Energy Conservation

in Boiler
By
Lokesh Chourasia

www.pcra.org
 Introduction: Lokesh Chourasia
▪BE Mechanical , MS, USA Mechanical (Thermal Engineering)
▪Worked previously with NTPC Ltd., AREVA Solar, McHale
Performance, and Reliance Power.
▪A BEE Certified Energy Auditor, Accreditation in process.
▪Have more than 16 Years of Industry experience primarily in O&M,
Plant Performance, and Energy Audit of Power Plants
▪Completed More than 60 energy audits, 40 Baseline verification
audits, and more than 20 M&V Audits in Power Plant, Iron & Steel,
Refineries, and Petrochemical Plants.
Agenda
• Basic of Water and Boiler
•Classification of Boilers
•Performance of Boiler
•Boiler Efficiency Calculation
• Scope of Optimization based on Field study
Basic of Water and Boiler
Basics of Water
To define property of Water or
Steam We need at least 2
parameters. These parameters
1. Pressure
2. Temperature
3. Dryness fraction (only if steam is
wet)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/T-s-diagram-steam.png
What Boiler Do
A Steam Generator provides Hot Water or Steam at DESIRED pressure, temperature, and Flow.
Steam ? Can be Wet Steam, Saturated Steam, or Superheated Steam
◦ Saturated Steam used in process
◦ Superheated steam mostly used in power generation

Boiler Processes

1-1’ Sensible Heating (Liquid Phase)

1’-1” Latent Heating (2 Phase)
1”-2 Sensible Heating (Vapor Phase)
 How Much Energy is Needed
1 Economiser 1’ Evaporator 1” Superheater 2

Sensible Heating of Water Latent Heating of Water Sensible Heating of Steam

Total Energy needed in heating

657 kcal/kg
645 kcal/kg
 What Boiler Do and Energy Bifurcation

Task Task Task

Heating 1 Bar 30 °C to 361 °C Heating 10 Bar 30 °C to 361 °C Heating 100 Bar 30 °C to 361 °C
Energy Consumed kCal Needed Weighted % kCal Needed Weighted % kCal Needed Weighted %
Sensible Heating
69 kCal/kg 09% 151.08 kcal/kg 21% 303.53 kcal/kg 44.88%
of Water
Latent Heating
540 kcal/kg 74% 482.40 kcal/kg 66% 316.32 kcal/kg 46.77%
of Water
Sensible Heating
125 kcal/kg 17% 96.33 kcal/kg 13% 56.44 kcal/kg 8.35%
of Steam

Total 734 kcal/kg 730 kcal/kg 677 kcal/kg

What Boiler needs for Steam Generation
Fuel :
◦ Non Coking Coal of GCV range from 2000 kcal/kg to 4500 kCal/kg
◦ Natural Gas : NCV Close to 10000 kcalkg
◦ HSD/LDO : GCV close to 10000 kcal/kg
◦ Furnace Oil: GCV close to 9600 kcal/kg
◦ Any Other Fuel which has GCV : can be rice husk, wood, or any other fuel.

Air : Air used for Combustion of Fuel.

What Boiler Need for Complete Combustion: TTT
Time
The fuel needs to stay in the combustion chamber for a specific amount of time, usually 2-3 second.
Temperature
Temperature is the second element of combustion, The temperature required in a range from 1000-1300 °C to
burn the Carbon.

Turbulence
Turbulence, the third element of combustion, is used to define the proper air flow needed to mix oxygen with
hydrocarbons.
Boiler Associated Fans will circulate the mixture to ensure that the oxygen and hydrocarbons to provide a balanced
chemical equation at the end of combustion.
Where Boiler is used? Everywhere
Power Plant : Power Generation
Sugar Industry : Need Process steam and Have Captive Power Plant:
• Process Boilers: Process
Textile Industry : Need Process Steam and have Captive Power Plant Boilers are used exclusively for
heating purpose.
Fertilizer Industry: Need Process Steam and have Captive Power Plant
• Industrial Boilers: Industrial
Refinery: Need Process Steam and have Captive Power Plant Boilers are used for dual
Steel Industry : Have Captive Power Plant purpose of heating and power
generation (CHP Boilers)
Cement Industry: Have Captive Power Plant
• Power Boilers : Power Boilers
Chlore Alkali: Need Process Steam and Have Captive Power Plant are used exclusively for Power
Generation.
Home heating in Cold countries: small gas fired boiler
Hotels : Prime objective to get Hot water.. Mostly Small boiler
 Classification of Boilers
Axis Circulation Fuel
Position of Water

