1.

INTRODUCTION TO THERMAL POWER PLANT

The captive Thermal Power Plant (TPP) of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant has got an in plant capacity to generate 247.5 MW of power at its main TPP and about 39 MW of power from its auxiliary power generation situated at Back Pressure Turbine Station and Gas expansion Turbine station. Main TPP has got 3 generators of 60 MW each and one generator of 67.5 MW. The power produced is used for the steel plant loads (about 215 MW) and the excess power around 30 to 40 MW is sold to the APTRANSCO. The plant has 5 Boilers of 330 T/Hr (at 101 KSCA and 540O C) steam capacity out of 5 boilers, four boilers are operated normally and one as standby/capital repair. The boilers are having very good tube failure record with less than 2 failures per year. The boilers are operated within the norms and water chemistry is maintained well. Thermal power plant always get synchronised with AP Transco grid. Power

generation is maintained always at optimum level and whatever excess generation is there that will be export to AP Transco grid. In case of any problem in our plant we import the power from AP Transco grid. And there is a provision to de-synchronise automatically from grid whenever frequency fluctuations are high in AP Transco grid which will save our plant from total power failure. During that period our plant will run on isolation mode. After frequency getting stabilised, once again we have to synchronise our plant with AP Transco grid. Thermal Power Plant has 5 Boilers each generating of 330 T/hr. steam at 101 KSCA and 540o C. The boilers are of BHEL make, capable of firing combination of fuels namely Coal, Coke Oven Gas, Blast Furnace Gas and Oil. Crushed coal is conveyed from Raw Material Handling Plant to TPP through conveyors. The coal is pulverized in Bowl Mills and fired in the furnace. Normally, 4 Boilers are kept in full load operation to produce 247.5 MW of power, supply steam to 2 Turbo Blowers and process needs boilers outlet flue gas it passes
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through Electro Static Precipitators to control air pollution. The Fly ash and bottom ash generated are pumped in slurry form to ash pond through on ground pipelines. The clarified water is re-circulated back to ash system. (i) TURBO GENERATORS Thermal Power Plant has 4 Turbo Generators, three of 60 MW capacities each and the fourth 67.5 MW. Special features of the turbo sets are:i. ii. iii. Electro Hydraulic Turbine Governing System. Central admission of steam to reduce axial thrust. Forced air cooled generators

Power is generated and distributed at 11 kV for essential category loads. Excess power from TG-1, 2 and 3 is transferred to 220 kV Plant Grid through step up/down transformers. All the Power Generated from TG-4 at 11 kV is stepped up through a 220 kV transformer and transferred to plant grid. Impulse reaction turbine is used. Impulse has 1st stage, input steam at 540O C. Steam passes through this stage pressure changes from 101 ata to 20-30 ata. Reaction has 40 stages. After coming from the impulse stage, steam passes through all these stages pressure decreases to 0.1 Kg/cm2. So velocity changes kinetic energy is converted into mechanical energy. The generators are of salient pole type. (ii) TURBO BLOWERS VSP has two Blast Furnaces. To meet the blast air requirement 3 Turbo Blowers each of 6067 NM3/ Min @ 6.5 Kg/cm2 capacity, are installed at TPP. These Blowers are of axial type and are the largest blowers installed in India. To meet the varying needs of Blast Furnace, the blowers are provided with adjustable stator guide blades in the low pressure compression stages. The Blowers are provided with suction filters, pre-coolers and intercoolers. (iii) CHEMICAL WATER TREATMENT PLANT (CWTP)
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Chemical Water Treatment Plant located in TPP Zone produces high purity Demineralised Water and Soft Water. There are six streams of Demineralising units each capable of producing 125 cubic meters per hour and two softening units of 125 M 3/hr each. DM water is supplied to Chilled Water Plant-I, II and SMS mould cooling. The return condensate from Thermal Power Plant, chilled water Plant No. I and Chilled Water Plant No. II is polished at CWTP in 2 streams, each of 100 M3/hr. capacities. All the demineralised water produced/polished at CWTP is deaerated and dosed with Ammonia before pumping to consumers. 6 Deaerators are installed at CWTP for this purpose. (iv) CHILLED WATER PLANT NO.2 (CWP-2) Chilled Water Plant No. 2 in TPP zone is having nine chillers, each having a chilling capacity of 337 M3 of water per hour. The chillers operate on liquid absorption technique having Lithium Bromide cycle. The chilled water is supplied to TPP, Blast Furnace and Sinter Plant for air conditioning purpose at 7O C. The return water temperature is 16O C. Steam and cooling water requirements are met by TPP and Pump House No. 4 respectively. (v) COKE DRY COOLING PLANT (CDCP) BOILERS In VSP, hot coke produced in the Coke Oven Batteries is cooled b y circulating Nitrogen in Coke Dry Cooling Plant. The hot circulating gas is passed through Waste Heat Boilers in which steam is produced at 40 KSCA pressure and 440O C temperature. There are four Waste Heat Recovery Boilers each of 25 T/hr. capacities in each Coke Dry Cooling Plant. There are three CDCP for 3 Coke Oven Batteries these Boilers are once through forced circulation Boilers deaerators and Boiler feed pumps, serving all the three plants, are located at CDCP-I.

