the tubes to ensure any blockages are removed Keeping the water quality at the recommended level Making sure drum internally are set and maintained properly Ensuring the right material transition point, higher grade material in the lower temperature portion of the tube for some length can take care of operational variation. Ensuring the right quality material selection during design stage.

Related Reading
Understanding Tube Failures in High Pressure Boilers - Boiler tube failures are inevitable. There are twenty-two primary reasons for tube failures in a boiler. It is true that being forewarned is being forearmed. Knowledge and good operating and maintenance practice reduce tube failures. Mechanisms of Steam Soot Blower Erosion - There are many mechanisms that can cause steam soot blower erosion of boiler tubes at various heat transfer sections. Knowing the way these mechanisms contribute to erosion will help to prevent loss of availability of boiler. Causes of High Temperature Corrosion in Boilers - High temperature corrosion occur in boilers occurs mainly in two areas- waterwalls and superheaters. The inorganic impurities in fuel like vanadium, sodium, sulphur, etc., are responsible. Read on to learn more about how this happens. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Low Energy Nuclear Reaction or Cold Fusion at Room Temperature

How cold fusion process can be triggered or replicated is the big question. Production of energy without production of radioactive waste and radioactivity at room temperature looks like a dream. If the claims are verified we may be able to provide a small cold fusion generator for every home.

Introduction
Urgent need of alternative sources of energy is being greatly felt in every part of the globe. Due to dependence on coal based thermal power plants and fission type nuclear power plants, which uses uranium and plutonium, our environment is being badly affected by emissions of carbon and the problems of radioactivity and radioactive waste. Hydro power plants also have some limitations. Research and development in the field of solar, wind and biogas, and electricity storage devices, is also pursued vigorously in every part of the world. Every scientist and engineer engaged in this field wants some lead on which they may start research so that our requirement of energy may be fulfilled. The emphasis is on clean, green energy and cheap sources. There is talk about carbon emission, global warming, and environment protection, etc. Some scientists, without any support from governments and big institutions, have presented the idea of cold fusionLENR (low energy nuclear reaction) or CANR (chemically assisted nuclear reaction). If their claims are verified, then it may be answer to every problem addressed above.

51

Nuclear fusion is an answer with which we may find limitless energy, but its practical use seems a distant possibility. In nuclear fusion hydrogen nuclei are fused into helium to get huge amounts of energy. Hydrogen nuclei are positively charged so repel each other as per Coulombs law. For a nuclear fusion process to take place, temperature and pressures like the Sun are needed. Experiments in using nuclear fusion for the generation of power have failed due to the requirement of recreating sun-like high temperatures and pressures in lab conditions. Production of radioactivity and the need to deal with radioactive waste makes this process unsuitable for the production of cheap, green, and clean energy.

Cold Fusion or Low Energy Nuclear Reactions

There is news about cold fusion, which is also termed as low energy nuclear reactions or chemically-assisted nuclear reactions. It is claimed that cold fusion may produce 27 times more energy than gasoline and that this process produces no radioactivity and radioactive waste. The cost of energy produced is also claimed to be extremely low compared with fossil fuel, i.e. 1 cent/kwh. The cold fusion reactors seem to be like electrolysis cells. Every home may be equipped with small cold fusion generator, i.e. up to 12KW, making our conventional energy sources and transmission infrastructure obsolete. It is claimed that hydrogen is fused into helium at room temperature in an electrolysis chemical process. Palladium electrodes or nickel electrodes are being used for excitation in this process. Production of tritium, neutron, helium, copper and huge amounts of energy is being claimed, but such claims still need to be verified by the mainstream scientific community.

52

Cold Fusion is Difficult to Replicate or Trigger

Scientists who claimed that they have seen the cold fusion process in operation have always failed to replicate this process again, causing the research to be discredited. The big question is how cold fusion is triggered. No scientific explanation of room temperature fusion is to be found in our nuclear physics textbooks, so we fail to understand its theory, whether it is nuclear physics or chemistry. Some say it is a nuclear reactor and others term it merely a chemical electrolysis cell.

Conclusion

53

However we must look at such experiments with an open mind. Any promising experiment must be examined with great care because such research may lead to us clean and green energy alternative sources. We need miracles in the field of alternative energy for our bright future so scientists and engineers must examine every lead, including cold fusion, low energy nuclear reactions, chemically assisted nuclear reactions, condensed matter nuclear science, plasma electrolysis and nuclear transmutations, with extreme care and an open mind prepared to revolutionize the world. There is currently no alternative to known alternative energy sources to secure our future. We must develop the tradition of listening and welcoming every lead in order to create our miracle. The efforts of cold fusion scientists must be appreciated because they are trying to change our future positively. Such efforts will lead to us some viable alternative solution, we must hope. *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Steam Blowing of Power Station Pipelines Why and How

Steam blowing allows power station boilers and pipelines to ensure that during normal operation no adhering material in the superheaters, reheaters, and steam pipelines will become dislodged, reach the turbine blades, and damage them. Puffing and continuous methods are mainly used for steam blowing.

Why steaming blowing is done

The steam blowing operation cleans all the debris in the superheater, reheater and the steam pipe line connecting the turbine. During the maximum continuous rating load of the turbine the drag force in the pipe line can dislodge particles loosely adhering to the tubes internal surface, causing great damage to the turbine blades. Guidelines given by various boiler designers and agencies like CEGB, etc., to effectively carry out this operation focus on creating a drag force created on the inside surface of tubes or pipes which is much higher than that occurring during the maximum continuous rating load of the turbine. Ratio of the drag created during steam blowing to the drag occurring during the maximum continuous rating load is called the disturbance factor.

How steam blowing is done

Steam blowing guidelines focus on creating a drag force on the surface of tubes or pipes much higher than that which occurs during the maximum continuous rating load of the turbine. The ratio of the drag created during steam blowing to the drag occurring during the maximum continuous rating load is called the disturbance factor. Boiler designers and commissioning groups prefer to keep a disturbance factor of about 1.6.

The puffing method

The puffing method
As steam blowing is one of the initial stages of start-up operation, extra care must be taken to maintain the boiler operating parameters as per the commissioning procedure. The boiler is slowly brought up to the required pressure level Do not exceed the furnace outlet temperature as the reheater is dry and has to be protected

54

Boiler downward expansion should be noted as the pressure is raised to 40 kg/cm The firing rate must be slowly increased, keeping in mind the drum temperature differential Keep the drum level slightly above the normal level as when the blowing is started the water level will raise and go beyond sight then as the blow proceeds it will drop below lowest sight level if water level maintained is at or below normal. In the first stage of blowing the first blow is done at much lower pressure to check the temporary pipe supports and anchors. The temporary valve provided is opened to blow through the superheater, the main steam pipe and the temporary pipe. The first few blows, generally three blows, are done without any target plate till the color of steam is clear. Then the preliminary target or impact plates made of stainless steel material 40 to 50 mm wide, 25 mm thick and of length to suit the pipe diameter is placed to capture the indentation of the particles going along with the steam. The target plate must be placed just after the mainstream line in the temporary pipe but not too far and the velocity at this place must be around 245 m/s. 2 While blowing the fire is killed and the pressure is dropped to around 15 kg/cm ; this ensures a good temperature differential for any adhering material to dislodge. The boiler is started after closing the steam blowing valve and the process is continued. The final target plate of turbine blade is placed once the preliminary target plate is in acceptable form, and the blowing is continued till the indentations are acceptable to the turbine manufacturer. After the mainstream line is completed the other stages are done in the similar way to achieve a clear target plate of acceptable quality.

Continuous Blowing Method

The procedure adopted in the continuous method of steam blowing is the same as the puffing method but for the fact that the pressure is maintained constantly during the blow. This reduces the reactionary forces on the temporary pipe and also the stresses on the boiler system are lower. However, many boiler designers and commissioning groups adopt the puffing method.

Precautions
During steam blowing The thick wall components like the drum, headers and piping are subjected to much higher thermal stresses than the normal operation of the boiler, so it is prudent to keep the number of blows to the minimum required for effective cleaning. As a rule of thumb it is good to keep the number of blows less than 50 a day. The temporary pipe is designed for a much lower pressure than the boiler system and hence the operators should take extra care not to exceed the pressure beyond what is required for blowing. Care must be taken in the forced circulation boiler. If the drum level is very low and the pump losses its suction then the boiler must be tripped and the blow must be terminated It is not possible to avoid carryover of solids to the superheater during steam blowing, hence boiler water should not be treated with non- volatile chemicals The temporary supports provided should be watched and every day before starting the boiler they must be inspected fully to avoid any catastrophe.

55

Coal Burner Wear during Operation - Why and How

Fossil fuel is the main source of energy for steam power plants. Coal is the major fuel with inorganics varying widely. Coal burners are subjected to wear due to this during operation. Coal is the prime fuel for power generation across the globe. More than fifty percent of electricity is produced by coal. Coal has in it organic material, an inorganic portion, and moisture. There are other components like sulphur, trace metals like arsenic, etc. which all form a very small percentage. The inorganic portion in coal varies highly making it difficult to predict any standard behavior. As coal formed under the earth is a heterogeneous material, it makes it still difficult. Coal burners, both in wall fired boilers and in tangential fired boilers, are subjected to wear during their operation. The rate of wear on the burner depends on many factors. Percentage of ash (Inorganic portion): As the percentage of ash in coal increases, the wear increases, but the rate of wear need not be the same for same percentage of ash coals. The chemical composition of the ash: Knowing the constituents which make up the ash in coal facilitates our understanding of the reason for the difference in rate of wear of the burner using the same percentage of ash in coal. It is seen that the silica in coal plays a major role in erosion of coal burners. Velocity adopted for fuel air mixture: It is seen that the velocity adopted has an influence on the wear rate on the coal burner. The higher the velocity, the higher the rate of wear, but this cannot be varied much as it depends on the burner requirement, the flame front anchoring point, etc. The effect of velocity is more predominant in the case of pressure parts erosion in the boiler. The pulverized coal fineness: Coal fineness has an influence on the rate of wear depending upon the segregation of ash from organic portion of the coal The number of hours operated Material used for burner construction: As burners are subjected to heat radiation from burning fuel, they are made of very high alloy steels. The more often preferred material is stainless steel. However to contain wear and improve life a lot of methods like weld overlay, cladding, or metal spraying are adopted. The flame profile and distance from burner tip: The flame intensity and flame distance from the burner tip has two influences on the wear of the burner. One, it leads to warping of the burner tip and second, it creates eddies which speeds up wear. The load carried by the burner, which is basically the quantity of coal flow through the burner

Many of the factors like percentage ash, chemical composition, the number of hours of operation, etc. cannot be tailored to contain the wear of the burner components. The designers adopt mainly weld overlay or cladding or metal spraying to improve life of the coal burner. The method chosen will depend on the ash percentage and composition of coal being used in the boiler, the cost, and the life enhancement period.

Related Reading
Fly Ash Erosion in Boilers Firing High Ash Coals Coal is one of the main fuels for power production. Coal quality deterioration over the years has created challenges for boiler designers the world over to compact and minimize erosion in pressure parts. Fly ash erosion is a major factor for pressure parts damage in high ash coal fired boilers.

56

Coal Formation Theories - Coal may be defined as a compact stratified mass of plant debris which has been modified chemically and physically by natural agencies, interspersed with smaller amounts of inorganic matter. In situ and Drift are the two major theories of coal formation. Considerations for Coal Blending in Power Stations Coal blending in power stations is mainly adopted to reduce the cost of generation and increase the availability of coal. The low-grade coals can be mixed with better grade coal without deterioration in thermal performance of the boiler, thus reducing the cost of generation. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Economizer and Air Pre-Heaters are Provided for Heat Recovery

Boilers are provided with economizer and air pre-heaters to recover heat from the flue gases. An increase of about 20% in boiler efficiency is achieved by providing both economizer and air pre-heaters. Providing economizer alone gives only 8% efficiency increase and so designers provide both. Most of the high capacity boilers firing coal operate with an efficiency of around 86% on the Higher Heat Value basis. Loss of around 14% can be attributed to various losses of which the dry gas loss is about 35% of the total. When both economizers and air pre-heaters are not provided the boiler efficiency drops to around 66% from 86%. When air pre-heater is not provided the boiler efficiency will be around 74 % only. Thus we can conserve about 20% extra fuel when we provide both economizers and air pre-heaters in boilers.

Economizer
The feed water from the high pressure heaters enters the economizer and picks up heat from the flue gases after the low temperature superheater. Many types of economizer are designed for picking up heat from the flue gas. These can be classified as an inline or staggered arrangement based on the type of tube arrangement. The staggered arrangement is compact and occupies less volume for the same amount of heat transfer when compared to the inline arrangement. Economizers are also designed with plain tube and fined tubes. The fins can be longitudinal or spiral. All these types are suitable for clean fuels like gas, oil, and low ash coals. For high ash coals, only the plain tube inline arrangement is used. This is mainly to reduce ash erosion and thus reduce erosion failures. These economizers pick up about 50 to 55 degrees centigrade in a large capacity boiler, which will reduce the flue gas temperature by about 150 to 170 degree centigrade. The boiler designers always keep the economizer water outlet temperature to about 25 to 35 degrees below the drum saturation temperature. This is done to mainly avoid steaming in the economizer. A steaming economizer generally is less reliable. As a rule of thumb, for every one degree pick up of economizer water temperature, there will be a drop of about 3 to 3.5 degrees.

Air pre heaters

Air pre-heaters are provided in boilers to preheat the combustion air. There are two main types: recuperative and regenerative air heaters. Tubular or recuperative air pre-heaters are provided in boilers of medium and small range of steam generation. This type of air pre-heater becomes very large in size if they have to be used in very high capacity boilers like 600 tons/hr of steam production and above. In these cases regenerative air pre-heaters are used. The arrangement of all these air pre-heaters differ with the design and, in large, the way they are combined for very high capacity boilers. Regenerative air per-heaters are compact and can have a stationary or rotating hood. A combination of tubular and regenerative type of air pre-heaters is used in very high capacity boilers. The tubular being used for primary air heating and the regenerative used for the secondary air heating. In case the boiler designers do not want to go for a

57

combination of tubular and regenerative air pre-heater, then they have a choice of tri-sector regenerative air heater. Normally the ambient air is heated to about 300 to 350 degree centigrade. This results in a flue gas temperature drop of around 230 to 250 degree centigrade. So for each degree pick up in air temperature, roughly 0.8 degree drop in flue gas temperature is achieved. Steam coil air pre-heaters are another type. These are used only during start up of the boiler to prevent low temperature corrosion. This air heater does not contribute to improving the efficiency of boilers, but are provided to improve availability. It is seen that during start up the chances of low temperature corrosion is high, and hence the need to provide the steam coil air heaters is evident. Both economizer and air pre-heaters are called heat recovery systems in a boiler. Were it not for these heat recovery systems, present day boilers would be operating at much lower efficiency levels. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Understanding Tube Failures in High Pressure Boilers

Boiler tube failures are inevitable. There are twenty-two primary reasons for tube failures in a boiler. Knowledge and good operating and maintenance practice reduce tube failures. Reducing tube failure in boilers increases the availability of boiler. Whatever the type of fuel being fired, all high pressure boilers are bound to have a tube failure during the course of their working life. Did you know that a single tube failure in a 500 MW boiler requiring four days of repair work can result in a loss of more than $1,000,000 apart from the generation loss? There are six major groups into which all tube failures can be classified. These six groups can be further divided in to a total of twenty-two primary types. All high pressure boilers commissioned and put into operation go through a stabilization period, during which some teething problems occur, including a few tube failures.

Classification of tube failures

Tube failures are classified as in-service failures in boilers. These failures can be grouped under six major causes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Stress rupture Fatigue Water side corrosion Erosion Fire side corrosion (Called also as High temperature Corrosion) Lack of quality control.

These lead to twenty-two primary causes that can cause a tube failure in a high pressure boiler: Short term overheating failure

58

Long term overheating failure (called also as creep failures) Dissimilar metal weld failure Fatigue caused by vibration Thermal fatigue due to temperature fluctuation Corrosion fatigue failures Caustic corrosion inside the tube Hydrogen damage in water wall internal surface Tube internal pitting Fly ash erosion Falling slag erosion Soot blower erosion Coal particle erosion Low temperature flue gas corrosion Fire side waterwall corrosion Coal ash corrosion Oil ash corrosion Damage during maintenance cleaning Chemical excursion damage Material defect and weld defects

Tube failure during stabilization period

The tube failures in a boiler during initial phase of operation are different from the types that occur after prolonged operation. During the initial period of operation of boiler the type of tube failures seen are short term overheating, weld failures, material defects, chemical excursion failure, and sometimes fatigue failures. The short term overheating failure is mainly due to blockage in the fluid path by some foreign material which gets into the tube surface during fabrication or during erection of the unit. The blockage can also happen when debris after acid cleaning of the boiler is not removed completely. This failure can be visually identified by it characteristic appearance of a fish-mouth-like opening and so is also called as fish mouth failure.

Tube failure during normal operation period

Any of these twenty-two mechanisms can be the cause of a tube failure during normal operation. However, a few like water side corrosion, caustic corrosion, hydrogen damage in the water wall, soot blower erosion, damage during maintenance cleaning, and tube internal pitting can be totally eliminated in a boiler if good operating and maintenance practices as told by the boiler designers are followed. The failures due to long term overheating, fatigue, fly ash erosion, fire side corrosion, falling slag damage, etc can still happen in a boiler due to fuel quality variation, operating temperature, startup and shutdown rate, etc. Hence it is not fully possible to avoid tube failures in a high pressure boiler, but the number of them can be minimized by analyzing all failures and taking corrective and preventive action. Tube failure in high pressure boilers follow a normal bath tub curve, with higher rate during initial operation period, stabilizing to a lower rate during the normal operating period and again increasing as the boilers age and cross ten to fifteen years of operation. During this period the boiler pressure parts are evaluated for their remaining life and corrective action taken. A few photos of tube failure are shown below.