Horizontal Vertical Natural Forced

Water Fire Tube
Tube Boiler Boiler
Solid Liquid Gaseous
Fuel Fuel Fuel
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS: According to Water Flow
Water tube boiler:
BFW flows through the
tubes get heated and
converted into steam

Fire Tube Boiler : In this

hot gases passthrough
the tubes. BFW is in the
shell side and is
converted into steam.
 Boiler Selection

Fire Tube Boilers :

PRESSURE: 1 to kg/cm2
These boilers are selected when the CAPACITY : 500 kg/hr to Approx 10 TPH
steam demand and steam pressure
Steam used for process use/drives
requirement are low.
Water Tube Boilers :
These boilers are selected when the PRESSURE : Above 10 kg/cm2g
steam demand as well as steam pressure CAPACITY : Above 10 TPH
requirements are high as in the case of Steam used for process or power
process cum power boiler / power generation.
boilers.
BOILER ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENTS
 Boiler Basic Path
Air Path Ambient Air Boiler
FD Fan

Water-Steam Path Boiler Process or

BFP Economiser Superheater
Drum Steam Turbine

Stack
Flue Gas Path Boiler Superheater Economiser APH
 Economiser

An Economiser is a device in which the

waste heat of the flue gases is utilized for
heating the feed water.
Super-heater

Super-heater is designed to super heat

the saturated steam coming out from
the boiler drum.
Typical Air Pre-heater

Air Preheater is used to preheat the

Combustion Air by utilizing the Flue
Gas Energy
BOILER PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
Boiler Performance parameters
Capacity (MCR) : To check whether Boiler Can deliver the Desired
Flow on continuous basis with specified steam conditions.
Steam Pressure : To check whether Boiler can deliver the steam at
desired Pressure
Steam Temperature : To check whether Boiler can deliver the steam
at desired Temperature
Boiler Efficiency : To check Boiler Can deliver all above parameters at
desired boiler efficiency.
Evaporation Ratio : Defined as ratio of Quantity of Steam generation
to quantity of coal consumption
Boiler Efficiency Calculation
 Boiler Efficiency Calculation

Boiler Efficiency Defines, How Efficiently Boiler is Utilizing the Input Fuel
Energy and transfer the energy to Water-Steam.
There are 2 Methods used for Efficiency Calculation
• Direct Method
• Indirect Method
Direct Method of loss estimation

Steam Output
Flue
Gas

Fuel Input 100%

Boiler
+ Air
Water

Efficiency = Heat addition to Steam x 100

Gross Heat in Fuel

Steam flow rate x (steam enthalpy − feed water enthalpy)

𝐵𝑜𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑟𝐸𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = 𝑥100
Fuel firing rate x Gross calorific value
Indirect Method of loss estimation

ESP
 Indirect Method: Typical Losses
Solid Fuel Unit Losses Liquid/ Gaseous Fuel Unit

Dry Flue Gas Loss % 5.21% Dry Flue Gas Loss % 6.29%
Unburnt Carbon % 0.65% 11.61
Heat Loss due to H2 in fuel %
%
Loss Due to Hydrogen in Fuel % 4.22%
Heat loss due to moisture in fuel % 0.00%
Heat loss due to moisture in fuel % 2.00%
Heat loss due to moisture in air % 0.05%
Heat loss due to moisture in air % 0.19% Heat Loss due to Radiation and Unaccounted % 0.21%
Heat Loss due to Radiation % 1.00% 18.15
Total Losses %
Loss due to CO in flue gas % 0.01% %
81.84
Boiler Efficiency %
Boiler Efficiency % 86.63% %
Parameters Needs to be measured for Boiler Efficiency

Measurements location
• Proximate and Ultimate Analysis of
Fuel as fired basis
• Loss of Ignition analysis at Bottom
ash and ESP
• Ambient Temperature
• %O2 at APH Inlet
• APH Outlet Temperature at no
leakage (Calc)
 Steps of Doing Indirect Calculation