(vi) BPTS & CWP-1

The 40 KSCA steam generated in CDCP Boilers is utilized for driving 2 nos. of 7.5 MW Back Pressure Turbines for generation of power. The 2.5 ata exhaust steam is utilized for production of Chilled Water in CWP-1. The 7 ata extraction steam is used for process requirements of CO & Coal Chemical Plant zone. The CWP-1 has 5 chillers installed, each capable of cooling 337 M3 of water per hour from 18 to 10O C. The Chilled water is supplied to Gas Coolers and for air conditioning needs of CO & Coal Chemical Plant zone. BPTS and CWP-1 are housed in a single building located near Battery No. 3 of CO& Coal Chemical Plant zone. (vii) GAS EXPANSION TURBINE STATION (GETS) Both the Blast Furnace of VSP are designed to operate at a high top pressure of 2.5 kg/cm2. The high pressure BF Gas is cleaned in Gas Cleaning Plant and expanded in Gas Expansion Turbine driving electric generators. The BF Gas after passing through the Turbine is fed to gas distribution network and is used as heating fuel in TPP and other units of VSP. Each Blast Furnace is connected to a Gas Expansion Turbine of 12 MW of power is expected to be generated by each of the turbine at full production level. GETS is located in BF zone, between the two furnaces. (viii) STEAM TURBINES Steam Turbine in Thermal Power Plant converts heat energy of steam to useful work and then the steam is condensed in a condenser which is carried by condensate extraction pump and Boiler Feed Pump back to the Boiler. Thermal Power Plant uses a dual phase cycle to enable the working fluid to be used again and again. The cycle used is Rankine Cycle modified to include superheating of steam, regenerative feed water heating.

2. BOILER & ITS THEORY

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A boiler is defined as a pressure vessel, which transfers heat from a heat source to a fluid. The heat source is typically combustion; however electric resistance boilers can be included into the boiler definition. The fluid in a boiler is typically water (liquid or steam) A furnace is also an appliance, which transfers heat from a heat source to a fluid, with the primary differences being that it is not a pressure vessel and that the fluid is air. Boilers are typically classified by: working temperature and pressure, fuel type, fluid type (state), and material of construction. Commercial boilers, the type of boiler which people are the most familiar with, provide hot water for space heating and/or domestic hot water heating. These boilers are typically low pressure, natural gas fired, hot water boilers.

The water tube boiler is composed of drums and tubes. The tubes always being external to the drums serve to interconnect them. The drums store water and steam. In contrast with the fire tube boilers, the drums in the water tube boilers do not contain any tubular heating surface. Therefore, they can be built in smaller diameters and consequently they will with stand higher pressures. The tubes inter-connecting the water and steam drums constitute the entire heating surface. Normally these boilers have natural water circulation due to convection current set up on application of heat. The initial cost of water tube boiler is higher compared to the fire tube boiler for the same capacity. More common today are watertube boilers, in which water runs through a rack of tubes that are positioned in the hot gases from the fire.

In a real boiler, things would be much more complicated because the goal of the boiler is to extract every possible bit of heat from the burning fuel to improve efficiency.

(i) LOCATION OF HEATING SURFACE IN WATER TUBE BOILERS

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A high-pressure boiler is not a simple assembly of certain components like: burners, superheaters, air heaters and others. The functions of these components are inter-related. The quality of coal used and the operating conditions has great influence on the selection of these components and more than that they influence the philosophy of the general design.

The location of the heat transfer surface (evaporator, super-heater and re-heater) in a boiler is very important and it depends upon the required duty from the boiler. The most commonly used furnace layout for pulverized fuel boilers is shown in figure. In the zone-I, heater transfer is predominantly by radiation as the flame in this zone is diffused yellowflame which radiates much more than the premixed blue flame. As the burned gases move upward and secondary air is added, the effect of radiation is reduced and convection becomes predominant as the flame (hot gases) changes from diffused to premixed. The space marked by (R+C) receives heat by convection as well as radiation provided suitable heat transfer surface is introduced into the path. The heat transfer in the zone-II and zone-III takes place mainly by convection. Zone-II is identified as high temperature and zone III as low temperature zone.

Fig.1 Heat Transfer zones It is essential to provide an opportunity to fuel and air to come in intimate contact for a longer time to achieve the complete combustion. This opportunity decrease as the reaction proceeds
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towards the completion. Therefore, it is always essential to supply excess air to ensure complete combustion. The boiler efficiency decreases with an increase in excess air. The demand for excess air is considerably reduced in pulverized fuel firing system by creating turbulence to air, which increases the surface contact between fuel and air.

Hot turbulent air coupled with low excess air produces a very high flame temperature. At this temperature, ash always remains in molten condition. Metal surface temperatures of all heat transfer surfaces (as they carry water or steam) are less than the ash fusion temperature (AFT). In order to avoid the solidification of molten ash on the metal surfaces, the use of convection heat transfer should be avoided as long as the gas temperature are higher than AFT. Till then the heat transfer must be by radiation only as in zone-I. The exit gas temperature should be as high as possible to provide a high temperature potential for the heat transfer surfaces located in these zones (zone-II and Ill), but at the same time, it should be lower than AFT to avoid slag deposition. About 50% of the total heat generated is absorbed in the radiation zone. This value increases with fall in AFT or fall in excess air supply. Therefore, the maintenance problem becomes more severe if lowest possible tube metal surface temperature relative to superheats and, therefore, the evaporator is most suitable component to be located in zone-I (radiant zone).

Fig.2 GENERAL ARRANGEMENT OF BOILER

The gas temperature is fairly high in zone II and main mode of heat transfer is convection. Therefore, the slagging problem in this zone should not be neglected. Sometimes locating panels and platens before zone II, bring down the gas temperature to safer level. These panels and platens can be evaporator or super heater. Panels are the heat
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transfer surfaces at a considerably greater distance from each other. Therefore, they permit large radiant heat absorption. Platens are heat transfer surface which are closer to each other and heat absorption in platens take place by convection and radiation simultaneously.

Superheater elements are more expensive than evaporator because of their high metal surface temperature. It is desirable to locate the superheater surfaces in this region to reduce its total surface area requirement. Therefore, zone-II (high temperature convection zone) is highly preferable to locate the superheater.