59

Low Furnace Pressure and Boiler Operation

Low furnace pressure can cause equal damage like furnace pressurization or a explosion. Low furnace pressure leads to a situation called furnace implosion if not corrected at the right time. To correct a imploded boiler requires a very long outage and work to be carried out. Balanced draft boilers are prone to a very low pressure condition inside the furnace. This condition creates a large amount of force on the waterwalls of the furnace. The buckstays which are provided in the boiler furnace are designed to handle both high and low pressure conditions that can damage the furnace. However if the low pressure continues, and if it exceeds the limit the buckstays can withstand, then the furnace is subject to implosion. Implosion happens when a large pressure acting on the walls of the furnace from outside overcomes the very low pressure prevailing inside the furnace. This leads to a high differential pressure between the atmospheric pressure outside and the pressure inside the furnace. Some of the furnace implosions have led to replacements of the furnace walls and have caused large financial losses to the owners. It is also possible to get into a furnace implosion condition in positive pressure boilers. In fact, in balanced draft furnaces the availability of openings softens the effect to some extent when they are near breakeven points. The damage to the furnace is nearly the same if implosion happens. The reasons of furnace implosion are many. Induced draft fan control failure is one of the common causes in a balanced draft boiler Induced draft fan vane control failure also leads to furnace low pressure condition in balanced draft furnace. Sudden load throw off leading to a large fuel cutting is another common cause of low furnace pressure in both positive and balanced draft boilers Sudden reduction in air flow Sudden tripping of one forced draft fan, leading to a large reduction in air flow

The plant responds to these conditions by a large reduction in furnace pressure and leads to unstable furnace flame conditions. Depending on the indication and the reason for the cause of the problem the boiler operator will have to respond. Switch to induced draft fan control from auto mode to manual mode if the control system is the reason leading to low furnace pressure and take corrective action. Ask the controls engineer to rectify the fault before again turning on to the auto mode. Check the induced draft fan vane control system for proper functioning by changing the set point and finding the response. Rectify if required. Check the air flow condition and ensure the correct air flow to the boiler as per the load condition If one of the forced draft fan has tripped then after establishing the reason for trip and correcting the same, restart the forced draft fan.

The local operator in the field invariably has to check the induced draft fan vane control if this was the reason causing the low furnace pressure. If one of the forced draft fan has tripped, then he has to make ready the fan for restart after ascertaining the reason for the trip.

Low Furnace Pressure Flowsheet

60

Related Concepts
There are many causes that can contribute to flame failure in boilers and require operator action. Operating the boiler with unstable flame is always dangerous and can lead to boiler explosion. Tripping the boiler is the option for all boiler designers and operators. High furnace pressure in boilers is a direct indication of a disturbance in combustion performance. The rate of change in the furnace pressure can vary from a simple sudden surge due to fuel variations to a huge furnace explosion. All forced draft fan trips in a boiler will cause a boiler trip. Putting the boiler back in operation and giving steam at the required parameter to the consumer is very important. Boiler operators should know how to handle both forced draft fan trips in a running boiler as delay in this can cause a very high loss to the plant.

61

Once Through and Drum Type Boiler Designs Compared

As carbon emission is a major concern today, more super critical pressure units are bound to be preferred due to the increase in plant cycle efficiency. This will make once through type boilers take over from drum type boilers. Fuel conservation is an important factor for energy security presently.

Drum Type and Once-through Boilers

The major proportion of boilers operating in the world today are drum type boilers. These boilers have certain restrictions during start-up due to the presence of a high thickness component- the drum. The once through design mainly avoids this, along with a few more advantages. The concept of once through boilers dates back to 1824, referenced through patents in the United States. It was in 1923 that the first commercial 4 tons/hr once-through boiler was made by Mark Benson, a Czechoslovakian, and supplied to English Electric Company Ltd at Rugby, England. When we try to analyze two types of boiler design which can cater to the same requirement, it is necessary to look at certain specific factors. These key factors generally include: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. How the boiler will respond to load changes How the efficiency will change How the auxiliary power consumption will vary in each design The availability of additional systems or equipment How the control system for each will vary What are the water chemistry requirements? Suitability for cyclic and two shift operation The operation and maintenance aspects of these designs The cycle time needed for each design, and The overall economics of each

Once-through Boiler Characteristics

The once through boiler has high load response characteristics due to the fact that it does not have a drum and has a much lower water inventory. In the once through boiler, many times the load change response is dictated by the firing system and its controls rather than the boiler, per-say. Once through boilers of super-critical pressure boilers have higher efficiency. However in the sub-critical range there is no difference in efficiency when compared to the drum type design. Generally the power consumption is higher by 5 to 8 % for the same capacity boilers of drum type. Once through boilers have a separate start-up loop along with all its controls. As the load demand is met by varying both fuel and feed water flow simultaneously, the controls are more sophisticated and have to be more reliable. More redundancies are built in. The water quality level is much more stringent than drum type boilers. Normally a condensate polishing unit is employed in once through units. In once through boilers the superheater headers are subjected to both fatigue and creep when cyclic or two shift operation is resorted to. Hence these boilers are more preferred for base load operation. However, the load change rate that theses boilers can take is higher due to the absence of the drum. A closer regime of operation is expected in once through boilers. The absence of the drum makes it possible to reduce the overall cycle time for the once through boiler. However, the overall plant cycle time may not vary only marginally. Once through boilers life time cost is expected to be more than the drum type units.

62

Drum Type Boiler Characteristics

Cold start-up takes much more time in drum type units as the metal temperature difference across the thickness dictates this. Drum type units do not find application in super-critical pressure power plants. The drum type boiler is more adaptable to cyclic and two shifting operation. The water chemistry is maintained within a band and can accommodate some variations when compared to once through type boilers. The control system is more simplified when compared to the once through type as load variations are done by fuel control and feed water is controlled by drum level.

*************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Air Pre-heater Plugging and Boiler Performance

Air pre-heater plugging in a boiler results in lower boiler efficiency, higher power consumption, higher corrosion potential, longer downtime of the boiler, and higher erosion rate. Air heater plugging leading to very high pressure drop impacts availability of boiler partially or fully. Air pre-heaters are used as heat recovery surfaces in boilers used in industry and power plants. Air pre-heaters in boiler applications are of three types. Recuperative or tubular air pre-heater Regenerative air pre-heaters Steam coil air pre-heaters

The steam coil air pre-heaters are used in the majority of boilers to keep the cold end temperature higher during cold start-ups. The recuperative and regenerative air pre-heaters are for heating the combustion air to the boiler. Designers select these air pre-heaters depending upon the economics, the heat to be recovered from the flue gas leaving the economizer in the boiler, the capacity of the plant, etc. In all the three designs, plugging is seen to be a threat. The steam coil air pre-heaters can get plugged across the fins by anything that is carried along with the air being heated, depending on the location. As these air pre-heaters are used only at low loads and start-ups, if they get plugged there is a large amount of pressure drop across the length and the forced draft power consumption goes higher. The designers are now using a by-pass duct to house the steam coil air pre-heater. This saves the power consumed by the forced draft fan during higher loads. Placing this in the by-pass duct also enables any required on line maintenance to be done. In the case of tubular air pre-heaters, the plugging gets initiated during cold start-up due to reasons like unburned oil deposit on the cold end side, no flow region because of duct connections, tube leakage in the economizer area, infective soot blowing, wet steam during air pre-heater soot blower, frequent start-ups, etc. It is normally seen that the plugging gets initiated from the cold end side except in the case of a no flow region due to a duct connection. In the case of the regenerative air pre-heaters, the plugging is caused due to large number of start-ups, poor oil gun performance, ineffective soot blowing, ash particles settling, water washing of air pre-heaters with inadequate

63

drying, low frequency of operation of air pre-heater soot blowers, high amount of air pre-heater leakage with prolonged low load operation, etc. In both recuperative and regenerative air pre-heaters, the plugging rate goes up when ammonia is used for containing sulphur oxide emissions. Selective catalectic reduction and NO x control with higher than 10 ppm of ammonia slip have also been reported to have caused a higher rate of air pre-heater plugging. In the case of both recuperative and regenerative air pre-heaters, getting plugged affect the boiler performance adversely. The higher the plugging, the lesser the heat transfer surface available, and hence the flue gas temperature leaving the air pre-heater increases. This reduces the boiler operating efficiency and increases fuel consumption Increases the velocity of flue gases thus leading to higher erosion rate of the heat transfer surface Increases the downtime of the boiler for maintenance of air pre-heaters Increases the auxiliary power consumption of the boiler In the case of regenerative air pre-heaters, preferential plugging can cause vibration and combustion oscillations

Related Reading
Air Pre-heater Fires in Large Capacity Boilers - The damage due to air pre-heater fire is very severe depending upon the intensity of the fire. In many cases it has made the regenerative air pre-heater elements a molten mass. The boiler availability loss will be high if a fire takes place in the air heater Cold End Corrosion in Boiler and Its Prevention - In steam generating units using fuels with sulphur has a potential hazard of sulphur corrosion at the cold end of the boiler. The severity depends on many factors like percentage of sulphur in fuel, excess air, moisture in flue gas etc. Many options are available to contain cold end corrosion Both Regenerative Air Pre-Heater Motors Trip - Tips to Handle - In regenerative type air heater in boiler when the electrical motor trips always the air motor start on auto. Failure of this will lead to a major breakdown of air preheater and loss of availability of boiler. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Estimating Electrical Shock Hazard Boundaries

Electrical Shock Hazard boundaries are of three types: Limited Approach Boundary, Restrictive Approach Boundary, and Prohibitive Approach Boundary. The boundaries are decided using NFPA 70 E Table 130.2 C and the shock appraisal chart. The other hazards of electricity are arc flash and arc blast.

The Hazards of Electricity

Electricity is a silent killer because it cannot be seen or heard. Our proximity to electrical appliances throughout our home and work environment make us take them for granted and we forget that if these are not handled properly they

64

can kill. People fail to realize that even our domestic supply of 120 Volts is a potential hazard that can be deadly if certain conditions are met. The hazards of electricity are of three kinds: electrocution, electric arc flash, and electric arc blast. Apart from these an electric shock can also kill or injure people working at heights through falls. Electric current passing through the heart can cause fibrillation of the heart resulting in a cardiac arrest. The electric arc generated by switch gears while loading and unloading equipment can cause deep tissue burns, and the pressure from an arc blast can make a household wall fall due to the impact. In view of all these hazards the NFPA 70E has stated regulations to reduce the risk of injury to workers due to shock and arc flash hazards

Electric Shock Hazard Boundaries

There are three electrical shock hazard boundaries depending on the voltage of the appliance and termed the limited approach boundary, the restricted approach boundary, and the prohibited approach boundary. As per NFPA 70, the Limited Approach Boundary is a shock protection boundary that can only be crossed by qualified persons and unqualified persons under escort by qualified persons. No untrained person can approach closer than this boundary and a trained person must use PPE or personal protective equipment to cross this boundary. It is the minimum distance from the energized part any unqualified person can come. This boundary depends on the voltage of the equipment. It is the limit within which a shock hazard exists. A Restrictive Approach Boundary is shock protection boundary that can be crossed only by qualified persons with knowledge of shock protection techniques and wearing PPE. Any unqualified person cannot cross this boundary, even with an escort or PPE. Within this limit there is an increased risk of shock due to electric arching and movement of the personnel while working. A Prohibitive Approach Boundary can only be crossed by qualified persons and is considered the same as having contact with a live part. Suitable PPE must be worn. Working within this limit is considered as the same as working on an energized live part.

How Shock Hazard Boundaries are Calculated

NFPA 70E calculates electrical shock hazard boundaries depending upon the voltage and then specifies the distance for the various approaches. For example, referring to NFPA 70 E Table 130.2 ( c) for a voltage between 50 to 300 Volts. the limited approach boundary with an exposed movable conductor is 10 feet. Another example is for a voltage between 751 V to 15 KV the distance for the limited approach boundary for a circuit with fixed exposed circuit part is 5 feet 0 inch, whereas the restricted approach boundary is 2 feet 2 inches, and the prohibited approach boundary is 0 feet 7 inches. Please refer to the table for more voltages.

NFPA 70E Table 130.2 (C)

65

Who is a Qualified Person?

In various shock hazard analyses, the qualified person has been authorized to enter the various shock hazard boundaries. A qualified person is a person who has a knowledge of electrical hazards associated with working with electrical equipment. A qualified person is also aware of the limitations of PPE and can relate the hazards to the type of work performed. He is trained to recognize the hazard and ways of avoiding the hazard. For a person to be deemed qualified he must have training in the construction and operation of the equipment. A qualified person must be trained in the use of PPE in a dry run to make him familiar. An apprentice under direct supervision of a qualified person is also considered to be a qualified person.

Shock Hazard Analysis

Shock Hazard Analysis is required by NFPA 70E-2004 and is a study in which the maximum voltage the personnel may be exposed to is calculated and by which, based on the voltage, the electric shock hazard boundaries are specified. It also specifies the type of PPE to be worn by the personnel to reduce their likelihood of receiving an electric shock.

Shock Appraisal Chart

A shock appraisal chart summarizes the overall effect of voltage, current, and body resistance and rates the incidence of fatality based on them. The x coordinate gives the exposed voltage and the y coordinate gives the body

66

resistance of the subject. The curve plotted is a series of straight lines which give the current passing through the body. The range of current is summarized from very slight possibility of fatality to possibly and probably fatal.

Arc Flash Hazard Analysis

The other hazards of electricity are arc flash and arc blast. Arc flash results in the production of heat and fire that can cause burns. Arc blast results in the production of pressure, shrapnel, and sound which can cause associated injuries. The temperature in an arc blast can reach up to 35000 degrees F and burn up to a distance of 10 feet. The copper in the circuit can vaporize and expand up to 67000 times its original volume, and the resulting blast can damage structures and knock out personnel. Thus in view of all the above, NFPA 70 E 130.3 states that flash hazard analysis shall be done in order to protect personnel from the possibility of being injured by an arc flash. In the arc flash hazard analysis, the determination of the flash protection boundary and the PPE required is done. All parts of the body inside the flash protection boundary have to be protected by suitable PPE. For example for voltage between 50 to 600 Volts, the flash protection boundary is 4 feet.

67

AC and DC Shock Comparison

What are the physical differences between shocks by AC and DC current? It is commonly taught that AC current fibrillates the heart, but DC current causes deep tissue burns as it causes continuous muscle contraction and not letting go.

Difference between AC and DC Current

AC current is alternating in nature and follows a sine curve. It is continuously changing direction and passing through zero to a maximum positive value and then to a maximum negative value. The voltage AC current is a RMS or root mean square value, and the peak or maximum value is 1.4 times the RMS value. It means that a 220 V AC supply is going to 308 Volts before coming down to zero and changing direction. This characteristic of the AC current must be considered before making a comparative study of the AC and DC shock. This same principle also stands for the AC current also. DC current is direct current and does not change in magnitude, though it can be negative or positive depending on the direction of the circuit. DC current is ideal for electronic circuits whereas AC is ideal for electrical installation and motors, etc.

Effects of AC and DC Current on Human Body

The three basic factors that ascertain the kind of shock are the amplitude of the current, the duration of the current passing through the body, and the frequency. In direct current the frequency is not there. However the passing of direct current is the flow of electric energy through the body, and it would have its physiological effects during electrocution no matter what type of current is there. The factor deciding the effects of the AC and DC current is the path the current takes through the body. If it is from the hand to the foot, it does not pass through the heart, and then the effects are not so lethal. However DC current will make a single continuous contraction of the muscles compared to AC current, which will make a series of contractions depending on the frequency it is supplied at. In terms of fatalities, both kill but more milliamps are required of DC current than AC current at the same voltage. If the current takes the path from hand to hand thus passing through the heart it can result in fibrillation of the heart. Fibrillation is a condition when all the heart muscles start moving independently in a disorganized manner rather than in a state of coordination. It affects the ability of the heart to pump blood, resulting in brain damage and eventual cardiac arrest. If AC current is passed through the heart it induces fibrillation, whereas DC current just freezes the heart and makes it stand still. In terms of recovery once the offending current is removed a frozen heart has greater chances of recovery over a fibrillating heart. A fibrillating heart would require one or more shocks from a defibrillating machine to reestablish a rhythm. The reason why all defibrillating machines have switched over from AC to DC is that the DC stops the fibrillation thus allowing the heart to recover. Though both AC and DC currents and shock are lethal, more DC current is required to have the same effect as AC current. For example, if you are being electrocuted or shocked 0.5 to 1.5 milliamps of AC 60 Hz current is required and up to 4 mA of DC current is required. For the let-go threshold in AC a current of 3 to 22 mA is required against 15 to 88 of DC current. However deep tissue burns are more common in DC currents as it causes a continuous muscle contraction that does not allow one to let go. In AC currents, fibrillation of the heart followed by cardiac arrest is more likely.

68

AC current is more dangerous to the heart than DC current. The incidence of ventricular fibrillation is ten times more frequent after AC than DC shock.

Facts about Electric Shock

It is the magnitude of current and the time duration that causes any effect. That means a low value current for a long duration can also be fatal. The safe current/time limit for a victim to survive at 500mA is 0.2 seconds and at 50 mA is 2 seconds. The voltage of the electric supply is only important as it ascertains the magnitude of the current. As Voltage = Current x Resistance, the bodily resistance is an important factor. Sweaty or wet persons have a lower body resistance and so they can be fatally electrocuted at lower voltages. Let-go current is the highest current at which subject can release a conductor. Above this limit, involuntary clasping of the conductor is present. It is 22 mA in AC and 88 mA in DC. Apart from electric shock the other equally dangerous hazards of playing (or working) with electricity are electrical arc flash and electrical arc blast. Hand in the pocket policy is good as it does not allow the current to pass through the heart and makes the shock non-lethal. The severity of the electric shock depends on the following factors: body resistance, circuit voltage, amplitude of current, path of the current, area of contact, and duration of contact. Death may also occur from falling in case of electric shock. Burn injury may occur at both the entrance and exit of the current. Low frequency AC is more dangerous than high frequency AC. AC and DC both kill so treat them with respect.