Theoretical Air Required kg/kg

Excess Air Supplied %
Actual Air Supplied Ton/ton
Mass of Dry Flue Gas Tons/Ton
Heat losses calc for different losses
Why prefer Indirect Method instead of Direct
Method
Comparison of Direct and Indirect
Method
Energy Balance of Boiler
Energy Audit of The Boiler and Associated
equipment's
Objective : The Energy Audit of Boiler and Associated equipment's in general includes

◦ Boiler
◦ Associated equipment's including
◦ FD Fan : Efficiency of the Fan

◦ ID Fan : Efficiency of the Fan

◦ PA Fan : Efficiency of the Fan

◦ Coal Mills : Specific Power consumption.

◦ Air Preheater :
Steps of doing Energy Audit of a Boiler
❖Define Test Boundary Condition
❖Define the pre operating condition of the boiler
❖Define the field measurements during the audit
❖Collect the data either from the field measurement or from the DCS.
❖Make the calculation sheet.
❖Find out the Energy Conservation Opportunities
❖Prepare and submit the report
 Pre Conditions of the Unit
• Boiler was run on constant at 100% load for 4 hours.

• IBD and CBD were closed and not operated during test.

• Soot blowing was carried out before test only. No soot

blowers operated during the test.

• Fly ash and bottom ash hoppers cleaned before test.

• DM Make water control valve kept in control mode

during the test.

• No equipment changeover performed during the audit

• Auxiliary steam isolated from the unit.

Primary parameter Needs in Efficiency
Calculation
•Exit Flue Gas Temperature: More the Exit Flue gas temperature, higher the
dry flue gas losses will be
•Unburnt Carbon in Bottom Ash : Higher the % Unburnt carbon more the
losses will be.
•Unburnt Carbon in Dry Ash
•CO in Flue Gas : Sign of incomplete combustion
•Hydrogen in Fuel : Fuel property
•Moisture in Air : Check specific humidity of inlet air.
Unit Audit data collection
Duration of Test Run:

2 hours

Frequency of measurements:

5 minutes intervals for DCS parameters and 15 min for manual record.

Measurements and Sampling:

Sampling

• Coal sample was collected from each Coal feeder at an interval of 30 minutes.
• Bottom ash sample collected from hopper once during the test.
• Fly ash sample collected from ESP hopper once during the test.
Major Findings/ Problems find during Energy Audit
 Control of Eco Inlet Valve
Whats Wrong with This?

1. There is 10.6 Bar Pressure drop across

valve. This pressure drop leads BFP to
work extra for 10.6 bar.

Whats is The Solution?

1. Open Eco Inlet valve to 100%. This will

reduce pressure drop to less than 5 bar.

There Will be Saving in BFP Power Consumption

 RAPH Leakages
𝑶2 % 𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝑷𝑯 − 𝑶2 % 𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝑷𝑯
𝑨𝑷𝑯𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒂𝒈𝒆 %, = × 100
20.9 − 𝑶2 % 𝒈𝒂𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝑷𝑯

SAPH A PAPH A SAPH B PAPH B Whats Wrong with This?

O2 Inlet 2.4 2.6 3.2 2.8 1. The % Leakage across PAPH A is 18%
O2 Outlet 4.3 5.4 4.78 4.9
% Leakages 11% 18% 10% 13% Whats is The Solution?

1. Arrest the leakages in the next

Overhauling/Shutdown

There will be saving in FD Fan Power, ID Fan Power consumption, and

improvement in Boiler efficiency
 Duct Leakages : APH to ID Fan
Improving the duct leakage in ID Fan Whats Wrong with This?

Parameter UoM Fan A Fan B 1. There is more than 36 °C temperature

APH Outlet Temp °C 146.00 148 drop across APH outlet and ID Fan Inlet
ESP inlet Temp °C 142.00 144
ESP Outlet Temp °C 125.00 126 Whats is The Solution?
ID Fan Inlet Temp °C 110.21 119
Power Consumption kW 480 390 1. Find out the duct leakages and arrest
it.

With the Duct leakage there will be an increase in ID Fan power

consumtion.
Low Boiler Operating Parameters as Compared to Design

Whats Wrong with This?

1. The operating temperature at the

boiler exit is higher than the design.

