Boiler Fuel Firing System

COMBUSTION
Everywhere, at all times, oxygen combines with other elements. This general process is called Oxidation Burning, or Combustion, is a special form of oxidation: - Oxygen combines rapidly with certain types of fuels, such as coal, oil, gas or wood, and substantial amounts of heat are liberated. The Degree of Flammability depends on how easy it is to turn into a gas, because nothing truly burns until it is a gas. This in turn depends on the nature and quantity of the substance, compared with amount of heat available to start combustion.

The task of burning commercial fuels in actual furnaces includes: 1) Preparing the fuel and air ; 2) Converting the complex fuel into elementary fuels; 3) Bringing these fuels and air together in the right propositions and at the proper temperature for ignition and combustion; 4) Transferring heat from the products of combustion to the boiler or other surfaces, while retaining enough heat in the combustion zone to maintain volatilization and ignition. All these actions occur at the same time in any furnace, and each particle of fuel traces the entire sequence, in order, in its brief passage through the furnace.

FUELS

SOLIDS COAL Anthracite Bituminous Lignite BIO-MASS Bagasse Peanut Shell Paddy Husks Coffee Bean Wood Chips Barks Wood Petcoke Municipal Refuse Used Tyres

LIQUIDS HSD LSD LSHS Vacuum Residue Refinery Process wastes Black liqour

GAS LCV Producer gas Blast Furnace Gas Pyrolysis Gas Corex Gas Refinery Lean Gas Natural Gas LPG Coal gas

The Process of Combustion involves three stages: (a) Ignition (b) Combustion Stability (c) Completion of Combustion In Combustion process, ignition occurs in vapour phase. Solid and liquid fuels get ignited from their vapours.

Solid Fuel Firing: Firing of solid fuels are broadly classified into: 1. Bed Firing Fixed Bed Firing Moving Bed Firing Travelling Grates Reciprocating \ Roller Grates 2.Suspension firing

Bagasse Distributor

Coal Spreader

DIRECT FIRING SYSTEM PRIMARY AIR FAN

PULVERISER

BURNERS

Exhaust gas

cyclone Bag filter

Pulveriser

BURNERS INDIRECT FIRING SYSTEM

OIL FIRING SYSTEM FEATURES Fuel Oil Preparation Pumping the oil and heating it are the major preparatory functions. Filtration of oil in one or more stages to remove any dust, dirt, sediments, sledge etc. also forms part of preparation. This renders long trouble free service life to pumps, valves and oil gun atomiser nozzles. Maintaining the HFO temperature constant, corresponding to the atomising viscosity of 15 to 20 centistokes, is essential for better fuel oil atomisation. A lower temperature of fuel oil impairs the burner performance and a higher temperature causes oil cracking.

Fuel Oil Atomisation Atomisation is the process of spraying the fuel oil into fine mist, for better mixing of the fuel with the combustion air. While passing through the spray nozzles of the oil gun, the pressure energy of the steam converts into velocity energy, which breaks up the oil stream into fine particles. Poorly atomised fuel oil would mean bigger spray particles, which takes longer burning time, results in carryovers and makes the flame unstable due to low rate of heat liberation and incomplete combustion. Other than pressure, viscosity of the oil is the major parameter which decides upon the atomisation level. For satisfactory atomisation the viscosity shall be 15 to 20 centistokes.

Oil Recirculation Before putting in the first burner into service, it is necessary to warm up the long oil supply lines to the burners, so that the oil does not get cooled in the colder pipings and that the oil at correct atomising temperature becomes available at the burners. To achieve this the heated oil is circulated up to the burners and back to the oil tank through oil return lines till adequate oil temperature is reached near the burners. System Vents Fuel oil heaters, strainers and lines are provided with vent cocks or valves on oil and steam sides to get rid of air locks while charging system.

System Drains All oil lines are run with a slope of about 0.3 to 0.5% towards drain. Each section of oil line is provided with a drain valve at the lowest point. All drain valves are normally kept closed during operation. Oil Temperature Control The result of inadequate heating of oil is "higher oil viscosity" which impairs atomisation at the oil gun, leading to poor flames, sooting, increased carbon loss and finally flame failures. Over heating the oil is also not desirable from the point of thermal cracking of oil. The formed solid carbon particles build up over the heater tubes, and plug up the strainer, intricate passages of control and shut off valves and atomisers. The carbon particles also cause faster atomiser wear out and sparklings in the flame.