The gas temperature in zone II is relatively low so the cost of the superheater increases if located in this zone. Even though, some part of the superheater can be located at the beginning of this zone if the sufficient space is not available in zone II. The zone III is a more appropriate and economical for locating the heat recovery unit like economizer and preheater. The required superheat temperature in a power plant increases with an increase in operating pressure. Usually beyond 100 atm, reheat becomes essential. The total amount of heat generated in the furnace is distributed among evaporator, superheater, re-heater, economizer and preheater and their percentages depend upon the working condition (part or full load) of the plant and highest operating pressure used.

3. BOILER ACCESSORIES
The common equipment's used in thermal power plants to increase the thermal efficiency are economizers, superheaters and air pre-heaters. The heat carried with the flue gases is partly recovered in air pre-heaters and economizers and reduces the fuel supplied to the boiler. The preheating of air with the gases increases the combustion efficiency and reduces the fuel consumption. The erosion loss due to condensation in the later stage of turbine (efficiency loss also) is also partly reduced by increasing the temperature of steam above saturation. The adoption of these devices as far as economical justification is concerned depends upon the capacity of the plant. Practically all-large capacity power plants can justify the installation of heat reclaiming device from flue gases.

The adoption of one or both equipment's (economizer and air preheater) depends upon the economical justification. It is also equally essential to maintain the performance of these equipments by preventing corrosion and fouling from inside and outside; otherwise the gain from these equipments reduces rapidly with respect to time. Using proper materials for the equipments and controlling the flue gas temperature to avoid the condensation of corrosive gases carried by the exhaust gases generally prevents the corrosion.

(i) ECONOMIZER

The purpose of the economizer is to preheat the boiler feedwater before it is introduced into the steam drum and to recover some of the heat from the flue gases leaving the boiler. The economizer is located in the boiler rear gas pass below the rear horizontal superheater. Each section is composed of a number of parallel tube circuits. All tube circuits originate from the inlet header and discharge into the outlet header through economizer intermediate headers and economizer hanger tubes (in the case of top supported
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economizer with hanger tubes). Feed water is supplied to the economizer inlet header via the feed stop and check valves. The feedwater flow is upward through the economizer, that is, in counter flow to the hot flue gases. Most efficient heat transfer is hereby accomplished. Any difficulty with steam generation within the economizer is eliminated by the upward water flow. From the outlet header the feedwater is let to the drum via the economizer outlet links.

The economizer is a feed water heater deriving heat from the flue gases discharged from the boiler. The justifiable cost for economizer depends on the total gain in efficiency. In turn, this depends on the gas temperature going out of the boiler and feed water temperature to the boiler. Regenerative cycle inherently gives high feed water temperature; therefore the adoption of economizer must be studied very carefully.

Fig.2 ECONOMISER
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(ii) OPERATION Before starting up the boiler economizer should be inspected and cleared of foreign materials, if any. All access doors should be bolted tight. Check the door occasionally for tightness.

Always use only deaerated water of boiler feeding. This is essential to keep down the inside corrosion of pressure parts including economizer. If external steam is available deaerating steam must be admitted before start up of the boiler, otherwise at the earliest opportunity when own steam is available. Feedwater temperature must also be maintained at the specified level either with the help of feed water heaters or heating the water in feed tank. Low feedwater temperature may result in external corrosion of economizer and also higher heat absorption than normal in convection super heaters.

The economizer circulation system if provided should be kept in service when there is fire in the boiler with no feed flow. The unbalance is gas flow between different paths will result in different water outlet temperature from economizer and hence gas flow has to be equalized. Steaming in economizer is harmful to economizer unless otherwise it is designed as steaming type and keeping water on economizer outlet feedwater temperature should prevent hence steaming. To prevent steaming, during design stage, sufficient margin is kept between the predicted economizer outlet water temperature and saturation temperature for the corresponding pressure.

Frequency with which soot blowers are used (if provided) depends entirely on local conditions. Observation of the increase in draft loss blowing will determine the frequency. In many cases it has been found that blowing the economizer soot blower is not necessary for Indian coals. (iii) DESIGN REQUIREMENTS FOR AN ECONOMIZER
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The design requirements must satisfy the following conditions: The heat transfer surface should be minimum. It must be able to extract maximum possible heat from exhaust gases. The height of the tube banks should be minimum so the cleaning on load can be done efficiently. The gas side pressure loss should be minimum to reduce the running expenses of Induced Draft fans. There must be uniform water flow to avoid the steam formation in the economizer. The pressure loss of waterside must be also minimum to reduce the running expenses of the pump. It must in dimensionally with the preceding unit, usually the primary super heater. There must be connection from steam and water drum to the economizer inlet header, to permit the free circulation of water around the economizer to prevent the overheating and boiling during the period when there is no feed-flow during early pressure rising stages. (iv) TYPES OF ECONOMIZERS Basically there are two types of economizers as discussed below: (1) Plain Tube Type Economizer. Plain tube types are generally used in boiler, which is

working under natural draught. The tubes are made of cast iron to resist corrosive action of the flue gases and their ends are pressed into top and bottom headers. An economizer consists of a group of these cast iron tubes located in the main flue between the boiler and the chimney. The waste flue gases flow outside the economizer tubes and heat is transferred to the feed water flowing inside the tubes. The external surfaces or the tubes are continuously cleaned by soot deposition, which is a bad conductor of heat. (2) Gilled Tube Type Economizer. A reduction in economizer size together with

increase in heat transmission can be obtained by casting rectangular gills, the bare