Whats is The Solution?

1. Lower heat transfer in the different

boiler sections

Higher Exit temperature will leads to lower boiler efficiency

 High Dry Flue Gas Loss in Boiler

Parameter UoM Operating

Whats Wrong with This?
Exhaust temp °C 201.20
1. The stack temperature of the boiler is 201.20
Optimized Temperature °C 150 °C. Whereas, the design temp is 150 °C.

Existing Dry Flue Gas Loss % 7.52% Whats is The Solution?

Optimized Dry flue gas loss % 4.52% 1. Section wise analysis of poor heat transfer in
the Boiler
% improvement with Reduce in Flue gas temp % 3.25% 2. Boiler temperature survey
3. Check the tube deposits in shut down

There Will be Saving in Fuel consumption in the Boiler

 Unburnt Carbon in Fly Ash and Bottom Ash in Boiler

Whats Wrong with This?

Parameter UoM Data
Existing Unburnt carbon in fly Ash % 20.6 1. The Loss of Ignition in Fly ash is 20.6%

Total Coal consumption per day Tonne 250

Yearly coal consumption Tonne 51000 Whats is The probable reason?
Ton of Carbon in the Ash tonne 5022 • The fuel is not gating sufficient time to Burn.
Optimized Unburnt Carbon % 10 Due to high
• High % O2
Scope of Saving in coal tonne 2438 • Improper mixer of multiple fuel

There will be saving in the Fuel consumption

 Continuous Blow Down of the Drum

Whats Wrong with This?

Parameter UoM Data
1. There is continuous Blow down from the
Continuous blow down of water from all Boilers TPH 25 (5%) Boiler drum.
2. There is significant amount of energy
Yearly blow down TPA 200000
consumed in heating
Scope of saving in blowdown considering 50% TPA 50000 Whats is The Solution?
Saving in Fuel Consumption in Heating of water
from 50 °C to 250 °C Ton 1500 1. Open the Blow Down valve only based on
Water-Steam Chemistry report
2. Design blowdown is usually less than 2.5%.
Install control valve in place of Manual valve

There Will be Saving in BFP Power Consumption, and Fuel Consumption

 Low Fuel Inlet Temperature

Parameters UoM Data

Whats Wrong with This?
Existing Mill outlet temp °C 59
Expected mill outlet temp °C 80 1. The Fuel inlet temperature is low.
Whereas, there is a scope of heating fuel
Total air flow rate TPH 76.94
with the waste heat/ hot air.
Scope of saving kCal/hr 387764
Yearly saving kcal yearly 3.10 x 1009 Whats is The Solution?
Coal GCV kcal/kg 4127.00
1. Increase the inlet fuel temperature
Yearly saving in tonne ton 751.66 as high as possible.
2. Close any cold air damper.

There Will be Saving in Fuel Consumption

 Low Air Outlet Temperature in APH

Unit Whats Wrong with This?

Parameter Unit Design
Data APH A APH B 1. The Gas Outlet Temperature is higher than
the design and Air Outlet Temperature is lower
Gas Inlet Temp ºC 364 331.00 331.00 than the design

Gas Outlet Temp ºC 147 191.00 175.00 Whats is The Solution?

Air Inlet Temp ºC 33 35.45 35.20
1. APH Baskets needs to be inspected. There
may be more flue gas which is bypassing the
Air outlet Temp ºC 338 316.00 325.00 baskets and not transferring their energy

There Will be Saving in fuel consumption with the increase in Boiler

efficiency
Poor Insulation

Poor insulation causes Radiation

losses. Normally Radiation losses
are less than 1%.
Other Encon Opportunity
•Poor coal fineness
•Soot blowing optimization
•Loss due to CO in flue gas
•Improper balancing of PA-FD-ID Fan
•Passing of startup vent, and other safety valves
•Improper control of steam temperatures
Conclusion
• A Boiler Parameters needs to be Monitor frequently to estimate the
performance.
• The methodology to estimate the performance of Big or Small Boiler
is remain same.
•The Fire Tube Boilers are mostly used in small size boiler. Big size
Boilers are Water Tubes.
 QUESTIONS
???

For Any further questions regarding performance of

all the Boiler, Turbine, and Associated equipment's
Plz Contact [email protected]