*************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Water Quality in High Pressure Boilers

Process for water treatment is decided dependent on the source of water of the power plant and its quality. The levels of water quality to be maintained depend upon the drum operating pressure. Boilers operating near and above critical pressure require ultra pure water with oxygenated treatment. The main objectives of chemical level control of a water/steam circuit are (a) to minimize corrosion damage and deposition problems on the internal surfaces of the boiler tubes and feed water systems, (b) to reduce or avoid the harmful effects in the superheater, reheater and turbine due to impurities than can be present in steam, and (c) to reduce boiler tube failures due to tube overheating and tube inside corrosion. The guidelines for water quality control of water/steam in boiler plants of 60 kg/cm2 and above are furnished as recommended by many boiler designers.

The feed water limits

For drum operating pressure kg/cm2 (g) 61-100, 101-165, and 166-205 with PO4 treatment type of boilers: 1. 2. 3. Hardness, in ppm, has to be nil for all pressures. pH at 25oC for Cu alloy pre boiler system plants has to be between 8.8-9.2 for all pressure ranges. pH at 25oC for Non-Cu alloy pre boiler system plants has to be between 9.0-9.4 for all pressure ranges.

69

4. 5. 6.

7. 8.

9.

Dissolved Oxygen has to be maintained below 0.007 ppm for pressure range 61-165 kg/cm2 and 0.005 ppm for a pressure range 166-205 kg/cm2. Iron is to be maintained below 0.010 ppm for pressure range 61-165kg/cm2 and 0.005 ppm for pressure range 166-205 kg/cm2. Copper needs to be below 0.010 ppm for pressure 61-100 kg/cm2, 0.005 ppm for pressure 101-165 kg/cm2 and 0.005/0.003 for pressure 166-205 kg/cm2. The copper level should match with the corresponding values has to be maintained in superheated steam. Total silica should be maintained below 0.020 ppm for pressure range 61-165 kg/cm2 and below 0.010 ppm for 166-205 kg/cm2. Specific electrical conductivity at 25oC measured after Cation exchanger in the H+ form after CO2 removal in Micromhos/cm to be less than 0.50 for pressure 61-100 kg/cm2 and below 0.30 for 101-205 kg/cm2. However, the specific electrical conductivity at 250 C in the special case of AVT, can be 0.2 (Max) and sodium 0.003 ppm (Max.). Hydrazine residual to be maintained below 0.01-0.02 ppm for all pressure range and the total organic carbon in ppm to be below 0.20.

All the measurements are to be made at the high-pressure heater outlet or economizer inlet. The pH levels required in feed water can be obtained by dosing ammonia or any proven method. It should be noted that the level of ammonia in the condensate and feed water should not exceed 0.5 ppm (as NH3) for a copper alloy pre-boiler system and 1.0 ppm (as NH3) for a Cu free pre-boiler system. Oxygen is generally measured before de-aerator and maintained below 20 ppb to minimize pre-boiler corrosion.

Boiler water parameters

For drum operating pressure kg/cm2 (g) 61-100, 101-165, and 166-205 with PO4 treatment type of boilers: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Total dissolved solids in ppm to be below 100 for pressure 61-100 kg/cm2, below 50 for 101-165 kg/cm2 and below 15 for 166-205 kg/cm2. Specific electrical conductivity at 25oC to be maintained below 200 Micromhos/cm for pressure 61-100 kg/cm2, below 100 for 101-160 kg/cm2 and below 30 for 166-205 kg/cm2. The residual Phosphate has to be kept below 5-20 ppm for pressure 61-100 kg/cm2, below 5-10 for 101165 kg/cm2 and below 2-6 for 166-205 kg/cm2. The pH level at 250 C has to be 9.1-10 for pressure 61-100 kg/cm2, below 9.19.8 for 101-165 kg/cm2 and below 9.1-9.6 for 166-205 kg/cm2. Silica, in ppm to be controlled in such a way in boiler water so that it will be less than 0.02 ppm in steam for pressure range 61-165 kg/cm2. For pressure range 166-205 silica in boiler water to be kept below 0.10 ppm.

The phosphate and pH are given based on Co-ordinate phosphate treatment so as to prevent the presence of free hydroxide in the boiler water. Normally each power station has their own practice; the values given are only a guideline as understood from various practices. In the case of all volatile treatment for pressure range 166-205 all the values are to be more stringent. Not maintaining these chemical regimes of feed water and boiler water can lead to carry over of salts to superheaters and even to turbine blades causing plant availability loss.

70

Difference between Tower Types and Two Pass Boilers

Many types of designs are available for boiler designers to choose. The tower type is one such option adopted for highly erosive high ash coal. Two pass boilers of close coupled and divided second pass are also used by boiler designers. For a closer look into this please read through. The majority of boiler installations the world over are of the two pass design. However tower-type single pass designs find application in cases where the fuel used is highly erosive in nature. In the case of the once-through type of design, the tower type finds its application widely. The supercritical units normally go with tower type construction due to the fact that tower type can adapt to the spiral wall construction easily. The water walls of the furnace are four plane members that carry the weight of the furnace and connected equipment. The heat transfer tube bundles of superheater, reheater and economizer in the top pass all hang in one support system through vertical supporting tubes. This enables the boiler structure to respond to all transient phenomena arising from load changes or other dynamic processes. As the flue gases travel through the superheater, reheater, and economizer pressure parts section without any change in direction, the erosion rate in these types of boilers is lower. All the horizontal heat transfer sections of superheater, reheater and economizer are designed as drainable sections. However there are certain disadvantages with the tower type design of boilers. Since the entire horizontal heat transfer surfaces have to penetrate though the furnace waterwall tubes in the upper portion, the sealing arrangement requires a careful design and erection. These areas are vulnerable points of air ingress in to the boiler if it is balanced draft or leakage points if it is a pressurized unit. Due to air ingress in these points, if it happens, the pressure parts get eroded near the penetration points and can cause leakage. This type of heat transfer surface arrangement does not allow parallel erection of pressure parts. Any pressure part failure in the superheater, reheater, and part of economizer is cumbersome to attend and leads to higher amount of down time. The very tall structure of the tower type design requires extra care and checking to be done if the unit is to be put in a high wind load or cyclone-prone area. The type of erection tools used should also be selected in such a way they can handle the higher height requirement of the tower type boiler. These types of boilers have higher amount of settlement of ash on the heat transfer surface and so they need a higher frequency of soot blowing. In the case of the two pass design, the gas flow takes a turn from the furnace outlet through a small horizontal pass to the second pass where a part of the superheater surface, sometimes even a portion of reheater surface and economizer surface, is accommodated. Due to the change in direction of flue gas the ash particles segregate and lead to higher erosion rate in localized areas. This design has the advantage that they have about 40 % fewer erection pressure parts welds and also parallel erection of first and second pass is possible, thus reducing the total erection time. Even though this type of design has an inherent disadvantage for high ash coals, there are designs for protecting the pressure parts from erosion, and the availability losses in these units have been contained due to pressure part failures by erosion. Some boiler designers even today prefer a two pass design for sub-critical and supercritical units and feel they are more economical than the tower type.

71

Power Plant Emissions - Major Gaseous Emissions

A major portion of harmful emissions from thermal power plants are emitted in gaseous form. This article contains a brief explanation of the formation and statutory limits of these emissions.

Carbon Monoxide - CO
CO is a poisonous gas and is harmful to life. Carbon monoxide is formed due to the incomplete combustion fuels such as coal. Modern coal fired boilers have excess air levels that are 15 to 20 % greater than stoichiometric requirements. Furnace aerodynamics ensure the proper mixing of fuel and air so under normal conditions, the CO formed is negligible or almost nil. High levels of CO, 2000 -3000 ppm or higher are possible if the combustion is not good. This is mainly due to operator fault or improper maintenance of pulverizers, burners, and air registers Apart from the poisonous nature of the CO, CO formation is an indication of inefficient heat release from the coal. This in turn requires more coal to produce the same amount of power, increasing CO 2 emissions and associated problems. Almost all power plants have continuous monitoring of CO. This is an emission that can be eliminated.

Sulphur Dioxide - SOx

Sulphur is present in coal in varying quantities and can range from 0.1% to as high as 4.5%. Sulphur in coal is due to the formation of the coal millions of years ago and varies widely from mine to mine. Sulphur dioxide is again an inevitable result of combustion. A small amount of SO3 or sulphur-trioxide is also formed. Collectively they are known as SOX. The effect of SOX in the atmosphere is to form sulphuric acid droplets. This forms acid rain and is very detrimental to health and vegetation. This also results in the formation of ground level ozone, which contributes to global warming. Power plant operators who get low sulphur coal are lucky. But others with logistic access only for higher sulphur coal have to make arrangements to remove the SOX formed, increasing the cost of the power. Almost all countries have very strict limitations on SOX emissions. National Air Quality Standards in the US have limitations restricting SOX emissions to 0.03 ppm on an annual arithmetic mean, with once-only 24-hour allowable emissions of 0.14 ppm. The rest have to be captured. Indian air quality norms cap SOX at 80 g/m3. Almost all coal fired plants today are equipped with flue gas desulphurization, or FGD. Dry or wet flue gas desulphurization plants use mostly limestone, CaCO3, to absorb the SO2 as CaSO4. Even though the technology is available, the cost of operating a chemical plant within a power plant deters the use of the FGD units. The other alternative is to use a CFBC boiler where limestone or other sorbents can be mixed with the fuel to absorb the SO2 formed during the combustion process itself.

Nitrogen Dioxide - Nox

Nitrogen oxides are formed at high temperatures in the range of 1500 C during the combustion of coal. This is called "thermal NOx." The nitrogen itself is from the combustion air- 76.8%. The major portion is NO2 with small amounts of NO and is collectively called NOX .

72

Even though NOX formation is an inherent combustion related activity, this can be avoided by proper flame patterns and air fuel mixing. Due to the very complex flow patterns during combustion, there may be certain parts of the flame that are higher than the 1500 C. The low NOX burning systems are designed to streamline the flame to eliminate these hot spots. The air distribution systems and the aerodynamic design of the burner components are the two main items that are considered in low NOX burners. The NOx itself contributes to acid rain, smog formation, visibility, and eye irritation. National Air Quality Standards of the US restrict NOx emissions to 100 g/m3 on an annual arithmetic mean. The Indian cap is 80 g/m3. "Selective Catalytic Reduction" is the method to eliminate NOX. NOX is absorbed by urea liquid in the presence of a catalyst to form ammonia which disintegrates to form nitrogen and water vapor *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

How to Handle Very Low Primary Air Header Pressure in Boilers

The specific causes, plant response, the control room operator action required and the local operator action needed are known when primary header pressure in coal fired boiler goes very low then boiler trip can be avoided. In coal fired boiler, the primary air has two functions: one to dry and carry the pulverized coal from the pulveriser to the furnace and the other is to supply oxygen for primary combustion. There are many layouts that are used to position the primary air fans in boilers. Many boiler designers prefer the cold primary air system, where the primary air fan handles cold air. There will be two or three primary air fans which cater to all mills' requirement. The air from the fan outlet goes to an air pre-heater and then to a distribution header from where the hot air is distributed to the working mills though a regulating system. The regulating system works for a set point of mill outlet temperature. The primary air header pressure is maintained in such a way that it can carry the required pulverized coal overcoming the pressure drop in the system as well as maintaining the required velocity in coal pipes to avoid settling. Some designers go for a hot primary air system where the primary air fans handle hot air and is as many in number as the number of mills. When primary air header pressure goes below a particular value, then the boiler will be tripped due to flame failure because of high furnace disturbance. The boiler trip can be avoided if the cause for very low primary air header pressure is quickly analysed and corrective action taken both from desk operator and local operator side.

Specific causes
One of the primary air fans operating trips Starting more mills without properly loading the primary air fans and stabilizing Closing of primary air fan inlet damper by mistake or malfunction Closing of air pre-heater outlet damper due to any reason Closing of primary air fan discharge damper due to any reason

Plant response

73

Mills trip by control system as per the designed logic There will be a rapid drum level fall needing regulation Boiler pressure and temperature will fall due to fuel input reduction if turbine and generators do not respond to the required level. Boiler furnace pressure becomes unsteady Combustion disturbance are noticed When oil support is not available flame failure can result With flame failure the boiler will trip

Control room operator action

Reduce turbine and generator load to the required level Maintain drum level within the trip levels preferably on the higher side Open high pressure and low pressure by pass valves (HP-LP by pass) if required Cut in oil support taking care not to do so under unstable furnace Maximize oil load and reduce HP LP by pass valve opening

Local operator action

Check the tripped fan Make ready for starting the tripped fan Confirm to control room for starting the fan

74

Very Low Primary Air Header Pressure

The Tesla Turbine - Design and Theory of Operation

This article contains a brief history of the design of the Tesla turbine, which is a bladeless turbine invented by Nikola Tesla in 1908 to 1913. Materials limitations prevented the turbine from gaining mainstream acceptance then, but modern technology may make the Tesla turbine due for a comeback. The Tesla turbine is one of the great unknown creations of Nikola Tesla, the famed inventor of the early 20th century. Though many of Tesla's other inventions, like the alternating current induction motor and power transmission systems, remain prominent in society, the Tesla turbine has languished in obscurity for nearly a century. The Tesla turbine design was one that really was far ahead of its time, outstripping the available materials' capabilities as it did.

75

Tesla's turbine goes by several names: boundary layer turbine, Prandtl Layer turbine, bladeless turbine, and cohesion-type turbine. These names help reveal the most unique aspect of the Tesla turbine, which is its lack of blades. Most turbines use a system of blades, which spin from the force of a fluid flowing over the blades. The Tesla turbine design relies instead on the boundary layer effect and adhesion to spin flat plates. This has a number of benefits, which will be explained further later on in the article.

Tesla Turbine Design

The turbine consists of a number of flat discs with ventilation holes around the center, each mounted on the same shaft. Spacers placed between the discs keep them properly separated. For maximal efficiency, the spacing must be as small as possible- only 0.4 mm for a steam-propelled turbine. The discs must be very smooth, and increased smoothness is always better for proper boundary layer development. The discs are housed in a chamber, which is designed with nozzles to feed gas into the chamber. The nozzles feed in gases at supersonic speed, which is achieved by combustion outside of the chamber.

Tesla Turbine Theory

As mentioned early, the Tesla Turbine uses adhesion and the boundary layer principle to derive energy from a fluid stream. Supersonic gases are directed against the chamber by several nozzles. The nozzles inject the gases at the edge of the discs, in the direction of the desired rotation. Because of boundary layer effects and the viscosity effects, the gases drag against the plates and transfer their kinetic energy to the plates, which rotate. As the gases slow, the move into the central ventilation holes and are expelled as exhaust. Interestingly, the turbine can be altered to act as a pump instead of a turbine. In the Tesla pump design, a motor spins the discs, which then suck in fluid through the exhaust holes. This pump is useful for applications with excessively viscous, abrasive, solid-containing, or shear-averse fluids due to its increased sturdiness.

76

Calculations show that the turbine efficiency for Tesla turbines is above 60 percent, and up to 95 percent. Tesla himself believed that steam-powered Tesla turbines could achieve turbine efficiencies up to 95 percent. These calculations use the shear stress induced by the boundary layer effects of the flowing fluid. This requires calculation of some characteristics of the motive fluid, like the Reynolds number. To prevent drag on the ends of the discs, which reduces efficiency, the spinning plates must be as thin as possible. This requirement contributed to material problems that prevented the Tesla turbine from gaining acceptance.

Problems with the Tesla Turbine

Ironically, Tesla designed his turbine to avoid material problems faced by turbines of his day. When he designed the Tesla turbine in 1908, turbines were inefficient because of poor aerodynamic understanding and lack of materials. To maximize turbine efficiency, it is necessary for the turbine to operate at high temperatures; this is because Carnot efficiency relies on temperature differences and it is easier to heat a fluid than to cool it. However, early steels could not withstand high temperatures, limiting turbine power. Tesla sidestepped this problem by using shear drag forces and devising a system that was very efficient at relatively low speeds. However, steels of the day were not sufficiently resilient to withstand large shear forces when designed at the thickness required by the Tesla turbine design. This led to unavoidable warping when the turbines were used, and is the reason why the turbines never gained widespread use.

Industrial Tesla Turbine

Tesla turbines do not yet have large industrial usage. Tesla pumps, which are essentially the same design, are actually widely used. A design was patented in 1982, and is actually fairly common today. There are several advantages of the Tesla turbine that may make it the turbine of the future. Because the turbine does not have projections, but instead discs, it is very stable even at high rpms. It has fewer moving parts than typical turbines: only the shaft moves. The largest Tesla model is a 5000 hp model, while the fastest operates at around 125,000 rpm. These are simply display models. With today's better materials knowledge, Tesla turbines could be designed to operate at very high speeds for long periods of time. An industrial Tesla turbine could also be designed to feed the exhaust gases back into the intake, or to run off of hot industrial gases/fluids. Many amateur machinists have designed working models of Tesla turbines, and it is only a matter of time until commercial applications gain in prominence. Future uses may include geothermal power, where a high degree of solids is typical, and hybrid automobiles.

77

High Furnace Pressure Problems in Boilers

High furnace pressure is a direct indication of a disturbance in combustion performance. The rate of change in the furnace pressure can vary very much, that is from a simple sudden surge due to fuel variations to a huge furnace explosion. Combustion in a boiler furnace is normally considered a controlled explosion, as all boilers operate at a regime where explosion pressure is the maximum. This is mainly due to the fact that it is at this regime we get the maximum efficiency of the boiler. Furnace pressure in boilers is one of the most critical and important parameter to be maintained and monitored. Furnace pressure in a balanced draft furnace is always kept negative, and in pressurized furnace it is positive. Present days designers adopt balanced draft furnace for all solid fuel fired boiler, however there are installations of pressurized furnace even in the case of solid fuel fired boilers. In the case of gas and liquid fuel, generally designers adopt pressurized furnaces. It should be understood that the selection of pressurized or balanced draft furnace depends upon many other factors. Present day boilers have online monitoring of furnace pressure and are controlled on auto. There are also alarms and trips provided for furnace pressure to alert the operator and also to protect the boiler from very high pressure surges. In the case of furnace explosion, if the explosion process is triggered then the boiler cannot be protected by any of these devices. Only the good and safe operating procedures can prevent explosions. There are many reasons why furnace pressure goes high, and the plant responds to these changes in furnace pressure like any other boiler parameter.