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tube walls. Cast-iron gilled tube economizers can be used upto 50 bar working pressure and such economizers are indigenously available. At higher pressure steel tubes are used instead of cast-iron but cast iron gilled sleeves are shrunk to them. Economizers also may have bare or finned tubes. Bare tubes are specified for dirty fuels but the use of finned tubes in high fouling fuel applications has increased significantly over the past few years. The choice of finned tubes for an application depends on cost, reliability of the bond between fin and tube, temperature and material limitations and extent of corrosion and fouling as well as on heat transfer and pressure drop requirements. A wide variety of materials are available for finned tube construction. The choice for each depends on corrosion problems. Finned tubes are constructed from carbon steels, stainless steels and high-grade corrosion resistant alloys. 150 to 200 fins per meter are commonly used on the economizer tubes used in clean fuel applications. 80 fins/metre are used when dry solid fuels are used and 120 fins/metre are used when oil fuels are used. When high fouling fuels are used, ample clearance is left between fins; mainly to avoid the bridging effects caused by soot deposits. Fin thickness ranges from 0.5 mm to 5 mm. Thick fins offer greater heat transfer efficiency than thin fins and reduce total heat transfer surface requirements. In addition to this, thicker fins have greater resistance to gas side erosion and lower fin tip temperature. This is very important in material selection

(v) OTHER ADVANTAGES OF THE ECONOMIZER There are several indirect advantages obtained by installing an economizer with a boiler plant as listed below: (1) The feeding of the boiler with water at a temperature near the boiling point reduces

the temperature differences in the boiler, prevents the formation of stagnation pocket of the cold water and thus reduces greatly the thermal stress created in the pressure parts of the boiler and promotes better internal circulation.
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(2)

Due to the reduction in the combustion rate of the furnace, the boiler will be more

efficient and the actual fuel saving will be greater than the theoretically calculated. (3) The flow of flue gases over the economizer tubes acts indirectly as grit arrested and

large portion of the soot and fly ash is deposited on the tubes and scraped of into the soot chamber. This reduces the omission of soot and fly ash.

(vi) AIR PRE-HEATERS The heat carried with the flue gases coming out of economizer are further utilized for preheating the air before supplying to the combustion chamber. It has been found that an increase of 20O C in the air temperature increases the boiler efficiency by 1%. The air heater is not only considered in terms of boiler efficiency in modern power plants, but also as a necessary equipment for supply of hot air for drying the coal in pulverized fuel systems to facilitate grinding and satisfactory combustion of fuel in the furnace. The use of preheater is much economical when used with pulverized fuel boilers because the temperature of flue gases going out is sufficiently high and high air temperature (250 to 350C) is always desirable for better combustion. Air heaters are usually installed on steam generators that burn solid fuels but rarely on gas or oil fired units. By contrast, economizers are specified for most boilers burning liquid or gas or coal whether or not an air heater is provided. The principle benefits of preheating the air are: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Improved combustion, Successful use of low grade fuel (high ash content) Increased thermal efficiency, Saving in fuel consumption and Increased steam generation capacity (kg/m2 -hr) of the boiler.

The air preheater must provide reliability of operation, should occupy small space, must be reasonable in first cost and should be easily accessible.
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4. SUPERHEATER
Consideration for protecting superheater is a controlling factor in determining how rapidly a natural circulation unit should be brought up to pressure. The saturated temperature increase must not exceed 110C per hour during start-ups. The superheated elements should be heated as evenly as possible and the maximum temperature of the flue gas entering the first gas touching superheater elements ("Furnace Exit Gas Temperature") should be carefully monitored and controlled during start-ups. The furnace exit gas temperature is normally measured by means of a start-up thermocouple probe traversing about half the width of the furnace. The point of maximum temperature must be determined each time the firing pattern is changed. The maximum furnace exit gas temperature should be limited to 540O C until the steam now is established through superheater.

To assure clearing the superheater element loops of condensate, provision must be made for adequate flow of steam through the superheater while starting up. Drain and vent valves in the outlet headers and/or the main steam line should be opened before the unit is fired and kept open until the unit is steaming under load. These starting vents may be throttled gradually as drum pressure increases, provided sufficient flow through the superheater is assured at all time. When the turbine is synchronized and carrying load an adequate steam flow will be assured, the superheater start up vents may be closed.

While carrying load, protection in the event of a sudden interruption of steam now is provided by the superheater safety valves, which are set to "pop" before the drum safety valves. If the flow of steam from the boiler is suddenly stopped, the superheater safety valves will open first and re-establish the flow. It is imperative that all fuel be tripped immediately when such interruptions of steam flow occur. Care must be exercised to avoid carry-over of water and solids to the superheater and turbine. Steam samples should be
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taken at frequent intervals for the purpose of detecting evidence of carry-over. Steam conductivity records are commonly used for this purpose. Sampling connections are normally provided in the superheater connecting tubes, leaving the steam drum. Carry over may be caused by abnormal high water level, especially if the steaming rate is high. If carrying-over suspected, steps should be taken immediately to investigate and eliminate the conditions causing this carry-over. If the investigation indicates that the carrying-over is not result of improper water condition, the steam internals and the water level control indicating equipment should be inspected at the first possible opportunity.

Fig.4 WATER WALL PLATEN

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Fig.5 SUPER HEATER PLANTEN

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Fig.6 SUPER HEATER FINISH 1 & 2

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Fig.7 LOW TEMPERATURE SUPER HEATER

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5. SOOT BLOWERS
Soot blowers should be operated as often as necessary to keep the external heating surfaces clean a high economizer exit gas temperature and/or erratic steam temperature control action may be an indication of the need for lowing soot. Recording and comparing this exit gas temperature at various loads and furnace conditions can establish a proper soot blower's schedule. It will be found more difficult to use the soot blowers effectively if, during a period of neglect, a considerable amount of fly ash or slag is allowed to build up. Never use soot blowers on a cold boiler. Always be sure that the combustion rate is high enough when blowing soot so that the fires are not extinguished. If the soot-blowing medium is steam, proper drainage of the soot blower piping system is very important in preventing pressure parts erosion. There should be no water pockets whatever in the piping. A 8 mm X 3 mm hole is often drilled through the seat of the drain valve so as to permit continuous drainage of any condense formed. Let the steam blow freely long enough to heat the lines thoroughly before operating the soot blowers.