Fuel Oil Conservation Oil firing in the boiler shall be limited to the barest minimum. Oil burners of ignitors shall be in service for minimum. For flame/furnace instabilities observed at boiler loads above 30-40% MCR, focus attention to analyse and set right the firing system parameters or equipment, comprising, air damper controllers, flame scanners, control and monitoring instruments etc., instead of simply resorting to oil support. It may not always be safe also, to have continued oil firing without tuning the unit's overall operation and protection. .

BURNERS: Burners undertake the task of delivering coal and air in a proper proportion, facilitate ignition energy to the coal air stream, sustain the ignition and provide a stable flame during the operation, complete the task of combustion and delivering heat to the intended purpose. Burners are broadly classified as follows: (1) Tangential Burners (2) Wall Burners (3) Down shot or fan tail burners

Burner Arrangement In a tangentially fired boiler, four tall windboxes (combustion air boxes) are arranged, one at each corner of the furnace. The oil and gas burners are located at different levels or elevations of the windboxes. The coal , oil and gas burners are sandwiched between air nozzles or air compartments. That is, air nozzles are arranged between gas spuds, one below the bottom gas spud and one above the top gas spud. The fuel and combustion air streams from these burners or compartments are directed tangentially to an imaginary circle at the centre of the furnace. This creates a turbulent vortex motion of the fuel, air and hot gases which promotes mixing, ignition energy availability and thus combustion efficiency.

The proportioning of air flow is done based on boiler load, individual burner load, by a series of air dampers. Each of the auxiliary and end air nozzles are provided with louver type regulating dampers, at the air entry to individual air compartment. The damper regulates on elevation basis, in unison, at all corners. Ignitors Oil and gas are ignited by a pilot flame. This pilot torch may be a Oil ignitor Gas ignitor High energy arc ignitor

Combustion generated Pollutants

1. Nox emission 2. Sox emission 3.CO 2 emission (green house gases) 4. CO emission 5. Particulate emission

COREX GAS FIRING SYSTEM DESIGN Corex gas is a steel plant derivative whose characteristics lie between producer gas and blast furnace gas.

Plant and operator safety become paramount important in the system design as the gas contains 42 % CO

Burners are capable of operating at 100 % MCR on coal , 100 % MCR on corex gas and 30 % on oil support. For the first time such burners and the relative systems are designed.

As the corex gas transport piping are of max 2500 in size, engineering analysis for supporting these pipes were

carriedout using computer software. Some important safety aspects 1. Gas leakage detection system. 2. Nitrogen purging of cortex gas lines. 3. Burner trips are effectively ensured by venting the gas using the double block and bleed valves. 4.Explosion proof equipment

Properties of Corex gas

Lower Heating Value (kcal/Nm) Composition (% Volume) Methane (CH4) Ethane (C2 H6) Carbon monoxide(CO) Carbon dioxide (CO2) Hydrogen (H2) Nitrogen (N2) Density (kg/Nm)

1600 1900

700 -800

1-3 35 - 45 30 - 35 15 - 20 1-3 1.28

0.2 - 0.6 22 - 24 15 - 21 1.5 - 2.5 52 - 56 1.37

Coke Oven Gas 4950 28 2-3 6.4 2 55 - 60 3.5 0.65

Parameter

CorexTM Gas

Blast Furnace Gas

Fig.7 : Physilological effects on Carbon Monoxide

0.15

CO content in air ( % )

Lethal atmosphere
0.1

Dangerous atmosphere
0.05 `

Tolerable atmosphere

0 0 1 2 3 Breathing Time (hours) 4 5 6

BURNER DESIGN FOR LCV GASES. wall burners are designed to fire BFG and coke oven gases. Flame stability measures are adequately taken care of in this design. Continuous oil support is envisaged while firing BFG gas. Analysis of the aerodynamics of burner is undertaken using latest software tool, CFD (computational fluid dynamics ),

FUNCTION OF CHEMICAL & HEAT RECOVERY UNIT

MODERN RECOVERY UNIT SERVES THE PAPER MILL IN DUAL CAPACITY.

1.

It provides a mean of recovering spent chemical from black liquor that results from the digesting process.

2.

