13- t General Description 373

boilers that have to be taken into account while des igni ng or operating this type of
13
Forced Circulation for Sllpercritical
or Sllbcritical Boilers
[OVO' 'liO
The main objective of a goou naturaJ circulation design is to have wet steam at
the o utlet of ~Il the tubes making up the water walls of the combustion chamber.
Provided the dry out and critical heat flu x are not reached the boiling inside the
tube occurs in a nucleate reg ime, where the hear trans fer coefficie nt is in the range
of 10-40 kW/m2.c. Owing to such high internal heal trans fer coe ffi c ients, the
tem pe rature of the tube wa ll s remains very dose to the salUration temperature of
the water. This mi.l kes the task o f material se lec ti o n and ci rculation des ign easy.
Another ad vantage of th is natural circulation is that circu lo.lion rate increases either
when press ure decreases or when heal nu x increases. The former e nables inherent
now stabili wt ion uuring load rejection as lo ng as the leve l of wate r is correctly
cont ro ll ed in the drum. The latter allows natural uniformity o f Rows in adjacent
tu bl!s receiving different heal fluxes.
A di sadvantage uf thi s natural circulation boi ler is that it needs a' heavy, th lc k-
walled drum and dowm:orner as well as large-diameter water waJl tubes to allow
high water fl ow rates through them. So the cost of pressure parts is very high.
Al so, a rapid change in temperature of these pressure parts is difficult to handle
and he nce restricted. A change any faster than about 50°C/h may make thennal
boiler at either sub- or supereritieal ste ..lm co nd it io ns. As far as possible, these spe-
c ific c harac teri stics will be given in comparison wit h those of a natural circulation
bo il er.
13-1 General Description
In a forced circula tion boiler, unl ike natural circulati on ones, water in th e water
wall s is fed with water pumps. These pumps can eithe~ on1&: be the main waler
feeding pumps or the main feeding pumps assisted by Udb~ te~6r so-called circu-
lation pumps. This chapter would not di sc uss assisted circulation boilers. as they
are more similar to natural circulation.
Forced circulation boilers also called once -throu gh or mono tube boilers. were
first developed in the late 19205 by Benson . Here water was fed into the water
wall tubes at supercritical pressure irrespective of the load of the plant. In the
original Benson-type forced circulati~m boiler, the heated supercritical fluid after
the water walls was expanded throu'g h expansion nozzles to the conditions desired
for use of steam . So the main purpose of thi s forced c irculation boBer was to avoid
the use of heavy pressure parts, i.e., drum :lIld dowilcomer, which are essential in
a natural or assisted circulation onc. To allow fas ter te mperature variations was
another purpose for this type of boiler. The firs t design had thick water wall tubes
to withstand supercritical pressure and wasted much powe r in feed pumps at partial
loads. Benso n and Sulzer improved this design by operating the boiler with sliding
pressure (Fig. 13-1 ). Here the boiler operating pressure varies with the load. This
pressure variation following load means that only a slight choking of turbine inlet-
r valves is needed to allow load increase. The main load variations are carried out
!
/,
by adjusting the water feed and firing rate s while keeping the inlet turbine valves

Pr~re
fatigue and cracks appear. So this type of boiler is mainly operated at constant
temperature. Since boiling takes place ins ide water wall tubcs, its walls are at
saturation temperature. To maintain the walls at constant temperature the boiler 100% + - - - -- - - - -."
...:'\•.
mu st be operated at constant pressu re. As a result, to vary the load a natural .J' .1
!:~
c irculation would use a stop valve at the outlet of the boiler to adjust the flow rale .~--i~
needed by the. turbine. Such a throttling action hy the steam SlOp valve can cause
vibrations and te mperature changes at the inl~t o f the high press ure (HP) turbine.
,...
:i
~