(i) SECOND AIR DAMPER SYSTEM All the secondary air dampers should be connected to the power cylinders and made operable from control room. Preferably they should be in auto operation the wind box to furnace differential pressure, which can be judiciously set to suit combustion conditions (if some to the damper are in the delinked condition and the air flow distribution around the four corners will not be equal). The fuel air should be opened to ensure a flame front within 1 to 1.5m from the burner tip. A thumb rule for ensuring this is to see the flame through the peephole in the front and rear wall adjacent to the burner nozzle elevation and watch for the disappearance of the block coal stream. The auxiliary air dampers should be modulated to maintain a furnace to wind box differential of 50-70 mmwc, again as to avoid tendency. These properties vary with the coal and hence periodic adjustments are required.
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6. AIR AND FLUE GAS SYSTEM

All dampers and gates, especially the control dampers with actuators are to be serviced and kept in good operating condition. These dampers playa vital role in airflow and draft control in the furnace. Draft measurements and temperature measurements are also equally important for the performance monitoring. Providing draft measurements at FD fan outlet and outlet of Air Per-Heater and ID Fans. (i) TANGENTIAL FIRING In the tangential firing system the furnace itself constitutes the burning fuel and air are introduced to furnace through wind box assemblies located in the furnace corners. The fuel and air steams from the wind box nozzles are directed to the firing circle in the centre of the furnace. The rotative or cyclonic action that is characteristic of this type of firing is most effect in turbulently mixing the burning fuel in a constantly changing air and gas atmosphere.

Fig.8 TANGENTIAL FIRING

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Fig.9 CYCLONIC EFFECT (ii)WIND BOX ASSEMBLY The fuel burning equipment consists of 4 wind box assemblies located in the furnace corners. Each wind box assembly is divided in its height into a number of sections called compartments. Some compartments are provided with coal nozzles, oil guns or gas spuds. The rest of the nozzles are called auxiliary air nozzles. The compartments are provided with lower type of dampers. The dampers of 4 corners operate in unison on elevation basis. Each set of dampers are operated by pneumatic damper drives remote manually from the secondary air damper control system in conjunction with furnace safe guard supervisory system. Some of the intermediate air nozzles are provided with air cooled oil guns and gas spuds. The spuds can be used to fire CO Gas. The eddy plate oil igniters are provided adolescent to the oil guns or gas spuds. These igniters are used to light up the oil guns or gas spuds.

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Fig.10 FURNACE PLAN

(iii)SETTING AUTOMATIC WIND BOX DAMPER CONTROL Auxiliary dampers are controlled by automatic wind box damper controls. Normally the wind box to furnace differential pressure is controlled at pre-determined value to maintain proper air flow distribution and velocity through the compartments. At loads above 30% MCR load, the wind box to furnace differential pressure is increased to a value depending up on the fuel being fired. (iv) FUEL COMPARTMENT DAMPERS The fuel compartment dampers are the ones situated behind coal nozzles, CO spuds/oil guns. These are designed to operate from a minimum opening to maximum opening, according to the fuel firing rate. The point of minimum opening and the maximum opening are independently adjustable. The minimum opening is decided based on the requirement for starting the burners, ignition stability and it should also ensure that flame does not sit on the nozzle itself. The flame should be around 200 to 500 mm away from the nozzles to avoid heating up of the wind box nozzle which will result in to warpage to wind box.
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(v) FUEL COMPARTMENT DAMPERS The fuel compartment dampers are the ones situated behind coal nozzles, CO spuds/oil guns. These are designed to operate from a minimum opening to maximum opening, according to the fuel firing rate. The point of minimum opening and the maximum opening are independently adjustable. The minimum opening is decided based on the requirement for starting the burners, ignition stability and it should also ensure that flame does not sit on the nozzle itself. The flame should be around 200 to 500 mm away from the nozzles to avoid heating up of the wind box nozzle which will result in to warpage to wind box. The optimum setting the damper controller for a particular unit must be based on the conditions that are present on that particular unit. It depends primarily on the fuel being burnt. In general the factors which determine the settings are:

Ignition stability Ignition point relative to fuel nozzle Overall combustion conditions in furnace

On coal fired units the characteristics of the fuel itself will dictate how the damper controller is set. The volatile matter content, moisture content and ash content all of which affect ignition will determine the setting. With high volatile coals, it will probably be necessary to characterize the dampers to reach 100% open at some fuel input less than 100% say 50% to 60 % and to open the dampers at minimum feeder speed to some minimum position such as 20%. On very low volatile coals it may be necessary to restrict the maximum opening to considerably less than 100% at 100% fuel input (for instant to 40% opening) and perhaps even not start opening the dampers unit fuel input is to some point higher than minimum (for instant 30% to 40% feeder speed).
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It must be kept in mind that the final setting must not produce hazardous conditions either from ignition instability or from ignition point being too close to the fuel nozzles at all possible operating conditions of load, numbers of mills in service etc.

Fuel compartment dampers are normally closed on all elevations until each elevation is lit off, at which time the particular elevation fuel damper control is put on automatic and follows the pre-set characteristic with fuel input. The BFG compartment fuel air dampers are controlled remote manually and adjusted by operator depending on firing conditions.

(vi) BURNER ARRANGEMENT The tangentially fired boiler, four tall wind boxes (combustion air boxes) are arranged one at each corner of the furnace. The coal burners or coal nozzles are located at different levels or elevations of the wind boxes. The numbers of coal nozzle elevations are equivalent to the number of coal mills. The same elevation of coal nozzles at four corners are fed from a single coal mill. The coal nozzles are sandwiched between air nozzles or air compartments i.e., air nozzles are arranged between coal nozzles one below the bottom coal nozzle and one above the top coal nozzle. In this unit there are seven number of coal nozzles per corner and eight number of air nozzle per corner. As a special design below the standard bottom end air nozzle on BFG fuel nozzle is located per corner.