Specific causes
Tripping of induced draft fan Mal-operation of regulating vanes of the fans Unstable flame o Low wind box pressure o Improper burner operation o Sudden starting of mills with fuel in the mill o Sudden fuel input in to the furnace o Loss of ignition energy Gradual buildup of fouling in air pre-heaters Tripping of air pre-heater Furnace water seal broken High excess air levels Large amount of air ingress in the second pass of boiler

The causes given are all applicable for balanced draft furnace, but in the case of forced draft furnace some of the causes are not applicable.

Plant response
Furnace pressure high alarm appears for corrective action by operator Furnace trip activates if pressure goes above trip limit Boiler furnace pressure surge Can lead to explosion

Immediate operator action

Check draft reading for any damper closure Check vane control mechanism of fans for any mal-operation

78

If induced draft fan tripped, reduce load and stabilize boiler parameters Stabilize combustion if combustion is unstable Restart air pre-heater if tripped Check furnace seal and establish if broken Check induced draft fan for any mal-operation

Immediate local operator action

Check for any opening of man holes in second pass Check air pre-heater rotation Check dampers in flue gas path for proper position Check induced draft fan fully to ensure it is in proper operating condition Check and ensure furnace bottom seal water flow Check combustion condition and inform control room of any disturbance

It is a good practice for the local operator to get clearance from the control room before making any change (unless it is a standard procedure to take corrective action by the local operator). As furnace pressure increase is one of the indications for boiler explosion boiler operating engineers and all concerned must view increase in furnace pressure very critical and take corrective action and ensure safety.

79

High Furnace Pressure in Boiler

80

81

Determining Boiler Efficiency

Determining and adjusting the efficiency of a boiler in a power plant or a process industry is essential for energy savings. The main requirements for determining the boiler efficiency is detailed in this article. The boiler is the first stage in which energy conversion from fuel - coal, oil, gas or any other- to steam takes place. The steam is used further for power production in a turbine, for a process reaction, or for heating another fluid or gas, or simply for heating the air in the house. What we mean by boiler efficiency is the efficiency of conversion from the chemical energy in the fuel to the heat energy in steam. This is shown as a percentage of the fuel energy. Modern boilers of large capacity used in power plants have an efficiency ranging from 80 to 90 %. Here we look at simple methods to calculate boiler efficiency. Those interested in an elaborate calculation method should follow ASME PTC 4, which is the performance test code for boilers.

Input-Output Method
The simple method is to measure quantity of fuel input and the steam energy output. This method is the input output method.

Efficiency %= Output / Input X100 =[Steam Flow kg/s x Steam Enthalpy kj/kg] - [Water Flow kg/sWater Enthalpy kj/kg] / [Coal Flow kg/s x HHV of Coal kj/kg] 100
In case of reheat units the reheater inlet and outlet enthalpy also has to be considered. Enthalpy of steam and water is available in steam tables if we know the pressure and temperature. Pressure and temperatures are available online in all the boilers. Steam Flow and water Flow also is normally available online. However the accuracies are to be verified before using them. One can determine the higher heating value by taking a sample of coal as it enters the boiler and analyzing it in the laboratory. These are normally done on a daily basis in most power plants. Fuel flow is more complicated. Gravimetric feeders used in modern power plants can give the coal flows to a certain degree of accuracy. Otherwise this will have to be computed from volumetric flows and bulk density of the fuels. This method, although it looks simple on paper, is not the industry preferred method because Flow measurements are not accurate nor steady Good quality flow instruments are costly. Flow measurements always involve a co-efficient, which can very much alter the results. Trouble shooting problems for determining the reasons for a lower efficiency is difficult.

However, this method finds use for quick calculation if the flow measurements are reliable and steady.

82

Losses Method
Another method and a more practical approach is to measure the losses and then calculate the efficiency.

Efficiency % = 100 Losses %.

The big advantage is that the calculation is on unit basis i.e.: for 1 kg of coal. This eliminates any inaccuracies in flow measurements. Air and gas quantities are determined on theoretical basis and from laboratory analysis of the fuel. This is more accurate than the field flowmeters. Since each loss is separately calculated it is easy to identify problem areas.

Quick Facts
The most important factor that affects the Boiler efficiency is the Gas temperature leaving the boiler. In a coal fired boiler of a 500 MW power plant if the temperature increases by ten degree centigrade the efficiency reduces by about 0.5 %. Another main factor is the unburnt coal in the in the ash. One % increase in unburnts is around 0.5 % reduced efficiency. These two are controllable by the proper maintenance and operational adjustments. The operator has to find out reasons why these two parameters are high and take necessary corrective action. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Flame Failure Causes in Boiler and Operator Action

There are many causes that can contribute to boiler flame failure. Operating the boiler with unstable flame is always dangerous and can lead to boiler explosion. Tripping the boiler is the option for all boiler designers and operators. Maintaining a good flame in a boiler is the key to a good boiler performance. Unstable flame is always a threat for boiler furnace explosion, which can lead to a large outage of the boiler and economic loss. When a flame failure occurs in a boiler, the boiler desk operator and the local operators will have to act immediately and bring the boiler back on line with all safety taken in to consideration. It is always seen that the greatest number of explosions in boilers takes place during start-up and shutdown. It is during this period that the probability for unburned to accumulate in flue gas path of the boiler is very high. Hence it has become a practice of all boiler designers to interlock purging the boiler with boiler start-up. Flame failure in a boiler can be due to many reasons.

83

The specific causes

Heavy oil or warm-up oil trip valve closing Sudden reduction in mill feeder speed to a minimum Loss of ignition energy Flame scanner trip due to poor and unstable flame Malfunctioning of flame scanner Scanner air fan trip and slag build-up Sudden coal hang-up in one or more mills Coal feeder trip Electrical supply failure Air flow below 30% of total air flow Tripping of all forced draft air fan Tripping of all induced draft air fan Very high furnace pressure

These causes lead to flame failure individually or in a few a combination. This will depend upon when the flame quality becomes unacceptable.

The plant response

In many cases it is possible to see fluctuation in furnace pressure Flickering of the flame scanner can be seen when flame quality deteriorates Tripping of the primary air fan or very low primary air header pressure is more probable to occur just before flame failure After flame failure immediately the unit trips

The boiler desk operator immediate action

The boiler desk operator will have to start boiler purge Assess the reason for flame failure Light-up the boiler after the purge is complete and local operator gives clearance

Local operator immediate action

Check furnace and report to boiler control room Check flame scanners for any possible slag accumulation Check mills and restore them for starting Check oil trip valves for proper function Make sure oil guns are in position for light up of boiler

It has to be remembered that delay in lighting up the boiler will decay the boiler pressure and temperature. Depending upon the duty of the boiler the time taken to come back on line will vary.

Flame Failure in Boiler

84

85

86

87

88

Air Pre-heater Fires in Large Capacity Boilers

The damage due to air pre-heater fire is very severe depending upon the intensity of the fire. In many cases it has made the regenerative air pre-heater elements a molten mass. The boiler availability loss will be high if a fire takes place in the air heater. Air pre-heaters are heat recovery systems used in boilers to improve boiler operating efficiency. There are two major types of air pre-heaters: the recuperative and the regenerative. For higher sizes boilers, say 350 t/hr and above, designers adopt the regenerative type. This is mainly due to the compactness of regenerative air pre-heaters for higher heat duty. In both cases, air heater fires are not uncommon in boilers, but more common in the regenerative type. When a boiler is operated with pulverized coal with a higher load, then the probability of air heater fire is low. An air pre-heater fire can happen during startup or shutdown when there is a possibility of a large volume of unburnt particles reaching the air pre-heater. This unburnt gets deposited in the air pre-heaters elements and gets ignited when the temperature rises and particles that are still burning reach this area. The plant operator will have to quickly respond to symptoms that show a tendency for air pre-heater fire to start. The possibility of detecting a fire in the air pre-heater in a boiler is very difficult from the operating parameters of boiler. However, indications of an air pre-heater fire can be verified from a certain parameter changing its trend suddenly. When both air and flue gas temperature leaving the air pre-heater increase suddenly with a steep gradient, then the reason for it is to be verified. The specific causes for an air pre-heater fire, the plant response, and the immediate operator response required during this are discussed.

The specific causes

Heavy Unburnt Oil / soot deposits in air pre-heater due to o Poor atomization of oil being fired o Worn-out oil burner tips leading to coarser particles of oil o Low air flow through the burner leading to unburnt particles o Improper air distribution between primary, secondary etc o Wrong tip position with respect to diffuser or spinner Inadequate frequency of operation of APH Soot blowers Plugged Nozzles of APH Soot blowers Low blowing steam pressure in APH Soot blowers

Plant Response
Sharp rise in air temp at APH outlet will be noticed Increase in flue gas temperature at air pre-heater outlet

Immediate Operator Action

Trip unit on emergency Stop all fans immediately Close all dampers on the air and flue gas side Flood APH with water through air heater water washing system or otherwise Rotate APH to avoid buckling of the air pre-heater rotor

Adopting some of the good operating practices of boiler can prevent air pre-heater fire totally during the life of the boiler.

89

Reduce number of startups of boiler to a bare minimum. Avoid operating boiler in low loads requiring oil support for a prolonged duration. It is a good practice to check oil viscosity characteristics on a periodic basis and whenever there is a change in supplier. Clean oil gun tips and lap the internals to satisfy the design requirements. Never restart the oil burners without purging during startup. Boiler startup operation must be avoided when air pre-heater soot blowers are not available. Always make it a practice to soot blow all the air pre-heaters, the non working air pre-heaters also must be soot blown by keeping the isolation damper marginally open to allow the soot to be blown out. During startups, low load operation, and shutting down, make it a practice to watch the trend of air and gas temperature leaving the air pre-heaters. Operate air pre-heater soot blowers regularly. Any fire detecting device provided by supplier has to be kept active and tested as and when possible.

To repair the air pre-heater damaged due to fire takes large amount of time and needs spares for replacements. Some of the spares of large air heaters will not be available off-the-shelf which can further delay the process of repair. The boiler availability loss will be high if a fire takes place in an air heater. Responding quickly to suspected air preheater fire immediately and taking corrective action can save a lot of money, downtime, and generation loss.

Carryover From Boiler Drum

Carryover from the boiler drum leads to deposit in superheaters of boiler and turbine blades. Carryover from drum is of two types- mechanical and vaporous carryover. Deposits in superheater tubes results in overheating failure. In the turbine, this reduces the turbine efficiency. In a high pressure large capacity boiler, the drum acts not only as a water reservoir, but also has a major function of separating the steam water mixture coming into it from the raisers or waterwall tubes. This is done by a set of separators and dryers housed inside the drum. Dry steam with the quality required for superheating and admitting into the turbine is the output of a drum with good internal design. Depending upon boiler operating pressure, the boiler water and superheated steam quality are decided. Water treatment plants are provided in boiler plant installations to ensure the quality of boiler water. Parameters like alkalinity of water expressed in pH levels, total dissolved solids in ppm, specific electrical conductivity of water in S/cm, residual phosphate in ppm, and silica in ppm level are to be maintained with in specific limits. This is achieved by conditioning feed water to boiler within preset quality levels. The typical recommended boiler water limits for a boiler with operating pressure range from 160 to 180 kg/cm2 (g) is given below. Total dissolved solids (Max) ppm 25 Specific electrical conductivity at 25 deg C in S/cm (Max) 50 Phosphate residual ppm 5 to 10 pH at 25 deg C 9.1 to 9.8 Silica (Max) ppm - To be controlled on the basis of silica in boiler water and drum pressure relationship to maintain less than 0.02 ppm in steam leaving drum.

Carryover from the drum can be of two types: mechanical carryover and vaporous carryover. Mechanical carryover take place in a boiler mainly due to drum internals; drum level, foaming, and spray water. If the alignment of drum internals are not maintained as per requirement then the separation efficiency comes down and carryover occurs. Faulty screen driers also contribute to carryover. It is necessary to adhere to the dos and donts given by the designer

90

during operation and maintenance of the boiler to avoid carryover. Maintaining a very high drum level reduces the separation efficiency and a high level of carryover results. High alkalinity, oil in water and high TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in boiler water will result in foaming in drum which leads to carryover. The chart attached gives a total picture of carryover. Carryover can be minimized by adhering to good operating and maintenance practices. Maintain drum water level within +/- 50 mm Maintain silica below the recommended value for the operating pressure Check and maintain the drum internals periodically and whenever carry over is noticed Feed water conductivity at 25 deg C to be maintained between 0.2 and 0.3 S/cm Boiler water solids to be maintained during operation within limits Measure steam purity and maintain within the specified limits Ensure feed water conductivity meter online to help monitoring the same

The end result of carryover will lead to deposition in superheater tubes which will result in long term overheating of superheater tubes. Carryover will also lead to deposits in the low pressure stage blades of turbine which reduces blade efficiency and increase heat rate of the machine. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Mechanisms of Steam Soot Blower Erosion.

There are many mechanisms that can cause steam soot blower erosion of boiler tubes at various heat transfer sections. Knowing the way these mechanisms contribute to erosion will help to prevent loss of availability of boiler. Soot blowers are provided in boilers at various locations like water-walls, superheaters, reheaters, economizers and air pre-heaters. Steam soot blowers have specific advantage and disadvantages over other types. The advantages being mainly their low capital cost, operating cost and the effectiveness of cleaning in areas like furnace, superheaters and reheaters. The major disadvantages are they need a higher level of maintenance; effectiveness is low in oil firing mainly in air pre-heater area. They need warm up and condensate draining before startup. The mechanisms of steam soot blower erosion of heat transfer tubes can be a single factor or multiple factors acting individually or in unison. There are much more than hundred soot boilers in boilers generating and supplying steam for a 500 MW and above plants.

Possible mechanisms
All blowers are set to be set at the right steam pressure recommended by the designer if this is not done then it leads to poor cleaning or higher rate of tube erosion due to high steam pressure. This is true for all soot blowers in the boiler starting from furnace to air pre-heater. The alignment of the blower with respect to the furnace walls, superheater tubes, reheater tubes, economizer tubes and air pre-heater tubes or elements is very critical and not maintaining this leads to erosion of the tubes and subsequent metal wastage. The thinning of the tubes finally leads to pinhole failures and many secondary figures due to this depending upon the orientation of the leak. It is required to ensure at least 50 degree centigrade of super heat in the steam being used for blowing. If the super heat in the steam is lower than required then during blowing wet steam impinge the tubes at high velocity and the impact force damaging the heat transfer tubes. This can be identified by the typical spit like metal wastage on the tubes surrounding the blowers area of effectiveness.

91

The duration of operation of blowers is another main reason for erosion of the heat transfer tubes. Even if you maintain the correct pressure and temperature the erosion will take place at a slow phase if duration is more than required. In coal fired boiler if alignment is not correct then the ash deposits being cleaned can get entrained and cause erosion of tubes. However in oil fired boilers it is not a mechanism that can happen due to the fact that the ash in oil is not significant at all. The higher frequency of operation of the soot blowers than needed also leads to tube erosion. Optimizing the soot blower operation is important as operating those blowers where deposits are not there or very low will lead to metal wastage over a period of time. Failure to drain the condensate in the soot blower steam pipes is also contributing mechanism of tube erosion. The condensate gets entrained in the steam while the blower operates and has a much higher damaging effect than the lower degree of superheat in steam.

*************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

What is a Supercritical Power Plant?

Modern thermal power plants operate at very high pressures greater than the Critical pressure of steam.
This article explains the concept of Supercritical power plants. "Steam is no stronger now than it was a hundred years ago, but it is put to better use. - Ralph Waldo Emerson To increase the efficiency of steam power plants the basic method is to improve the thermal efficiency by increasing the operating pressure. To understand what a Supercritical power plant is you have to understand the basics of steam generation.

What happens when you heat water at normal atmospheric pressure?

There are three stages. As you go on heating the water, the temperature of water increases till it reaches 100 deg C. This is the Sensible Heat addition. Further heating does not increase the temperature; instead small bubbles of steam start to form. The temperature remains constant at 100 deg C till all the water becomes steam. The water absorbs the heat without temperature change for conversion to steam. At atmospheric pressure the Latent Heat of vapourisation is 2256 kJ/kg. Further heating called superheating will increase the temperature of the steam. How high one can go depends on the withstanding capacity of the vessel.

What happens when the water is at a higher pressure, say, at 100 bar? Then the boiling takes place at 311 deg C and the latent heat of vaporisation is 1318 kJ/kg.

92

If the water pressure is 200 bar then the boiling takes place at 366 deg C and the latent heat of vaporisation is 584 kJ/kg. As the pressure increases the boiling temperature increases and the latent heat of vaporisation decreases. A further increase in pressure and temperature leads us to a point at which the latent heat of vaporisation is zero, or there is no boiling. Water directly becomes steam. This is the Critical Pressure and the Critical Temperature. For steam this occurs at 374 deg C and 220.6 bar. Conventional steam power plants operate at a steam pressures in the range of 170 bar. These are Subcritical power plants. The new generation of power plants operate at pressures higher than the critical pressure. These are Supercritical power plants. The operating pressures are in the range of 230 to 265 bar. The efficiency of the Rankine cycle depends on the pressure at which it operates. Higher pressure and temperature increase the efficiency of the thermal cycle and power plant. This is the reason for operating at higher steam pressures.