rf
a
Al so the chokin g in the SlO p val ve wastes large amount of feed pump power. :!
Anoth er point is that a gradual heating is required for all these hF.a~y . ~r~ss~re .. -, ,I,
pans. So to initiate the natural circulation during startup the boiler-lakes a long\ ~
,- J
time and hence wastes fuels. _,' ~·ih !j,
o
FinalIy. for modern high-efficiency plants where design pressure is chosen above
, II: k
,['
100%
;;1: load
190 bar, natural or even assisted circulation is no longer work~blc. hecause trye eir-
,,~ ~..b !I..i".(lK"'l,JJ1<- ,-
,v
"j;
eulati on rate is insunicient. For this reason, forced ci rculation has been aeveloped. "',.-,". FIGURE 13-1. Sliding pressure variation us a function of load in a lypical forced-through
In the nex t section, we wiII present the main characteristics of forced circulation boi ler (© EDF/SEPTEN/EC)

I
0
1.~
Ii;
(.~
 374 13. Forced Circulation
fully opened. This specific feature protects the HP turbine against mechanical and
[hennal fatigue and avoids wastage of power in feeding pumps at part load. This
feature of the forced circulation boiler greatly helped irs development. Today, good
availability and efficiency are reported worldwide for this rype of boiler.
In the next two sections, we will look at the main criteria to be taken into
account for general and circulation design of forced circulation boilers. Then we
will discuss in the last section, the main improvements needed to reach advanced
steam parameters for both pressure and temperature.
13-2 Design Principles of Forced Circulation Boiler
As seen in the combustion chapter of this book, design of a pulverized coal (PC)
fired furnace is mainly dictated by fuel characteristics. The design requires that
0) fuel has to burn completely before leaving the combustion chamber. This de-
pends on volatile matter content, inflammability criteria, and particle diameter
especially. Oi) Ash particles ,nust not be molten when reaching the first trans-
verse heat exchangers at the top of the combustion chamber or those in the back
pass. This restricts the maximum flue gas temperature at this point. Compared to
pulverized coal (PC) boiiers, circulating fluidized bed boilers have less constraints.
As can be seen in Figure 13-2. forced circulation boilers can either be erected in
single or double pass. The choice for this mainly depends on (i) fuel erosion and
,.t
a b
FIGURE 13-2. Arrangement of two types of boiler: (a) single-pass or open-type fur-
nace or semi-open-type furnace; (b) double-pass or semi-opcn-type fumace) (© EDFI
SEPTEN/EC)
13-3 Fealures of Forced Circulation Boilers 375
slagging or fouling characteristics, (ii) operating flexibility, (iii) local conditions
for space, wind, and seismic load.
Tht:; single-pass boiler does not have a back-pass. All heat exchanger .surfaces
(except the economizer, whether partially or fully) are stacked inside the furnace
enclosed by evaporator water walls. It has several special advantages. The flue
gas Haws only vertically upward and gas velocity is relatively low in front of
the first heal exchangers, where heat transfer is achieved mainly by radiation. As
a result of this large spacing and low velocity are allowed between the tubes.
.O wing to this erosion is low and deposits of ash on tubes are minimal. As all heat
exchangers arc horizontal, they are easy to drain and they allow larger flexibility for
startup procedures. Another advantage is the quasi symmetric general arrangement,
which provides more clearly defined flue gas flow, and heat transfer, which enables
easier tangential firing and hence (i) higher burn-up with longer coal particle
residence time, and (ii) low NO" emission using both staged combustion and
over-fire air. This, however. suffers from the need of a very raIl furnace height,
resulting in higher costs and less capacity to withstand strong winds or seismic
conditions.
Double-pass boilers are mainly used when climatic or seismic conditions do
not allow erection of a single pass one. Also these are most commonly used coal
fired boilers around the world. Here the suspended heat exchangers (platen wall)
cannot be drained, and special care has to be taken lo avoid plugged flows and
induced thermal stresses in headers during startup procedures. Lack of synunetry
in the combustion chamber, makes it difficult to use advanced steam conditions
where steam temperature may be close to the maximum allowable material tem-
perature.
Forced circulation boilers are used specially to attain high pressure up to su-
percritical conditions. Also, for a given power input the enthalpy difference-from
inlet to outlet of evaporator-tubes decreases with rising pressure (Fig. 13-3). One
major goal for advanced steam boiler design is to keep the water wall within the
maximum allowable temperature range of the materials.
13-3 Features of Forced Circulation Boilers
A nalural or assisted circulation boiler has to be designed to avoid completely
vaporized flow inside the tubes enclosing the combustion chamber; wherai§'in a
once~through boiler, a total vaporization of water in the water walls is needed.
This is the only way to attain high pressures (which can be supercritical) where
saturation enthalpy (or heat of vaporization) can be very low (zero for supercritical
pressures); and yet a given amount of heat must be absorbed by the walls to cool
the flue gas temperature to a certain level at the outlet of the furnace. So special
care must be taken first not to exceed the allowable temperature of the tube walls
at any load and second not to allow large temperature differences between parallel
membrane tubes which are welded together. As a result, the main design consider-
ations for circulation inside the water walls for the entire range of operation of tli.e
plant are-
376 \3 . Forced Circulation 13 .. 3 Features of Forced Circulation Boilers 377