The cold nozzles are of fixed split type which gives stable flame even at low loads. The air nozzles in between coal nozzles are termed as auxiliary air nozzles and the top most and bottom most air nozzles as end air nozzles. The coal nozzle elevations are designated as A to G from bottom to top, the bottom end air nozzle as EA and the top end air nozzle as EA. The auxiliary air nozzles are
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designated by the adjacent coal nozzles; like AB, BC etc from bottom to top. The four furnace corners are designated as 1, 2, 3 & 4 in clockwise direction looking from top and counting front water wall left corners as 1. Each pair of coal nozzle elevations are served by one elevation of oil burners located in the in-between auxiliary air nozzles. In this unit, seven mill or seven elevations of coal nozzles and one elevation of BFG fuel nozzles are provided. The oil guns are located in elevation AA to serve BFG fuel nozzles and A- elevation coal nozzles, and oil guns in elevation BC to serve B & C- elevation coal fuel nozzles etc. Thus there are 16 oil guns arranged in 4 levels.

Heavy fuel oil can be fired at all the 16 oil guns. Light fuel oil can be fired only in the bottom elevation of 4 oil guns. Oil guns are atomizers are the same for both the fuel and either of the oils can be fired at elevation AA oil guns, by opening up the appropriate valves at the individual oil gun connections.

COG Spuds are located on the top and bottom of oil guns in the auxiliary air compartments. There are 4 elevations of COG spuds in total. The auxiliary air dampers are used for regulation of combustion air for the COG burning. Each oil gun COG spud is associated with an igniter arrangement.

(vii) COMBUSTION AIR DISTRIBUTION Of the total combustion air supplied by FD fan, a portion called Primary Air goes to the coal mills for drying and carrying it to the coal nozzles. This primary air flow quantity depends on the coal mill load and number of coal mills in service. The balance of the combustion air is referred as Secondary Air. A portion of SA is admitted immediately and around the coal fuel nozzles (annular space around the casting
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insert) in to the furnace. The rest of the SA is admitted through auxiliary air nozzle and end air nozzles. The total air control is dictated by boiler load and controlled by FD fan vane regulation and also the fuels fired.

The proportioning of air flow between the various nozzles is done based on boiler load, individual burner load and type of fuel fired by a series of air dampers. Each of the coal fuel nozzles and auxiliary and end air nozzles are provided with a lower type of regulating dampers, at the air entry to individual nozzle or compartment. In the contract there are 7 coal air dampers, 7 auxiliary air dampers, 2 end air dampers and 1 BFG air damper per corner. Each damper is driven by an air cylinder positioned set, which receives signal from secondary air control system. The dampers regulate on elevation basis, in unison at all corners. The BFG air dampers and BFG end air damper are manually operated from the remove according to the firing conditions.

(viii) BFG DAMPERS

At each corner the BFG entry into the furnace is divided into 2 sections. The top section is provided with a manual damper and bottom section is provided with a self regulating pneumatic damper. These dampers are part of wind box. The self regulating damper at the bottom part closes or opens to maintain a constant BFG pressure before the burner. And hence the velocity of the BFG is maintained at a constant level at the top port thereby proper mixing and combustion of BFG is ensured. These gives better stability to the BFG flame and better turn down.

7. PERFORMANCE
All steam generating equipment is designed for a specific purpose. When supplied with feed water at a specific temperature, the unit will deliver a definite quantity of steam at the design
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pressure and temperature. Operating at conditions, which exceed the design limitations, will shorten the life of the boiler and its components.

The concentration of solids entrained in the steam leaving the steam drum will depend to a great extent upon the quality of the feedwater. Suitable make-up water treatment and an adequate blow down programme should be employed to control the boiler water alkalinity, silica and concentration of dissolved and suspended solids in the boiler water. Adequate mechanical deaeration of the feedwater should be provided and steps taken to control the level of metallic oxides entering the boiler in the feed water.

The quantity of fuel consumed is greatly measured and recorded. The means employed will depend upon the nature of the fuel and equipment available for measuring. A representative fuel sample should be obtained periodically. The services of competent laboratory should be employed to analyze the fuel with respect to chemical constituents, calorific value, viscosity (liquid fuels) and other physical characteristics, which could have an unfavourable influence on operation and efficiency.

An analysis of the flue gases leaving the boiler is invaluable as an index complete and economical combustion. Combustion should be completed before the gases leave the furnace. The best percentage of excess air to use will depend upon the nature of fuel, the design of the fuel burning equipment and other factors. The most desirable excess air for different rates of evaporation must be established for each installation. The presence of carbon monoxide (CO) in the flue gas indicates incomplete combustion. The Orsat apparatus is the most reliable mean of analyzing flue gases and should be used as a check even when other instruments are provided to furnish this data. For determination of the

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percentage CO, CO2 and O2 gas samples should be obtained at the rear pass outlet upstream of the air heater. When the heat transfer surface are kept clean, the temperature of the flue gases leaving the air heater and the draft less through the unit will be substantially a constant for a given rating and percent excess air. This illustrates the desirability of keeping accurate records of performance from the starts of operation. Operating data should be recorded in a form that will facilitate comparison with data taken under similar operating conditions. When the equipment is new, standards should be established to serve as measures, to satisfactory operation. Then if operating conditions deviate from this established standards steps could be taken to determine and correct the cause of the discrepancy. (i) EFFICIENCY GAIN Potential efficiency improvement from condensation heat recovery can be visualized. If the flue gas is cooled from 150C to the dew point temperature of 60C, an efficiency improvement of 3% is possible. Further cooling, resulting in condensation of water vapour drastically increases heat recovery. At the outlet temperature of 40O C, the efficiency improvement may be as high as 11%. This indicates the importance of achieving flue gas condensation. If the flue gas temperature is reduced in this system 250C to 40C, 15% increase in efficiency can be achieved. The efficiency gain of a specific installation depends upon (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Fuel used (H2 content in fuel). Flue gas exit temperature from boiler. . Amount of low-level heat needed. Fuel moisture content. Air humidity used for combustion.