It also serves as a steam generator by burning out the organic matter present in black liquor.

FLOW DIAGRAM PAPER MILL

FLOW DIAGRAM RECOVERY BOILER

Design Improvements in B.L firing System

NOx Formation and Control Strertegies

NOX FORMATION AND REDUCTION THE FORMATION OF NITROGEN OXIDES WITH THE COMBUSTION OF FOSSIL FUELS MAY RESULT FROM THREE DIFFERENT REACTION MECHANISMS THERMAL NOx FORMATION PROMPT NOx FORMATION Nox FORMATION FROM FUEL NITROGEN

AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES FOR REDUCING NOX FROM TANGENTIAL COAL FIRED UNITS
90 80
% NOX REDUCTION FROM BASE *

SCR PM+ NH3/UREA

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 INCREASING COST * BASE IS A TYPICAL PRE 1970 TANGENTIALLY FIRED UNIT. BASE NOX WII RANGE FROM 860 MG/Nm3 TO 610 CLOSE COUPLED OFA CCTFS LNCFS W/OFA PM

OVERFIRE AIR OVERFIRE AIR IS INTRODUCED INTO THE FURNACE TANGENTIALLY THROUGH TWO ADDITIONAL AIR COMPARTMENTS, TERMED AS OVERFIRE AIR PORTS, DESIGNED AS VERTICAL EXTENSIONS OF THE CORNER WINDBOXES. THE OVERFIRE AIR PORTS ARE SIZED TO HANDLE 15 PERCENT OF TOTAL WINDBOX AIR FLOW. THE PROVEN SUCCESS OF OVERFIRE AIR AS A SUPPLEMENT TO THE TANGENTIAL FIRING IN LIMITING NOx FORMATION DURING COAL COMBUSTION LIES IN THE FACT THAT THIS TECHNIQUE INHIBITS FORMATION OF BOTH FUEL NOX AND THERMAL NOX AS AN OXYGEN DEFICIENT ENVIRONMENT IS ESTABLISHED IN THE PRIMARY COMBUSTION ZONE. AT DESIGN LEVELS OF OVERFIRE, A 20 TO 30% REDUCTION IN NOX FORMATION IS ACHIEVED.

NOX DEPENDENCE ON OVERFIRE AIR FLOW

300

250
NO (PPM @ 3% O2)

OFA VS NO

200

150 EXCESS O2 (%) VS NO 100

50

0 0 2 4 6 8 OVERFIRE AIR(%) 10 12 14 16

THE PREVIOUS CHART INDICATES THE NEED FOR CARE IN IDENTIFYING OPTIMUM NOX CONTROL METHODS. WHILE NOX EMISSION DECREASE LINEARLY WITH

INCREASING OVERFIRE AIR, EXCESS AIR RISES ( i.e., MORE AIR IS NEEDED TO COMPLETE THE COMBUSTION). IF OVERFIRE AIR IS INCREASED BEYOND 15 %. THIS DECREASES BOILER EFFICIENCY DUE TO THE HEATING OF EXTRA AIR.

STAGED COMBUSTION: TO REDUCE NOX FORMATION DURING COMBUSTION, THE TWO MAJOR NOX- GENERATION MECHANISMS CONVERSION OF FUEL BOUND NITROGEN AND HIGHTEMPERATURE FORMATION OF THERMAL NOX-MUST BE CURTAILED. ONE SUCSSESFUL TECHNIQUE INVOLVES WITHHOLDING SOME O2 FROM PRIMARY FLAME ZONE AND INTRODUCING IT GRADUALLY THEREAFTER TO ENSURE SMOOTH, COMPLETE COMBUSTION AT RELATIVELY LOW TEMPERATURES. THIS METHOD IS KNOWN AS AIR

STAGING, IS USED IN SOME FORM FOR VIRTUALLY ALL LOW -NOX WALL AND TANGENTIALLY FIRED BURNERS.

LOW NOx BURNERS Wall burners (oil and gas ) A low NOx burner indigenously developed , tested at site and

introduced in the contract GAIL -AURAIYA. This burner is capable of emitting NOx at a level of 150 ppm on oil firing. Tangential firing In the current units CCOFA(close coupled overfire air) feature is incorporated in the windbox itself. To meet the latest trends in the NOx control measures , provision of a separate over fire air( SOFA ) is being developed .

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