paramete rs affect ing the so-ca ll ed dry Ollt or de parture fro m nucleate bo il ing (DNB)
(l!fl1)I!faltn)
or critical h ~a t flu x (C HF) (sel! Cha pter 12 on C ircu lati o n). The key param ~ lers
that influence th e increase in temperature during dry ou t are s team pressure, mass
,.....
flux , and qu ality of steam (i.e., wetness); heat flux alon g the combustion chamber
f ...."
and circumferential to the tube; tu be geo metry inlet proJiie, intel:naI and external
diameters, bends, inclination, and s urface (smooth or riffled); and inside foulin g of
the tubes. So depending on all these parameters, CHF for th e given circu la tio n fl ow
,.~------------------------\
rate in indi vidual tubes (i n kglm 2 . s) will be calculated . For large¥capaci ty boilers
where the volume (a nd thu s the perimete r) of the furna<..:e has to be in<..: reased, the
cross sec ti on area of the tubes may beco me (00 large 10 get sufficient ci rcul at io n
fl ow rate , Th en tubes have to be inclined to decrease flo w area and to increase the
"·r------------------:::~~2~
circulatio n fl ow m te. Such incl in ed lubes are also called s piral tubing . These also
".
-,. ------- largely improves heat flux homogeneity.
As th e tubes making up the furnac e walls are joined toge ther with intermediate
we lded fins, there is a second cri terion to be met. It is to avo id temper::Hure differ-
ences be tween these tubes to kee p stresses wlth~ admiss ible limits. For thi s eit her
th e h e ~t flu x rece ived by eac h tube has to be identica l or if so me nonuniformity
in hea t flux is prese nt between differe nt tubes, the n thi s heat flu x has to be COIn-
pcnsated by different flow rates ( 0 bring a temperature unifonnity. Except in the
case of low (lignite f.ring in PC) or relatively unifonn (eFB fo r any fuel) heat flux,
(entropvl
" this criteri on is very difficult to fulfill. So, e fforts mus t be made to achieve some
FIGURE 13-3. Temperature/entropy diagram showing three different types o f water/steam uniformi ty in the heat absorpti on by different tubes .
circuits (© EDP/SEPTEN/EC)-Gray sol id lines: Typical french PWR plant; Black dot For a corner fired boiler usin g international stea m coal, a three dimensiOlwl
lines: one reheat supcrcriti cai boiler lfullload); Dlack broken lines: one reheat supcrcritical combustion computatio n has been carried ou t for one ofrh e 600 MWe units erected
boile r (low load); Black sol id lines: one rcheal subcritical boiler (full load) in France in the I 980s . Figure 13A s hows the di s tributi on of heal flux on di ffe rent

I . To ensure adequat e fl ow within indi vidual lubes regard less or (i) the load (i. e., l OP BOW Of BtJRHfRS

heat flux and pressure ins ide the tu be) or (ii) the fouling o f outside the tube and
,.
oxidation in side the tubes.
2. To maintain uniform temperatures betwee n the different tu bes welded rogether.
To attain this the designer must e ither have uniform heat flu x on eac h tube or ''''''''"
irr operalkm
compe nsate for the differences in these heat fluxes by differe nt fl ow rates.