The different advantages of high-pressure boilers are listed below:

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(1)

The tendency of scale formation is eliminated due to high velocity of water through

the tubes. (2) Lightweight tubes with better heating surface arrangement can be used. The space

required is also less. The cost of foundation, the time of erection and cost are reduced due to less weight of the tubes used. (3) Due to use of forced circulation, there is more freedom in the arrangement of furnace,

tubes and boiler components. (4) All the parts are uniformly heated, therefore the danger of overheating is reduced and

thermal stress problem is simplified. (5) The differential expansion is reduced due to uniform temperature and this reduces the

possibility of gas and air leakages. (6) The components can be arranged horizontally, as high head required for natural

circulation. There is a greater flexibility in the component arrangement. (7) The steam can be raised quickly to meet the variable load requirement without the use

of complicated control devices. (8) The efficiency of plant is increased upto 40 to 42% by using high pressure and high

temperature steam. (9) A very rapid start from cold is possible if an external supply of power is available.

Hence the boiler can be used for carrying peak loads or standby purposes with hydraulic station.

8. QUICK ESTIMATION OF BOILER PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS

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(i) INTRODUCTION Boiler engineers and operators frequently assess the performance of their boilers. The assessment may be for maintenance, troubleshooting, calibration and checking of plant instruments or for computing operating costs. A method to quickly and accurately estimate the air and gas side parameter from locally available data is the theme of this article. Complicated formulae are reduced to simple equations so that estimation of performance parameters can be done at site with a simple calculator. The amount of data required is also kept to a minimum. (ii) THEORETICAL DRY AIR REQUIREMENT Statistically it has been found out that the theoretical dry air required for a heat input of one million kCal (MkCal) is fairly constant for a given type of fuel. The simplification of various equations is based on the following assumption. Theoretical Dry Air (WTA) 1360 -- Coal 1325 Oil 1300 Gas kg/MkCal

(iii) QUALITY & COMPOSITION OF FUEL The quality and composition of the fuel are a vital requirement for these calculations. In coal-fired units, the data that is readily available daily is the proximate analysis and gross calorific value as indicated below. PROXIMATE ANALYSIS OF COAL (AS FIRE BASIS) M Total Moisture % Ash Ash % VM Volatile Matter % FC Fixed Carbon % Gross CV of Coal (as fired basis) HHV kCal/kg)
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S.No. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Description Total moisture Volatile matter Ash Fixed carbon

Values 7.2% 22.61% 40.21% 29.98%

The percentage constituents in coal and the gross calorific value are related by formula given below. This formula, derived from statistical analysis of different samples, can be used to check the correctiveness of proximate analysis and HHV reported within a tolerance of 150 kCal/kg. Gross CV (kCal/kg) HHV = [83.052* FC + 57.992*VM -14.178* Ash - 43.611* M + 797.746]. For oil and gas, calculations can be done based on the Gross CV of the fuel. EXCESS AIR Excess air is one of the most important parameters in boiler operation. This controls the efficiency and heat transfer in the boiler. This oxygen content in the flue gas is the measure of the level of excess air. Normally the boiler excess air is defined at economizer outlet, which can be considered to the same as that in the furnace. Excess air can be calculated by the following formula. Excess Air (%) EAI = [O2 i /(21 O2 i )] * 100 *kj O2 i Oxygen in flue gas at economizer outlet % k1 1.00 for Coal k2 0.95 for Oil k3 0.92 for Gas O2 % ON DRY BASIS All calculations in this article are based on oxygen on flue gas measurements on a dry basis. Extractive flue gas sampling will give flue gas analysis on a dry basis. In-situ

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measurements using zirconium probes will give flue gas analysis on a wet basis. The following relation can correct wet basis measurements to dry basis: O2%. - dry basis = [O2% wet basis] / k2 k2 0.90 for Coal k2 0.87 for Oil k 0.81 for Gas (iv) EFFICIENCY The most important boiler performance indicator is the efficiency. The complicated efficiency calculations in performance test codes have been simplified and are given below. Only the three main losses are calculated. Dry gas loss is the most important controllable loss in a boiler. The assumed value of WTA is used to compute dry gas loss as per the formula given below. Air heater outlet is considered as the boundary of the boiler. The gas temperature and flue gas O2 % leaving air heater, along with ambient temperature, is used for computation. Dry Gas Loss (%) DGL = [0.000529 * WTA * (TGO - TA)] / (21-O2) TA - Ambient Temperature C TGO - Exit Gas Temperature C O2 - Oxygen in Flue Gas at Exit % The second main loss in a boiler is the hydrogen and moisture loss. The operator does not have a control on this loss. It is totally fuel dependent. Hydrogen in coal is estimated from proximate analysis using the following statistically derived formulae. Hydrogen (%) H = -3.45 - 0.0005 * M + 0.023 * Ash + 0.126 * VM - 0.0013 * VM2 + 0.0007 * HHV. For Natural gas fired boilers, the hydrogen value can be found out from the fuel gas analysis. For oil firing, the hydrogen value of the design fuel can be used. Moisture loss due to hydrogen and moisture in fuel is calculated based on the following formula.
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Moisture Loss (%)