Ultra Supercritical Power Plants

In the quest for higher efficiency the trend is to go for still higher operating pressures. The next generation of power plants will operate with steam Pressures in the range of 300 bar. These are the Ultra Super Critical Power plants. Ultra Supercritical Units operate at temperatures of 615 to 630 deg C. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Flow Induced Vibration in Boilers

Flow induced vibration in boilers occurs when the vortex shed by the passing flow coincides with the natural frequency of the component or gas column. It can be experienced in the tube bundles of heat exchangers, in heat transfer surfaces, piping conveying fluids, or rotating machines in a boiler. Flow induced vibration in a boiler occurs when the vortex shed by the passing flow coincides with the natural frequency of the component or the gas column. Flow induced vibration can be experienced in the tube bundles of heat exchangers, in the heat transfer surfaces in boiler, in piping conveying fluids, in rotating machines like fans, etc. However, this type of vibration is seen more commonly in the second pass of the boiler and also in the economizer and tubular air heater heat transfer surface. There are many ways to check this during the design stage, but all methods converge on checking the frequency of the vortex being shed with the gas column frequency. If these two fall in the range of 80 to 120%, then vibration and resonance can start. As it approaches resonance, this type of vibration has a loud sound resembling a lions roar, which is both very typical and unique for this. The vortex shedding frequency mainly depends on the tube bundle arrangement adopted. Both the transverse and longitudinal pitching play an important role in deciding the vortex shedding frequency. The arrangement of the heat transfer bundle is correlated to a number called the Strouhal Number. This number can be obtained by knowing the transverse and longitudinal pitching of the heat transfer bundle and the tube diameter. The figure below gives an idea about this number, and many text books and boiler manufactures standards also provide this chart. After selecting the Strouhal number to calculate the vortex shedding, it is necessary to know the gas velocity within the bank (not in the voids between banks) in inches per second. It is always required to use the maximum velocity within the bank. Knowing the outer diameter of the tube in inches, the vortex shedding frequency can be calculated

93

by using the relationship: the vortex shedding frequency is equal to the product of the Strouhal number and gas velocity divided by the tube outer diameter. There are many standard graphs available to calculate the velocity of sound in air at the temp at which the medium is flowing over the tube bundle. The maximum temperature of the medium is used to calculate this velocity. The sonic velocity can also be approximately computed from where T is the maximum temperature of the medium in degree R. Knowing the sonic velocity and the vortex shedding frequency will enable the calculation of the standing wave length by using the formula: wave length in ft is equal to sonic velocity in feet per second divided by the Strouhal frequency in Hz. Knowing the wave length, it is the practice to see that no cavity width is available 22 feet for /2 greater or equal to 22 feet and 11 feet for /2 less than 22 feet. It is to be ensured that no adjacent cavity is of the same width and will not be less than 2 feet. The anti-vibration baffles are fixed based on these computations to avoid flow induced vibration. The mechanical fixing of these baffles can be done in many ways depending upon the designers requirement. In coal fired boilers with higher ash content, it may be even worthwhile to wait for some time to see if these vibrations die down after a few months of operation and starts and stops.

Strouhal Number

94

Compare the Efficiency of Different Power Plants

Electricity generation is only conversion of energy from different forms to Electricity which is the most convenient form of energy. How efficiently does this conversion take place? We take look at the conversion efficiencies of the common types of Electricity generation plants.

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed First Law of Thermodynamics.... Mayer.

Coal Fired Power Plants

Coal based power accounts for almost 41 % of the worlds electricity generation. Coal fired power plants operate on the modified Rankine thermodynamic cycle.The efficiency is dictated by the parameters of this thermodynamic cycle. The overall coal plant efficiency ranges from 32 % to 42 %. This is mainly dictated by the Superheat and Reheat steam temperatures and Superheat pressures. Most of the large power plants operate at steam pressures of 170 bar and 570 C Superheat, and 570 C reheat temperatures. The efficiencies of these plants range from 35 % to 38 %. Super critical power plants operating at 220 bar and 600/600 C can achieve efficiencies of 42 %. Ultra super critical pressure power plants at 300 bar and 600/600 C can achieve efficiencies in the range of 45% to 48 % efficiency.

Natural Gas Fired Power Plants

Natural Gas fired (including LNG fired) power plants account for almost 20 % of the worlds electricity generation. These power plants use Gas Turbines or Gas Turbine based combined cycles. Gas turbines in the simple cycle mode, only Gas turbines running, have an efficiency of 32 % to 38 %. The most important parameter that dictates the efficiency is the maximum gas temperature possible. The latest Gas Turbines with technological advances in materials and aerodynamics has efficiencies upto 38 %. In the combined cycle mode, the new "H class" Gas turbines with a triple pressure HRSG and steam turbine can run at 60 % efficiency at ISO conditions. This is by far the highest efficiency in the thermal power field.

Renewables
Hydro turbines, the oldest and the most commonly used renewable energy source, have the highest efficient of all power conversion process. The potential head of water is available right next to the turbine, so there are no energy conversion losses, only the mechanical and copper losses in the turbine and generator and the tail end loss. The efficiency is in the range of 85 to 90 %. Wind turbines have an overall conversion efficiency of 30 % to 45 %. These two renewable sources, though efficient, are dependent on availability of the energy source. Solar thermal systems can achieve efficiency up to 20 %. The moving path of the sun and the weather conditions drastically alter the incident solar radiation. The efficiency on an annual basis, around 12 %, is considerably less than on a daily basis. Geo thermal systems, on the other hand, also use the Rankine cycle with steam temperatures at saturation point. Since there is no other conversion loss, this plant can achieve efficiencies in the range of 35 %.

95

Nuclear
The efficiency of nuclear plants is little different. On the steam turbine side they use the Rankine thermodynamic cycle with steam temperatures at saturated conditions. This gives a lower thermal cycle efficiency than the high temperature coal fired power plants. Thermal cycle efficiencies are in the range of 38 %. Since the energy release rate in nuclear fission is extremely high, the energy transferred to steam is a very small percentage - only around 0.7 %. This makes the overall plant efficiency only around 0.27 %. But one does not consider the fuel efficiency in nuclear power plants; fuel avaliabity and radiation losses take center stage

Diesel Engines
Diesel engines, large capacity industrial engines, deliver efficiencies in the range of 35 42 %. The power industry is trying to increase this conversion efficiency of power plants to maximise electricity generation and reduce environmental impact *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Superheater Temperature Control in Boilers

Steam temperature control is carried out in all boilers to get a constant temperature within a range. Methods like desuperheating 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 an 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

96

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 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.

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.

Related Reading
How Long Term Overheating Tube Failures Happen in Boilers - Long term overheating tube failures are due to operating metal temperature of the boiler tubes going above the allowable limit. These types of failure are seen in steam cooled tubes like superheaters and reheaters and in water cooled tubes of waterwalls. Classification of Steam Boilers - Boiler classification can be based on many factors like usage, fuel fired, fuel firing system, type of arrangement etc. Commonly known types are pulverized coal fired boilers, fluidized bed boilers, super critical boilers, oil and gas fired boilers. All cater to industrial and power generation.

97

Handle Both Forced Draft Fans Trip in Running Boiler

All forced draft fan trip in a boiler will cause a boiler trip. Putting the boiler back in operation and giving steam at the required parameter to the consumer is very important. Delay in this can cause a very high loss to the plant. Boilers have forced draft (FD) fans to supply air for the combustion of fuel. In addition to this fan, there can be many other fans such as induced draft (ID), primary air fans (PA), seal air fans, scanner air fans, etc. In these the FD, ID, and PA fans are large capacity fans, while the others are smaller fans. In the case of a pressurized boiler, only an FD fan is present. Here the FD fan handles the full pressure drop of the whole boiler air and flue gas system. In the case of a balanced draft system, the ID fan evacuates the flue gas from the furnace and handles the pressure drop in the flue gas section. The PA fan is used in the case of solid fuels to carry the fuel to the furnace and give the primary air requirement to the fuel.

Trip in a running boiler

Any trip of major equipment in the boiler causes the boiler parameters to vary widely before it stabilizes depending upon the action taken by the operator. Boiler tripping can also be caused if some vital equipment trips or if some unsafe condition appears. The important factors to be understood in a trip of equipment in a boiler are mainly four. 1. 2. 3. 4. The specific cause of trip The plant response to the trip The immediate operator action required The immediate local operator action requirement

In the case of both FD fans tripping, the boiler will go for trip as the air supply to the fuel is cut off in full or excluding the primary air depending upon the system design. The PA fan also trip as soon as all the FD fans trip. Depending upon whether the boiler is for a process unit or power station, the action on the steam consumer end will vary.

The specific cause of the trip

For both FD fans to trip the main reasons can be as below. 6.6 KV supply failure 0.4 KV supply failure Cooling water to motors failure

Plant response to the trip

The immediate plant response when both the FD fans trip will be boiler trip. The PA fans and mills also trip.

Immediate operator action required

The boiler will have to be prepared for light up immediately. Any delay in this action within a very short period can cause lot of problems and loss for the plant. The following will help any boiler operator to speed up his action to bring back the boiler on line. Check feed pump, maintain drum level Get clearance from connected group to start equipment in boiler Start one ID fan, as soon as possible

98

Start FD fan Maintain purge conditions Complete purge Introduce furnace probe Light up boiler Open start-up vent valve or bring to service LP / HP bypass depending upon the consumer Quickly start PA fan / milling system and give steam to the consumer maintaining the required steam parameters Maintain steam parameters and load the boiler as consumption of steam increases Control the water level in drum Maintain furnace conditions Load to maximum load as required once all parameters stabilize

Local operator action requirement

The local operator of the boiler will have to perform a quick task of restoring things in the locale and communicate to the boiler control room. This set of activity is carried out by the respective groups in each area like boiler operating floor, mill area, etc. The actions required are: See all fuel trip valves are closed Check furnace has no flame Check if air heaters are rotating only for regenerative air heaters Check fans for starting conditions and confirm to control room Make ready the fuel oil system for light up of unit and inform control room Check local boiler drum level and make sure Check and make ready feeders and mills for coal firing Make all electrical check and clear for starting the boiler

All the said actions are broad and for general understanding only. It is required to train and educate the operators for each design of the units. There are lot of changes taking place on the controls side and equipment design side. This brings in a need to understand the specifics of the system that is being handled.

Related Reading
Classification of Steam Boilers - Boiler classification can be based on many factors like usage, fuel fired, fuel firing system, type of arrangement etc. Commonly known types are pulverized coal fired boilers, fluidized bed boilers, super critical boilers, oil and gas fired boilers. All cater to industrial and power generation.

99

Properties of Lignite Coal used in the Thermal Power Plants

Lignite is the lower rank of coal. Vast reserves are available in many parts of the world. The special characteristics of lignite make it different from other coals. Read about this in this article.

What is Lignite?
Wood and other vegetable matter decayed and transformed under pressure millions of years ago to form coal. Lignite has a Lower Rank in the coalification process, meaning this more recent than bituminous and anthracite coals.Called Brown Coal, vast reserves of lignite are available in limited areas of the world. Australia, US and China have the major reserve of Lignite. Germany leads the pack with the largest number of power plants burning Lignite. In US, most of the reserves are located in the North Dakota province. In India, the Lignite reserves are in Neyveli in the south and in Rajasthan.Low calorific value and resulting low cost is what makes it attractive. Because of the lower energy density, transportation is not attractive. Lignite power plants are located near to the mines.Around 17 % of the worlds coal reserves are lignite. As the worlds oil and gas reserves decline, other sources become attractive. That is why there is a sustained interest in the use of Lignite.

Characteristics of Lignite
Lignite has some special characteristics.These characteristics vary from mine to mine. The most important is that the calorific value is low. The calorific value ranges from 8000 kJ/kg to 15000 kJ/kg. Compare this to bituminous coal that has calorific value of 12000 to 20000 kJ/kg. Lignite has high moisture content in the range of 45 % to 55 %. The Volatile matter content is also high. On an ash and moisture, free basis the Volatile Matter percentage in the range of 45% to 55 %. High amounts of Sulphur especially in the form of Ferrous Sulphide FeS 2, reduce the ash fusion temperature to low levels like 900 C. This gives the coal high potential for slagging. The lignite is softer than bituminous coal, with a HGI in the range of One Hundred making it easier to pulverize.

These characteristics make Lignite burning different from burning bituminous coals. Germany with large number of Power plants burning Lignite is the forerunner in the technology for Lignite fired boilers.

Environmental Issues
Mining of Lignite also raises many environmental issues. Because of the lower Calorific value, the quantity of Coal required is high. This has a higher CO2 emission than plants firing bituminous coal. The overburden to coal ratio is higher than other types of coal. This results in destruction of agricultural land and displacement of people. Lignite mining involves the removal of enormous quantities of water. Depending on the quality of the water, it could be a boon for agriculture or an environmental issue.

Even with all the drawbacks, availability of large reserves of lignite makes it feasible to use this energy source effectively. Large capacity Lignite fired boilers in the 800 MW to 1100 MW range supercritical parameters are in service today

100

Construction of Tall Chimneys by Slip Form method.

Coal Fired Thermal Power plants are recognized by the presence of very tall chimneys or flue stacks. How are they constructed ? This article takes a look into the Slip Form method of constructing tall stacks. The purpose of a tall stack in a thermal power plant is to discharge the emissions as high as possible so that dispersion takes place in a very large area. As the dispersion area increases, the concentration of the dust or emission at the ground level is less and does less damage to humans and vegetation.

The Chimney
The stack in coal fired power plants can be tall in the range of 200 to 300 M. The height depends on the size of unit, local regulations, population densities, wind and other atmospheric conditions. A Kazakhstan stack at 420 M tall is reportedly the tallest in the world. The stack has an outer RCC shell and a steel inner lining for the flue gas path. The outer shell also sometimes called the windshield provides the strength. The inner lining protects the concrete layer from corrosive flue gases. Connection of multiple units to a single shell will have multiple inner flue gas liners.

Slip form method

The most common method adopted for the construction of an RCC outer shell is by using the slip form method. In this method the form work for the concrete literally slips up cm by cm to produce an integrated concrete column. Continuous pouring of concrete ensures a joint free construction. At a rate of 0.3 meters per hour, this is a considerable fast construction method. The construction of a tall stack is complicated because of many reasons. The work has to be done at great height. The form work has to move continuously upward. The diameter of the form work has to change continuously. The gap between the inner and the outer form also has to change to accommodate the change in thickness of the shell.

A complicated system of jacks and radial screws makes this possible in the slip form method. Radial steel yokes, which have an inverted U at both ends, support the slip form shutters all around the shell. Walers strengthen and keep the shutters in place. The working deck and scaffolding is supported from the walers and yokes. The yokes are supported on hydraulic jacks, which move on jack rods embedded in the concrete. As the concrete pouring progresses the jacks lifts up the yokes, together with the decks and slip form. Screwed on pieces extend the jack rod as the work progresses. The entire system of decks and shutters appear as if floating on top of the stack. Radial screws adjust the diameter and the width of the pouring. Sufficient gap between the top of the yoke and the slip form allows installation of reinforcement steel. A laser alignment system allows the operator to control verticality and avoid twisting. Follow this link to a video on this method of construction. http://www.youtube.com/user/mmcg968#p/a/u/1/lxGvgQRX-o8

101

Construction of other vertical structures like silos and core structures in high-rise buildings also use this method.

Jump Form Method

Another but similar method that is in use for this type of construction is the jump form method. In this method the form work jumps up to the next layer after the bottom layer is cast. This is suitable for stacks, which have lining like refractory lining in the inside of the shell.The concrete is not continousas in the slip form method. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Steam Power Plant Condenser Cooling 4: Hybrid Wet and Dry Cooling
The air cooled condenser is a low water use option used for steam power plant water cooling, but at a cost and performance penalty. Adding a small evaporative cooling component to make it hybrid wet and dry cooling, can eliminate most of the performance penalty with only slightly more water use.

Introduction
The air cooled condenser (also called a dry cooling tower) is seeing increased use for steam power plant condenser cooling because of increasing concern about the extent of power plant water usage for condenser cooling. Use of an air cooled condenser drastically reduces the rate of power plant water usage, but at the expense of increased capital cost, increased operating cost and a reduction in power production efficiency, especially in hot weather. An air cooled condenser with an added evaporative cooling component has come to be called a hybrid wet and dry cooling system. This combination provides the possibility of eliminating most of the efficiency penalty with only a small increase in power plant water usage.

Hybrid Wet and Dry Cooling Objectives

Both wet and dry components (evaporative cooling and an air cooled condenser) are included in a hybrid wet and dry steam power plant condenser cooling system. The evaporative cooling and air cooled condenser components may be used separately or they may be combined in one unit. Plume abatement was the objective for the first hybrid wet and dry power plant water cooling systems put into operation. Plume abatement can be accomplished by using a small amount of dry cooling with an evaporative cooling tower, for use during cold, high humidity periods. More recently hybrid wet and dry cooling systems are being developed with water conservation and reduction of the performance penalty of an air cooled condenser (dry cooling) system. Several way of combining evaporative cooling with an air cooled condenser are being developed to meet these objectives.

102

Hybrid Wet and Dry Cooling for Plume Abatement

Plume abatement, wet and dry systems are essentially a wet cooling tower that uses a small amount of dry cooling to dry out the cooling tower when the plume is most likely to be visible during cold, high-humidity days. This type of hybrid power plant water cooling system will reduce water consumption to some extent from the amount used by a strictly wet cooling tower, but the primary objective is plume abatement. The diagram at the left shows a system with a small air cooled condenser at the top of a wet cooling tower. The air cooled condenser would only be used during cold, high-humidity periods.

Hybrid Wet and Dry Cooling for Water Conservation

103

There are several configurations possible for a hybrid wet and dry cooling system that is intended for water conservation. There could be a single tower or separate wet and dry towers, using series or parallel airflow and series or parallel cooling water flow. The diagram at the left shows a hybrid cooling system with an

104

evaporative cooling tower and an air cooled condenser as separate structures. The air cooled condenser would handle all of the cooling load except for the hottest periods, when part of the cooling load would be handled by the wet cooling tower. Another option using a single tower with supplementary wet cooling available to be used as needed for hot weather is shown at the right. Some of the low capital cost alternatives include spraying water into the air cooled condenser or deluging the air cooled surface with water for short periods. Hybrid wet and dry cooling systems can reduce steam power plant water usage to 5% to 80% of that needed for a wet cooling tower, and still achieve substantial hot weather efficiency and capacity improvements over a steam power plant with a completely dry cooling system.

105

Capturing CO2 by Chemical Absorption

How to separate the CO2 in the flue gas so that it can be stored? Read the about the chemical absorption method that is currently a common method. The flue gas from a coal fired power plant contains about 12% CO2 with the rest being N2 and Oxygen. A 1000 MW Coal fired unit produces around 2500 tons of gas per hour, which requires the separation of almost 300 tons per hour of CO2. The task is enormous.