T he plan t at times requ ires fast res po nse to load variations or rejec tio n or trip o f the
.,,
' PIl lOW 01 burnefs
turbine. This ge nerally requ ires the install atio n of by-passes o n the tu rbi ne to pre-
8prTOM RqW Qf RlfBNfM ~ud eoal
vent sudden di sturbance in the operation o f the boiler, and also a quick and accurate aooall.lion
instrumentation and control (I & C) system to ensure security o f the plant. Both
circulation features and I & C of forced circulation boilers are di sc ussed below.
Bottom lOW 01 b\lfllffll

13-3-1 Forced Circulation and Water Wall Arrangement

At a g iven flow rate of water, the firs t criteria to be fulfill ed is to coo l the tubes
sufficie ntly durin g a dry ou t so that the wa ll te mperature does not exceed the
all owab le metal temperature. This means that very careful atten tion must be paid
to the design o f the circ ulation system and water wall arrangement. T here are many FIGU RE 13-4. 3D view of combustion of a 600 MWc comer lired boiler (© EDF/DERlLNH)
 :~, i
373 13. Forced Circulatiun

walls. As ca n be see n in this figure large variatio ns of the heat flu x occ ur along bot h
't j
.~. 1
13-3 Features of Fo rced C irculation Boilers

- - - W~er ifl~ Wain I i\1!lIIII mixlllr.

379

height and width of (he furnace. To achieve uniformity in the heat absorbed by the .', iI - - - - S.. pemeal (SH)

water passin g through different tubes. spiral tubing going up around the furnace , . - -- - ReIlW (Rtf)

1
greatly helps. A major disadvantage of spiral tube walls is that it can not carry ,I ,
the \veight of the lOtal wall together with the ash hopper. Thus, a more complex ., I

mechanical design is needed, which will be discussed in the next section. ,

I

I
The other technique to attain this homogeneity is to use orifices adding a pres- OJ
I
I

sure ~o p a t the inlet of the tubes overriding any differe nce in press ure drop in •
subseq uent sec lion of the tube. This method s uffe rs from some s hortcomings: e.g., "1 ••
(i) a given orifice ca nn olleveli ze the system whatever load or firing rates are (i.e., g"
• i
"

different burners in serv ice, fouling ); and (ii) pumping power is wasted.
Another alternative in a new Benson design, is to use vertical tubing with riffled
,I ,,' / /
·. 1 ,

L-w
0,; , ' ./' 0,' I
tubes (Fig. lJ- 10). Depending on the des ign of these tubes (diameter, length) '. r ,,/'" • --O_oq

natural circulati on characteristics of the flow ins ide the tubes can be attained. This f -" " q

means that when th e heat flux increases, the fl ow rate increases too and the n tends
to level temperature in the different tu bes. Another advantage of riffled lubes is to
increase the allowable hea t nux witho ut reaching dry oul, allowing minimum load
to be minimi zed where reci rculation is needed. a
02 0._ 0.1 G.I "
bO OlO.t UO",
c
·XI 0 10 110 liD 310

As will be seen in C hapter 17, mechanical criteria govern material se lection,

thickness, and ge neral tube arrangement. Heat flux also imposes some limit on
the fin length. So, the diameter and intern:.li surface of the lubes are allowed to
so me extend to c hange to [uHllI the circulation needs. Other criteria that have to
be taken into account are, of course, the eco nomical and mechanical o nes that
have to make the furnace competitive and withstand expansion problems. Once
tube characteris tics ha ve been c hose n. designers have to check that the maxi mum
temperature allowable by the tubes is not exceeded under any operat ing conditions
(i .e. , load variations and rejection, internal tube fouling, different fuel s).
FIGURE 13-5 . Results ofthermohydraulic calculation for one membrane ~ tube along the height
of the boiler with (© EDF/SEPTEN/EC) (a) heal Hux integrated from Figure 13-4 for one
I spiral-lube; (b) we tness of the steam in the spiral-tube for three different flow rales of steam;
(c) steam temperature minus inJet temperature along the height
", I
I,
""... roo