ML = [(9H + M) * (0.45 TGO + 597.3 - TA)] / HHV

The third important loss in a coal-fired boiler is the loss due to combustibles in ash. This is not applicable to oil and gas fired boilers. The data required for analysis is the combustibles in bottom ash and fly ash. This analysis is normally done daily in a coal-fired power plant. For pulverized coal fired, ash distribution is taken as 15 % in bottom hoppers and 85 % in ESP hoppers. The following formulae compute the loss due to combustibles in ash: Wt. Average Combustibles (%)...UW = 0.85 * Ufa + 0.15 * Uba UW - Combustibles in Fly Ash (%) Uba - Combustibles in bottom Ash (%) Combustible Loss (%) UL = [Uw * Ash * 8077] / (100- UW) * HHV] Another important loss in a boiler is the carbon monoxide (CO) loss. Carbon monoxide levels in a normally operating boiler will be low (in the range of 150 PPM) and the loss also will be significantly low. With bad combustion, and low excess air, the levels can go very high (in the range of 3000 to 10000 PPM). The probability is more in the case of oil and gas fired boilers. The following formula can be used to compute this loss: CO Loss (%) COL = [(4.89*10-6 * WTA / (21-O2)]* CO - [CO - CO in Flue Gas - PPM] The other losses are fixed in nature and are uncontrollable by the operator. Hence the value of these losses is assumed to be constant. Other Losses (%) OL: Assume 1.25 % Ash % > 30 Assume 0.75 % -- Ash % < 30 Assume 0.5 % -- oil & gas The boiler efficiency is calculated as follows: Boiler Efficiency (%) = 100 DGL ML UL COL OL FOR 30% BF GAS :
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Data Taken: Theoretical Dry Air (WTA)= 1342 kg/MkCal Proximate Analysis of Coal (As fired basis) M Total Moisture(%) 7.2% Ash Ash (%) 40.21 VM - Volatile Matter (%) - 22.61% FC Fixed Carbon (%) - 29.98 TA Ambient Temperature (OC) - 37 TGO - Exit Gas Temperature (OC) 220 O2 Oxygen in flue gas at exit (%) - 5.79 Gross CV (kCal/kg) - HHV = [83.052 * FC + 57.992 * VM - 14.178 * Ash - 43.611 * M + 797.746] HHV = [83.052*29.98+57.992*22.61 14.178*40.21 43.611*7.2+797.746] HHV = 3714.75 Dry Gas Loss (%) DG1 = [0.000529*WTA * (TGO-TA)] / (21 - O2) DGL = [0.000529*1342*(220 37)] / 21 5.79) DGL = 8.54% Hydrogen (%) H = -3.45 0.0005*M+0.023*Ash+0.126*VM - 0.0013*VM2 + 0.0007*HHV H = 2.25% Moisture Loss (%) ML = [(9H+M) (0.45TGO+597.3-TA)]/HHV ML = [(9*2.25+7.2)(0.45*220+597.3-37)]/3714.75 ML = 4.87 %

Wt Average Combustible (%) UW = 0.85*Ufa+0.15*Uba Ufa Combustible in fly ash (%) 4

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Uba Combustible in bottom ash (%) 2 Wt Average combustible (%) UW = 3.7%

Combustible loss (%) UL UW*Ash*8077]/(100-UW)*HHV] UL = [3.7*40.21*8077] / [(100-3.7)*3714.75] Ut = 3.36% CO loss (%) COL = (4.89*10-6*WTA*CO) / (21-O2) CO CO in flue gas (PPM) 3000 COL = (4.89*10-6*1342*3000) / (21-5.79) COL = 1.29% Other losses (%) OL =1.25 (Assume) Efficiency h = 100 DGL ML UL COL OL h = 80.69%

FOR 35% BF GAS Data Taken: Theoretical Dry Air (WTA)= 1339 kg/MkCal Proximate Analysis of Coal (as fired basis) M Total Moisture(%) 7.2% Ash Ash (%) 40.21 VM - Volatile Matter (%) - 22.61% FC Fixed Carbon (%) - 29.98 TA Ambient Temperature (OC) - 37 TGO - Exit Gas Temperature (OC) 229.7 O2 Oxygen in flue gas at exit (%) 5.98 Gross CV (kCal/kg)- HHV = [83.052 * FC + 57.992 * VM - 14.178 *
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Ash - 43.611 * M + 797.746] HHV = [83.052 * 29.98+57.99*22.61 14.178*40.21 43.611*7.2+797.746 HHV = 3714.75 Dry Gas Loss (%) DGL = [0.000529*WTA * (TGO-TA)] / (21 - O2) DGL = [0.000529*1339*(229.7 37)] / 21 5.98) DGL = 9.08% Hydrogen (%) H = -3.45 0.0005*M+0.023*Ash+0.126*VM - 0.0013*VM2 + 0.0007*HHV H = 2.25% Moisture Loss (%) ML = [(9H+M) (0.45TGO+597.3-TA)]/HHV ML = [(9*2.25+7.2)(0.45*229.7+597.3-37)]/3714.75 ML = 4.90% Wt Average Combustible (%) UW = 0.85*Ufa+0.15*Uba Ufa Combustible in fly ash (%) 5 Uba Combustible in bottom ash (%) 2 Wt Average combustible (%) UW = 4.55%

Combustible loss (%) UL UW*Ash*8077]/(100-UW)*HHV] UL = [3.7*40.21*8077] / [(100-4.55*3714.75] UL = 4.16% CO loss (%) COL = (4.89*10-6*WTA*CO) / (21-O2) CO CO in flue gas (PPM) 4000 COL = (4.89*10-6*1339*4000) / (21-5.98) COL = 1.74% Other losses (%) OL =1.25 (Assume)
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Efficiency h = 100 DGL ML UL COL OL h = 78.87%

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