How to cost effectively separate the CO2?

The simple method is to pass the gas through a chemical solvent that selectively absorbs only the CO2 and keeps it in a weak chemical bond. The O2 and N2 then release to the atmosphere. The CO2 releases from the chemical solvent during regeneration by heat addition that breaks the bond of the CO2. The almost pure CO2 is collected, compressed and sent to storage. The retrieved solvent goes for re-use. The most common chemical solvents used are amines. Amine capture is a proven system in the natural gas cleaning process. The scale of operations is much larger for the removal of CO2 from power plants. Even though many pilot plants are in service, a commercially viable operation on a large scale is yet to take place.

Certain factors makes the system very costly.

The flue gas has to be devoid of SO2 or NOx. This requires a very good FGD (flue gas desulfurization). Another option is to go with a Circulating Fluidised bed combustion technology that can cost effectively remove these pollutants. The gas has to cool to around 40 C for the CO2 absorption to take place. This requires additional cooling water. Steam heat is required to heat the solvent to release the CO2 during regeneration. Parasitic power is required for pumping the fluids. Heat exchangers, scrubber towers, absorption towers, and heaters are required for the process. Replacement cost of the chemical solvent is high because regeneration is only for few cycles.

All these add to the cost of investment and operating the system. This also have an effect on the plant heat rate. This is what makes plant operators delay investment. However, penalties due to CO2 emissions may make this viable. This system can capture around 85% of the CO2 generated. To overcome the issue of cost, other processes and materials are under development. Some, which are promising and are in and advanced stage, are using special membrane filters and hyperbranched aluminosilica (HAS).

Capturing Carbon Dioxide An Overview

The first requirement of a Carbon Capture and Storage System (CCSS) is to capture the Carbon Dioxide (CO2) formed during Combustion of Fossil fuel. How to capture CO2? This part of the article gives an overview of CO2 capture. Global warming and climate change are the critical issues that mankind is facing today. CO2 is the main culprit in this game. Fossil fuel powered power plants are the main producers of this excess CO2. With restrictions on the emissions coming into effect, installing Carbon Capture and Storage Systems in power plants is of prime importance. The formation of CO2 is the essential part of releasing energy from Carbon. The burning of the fossil fuel produces flue gases that contain CO2. In the current scenario, all fossil fuel power plants emit this CO2 to the atmosphere. Oxygen for the combustion comes from air. Air contains 23.2% by weight of Oxygen with the balance being mainly Nitrogen. During Combustion, the Carbon combines with Oxygen to form CO2. Therefore, the Flue gases that leave

106

the combustion chamber contain CO2, Nitrogen and some unused Oxygen from the air. In a coal fired unit, typical values of flue gas will be CO2 12%, O2 around 3%, and the balance Nitrogen at 85%. (A typical natural gas fired gas turbine will have CO2 4%, O2 15% and N2 81%). Now the first task of the CCSS is to separate this 12% of CO2 from the flue gas so that it can go for storage. A 1000 MW coal fired unit produces 2500 tons of gas per hour. This is almost 300 tons per hour of CO2 separation. The task is enormous. There are two ways to capture the CO2.

Post combustion capture

The first method is to capture CO2 after the combustion or post combustion capture by absorption by using liquid or solid chemicals. adsorption by physical or chemical methods. filtering using membrane filters. In the current scenario with more than two million MW of thermal power plants in service, the power industry looks forward to a system that can retrofit to existing power plants. Many of the post-combustion capture systems have the advantage that they can become add-ons in existing plants. The priority is thus to implement post combustion capture of CO2.

Pre combustion capture

Another method is to capture the CO2 before actual combustion. Carbon in coal converts to an intermediary gas containing Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide that burns to produce heat. CO2 releases during the formation of the intermediary gas. Unlike in normal combustion, CO2 concentrations are much higher so the effort to capture it is much less. An Integrated Gas Combined Cycle (IGCC) where coal is converted to a gas and then fired in a combined cycle, which is already in an advanced stage of development, will be the most cost effective way of power generation. Precombustion capture of CO2 has to be part of the IGCC. This will be the future of fossil fuel power. Whatever the method, the cost of implementing a CSSS could increase the cost of power generation by around 30 to 40%. Three-fourths of this increase will be for the capture of CO2. Costs are expected to come down when the technology is stabilised and is included as part of the original equipment supply.

107

Steam Power Plant Condenser Cooling Part 1: Introduction to Alternatives

The steam power plant water going through the condensing unit requires cooling so that liquid condensate can be pumped back into the boiler. Cooling for the condenser may be supplied by once through cooling, a wet cooling tower, dry (air) cooling, a hybrid (wet/dry) system, or a cooling pond.

Introduction
The condensing unit is a crucial part of a steam power plant water circulation system . The condenser must have cooling in order to convert low pressure steam leaving the turbine to liquid condensate that can be pumped into the boiler. The typical options for this cooling are cooling water that is discharged back to the source body of water at an elevated temperature (once through cooling), a wet cooling tower that provides evaporative cooling, an air cooled condenser (dry cooling), a hybrid wet/dry cooling system (primarily air cooled with evaporative cooling use as needed), or a cooling pond.

The Condenser as part of the Power Cycle

The part that the condensing unit plays in a Rankine cycle steam power plant is shown in the diagram at the left. High pressure steam from the boiler passes through the turbine, thus causing it to rotate and generate electricity. The low pressure steam leaving the turbine must be converted to liquid condensate that can be pumped into the boiler to keep the cycle going. The diagram shows the simplest type of cooling system, once through cooling, whereby cooling water is withdrawn, typically from a surface water body, with heated water from the condenser discharged back to the surface water body. This type of condenser cooling withdraws water from the source water body at a

108

very great rate. It returns almost all of that water to the source water body, but at an elevated temperature. This type of steam power plant water cooling system is used in most U.S. plants built before 1970. (Bistline, 2008)

Wet Cooling Tower Cooling

An alternative cooling method that requires much less cooling water withdrawal

from the source water body is the wet cooling tower. The diagram at the right shows the general flow patterns. The heated water leaving the condenser passes through a cooling tower and is cooled by evaporative cooling. This type of cooling system withdraws much less water from the source water body, but it consumes much more water than the once through system, due to evaporation into the atmosphere. This type of steam power plant water cooling system is used in many U.S. plants built since 1970. (Bistline, 2008)

109

Dry Cooling with an Air Cooled Condenser

Dry cooling, utilizing an air cooled condenser, is illustrated in the diagram at the left. The air cooled condenser, often referred to as 'dry cooling,' eliminates the need for steam power plant water use for cooling. There has been increasing interest in dry cooling/air cooled condenser use, because of increased concern about and regulation of water use for electric power production. The dry cooling option, however, comes at an increased initial cost, increased operating cost and increased heat rate (decreased efficiency), leading to increased cost for production of electricity. Recently hybrid wet/dry systems are being developed and put into use, with less cost and less efficiency penalty than strictly dry cooling.

Use of a Cooling Pond

A final option is use of a cooling pond as shown in the diagram at the right.

110

The water consumption is about the same as for a wet cooling tower, because the cooling in the pond is primarily due to evaporation. Based on information from a Department of Energy Report, cooling ponds are used by about 15 % of U.S. electric steam power plant generating capacity as the primary method of cooling for their condensing unit. (DOE/NETL, 2008)

111

Steam Power Plant Condenser Cooling Part 2: Comparison of Alternatives

Steam power plant water is used primarily for the condensing unit. The cooling alternatives, once through cooling, wet cooling tower, air cooled condenser, hybrid wet/dry cooling, and cooling ponds each have advantages and disadvantages. Water use, economics and % use in U.S are compared here.

Introduction
Steam power plant water use has been coming under increasing scrutiny because of the large quantities of water involved and the many competing uses for water. The cooling options for the condensing unit (once through cooling, wet cooling tower, air cooled condenser, hybrid wet/dry cooling, and cooling pond) were introduced in the article: Steam Power Plant Cooling - Part 1: Introduction to Alternatives. Here the condenser/cooling options will be compared in terms of water withdrawal, water consumption, economics, and percentage of U.S. generating capacity using each option.

The Five Condenser/Cooling Alternatives

112

Three of the major options for steam power plant water cooling and the condenser are summarized in the diagrams in this section. There is a diagram for i) once through cooling, ii) wet cooling tower, and iii) air cooled condenser. When a cooling pond is used, it would simply replace the cooling tower shown in the second diagram. The fifth alternative, hybrid wet/dry cooling, would have an air cooled condenser and some features of a wet cooling tower system.

Water Withdrawal and Consumption Comparison

113

A comparison of typical water withdrawal rates and water consumption rates is given in the table at the left, for once-through cooling, cooling tower, and cooling pond systems, with fossil fueled and nuclear fueled steam power plants, based on information from a 2002 report of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI, 2002). (Click on the table to view a larger version.) Note that the water withdrawal rate for once through cooling is two orders of magnitude larger than that for pond or cooling tower systems. The withdrawal rate for pond and cooling tower systems is simply replacement for the water evaporation into the atmosphere. There are only small differences in the rate of water consumption for the three systems. Some sources show the rate of water consumption for once through cooling being much lower than in this table. EPRI (2002) estimates this rate as being only slightly lower than for a cooling tower or pond, based on increased evaporation from the source water body due to the heated water being discharged to it. No figures are shown for an air cooled condenser, because the power plant water use for an air cooled condenser is much less than for the three options shown in the table.

Percentage of Use in the U.S.

The percentage of U.S. steam power plants of several types, for use

114

of four types of condenser/cooling systems, is shown in the table at the right. The information in the table came from a 2008 report of the Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory report (DOE/NETL, 2008). Most of the steam power plants built in the U.S. before 1970 use once through cooling. Due to increasing concern about and regulation of water use for electric power production, most of them built after 1970 use cooling towers. These two types of condenser cooling systems account for about 84 % of steam power plants. Most of the rest use cooling ponds. Dry cooling has emerged as another option because of the water withdrawal and consumption rates for the other options, even with wet cooling towers. About 1 % of steam power plants use an air-cooled condenser (dry cooling system).

Economic Comparison

115

There is a reason that once through cooling was used in almost all steam power plants built before 1970. It is the simplest system and has the least initial cost and least operating cost. Both the wet cooling tower system and the air cooled condenser (dry cooling) system have higher capital cost, higher power requirement (and thus higher operating cost), leading to approximately 1.9 % higher cost of electricity due to use of a wet cooling tower and approximately 4.9 % higher cost of electricity for air cooled condenser use, as shown in the table at the left. The information in the table came from a presentation at a California State Water Resources Control Board Workshop in 2005. (Maulbetsch, 2005). *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Steam Power Plant Condenser Cooling Part 3: The Air Cooled Condenser
An air cooled condenser is an option for condensing steam if water availability is limited. The air cooled condenser, also known as a dry cooling tower, is seeing increased use as a steam power plant condenser. Steam power plant water usage is a concern due to increased water needs by other sectors.

Introduction
An air cooled condenser provides a means of condensing steam without using cooling water, when a lack of water prevents use of a traditional water cooled condenser in a steam power plant. There is increasing interest in use of the air cooled condenser, also called a dry cooling tower, for steam power plant water condensing due to competition from other sectors for use of scarce water resources. The general configuration and options for an air cooled condenser, how it is used for steam power plant water condensing, and an experimental method of improving its performance are discussed in this article.

General Configuration of an Air Cooled Condenser

An air cooled condenser (also known as a dry cooling tower) for use in a steam power plant has two options for air movement: natural draft and mechanical draft. The most common type of air cooled condenser is the mechanical draft, which typically has an overall A-frame configuration as shown

116

in the picture at the left. The typical flow pattern of steam, air and condensate is shown in the diagram at the right. The low pressure steam exhausted from the turbine goes into the air cooled condenser in the large tube shown at the top of the A-frame in the picture. The steam flows down through finned tubes that make up the A-frame and is cooled and condensed by air being blown past the finned tubes by a fan or fans at the bottom. A natural draft air cooled condenser requires the familiar hyberbolic tower. The hyperbolic tower must be so large that this option is only used for quite small power plants. A mechanical draft air cooled condenser is used in over 90% of the world power plants with dry cooling.

Use of an Air Cooled Condenser in a Steam Power Plant

117

The majority of the steam power plants in use today use once through cooling or a wet cooling tower for condenser cooling. Both of these systems require large amounts of water in comparison with a dry cooling tower (air cooled condenser) system, as discussed in the article, Steam Power Plant Condenser

Cooling - Part 2: Comparison of Alternatives. Flow diagrams are shown in this section for comparison with the air cooled condenser diagram in the previous section. There is increasing pressure to use the dry cooling tower / air cooled condenser option in new power plants because of the concern about and regulation of steam power plant water usage. A plant with an air cooled condenser uses only about 5% as much water as one with once through cooling or a wet cooling tower.

Water Spray Enhancement for an Air Cooled Condenser

While the air cooled condenser has a significant advantage over once through cooling or a cooling tower in terms of water requirements, a steam power plant with a dry cooling tower / air cooled condenser system will typically have reduced plant efficiency and output in the hotter part of the year. A technique being investigated for improving plant efficiency and output in hot weather is inlet spray cooling, that is, spraying water into the air entering the condenser during the hot part of the year, when reduced plant efficiency and output are of concern. A recent study of this procedure is included in the references in the next section. This is one of the ways of combining characteristics of a wet and dry cooling tower, referred to as hybrid wet/dry cooling.

118

Coal Gasification for use in Power Plants

The gasification process can be used to extract a synthesis gas from coal with the CO2 produced during the process being captured and stored using Carbon Sequestration. After further treatment, the syngas can be used to power gas turbines that drive generators producing power in an IGCC power plant.

Introduction to Coal Gasification

With the worlds supply of hydrocarbons due to run out at the end of the century, we need to find an alternative to our use of oil and gas in our power plants. There are abundant supplies of coal set to last centuries, but the combustion of pulverized coal to produce electricity is the biggest emitter of CO2 of the fossil fuels.On the other hand Syngas, a product of coal gasification, can provide an alternative source of energy from coal, but only if the CO2 is captured and stored as in sequestration so that we have a lot less air pollution. Now, in the power station if we combine CCS with an integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) then use the waste heat from the steam turbine condenser to run community heating (CHP) we could have a system of very high efficiency, up to 75%.

Gasification of Coal Process

The coal used for gasification is normally about 75 mm pieces which have been subjected to grinding or ball mills. Gasification of the coal basically consists of loading these small uniform pieces by conveyor onto a moving grate located about a quarter of the way up the gasifier. The gasifier is a vertical pressure vessel in which the coal is subjected firstly to high temperature in virtually anaerobic conditions in the pyrolysis stage, producing tar, coke particles, and volatiles. As the coke particles, tar, and volatiles rise up the gasifier, they are then subjected to further intensified heating in the combustion stage. In this second stage, oxygen and steam are injected into to the coke and volatiles, causing them to rapidly combust. This supplies more heat during the gasification stage, which is caused as it reacts with the carbon dioxide and steam. This reaction forms the gasses of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, occurring from about three quarters of the way up the gasifier to the top. This gas then exits at the top the gasifier, is cooled, scrubbed and filtered, with the end product being a synthetic gas suitable for use in a gas turbine. The use of oxygen as opposed to ambient air will produce a purer gas having a higher calorific value. However the oxygen has to be separated from the air, in an air separation unit (ASU). This procedure requires electrical energy, so it is a balance of these factors which will decide whether to use air or oxygen in the combustion stage of the gasification of coal.

The Treatment of Syngas

The syngas exits the top of the coal gasifier and is passed to the gas treatment plant which consists of coal tar removal, gas water reactor and cooling, dust filtration, and SOx scrubbing processes. Most of these residues can be further processed and sold to chemical and building industries.

119

After treatment, the gas then passes through the CO2 extraction plant where the CO2 is separated and stored, ready for transport to a long term storage area. Following this process the zero CO2 syngas is piped to the gas turbines in the turbine hall.

Sketches of gasifier and process system

120

121

Over-spraying in Superheaters and Reheaters of High Capacity Boilers

Water injection in superheater and reheater of boiler is a common method adopted by boiler designers. Within designed limit spraying in superheater will not be harmful if the water quality is maintained and the nozzles of the desuperheater are not eroded. In large capacity boilers, the superheater and reheater temperature at the boiler outlet is controlled by many methods. Water spraying in both superheater and reheater is a very commonly adopted method. In using a spray water system, there are many points to be addressed as otherwise serious failures can result. The superheaters and reheater are sized in such a way that the full steam temperatures are achieved from 60 % boiler load. This means the steam temperature will be much higher than the rated steam temperature. Hence, to control this increase, water spraying is adopted. These desuperheaters are designed in such a way that the water is split into fine particles and allowed to mix with the steam, ensuring no water particles remain as it enters the superheater.

Superheater spray system

The superheater spray system consists of feed water tapped after the feed pump and sent through a set of control and isolation valves to the desuperheater. This is arranged between the primary or low temperature superheater and the high temperature radiant superheater section. Some designers adopt two stage desuperheater systems. In this case the second stage of the desuperheater comes between two stages of high temperature superheaters. The control on the main-steam outlet temperature is done suitably by a feed forward and fine tune control philosophy. Over spraying in superheaters results in long term overheating failures in sections preceding the desuperheater due to the metal temperature going higher. This mainly occurs at the material transition point in the superheater section. In superheater sections immediately after the desuperheater, the water particles deposits salts when they evaporate fully and a probability for long term overheating, corrosion, and thermal fatigue failures results. While over spraying in superheaters, the steam flow through the preceding sections will be reduced to the extent of the span being given. This reduced flow increases the metal temperature at each point along the length of the tube in the coils. If the slope of this increase is more than the limit to which it can exceed the margin in allowable metal temperature at the transition point of the material, then it can lead to long term over heating failure. Depending upon the quality of feed water being maintained by the boiler operator and the quantity of spray the deposition inside the section of superheater just after the desuperheater will have a high probability for overheating failure, corrosion, and thermal fatigue.