With the heat flu xes shown in Figure 13-4, a one-dimensi onal circulation cal- i,

culation has been carried out and is given in Figure 13-5 for three different water
flow rates inside the tubes. j

Figure 13-5 s hows that when water flow rate decreases, the dryout level comes
d own into the lube, and tube temperature increases. This shows that in a forced
~01 _ _
circulation boiler when load decreases the flow rate of wa ter decreases almost
propo rtionall y to thi s load, but the heat flux in the furnace does not decrease at that "-_ _ _ . -_ _---'1 L_ __ _ , -_ _ _-=-::..JI
rale. So at some load, circulation rale in the tubes would not be large e nough to I I
a c b
avoid dry out and critical heat flux would be reached. So at some load more water
than that needed for steam production has to be fed into the water walls in order FIGURE 13-6. (a) Recirculation syslem for low load using a slarting-up heat exchange system;
to lower the tube temperature. This can be done either by the main feed pump (b) recircu lation system for low load operation using a booster pump; (c) typical water/steam
(Fig. 13-6a) or by a booster pump (Fig. 13-6b). Subsequently, for low loads water How versus load (© EDF/SEPTEN/EC)
flowing out of the evaporator has to be separated from steam in order not to feed
the tirsl superheater with wet steam . This is achieved in a water-steam separa tor
o r cyclone. Thu s, for low load s, [he forced circulation operation becomes very 13-3-2 Control of Forced Circulation Boilers
si milar to thal of a natural circulation boiler, but with a very low circulation ratio. Figure 13-7 shows the general arrangement of a natural circulation boiler. As
Each of the UlTan ge ments given in Figure 13-6 have their ow n advantages and previously d isc ussed, this type of boiler is especially operated at co nstant pressure.
disadvantages. Load following is carried out through variations in inlet valves of the turbine. As
 380 13. Forced Circu lati on
!..--~I- !;:,,-.. ..
..yo.."IV-
S~p .,,, , ,,. , ,
Furnace
F1GURE 13-7. Drum-type boiler c.::onlrol system (© EDF/SEPTEN/EC)
there is no pro bl em with the waler wa ll te mpera ture as lo ng as water leve l is
con tro ll ed within the drum. when load increases. in let valves ope n. press ure tends
10 d rop and the firin g rate ca n be raised to adju st (he pressure . This increased firin g
rate lenll s to lowe r the level o f waler in the drum whic h in turn can be maintained
by controlling the feed waler pump fl ow rare. So natura l circula ti o n bo ilers have
two main independent variables (press ure and leve l of water), which require two
different con tro l parameters (firing rate and feed pumps),
Figure 13-8 gives a simple description of a forced circu lati on boiler, which does
not use a ll inlet va lve to adjust steam flow rate. In a forced circulation boiler operat-
in g at sub<.:ritical pressure, the level of water is not maintained at a prede fl ned level.
Yet, the temperature or the water walls has to be maintained al a level below the al-
lowable mc ta l temperature. To do thi s, tempcrature is measured at some point in or
