NPC Central Boiler Board

Workshop
Effective Operation & Maintenance
Practices - Boilers
Na RAGHU

TPS
TECHNOPLUS SERVICES
PLOT NO.18, SURESH NAGAR MAIN ROAD, VALASARAVAKKAM, CHENNAI 600087,
TELEFAX: +91 44 24868464 Website: www.technoplusservices.com

Boiler Capacity

It is expressed in F@A at 100 deg C.

What it means F@A at 100 deg C

C, 5TPH
Feed water and steam temperature of the boiler is 100 deg C. Only latent heat is added to it.
Actual output depends on the feed water temperature.

Calculate the actual output of 5TPH ,17.5kg/cm^2, F@A at 100 boiler, where feed water temperature is 30
deg C
5000 * 540 / (Enthalpy of steam at 17.5 feed water temp.)
= 5000 * 540 / (667.5-30) =4235 kg/hr
From this you can observe
observe, if the boiler pressure / feed water temperature changes the output also
changes. Try to give feed water temperature close to 100 deg C to get maximum output.
Do not get confused with efficiency of a boiler.
Efficiency = Output heat / Input Heat and nothing to do with boiler output

Na.Raghu
www.technoplusservices.com

Effective Operation & Maintenance

Boiler should be operated closer to the specified parameter. For example,

water quality, fuel quality, rated capacity of boiler, operating procedures
Ensure feed water quality.
Check with plant people on load pattern and maintain boiler pressure
accordingly.
Clean fuel filter, burner nozzle, pressure regulating valve, diffuser plate as
per schedule.
h d l
Check flue gas with analyser periodically. Whenever there is a load change,
fuel refilling, check and tune burner with the help of flue gas analyser.
Installing an online O2 analyser loop for the burner will payback within 6
months.
Low Load Operation will lead to inefficiency
If low load can not be avoided consider the following options
options.
De-rate the boiler
Oil Fired Boilers De-rating, if the load is less than 50%
Change the burner nozzle
nozzle, fuel pump
pump, blower to match existing load
parameters
Na.Raghu
www.technoplusservices.com

Effective Operation & Maintenance

If the low load operation is part of the day, take a look at the burner turn down
ratio. Turn Down is the burner capacity from low flame to high flame
Standard
St d d IIndian
di pressure jjett burners
b
provides
id tturn d
down off 1:3
1 3 up tto 4TPH
boilers. Above 4TPH, it will be 1:4
1:4 on a 10TPH boiler means that burner will operate between 2.5TPH to
10TPH in modulation
modulation.
At less than 50% continuous load, you would observe excess air of more than
4.5% and controlling it will lead to clinkering in diffuser plate.
Installing
g VFD for blower fan shall be carried out with a p
proper
p combustion
controller. The oil regulating valve characteristic and blower are not linear.
Go for a burner with high turn down ration in this case
A rotary Cup burner will help you in this case. It will have turn down ration of
1:6 to 1:10
Many boilers are operating without heat recovery unit. Installing a Air PreHeater with corrosion management will improve efficiency by 4%

Effective Operation & Maintenance

Solid Fuel Fired Boiler

Ensure fire wood size. Split fire wood and sun dry in the yard to drive out
moisture.
If boiler capacity is more than 4TPH, go in for wood chipper. Chip the wood
and dry it. Fuel firing can be automated.
In FBC boilers, ensure the sand size is maintained. Maintaining lower than
rated
t d size
i will
ill llead
d tto excess air
i and
d erosion
i
Ensure that there is no air leakage in furnace, ducting etc.
Install and maintain draft gauge at furnace, ID fan, FD fan
M i t i -1mmwc
Maintain
1
iin th
the ffurnace.
Often you will observe that it is more than -4mmwc. Keeping more negative
pressure will lead to fresh air suction leading to lower combustion efficiency
Installing VFD for ID,
ID FD,
FD Fuel Feeder with a combustion controller will help
in electrical and fuel saving
Soot blowing should be carried out once in 4 hours.
Clean boiler
boiler, APH
APH, WPH regularly for better heat transfer
transfer.
Furnace refractory maintenance should be carried out periodically.
Na.Raghu
www.technoplusservices.com

Effective Operation & Maintenance

Insulation of boiler, ducting steam piping should be checked and corrected

periodically.
Boiler should not go for more than 4 ON / Off per hour. Control fuel feed and
operate it.
Low Load Operation in Solid Fuel Fired Boiler
No modulation is available in fixed grate boiler. Under low load condition
f l feeding
fuel
f di should
h ld be
b restricted
t i t d to
t actual
t l load
l d pattern.
tt
After careful study of load pattern, furnace may be modified.
FBC Boiler: Sand bed height should be varied to match the load.
If the
th load
l d is
i less
l
than
th 50%,
50% operating
ti will
ill b
be diffi
difficult
lt iin h
husk
k fifired
d unit
it d
due
to low bed temperature.
Compartment furnace will help.
Water Level Control Instead of On / Off control,
control changing over to two
element or three element control will help in more than 5% fuel saving.

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www.technoplusservices.com

Effective Operation & Maintenance

Blow Down

Blow down should be given based on feed water TDS and Total Alkalinity for Low Pressure boilers

TDS in Boiler water should not exceed 3500ppm and TA should not exceed 700ppm

If feed water is having 450ppm TDS and TA of 300ppm, Calculate % blow down

Feed Water TDS / (Allowable TDS Feed water TDS) * 100

= 450 / (3500 450) = 14.75%

Based on TA
= 300 / (700-300)=75%
Whichever is higher, blow down should be maintained on the higher value. From this we find 75% of boiler
output should be drained every hour to maintain steam quality and avoid corrosion in boiler.

By giving blow down,

down we are loosing energy.
energy It is advisable to go for DM with Deaerator or RO plant to
ensure we have negligible blow down.

Na.Raghu
www.technoplusservices.com

Effective Operation & Maintenance

Condensate
C
d
t management:
t E
Ensure condensate
d
t is
i recovered
d and
d pumped
d
back to the feed water tank. Higher the feed water temperature better the
efficiency.
Avoid group trap
trap. Provide autoamtic air vent in pipe line and process
process.
Quality of condensate water should be checked.
Install plate heat exchanger or shell and tube heat exchanger to recover the
heat if contamination is noticed or from p
process heat.
Steam pipe should be sized properly.
Boilers available in the market are 10.54 / 17.5 bar. (standard boilers)
If yyour operating
p
gp
pressure is 4 bar or less than 4 bar,, consider installing
g
turbine and generate power instead of using PRV.
For existing boilers, consider saturated steam turbine, if super heating is not
viable.
For new boilers, consider a medium pressure boiler with super heater.
COGEN power cost would be approximately Rs2/- per unit.
If the steam load is fluctuating, careful analysis should be done. Installing a
steam accumulator will help.
help
Na.Raghu
www.technoplusservices.com