Reheater spray system

Reheater spray is normally provided at the inlet of reheater in the cold reheat pipe. This is used in boilers only if the first control system provided could not reduce the temperature to the required level. Hence this is also called as emergency injection by many boiler designers. Using the emergency spray in reheater reduces the heat rate as the injection water is tapped before the high pressure heaters in the power generation cycle. Other effects of over spraying in reheater are the same as superheater except that of metal temperature. In reheater the overall steam flow increases with injection in all the sections and so the metal temperature gets controlled.

Related Reading
Water Quality in High Pressure Boilers - The process for water treatment is decided dependent on the source of water of the power plant and its quality. The levels of water quality to be maintained depend upon the drum operating pressure.

122

Superheater Temperature Control in Boilers - Steam temperature control is carried out in all boilers to get a constant temperature within a range. Methods like desuperheating 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. How Long Term Overheating Tube Failures Happen in Boilers - Long term overheating tube failures are due to operating metal temperature of the boiler tubes going above the allowable limit. These types of failure are seen in steam cooled tubes like superheaters and reheaters and in water cooled tubes of waterwalls. Water injection in superheater and reheater of boiler is a common method adopted by boiler designers. Within designed limit spraying in superheater will not be harmful if the water quality is maintained and the nozzles of the desuperheater are not eroded. In large capacity boilers, the superheater and reheater temperature at the boiler outlet is controlled by many methods. Water spraying in both superheater and reheater is a very commonly adopted method. In using a spray water system, there are many points to be addressed as otherwise serious failures can result. The superheaters and reheater are sized in such a way that the full steam temperatures are achieved from 60 % boiler load. This means the steam temperature will be much higher than the rated steam temperature. Hence, to control this increase, water spraying is adopted. These desuperheaters are designed in such a way that the water is split into fine particles and allowed to mix with the steam, ensuring no water particles remain as it enters the superheater.

Superheater spray system

The superheater spray system consists of feed water tapped after the feed pump and sent through a set of control and isolation valves to the desuperheater. This is arranged between the primary or low temperature superheater and the high temperature radiant superheater section. Some designers adopt two stage desuperheater systems. In this case the second stage of the desuperheater comes between two stages of high temperature superheaters. The control on the main-steam outlet temperature is done suitably by a feed forward and fine tune control philosophy. Over spraying in superheaters results in long term overheating failures in sections preceding the desuperheater due to the metal temperature going higher. This mainly occurs at the material transition point in the superheater section. In superheater sections immediately after the desuperheater, the water particles deposits salts when they evaporate fully and a probability for long term overheating, corrosion, and thermal fatigue failures results. While over spraying in superheaters, the steam flow through the preceding sections will be reduced to the extent of the span being given. This reduced flow increases the metal temperature at each point along the length of the tube in the coils. If the slope of this increase is more than the limit to which it can exceed the margin in allowable metal temperature at the transition point of the material, then it can lead to long term over heating failure. Depending upon the quality of feed water being maintained by the boiler operator and the quantity of spray the deposition inside the section of superheater just after the desuperheater will have a high probability for overheating failure, corrosion, and thermal fatigue.

Reheater spray system

Reheater spray is normally provided at the inlet of reheater in the cold reheat pipe. This is used in boilers only if the first control system provided could not reduce the temperature to the required level. Hence this is also called as emergency injection by many boiler designers. Using the emergency spray in reheater reduces the heat rate as the injection water is tapped before the high pressure heaters in the power generation cycle. Other effects of over spraying in reheater are the same as superheater except that of metal temperature. In reheater the overall steam flow increases with injection in all the sections and so the metal temperature gets controlled.

Related Reading
Water Quality in High Pressure Boilers - The process for water treatment is decided dependent on the source of water of the power plant and its quality. The levels of water quality to be maintained depend upon the drum operating pressure.

123

Superheater Temperature Control in Boilers - Steam temperature control is carried out in all boilers to get a constant temperature within a range. Methods like desuperheating 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. How Long Term Overheating Tube Failures Happen in Boilers - Long term overheating tube failures are due to operating metal temperature of the boiler tubes going above the allowable limit. These types of failure are seen in steam cooled tubes like superheaters and reheaters and in water cooled tubes of waterwalls.

*************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Daily Walk-down Checks in Pulverized Coal fired Boiler - Furnace area

Power production has become such a competitive and stringent commodity in the world that it needs to be produced like any other consumable. The quality of power which is measured by its availability, reliability, the pollution it produces, and the cost of generation. Daily walk-down checks in a power plant and process boilers gives a good feel about the boiler performance and health of the boiler to the shift in-charge and the operators. The main components of walk-down check are visual, sound, feel control room data and local gauges. This information will help to understand the performance of the equipment and take any action required to improve or sustain its performance. Walk-down starts from the boiler control room. Note the load on the boiler, all other major parameters which you would like to have with you while going around, the vibration levels of rotating equipment, when the wall blowing was done to know time lapse after wall blowing and soot blowing, the excess air, the percentage combustibles and coal analysis available as the latest. Make sure that the walk-down is taken up only when the load is steady and not when transient. During transient and fluctuations of load you may have need to look at certain specific parameter and behavior to look at. This will be a list from your daily walk-down and control room data. After noting down the details from control room it will be a good idea to go to the top floor of the boiler and start the walk-down from there. Normally drum floor is the top most floors and the pent house above this. It will be a good practice to open the pent house man hole door and using a light just look for any division from the regular appearance, like any hanger rod bent, any ash puff at any location, the rocker arm position, etc. Also carefully watch and listen for any steam leak noise. Coming down to drum area look for o Leakage of steam from any valves o Leakage of steam from the drum man hole gasket if yes this need immediate shutdown of boiler and attending. This is a very rare occurrence but has taken place. o Look at the local water level gauge level indicated simultaneously verifying with the control room reading used for drum level control. Note any large variations for corrective action. o Check the safety valves for any leak or abnormality

124

o Look at the expansion guides at the drum floor for any abnormality o Look at the corner connections of the buckstays / furnace rap Watch and listen for any abnormal noise or steam leak noise at each location If steam leak detection system is provided in the boiler then take extra care to listen in areas where the frequency indicated is higher but lower than alarm level. Open the first peep hole from top available and watch for flame licking or high deposit on the tubes. Also look for any black particles on the ash deposited on the peep hole frame inside portion. o Note: Opening peep hole while boiler is under operation must be done carefully. Be on the door side of the peep hole and slowly open to see any positive pressure inside the furnace. Wait for a second or two to be sure of absence of furnace puffing. Never put you head and eyes too close to the peep hole. Always hold the door handle as you can close the door if you suspect any furnace pressurization. Each floor as you are coming down go round the furnace and note each corner connections, the valves for any leaks, any abnormal sound, any vibration, the flame condition and fluctuations, the deposition on walls and panels, the carbon particles on the peephole inside, note also if any bridging of the opening with slag note also if it is flowing or solid, look for any expansion restraint in each area. It will be a good practice to carry few small bags and a scope to collect the carbon particles seen and any deposit noticed. Care must be taken not to hurt you as these will be at a much higher temperature. When you are in the burner floor look at the various damper positions and correlate with the control room data and flame condition. Look for any oil leak in the start-up oil burners. Look for any ash leak from any area as you are coming down and note this location. After reaching the bottommost peephole (Normally at the bottom hoper level), open this and watch the deposit fall to the bottom hopper. Note the size, frequency, have an idea about the quantum, the brightness as it falls, is there any brightening and dimming in this location inside the furnace. All this will aid you to evaluate the flame and combustion behavior of the boiler. Further below look at the seal turf water level, any ash accumulation and overflow. Coming to the ground level look at the bottom ash for large clinkers, unburnt carbon, and watch the quantity too. o Note: This is possible only if it is a continuous evacuation system, however in water impounded hopper watch for these during evacuation

Related Reading
Classification of Steam Boilers - Boiler classification can be based on many factors like usage, fuel fired, fuel firing system, type of arrangement etc. Commonly known types are pulverized coal fired boilers, fluidized bed boilers, super critical boilers, oil and gas fired boilers. All cater to industrial and power generation. Coal Formation Theories - Coal may be defined as a compact stratified mass of plant debris which has been modified chemically and physically by natural agencies, interspersed with smaller amounts of inorganic matter. In situ and Drift are the two major theories of coal formation. Coal Analysis for Boiler Designers - Hydrocarbon fuels are the major source of energy for power and process steam generation, and coal takes a major share in this. Boiler furnace design will depend more on fuel characteristics, and further heat transfer surface sizing will depend on furnace outlet temperature.

125

Why Coal Burning in a Power Plant Requires Pulverizing

For efficient combustion of the coal in a coal fired power plant, pulverizing to a fine powder for burning is an important requirement. Read on to know why coal pulverizing is important.

Coal for Power Plants

The coal fired power plant converts energy in coal to electricity. The basic input into the system is the fuel that is coal. All other systems and equipment only aid in this conversion process. Before going into the details, let us look at the quantity of coal processed in a power plant. A 2000 MW power station could be handling coal in the range of 1600 tons/hr or around 12 million tons of coal annually. A single 500 MW unit consumes in the range of 400 tons/hr of coal. The coal input to the boiler of the power plant passes through three different phases before combustion in the boiler. Receiving, storing, and transporting the coal to the boiler. This is bulk storage and bulk handling. Preparing the coal for firing or pulverizing. This is what is special in a coal fired power plant, especially large thermal power plants. Burning the coal in the combustion process to release the energy in the fuel.

Why Pulverizing ?
The basic requirement of coal combustion is that all the carbon particles in coal should get sufficient air to burn and release the heat. Coal normally is available to power plants in large lumps ranging from 2 mm to 50 mm size. Coal is commercially available in different sizes known as Run of Mine, stoker, slack, etc. depending on their size. In the olden days, coal burning was done on grates without any change in size or pulverizing. Because of the large size of coal, some of the carbon particles do not come in contact with the air. These unburned carbon particles go out with ash. This is a loss and could be in the range of 5 % or greater in the older grate-fired combustion. Modern boilers powder the coal to a very fine dust so that while burning, it is almost like a fluid stream. The size of the coal particles is in the range of 75 microns. This means every particle comes into contact with the air. The loss due to unburned carbon is only in the range of 0.5 % or less making the boilers very efficient. The pulverizer does the powdering or the pulverizing. Pulverizers come in different models and are a very important auxiliary of a power plant.

Grindability
There is one important characteristic of coal that decides the type, size, and power required for pulverizing. This is the grindability of coal and is denoted by the Hardgrove Grindability Index (or HGI). Grindability in general is a function of the grade of coal. Sub-bituminous coal from the Indian sub-continent has an index near fifty. A higher number indicates the coal is soft and easy to grind. Anthracitic coals, higher grade coals, have higher hardness and consequentially a lower Grindability Index in the range of forty or less.

126

Lignite, the lower grade of coal, on other hand is very soft and easy to pulverize and can have an index of a hundred and greater.

The Grindability Index decides what type of pulveriser to use and the power requirement for pulverizing. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

How to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Power Plants

Fossil fuel power plants are the largest contributors of man made Carbon Dioxide (CO2). How do we reduce power plant CO2 emissions? Answers to this and more are in this article. As per the Kyoto protocol, developed nations, the largest producers of Green House Gases (GHG), agreed to reduce GHG emissions by 5.2% of 1990 levels by the year 2010. This in effect is an almost 29% reduction in GHG considering capacity additions and developments till 2010.

Energy Production with less CO2 production

The very essence of energy release from fossil fuels is the exothermic chemical reaction of Carbon and Oxygen to form Carbon dioxide. CO2 is an inevitable outcome of the process. So if we have to reduce CO 2 we have to either stop burning Carbon or burn Carbon more efficiently. The immediate recourse is to operate power plants at the best efficiency to reduce fuel input per unit of energy. The next is to invest in technologies that improve the level of efficiency in coal fired thermal power plants from the current 35% level to the 50% level. Use of the combined cycle in coal fired power plants by coal gasification is one technology that is promising to improve power plant efficiencies. Converting gas turbines in the open cycle mode to the combined cycle mode increases plant efficiency. The real reduction in emissions can come only by drastically changing the energy generation mix. From the predominantly fossil fuelled energy mix today we have to go to a nuclear and renewable energy mix. More of wind and solar powered plants together with nuclear plants are the only reasonable and cheaper solutions for energy with reduced emissions.

Considerable investments in plant and technology together with social and political will are essential for this changeover.

Absorption of post combustion CO2-Carbon Capture and Storage

One method is to capture the CO2 before it reaches the atmosphere. This is easier said than done. The method involves the separation of CO2 from the flue gases, piping and storing them in underground or under sea cavities. Many pilot projects of this Carbon Capture and Storage Systems (CCS) are on the anvil. This is the reverse of what we are doing today. In this system we store the CO2 deep under earth from where we took the fossil fuels.

127

This Carbon sequestration is a costly process, and we have to wait and see how much society will be willing to pay extra for it.

Global absorption of CO2- Carbon Credits

The other method is to offset higher CO2 emission with lower CO2 emissions in other projects locally or in other countries. This is piggy back riding on those producing less CO 2. The method tries to take into account the global concentration of CO2 instead of individual or localized emission concentrations. The Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol allows countries with an emissionreduction or emission-limitation commitment to implement emission reduction projects in developing countries. These projects should have additional reductions in CO2 emissions than would have been normally possible. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Boiler Designers Use Different Materials in Superheaters

Material selection for superheaters and reheater plays a very critical role in ensuring performance and availability of boiler. Any long term overheating failure of tubes in superheater or reheaters near the transition points needs investigation by designers. In large capacity boilers with high superheat temperature of the order of 540 degree C and above, it is practically not economical to use a single material. The main single reason for this is due to the fact that the steam from boiler drum enters the superheater around 350 deg C and leaves around 540 deg C. As the steam travels from the drum take-off pipes to the roof tubes to the low temperature tubes and high temperature superheater outlet, it picks up temperature at each unit length of tube. This process changes the metal temperature of the tubes at each unit length of the tube. As the metal temperature of any tube increases there is a drop in the hoop strength of the tube material. This makes the requirement more stringent to the designers by forcing them to increase the thickness required to withstand the internal pressure in the tubes. However, because the thickness of the tubes cannot be increased beyond a certain range, this makes it necessary to upgrade the material of the tube to accept the increase in temperature. Designers use materials starting from carbon steel, to low alloy steel, to high alloy steel, and then to stainless steel to meet the requirements of the increase in metal temperature of the tubes as the steam picks up temperature in superheaters. The location where such material transition requirement is fixed by the designers based on the margin between the allowable temperature for the material and the calculated metal temperature at the tube length. It is very critical to select this point correctly to avoid any tube failures in the superheaters. The point at which the difference between the allowable metal temperature and the predicted metal temperature can vary due to other reasons like low steam flow through the section of superheater due to high de-superheating water quantity, the upset in the radiation heat in the area, excess area for heat transfer provided, over loading of the unit, etc. Correcting the transition point in any heat transfer surface like a superheater, reheater, etc. will be possible only with a long shutdown and a large volume of in-situ welding. The lower grade material will have to be upgraded suitably to have an adequate margin between the allowable temperature and the operating metal temperature. Any long term

128

overheating failure near the transition point or at the transition point will need a very detailed review by the designers. The failed sample of the tube will have to be metallurgically evaluated for the reason of failure and the temperature to which the tube had been subjected. Related Reading How Long Term Overheating Tube Failures Happen in Boilers - Long term overheating tube failures are due to operating metal temperature of the boiler tubes going above the allowable limit. These types of failure are seen in steam cooled tubes like superheaters and reheaters and in water cooled tubes of waterwalls. Superheater Temperature Control in Boilers - Steam temperature control is carried out in all boilers to get a constant temperature within a range. Methods like desuperheating by water injection, flue gas flow diverting, and burner tilting are few systems adopted. Main steam and reheat outlet temperature are controlled by these methods in boiler. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

COAL ANALYSIS Effects and Corrections due to Moisture.

Moisture content in the coal affects the reported Heating Value of coal. Corrections have to be applied to get the real values. Read on to learn about these corrections. Fuel cost is the most important single component that determines the cost of electric power. Coal is the primary fuel used for power generation. All utility companies are concerned about how much has to be paid to the coal suppliers. Fuel cost is directly linked to the Heating Value or the energy content of the coal. Determining the correct heating value becomes an important commercial issue and directly affects the profitability of a power plant. The heating value of coal depends on the Combustible Matter, mainly Carbon and Hydrogen, in the coal and how it reacts during the combustion process. Apart from the Combustible Matter the other main ingredients are Ash and Moisture. In its journey from the mines to the power plant, Combustibles and the Ash in the Coal remain unchanged. What changes is the moisture content. A Coal sampled at the mines will have a moisture content higher than what enters the boiler. The moisture in Coal consists of two parts. One is the moisture held within the molecular structure of the coal called inherent moisture. Removal takes place only at temperatures greater than 100 deg C. The second part is the moisture that is on the surface of the coal. This is normally due to the conditions and locations of the mines. This moisture can evaporate in exposed atmospheric conditions. How much evaporates depends on o The time of exposure, o Atmospheric contact because of spreading, o Ambient temperature and humidity. The Moisture in the Coal is both these put together and is the Total Moisture.

129

A coal sampled at the mines having a moisture of 20%, after storage for a few weeks, when entering the boiler can have moisture of only 8%. If the Coal sampled at the mines has an HHV of 18800 kJ/kg the same coal at the boiler will have a higher HHV. This is because the percentage of combustibles in one kg is more. Based on a simple proportion calculation, multiplying by a factor [100-8]/ [100-20] the HHV will be 21620 kJ/kg. In real life, Coal analysis takes place in the laboratory. The coal is spread out and air-dried to remove most of the surface moisture. The Coal Analysis and Calorific Value is determined and reported as on Air Dried Basis (ADB). This ADB analysis is corrected to the actual conditions in the field to the extent of the difference in the moisture content. Since there is a lag between the sampling and the lab analysis, some moisture can evaporate. To avoid this error, coal is sampled in two parts. The first part kept in a sealed container and is used to determine only the Total Moisture (TMactual). The second part is used to find the ADB analysis. Moisture is also determined in the ADB analysis. (Madb)

The ADB analysis is corrected to the field conditions by using the Moisture content in the first sample. The HHV, the proximate analysis and the Ultimate analysis are all corrected by using the same factor. The correction factor is based on simple proportion accounting for the moisture difference.