after the first superh eater, to find what is equivalent to the leve l of water in a natural
cir<.:ulation boiler. Laler o n, this level wi ll be called the pseudo- level of water.
To avoid any fluctuation in this pseudo-level owing to some varialiofl in load or
firing rate, o ne has 10 adjus t s imultaneous ly firin g and feeding water rate. These
fea tures of a for<.:ed c ircu lation boi ler make it ve ry differe nt from a natural circul a-
ti o n one as f~1 r as control sys tem is concerned. In thi s <.:ase, both firin g and feedin g
ra tes have to be adjusted si multaneously while taki ng into accoun t load demand
and pseudo- leve l of water. As all these measureme nts and controlli ng loops have
different de lay times, all o f them have to be adj usted very carefully. Finally, these
control loops must be closely con nec ted wit h those that adjust (1) the s liding ,
pressure with the load and (2) the water inj ec ti on fo r con trolling temperature of
supe rheated stea m . The water that is directl y injected in between superheaters is
drawn from the evaporator before the water wall tubes. Th is withdrawal of water
13-4 Supercriticul Boilers 38 1
·'r
FIGURE 13-8. Once-through boiler type contro l system (© EDF/SEPTEN/EC)
from the tube again influ ences the pseudo- level of wa ter in the tube . Finally, to be
ab le to have some load jump. in let turbi ne va lves are always in st..li led to use the
therm al stored energy of the boi ler. This again interacts with the prev io us loops
durin g ve ry q uick load changes. These va lves ope rate in a s mall range of load
(about 10%) for q uick load adjustments.
Co ntrol of superheat steam temperature oflen uses water injection in between
superheaters. Control of reheat steam temperature also uses water injection for
fast response to avoid any problem in rcheate rs. To avoid any loss in efficiency,
other systems are proposed for reheat steam temperature co ntrol that use (i) burner
tilting, (ii) flue gas recycling or excess air while bu rning different fuels, (iii) [riflux
system that heats the reheat steam simultaneously with superheated steam and flue
gas, and (iv) two passes of flue gas while burning o il or gas . In a CFB, different
systems are also used cither with by-passing some part of rcheater or installing
external heat exchangers EHE (Fig. 13-9).
13-4 Supercritical Boilers
Su perc riticn l boi lers operate above th e critical pressure of22.089 MPa, and critical
temperature of 64 7 .29 K. The higher the stea m temperature and press ure, the hi gher
..... the thermodynamic efficiency of the steam power p lant. T he efficiency of a steam
plant increases w ith press ure and temperature. Such an increase in the eftkie ncy
or drop in heat rate is very sig nificant in reduci ng the greenhouse gas CO 2 from
fossil fue l fired plants. It also helps reduce the cost of power generation.
Above the critical temperature and pressure no latent heat of vaporization is
required to evaporate water into stea.m. There is co ntinu ous transition from water
 382 13, Forced Circulation , [)·4 Su percriticai Boilers 383

1500
Smooth tube

Rifled tube

o 20 40 60 80 100
Steam, (%)
(a) (b)
""

FIGURE 13-10. Riffled tube

FIGURE 13+9. Co ntrol valve is used in external heat exc hanger (ENE 2) La cuntrol reheat
temperature in rehenter 2 (RH 2)-Black solid lines: water and water/steam mixture; Black
broken lines: .superheat (SH); Grny sulid lines: reheat (RH)
to stearn. This requires a ve ry high purity o f the feed water and very un ifonn heat
flu x. These stipulations impose some stringe nt design cond itions for co nventional
PC. oi l, or gas fired supercritica l boi lers. Circ ulat ing fluidi zed bed boi lers owing
to their intrinsic furnilce temperature uniformity and relative ly low peak heat flu x
better meet the above stipulations of supercriticaI oper,alion.
13-4-1 Supercrilical Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler
The heat nu x and furnace temperature Val), wide ly in a pulverized coa l (PC) fired
boi ler, so a spiral. wound hori zo nlal evaporative tubes have 10 be used. Bot_h heat"
flux and temperature in a c irculati ng Huidi zed bed boiler are relati ve ly unifoml.
So it does not need the spiral-wound evaporator tubes. Relati vely low and uni·
fonn heat nux around the furnace perimeler obviates the need for horizontal tubes
needed in PC boilers.
A circulating fluidi zed bed (CFB) boilers has its highest heat flux in the lowest
sec tion of the furnace, where the water is coolest. So there is no need for riffled
tuhes (Fig. l3-1O) to avoid DNB in thi s regi on. This reduces unnecessary flow
res istance. In the uppe r sec tion where evapora tio n occurs one may use riffling.
The vertical eva porator rubes of supercritica l CFB boi lers shou ld have orifices for
flow equali zation, because lengths of so me tuhes are different ow ing to the roof
and exit section of the furnace wall.
13-4-2 Startup and Low-Load Operation of Supercritical
Boilers (Fig, 13-11)
1. During start up the steam- water separator (4) collects the excess water, which
is drained to the low-pressure conde nser (12) or the deaerator (11) after pass ing
through feed water heater (9). During low load, the feed water heater is by passed.
The steam, separated in the separator (4), passes through the superheater (5) on
its way to the high pressure turbine (HP). However, the heal absorption may not
be adequate to have the right steam quality. So the steam may be used either for
heating of the turbine component or by-passed to the reheater by the high pressure
by pass valve (8). This steam then goes to cool the rcheater (6). The reheated
steam may go to the low-pressure turbine (LP). If the steam quality is sti ll below
the requ ired temperature it exits to the lower pressure conde nser (12) through the
operation of the low-pressure by-pass valve.
13-4-3 Operating Mode ,
..;:1.
.;';. A supercritical boiler can operate in one of the following two ways:
• Constant operating pressure over the entire range of load
• Sliding pressure operation at which the steam generator operates at constant
supercritical pressure from 100% [0 80% load and [hen the pressure will decrease
to subcritical as the load reduces further. Eventually the pressure stays constant
below abour 30% load (Fig, 13-1),
 384 13. Fo~ed Circulation
2 14
6
3 One of the major causes of outage of a modern utility boiler is failure of its boiler
9 than 200 MW capacities was 2.7%. (DOE. 1998). Leading causes of boiler tube
FIGURE 13 ~ I I. Schemalic of a supercritil::.tl steam plant. (1) reed pump; (2) Economizer;
(3) Evapnraloc (4) Steam-water separator; (5) superheater; (6) Reheater; (7) attemper-
aloe (8) Turbine by-pass valve: (9) Feed water heater; (10) Reheater by-pass valve;
(II) Deaerator: (12) Condenser
The sliding pressure operation enjoys certain advantages as follows:
1. Since the stearn temperaLure remains unchanged during the load change, there
is less thermal stress on the turbine components.
2. At low load, the pressure is low, and the specific volume of steam is high. So, it
is possible to maintain a gODO distribution of steam flow in the superheater and
rcheater.
3. Reduced pressure operations may extend the life of boiler components.
4. It provides an extenued range of reheat temperature control.
In auuition, there is less external piping anu valves. Also, it has a simpler startup.
Corrosion and Fouling of Heat
Transfer Surfaces
tubes. Over the period from 1959 to 1991, boiler tube failures have been ranked as
the number one equipment problems in fossil fuel fired power generating plants
in the USA. Equivalent unavailability factor owing to tube failure for plants larger
failures in the USA arranged in order of availability loss (MWth) are shown below
(DOE,1998):
I. Corrosion fatigue
2,. Fly ash erosion
3. Under deposit mechanism (hydrogen damage and acid phosphate corrosion)
4. Long-term overheating/creep
5. ShorHenn overheating
6. Soot blower erosion
7. Fireside corrosion of water wall, superheater, and reheater
The above ranking may differ from one country to the other depending on the
types of fuel fired and operating procedures of the boilers. However, it is apparent
that corrosion is one of the Illost common reasons for tube failure.
I A tube can corrode either from inside or from outside. The intemaI corro-
sion is largely driven by water chemistry, while the external corrosion is driven
by combustion conditions. The former corrosion is known as internal carra~
siaH, while the latter is called fireside corrosion. The fireside corrosion may take
place in either the high· or low-temperature lone, each having its distinct mecha-
nism.
In addition to corrosion, two other undesirable things, viz., fouling and sl.agging,
occur on the outside of the tubes. In fouling and slagging, inorganic materials from
the fuel deposit on the surface of the tube. Such deposits reduce the heat absorption
capacity of tubes, which increases the downstream flue gas temperature and results
in drop in steam output. An increased flue gas temperature may accelerate the
corrosion process in the downstream section of the boiler.