HHVactual = HHVadb x [100 TMactual] / [100- Madb].

This gives you the exact GCV at the point of sampling be it at the point of receiving (AS Received Basis) or when it enters the boiler (AS Fired Basis). The same is correction is applied for Proximate analysis values and Ultimate Analysis value also.

VMactual = VMadb x [100 TMactual] / [100- Madb] Ashactual = Ashadb x [100 TMactual] / [100- Madb]
Often when comparing different coals it is a practice to take zero percentage Moisture as the reference (Moisture Free basis). All analysis values and HHV is corrected to this zero moisture. *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Cooling Tower Design in Thermal Power Plants

Thermal power plants use cooling towers to cool the circulating water used for condenser cooling. Since water resources are limited, power plants have no other option but to adopt the closed cooling system with cooling towers. Read about the different types of cooling towers and their performance. After air, water is the most important requirement for life on this planet. With fresh water resources depleting and increased population pressure, water sources have become very precious. The primary priority for fresh water is for

130

human consumption and agriculture. Power plant requirements are only secondary. This necessitates the need for thermal power plants that require less water. Cooling Towers help by reusing the cooling water, making power plants economical and more environmentally friendly. Environmental regulations in most countries require that fresh water sources like lakes or rivers cannot be used anymore for an open cycle system. This makes using cooling towers the only option. Open cycle systems can only use seawater. Cooling towers can be of two types. First is the natural draft-cooling tower with a large hyperbolic tower, which pulls in air due to the stack effect. Even though the capital costs are high, operating costs are less.This is because there is no fan to create the air flow. However, most commonly used is the Mechanical or forced cooling tower. A fan forces or sucks air through the cooling tower where the water falls through a packed heat transfer media. Operating costs are high for operating this, but they are simple and quick for construction. o The fans can be induced fan or forced draught fan. o The airflow can be parallel or cross flow to the water flow.

Cooling towers work on the principle of psychometric properties of air. A part of the cooling water evaporates taking in Latent Heat from the water reducing its temeprature. A properly sized Cooling tower can cool the incoming water to temperatures up to 3 C more than the ambient wet bulb temperature. The relative humidity of the ambient air is an important deciding factor. This makes it very important that the location and direction of the towers is such as to prevent re-entrainment of the plume exiting the tower and interference from the adjacent towers. Wet air if it reenters the tower reduces the cooling capacity of the towers.

Losses in cooling Towers.

The loss of water in a cooling tower is due to three different reasons and has to be made up during the operation. The makeup percentage in modern towers is around 1 %. Evaporation loss. A part of the water evaporates, this is what creates the cooling effect. This depends on the ambient temperature and Relative humidity or the ambient wet bulb temperature. Drift loss. The water particles carried away through the flowing air. Drift eliminators and detail design have reduced this largely. In modern towers, this could be in the range of 0.02 % of the water flow. Blowdown losses. The evaporated water leaves behind the salts, which over time accumulates increasing the TDS levels. This requires to be blowdown occasionally. This constitutes a loss which has to be made up.

Biocides and chemical controls are required to eliminate bacterial growth and eliminate scales that are harmful and at the same time a performance reduction factor.

131

Power Plant Emissions- Particulate Emissions

A part of the harmful emissions from coal fired power plants and other sources are minute particles called PM10 and PM2.5. Read on to know about their sources and effects. These fine particles emitted from the power plants disperse over a wide area and are harmful to human beings as they enter the respiratory tract and cause many chronic health problems. Based on their size, they are known as PM 10 and PM2.5. Pollution due to particulate matter in the air is one of the six criteria pollutants in the National Air Quality Standard by the US EPA and also by other regulatory authorities worldwide. Documented health hazards world-wide prompted regulators to specify special regulations to contain the emission of theses small particles into the atmosphere. Due to the very small size, this finds its way into the respiratory tract of humans and is identified as a potential health hazard for the population exposed to it. These particles embedded in the respiratory tract can cause respiratory tract infections, asthmatic complaints, and chronic bronchitis. Dust from power plants was one of the main emission problems of old coal fired power plants. Visibility and ophthalmic problems were the result of exposure to this dust content. Effects on respiratory diseases were not documented. Power plants then had only mechanical cyclones that separated around sixty to seventy percent of the ash. As the power plant numbers and capacities increased regulations were in place limiting the dust emission from these plants. The advent of reliable Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs) and reliable fabric filters helped in considerably reducing dust or particulate emission. Reduction of the earlier limits of 350 g/m3 to the current values of 150 g/m3 or below is to eliminate these health hazards. Together with regulations that require higher chimney stacks, dust fallout on ground level is predicted to be at acceptable levels. Even in countries like India which fire high ash content coals, the new breed of ESPs and Fabric Filters, coupled with high power electronics and software are able to contain the emission limits within the current regulatory limits. Proper sizing, design operation and maintenance of ESPs are the main criteria. Technology is available. ESPs today can capture 99.5 % of the ash that enters the ESP. Earlier standards specified only the total dust emission without considering the size of the particles. Considering the documented evidence of health hazards associated with very fine particles, particulate emission regulations are now made in two parts namely PM10, particulate matter less than 10 micrometers and PM2.5 particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers. Particles greater than 10 microns settle to the ground with less chance of entering the respiratory tract. The current National Ambient Air Quality Standards of US EPA identifies PM 10 and PM2.5 as part of the six criteria pollutants. The limits of PM10 are 150 g/m3 average on a 24 hour basis and PM2.5 is 15 g/m3 on an annual average basis. The Indian Ambient Air Quality Standards for PM10 is 100 g/m3 and PM2.5 at 60 g/m3. The particulate matter themselves can be divided into two as to their formation. First is the primary particle that forms directly at the source like the ash formed during the combustion of the Coal or dust formed during combustion. The other category is the secondary particles formed due to chemical reactions from gaseous emissions from the primary source. Majority is from vehicular emissions. Most of the particulate emissions from Coal fired plants fall in the PM 10 category. The contribution to PM2.5 from power plants is the secondary particles formation due to the SOXand NOX emissions from the plant. The current

132

emission criteria do not include the formation of secondary particle by the sources, but in the future, these may also be part of the pollution *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Steps to Evaluate Boiler Explosion

Boiler explosion causes long outage and loss of generation. It can cause loss of life and property. NFPA has collected data on explosion and has large number of standards which guide to prevent explosion. Evaluating the cause, documenting it for corrective and preventive action is essential. Explosions in boilers are not uncommon. Irrespective of the type of fuel being fired, boilers have experienced explosions. Remember that an explosion analysis is not a fault finding mission, but a fact finding one for prevention of the cause in future. Never officially put on record any of your findings before the chief of the plant at the highest level agrees with you. There are many areas to be taken care by the plant owner and you as a fact finding man have to be helping him in all. However it is very important to record all the facts for your analysis and corrective / preventive action. Reach the site as early as possible (before any evidence is destroyed). Take all printouts of all recorded parameters from at least 24 hrs before the explosion. Take the first-up details; take the event recorder data if available. Take photos of the entire area while inspecting the boiler. Look at all the areas, starting from FD fan to ID fan make a full survey. Immediately pick up any evidence samples then and there and tag them as to where you got them and how they were positioned; take photos before disturbing the position. Take the copy of the shift and boiler operator log book. Discuss with all starting from the chief of boiler and plant to the local floor operator. Note all points verbatim. It will be good to talk to the maintenance group, both regarding the maintenance carried out and their impression about operation. Look at the available after-combustion products before they are cleaned; take samples for analysis. Look at the start-up and shut down procedures as explosions happen mainly during this period. Mark all deviations from o Safe practices o Good operating practices o Large load swings o Any fuel interruption o Action by operator to save unit from tripping like introducing high reactive fuel o Action by local operator without instruction from main control room like introducing igniter o Contradictions in statement of persons o Observation that can be a possible source of evidence o Any other points for your analysis o Make up your own hypothesis for the explosion with the evidence collected; build up a model o Validate this with the owner and the designers o Check with the codes like NFPA whether your hypothesis for explosion of boiler fall in line with these codes and make the final report

NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) and others have analyzed the causes of explosion and find that operator error (can be more clearly put as operator anxiety to save unit from trip) has contributed to about 47%,

133

insufficient purge about 39%, control failure 11%, and equipment failure 3%. The only way to avoid an explosion is to avoid the accumulation of fuel in the boiler *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Advantages of a Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler

Circulating Fluidized Bed combustion is competing with Pulverised Coal firing to give boiler and power plant operators a greater flexibility in burning a wide range of fuels. What is the specific advantage of this technology? What are its limitations ? The Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) technology offers definitely certain advantages over the conventional Pulverized Coal (PC). As with any system there are limitations also. The key advantages and limitations are discussed in this article.

Fuel Flexibility
The most important advantage of the CFB is the flexibility of firing a wide range of coal from 9500 to 25000 kJ/kg. CFBs can also burn a limitless number of other types of solid fuels, separately or mixed with coal. The limitations if any are only in the feeding and other mechanical equipment. The output capacity and steam parameters depend on the heating value of the fuel. CFB boiler can use different types of solid fuels that include low quality coal, lignites, coal blends, bagasse in sugar plants, bark in pulp and paper mills, coal washery rejects in mines, petcoke and other bio mass products. Most of these fuels are seasonal, production or availability dependent. Mixing with coal or using coal when other fuels are not available gives an uninterrupted steam and energy supply.

Sulphur Dioxide removal.

Firing high Sulphur coal requires the use of a Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) plant to keep emissions within statutory limits. An FGD is a complicated plant that requires high capital investment and operational cost. In a CFB limestone addition in the furnace converts the SO2 to sulphates during the combustion and circulation which goes out with the ash. A CFB boiler costs less than a PC fired boiler with an FGD.

NOx Reduction
The combustion temperature in the furnace in a CFB boiler is considerably less than PC boilers resulting in lower NOx emissions. There is no additional requirement of separate NOx capturing devices which reduces capital investment.

Maintenance
Eliminating the pulverizer and pulverized coal piping reduces maintenance, related outages and equipment redundancy. A part of this saving is offset by higher maintenance due to erosion in pressure parts and furnace area, and maintenance of the refractory.

134

Auxiliary Power
Eliminating the pulveriser reduces power but is offset by increased power for higher quantity of primary air. Auxiliary power reduction by eliminating the FGD is a definite gain.

Limitations
Unit capacities with CFB technology are limited to 200 MW range. Higher capacities are in development. Higher steam pressures and temperatures increase the power plant cycle efficiency. CFB technology has yet to achieve the same level of parameters in the new large power plants.
*************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** *************************************************************************************************** ***************************************************************************************************

Differences of a Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler and a Pulverized Coal Boiler.

Circulating Fluidized Bed combustion is a comparatively new technology that has given boiler and power plant operators a greater flexibility in burning a wide range of fuels. How is this different from the more widely used Pulverized Coal Combustion? Most of the coal fired power plants use the Pulverized Coal (PC) firing technology. The technology is proven and is in use for nearly a century. Advances over the years have improved the efficiency of combustion, reliability and reduced emissions. The emerging technology of Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) combustion is different in many ways from PC combustion. The key differences are listed below. PC firing utilises coal ground to a very fine powder sprayed into the furnace for combustion. CFB uses coal crushed to sizes of around 3 to 6 mm. The time energy and facility required to crush coal is much lesser than pulverizing coal. PC firing uses around 30 % of the combustion air as high pressure primary air for drying and transporting fuel. CFB uses higher pressure primary air which is 60 % of the combustion air for fluidizing. The total air for combustion and the balanced draught system is the same in both the systems. The furnace and the cyclones in the CFB boilers are subject to a lot of erosion due to the circulation of particles like ash and sand. To prevent this erosion a thin layer of refractory covers the lower half of the furnace, upper transition areas and the cyclone. PC fired boilers do not have refractory covering on the furnace tubes or other heat transfer areas. In a PC boiler a Flue Gas Desulphurisation unit is required for the reduction of Sulphur Dioxide.

135

In CFB boiler limestone addition in the furnace reduces the Sulphur Dioxide during combustion itself. This requires only a simple limestone storage and handling unit. In PC boilers around 15 % of ash collects at the bottom of the furnace and the balance in the electrostatic precipitators. In CFB boilers the collection at the bottom is almost 50 % lessening the load on the Electroststic Precipitators. The water and steam circuit, the natural circulation of water and heat transfer surfaces are all the same in both the systems.

The diagrams below indicate the overall difference between the CFB boiler and the PC boiler systems.

136

What is Boiler Hydrostatic Test?

The boiler in a modern Thermal Power Plant produces steam at very high pressures and temperatures. One of the most important yet simple test that ensures the integrity of the boiler is the Hydrostatic Test. What is it? How is it done? A string of catastrophic failures marked the starting era of the steam engine. The boiler explosion in the Grover Shoe Factory in Brockton, Massachusetts on March 10, 1905 triggered the implementation of the boiler safety rules. Today, stringent regulations control the boiler design, materials, manufacture and operation. These are mandatory as per law all over the world. In a large Thermal Power Plant there are about Ten Thousand tons of steel tubes, pipes, drums and other vessels that contain the high pressure steam. More than Sixty Thousand weld joints make the Boiler an integrated vessel to produce steam. Design calculations, metallurgical inspections and manufacturing inspections assure the integrity of every part and every weld joint. Hydrostatic test is the last of the test to ensure completion , compliance and safety before the boiler produces steam. The test consists of filling the Boiler with water and pressurizing the water to at least one and half times the maximum operating pressure for a short time. Every part is subject to more than the maximum stress it will normally encounter. This is an endurance test; any weak link fails during the test.

Why water?
Why do we use water as the media for a hydrostatic test ? Water is the most easily available liquid. There are no environmental or toxic issues. There is another important reason. It is the compressibility or rather the incompressibility of water. Water is almost incompressible. For carrying out the hydrostatic test in large power plant boiler we require around 600 cubic metre of water. Since water is almost incompressible, to increase the pressure form atmospheric to 250 bar we require only an additional amount of one cubic meter of water. This is faster and requires much less effort. In case of the failure of any part the pressure also is reduced immediately preventing further damage.

Test Requirements
137

Ensure that all work is completed and documented. Connect a high pressure positive displacement pump (Hydrostatic pump) to the boiler. Fix a calibrated and accurate pressure gauge to the boiler. All valves and opening in the boiler are closed. Fill the boiler with water using a high capacity filling pump. During filing ensure removal of entrapped air by opening vents at the highest point in the boiler. Entrapped air will drastically increase the time taken to reach the test pressure. Running the hydrostatic test pump increases the boiler pressure gradually till the test pressure. Normally the test pressure is is 1.5 times the maximum allowable operating pressure. Close the pump discharge valves to lock the system pressure. The pressure in the boiler should maintain without dropping for at least 30 minutes. Bring down the pressure to the normal operating pressure and visually inspect for any signs leakages or wetting of the surfaces. Depending on the size and capacity of the boiler this may take a few hours. After the inspection reduce the pressure gradually to atmospheric and drain the boiler. Test is witnessed by inspection agencies or regulatory authorities, who then approves and certifies the test. Mandatory Hydrostatic tests done annually by regulatory authorities are a check on material degradation and ensure the continuous safety of the boiler. Hydrostatic tests are not only for boilers. Use the same methods to test any pressure vessel or piping that stores or transports pressurised media. This is a simple but very important test which all mechanical and process engineers should know about.

Basic Calculations for a Power PlantCalculating the Coal Quantity

How to make quick estimate of the coal required for running a power plant? This article describes a simple method. Very often, the Power engineer is required to perform some basic calculations regarding the key parameters of a power plant. Most important is the quantity and cost of fuel that is required.This article gives the simple calculation method. (A detailed calculation required in the context of a contract, tender, performance repor,t or a legal document may require more accurate input data.) We take the example of a 100 MW Coal Fired Power Plant.

Energy Content in Coal

The basic function of the power plant is to convert energy in coal to electricity. Therefore, the first thing we should know is how much energy there is in coal. Energy content of coal is given in terms of KiloJoules (kJ) per Kilogram (kg) of coal as the Gross calorific value (GCV) or the Higher Heating value (HHV) of coal. This value can vary from 10500 kJ/kg to 25000 kJ/kg depending on the quality and type of the coal. You should have an idea of the type of coal, or the source or mine from where the the plant gets the coal. Published data about the sources, mines, regions or the procurement data gives an idea about the HHV of coal. For this example we use a HHV of 20,000 kJ/kg.

Efficiency
Energy conversion takes place in two stages.

138

The first part of the conversion is efficiency of the boiler and combustion. For this example we take 88 % on an HHV basis that is the normal range for a well-optimized power plant. Second part is the steam cycle efficiency. Modern Rankine cycle, adopted in coal fired power plants, have efficiencies that vary from 32 % to 42 %. This depends mainly on the steam parameters. Higher steam perssure and temperatures in the range of 600 C and 230 bar have efficiencies around 42 %. We assume a value of 38 % for our case. The overall conversion efficiency then is (38% x 88%) 33.44 %.

Heat Rate
Heat rate is the heat input required to produce one unit of electricity. (1 kw hr) One Kw is 3600 kJ/hr. If the energy conversion is 100 % efficient then to produce one unit of electricity we require 3600 kJ. After considering the conversion efficiency in a power plant we require an heat input of (3600 / 33.44% ) 10765 kJ/ kw hr.

Coal Quantity
Since coal has a heat value of 20,000 kJ/kg, for producing one kw.hr we require (10765 / 20000) 0.538 kg of coal. This translates to (0.538 x 100 x 1,000) 53800 kg/hr (53.8 T/hr) of coal for an output of 100 MW.

Coal Cost
Basic cost of coal depends on the market conditions. Transportation costs, regional influences and government taxes are also part of the cost. Coal traders web sites give base prices in the international market. We take a coal price of around 65 $ / Ton. The cost of coal consumed by 100 MW power plant is (53.8 x 65) 3497 $ /hr A 100 MW unit produces 100,000 units of electricity. So the cost of coal per unit of electricity is (3497/100,000) 3.5 cents per unit.

139