Control of Wear in Fluidized Combustion Applications

Dr. Pasi Makkonen Process Specialist Foster Wheeler Energia Oy PL 45 00401 Helsinki pasi_makkonen@fwfin.fwc.com

Abstract
In combustion applications, the use of fluidized bed technology is based on the use of fluidized solid material acting as heat storage. This hot solid material rapidly dries the incoming fuel, and simultaneously stabilizes the combustion reactions. However, the presence of large quantity of erosive material sets additional requirements for the materials used in the boiler parts, as well as generates need for boiler designs minimizing the risk of material loss caused by particle erosion. In a fluidized bed boiler, several areas exist in which the wear is solely related to the presence of fluidized bed material. In order to reduce the risk of material loss in these areas, several tests with new materials have been conducted. These materials include overlay welds by high-nickel steels, sprayed coatings, and shields made by powdermetallurgy. This paper lists some of the material problem areas, and presents some possible means for the minimization of the material loss. Some field test results are referred to.

INTRODUCTION

Fluidized bed technology has been utilized by the process industry since the 1920s. The first applications can be found from metallurgy and refinery processes. Foster Wheeler has been utilizing the fluidized bed technology for combustion since the end of the 1960s. The first fluidized bed boilers were of bubbling bed type (BFB), in which the fuel is fed on top of a sand bed, which is kept in fluidized state by primary air. This technology is still competitive in combustion of biofuels and different sludges due to the relatively low investment cost. The first commercial fluidized bed boilers utilizing a solids separator for solids recirculation were constructed in the 1970's by Lurgi (Reh et al. 1979). The idea of a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler is to use a relatively high fluidization velocity (up to 6 m/s) and then to return most of the escaping bed material back to the furnace with a cyclone. The benefit of the CFB technology is that the residence time of the solid fuel in the boiler is longer, because most of the unburned fuel is returned back to the furnace. The bed can also be utilized for sulfur capture by adding limestone or some other sorbent. The captured sulfur can be taken out as gypsum mixed with the bottom and fly ashes.

1.1

Bubbling Fluidized Bed Boiler

A bubbling fluidized bed boiler operates with fluidization velocities less than 3 m/s. In atmospheric combustion, this fluidization velocity allows 3 MW/m of net effect per cross section area of the furnace (Hyppnen and Raiko 1995). About half of the combustion air is brought through the grid into the furnace as primary air, and the rest of the combustion air can be introduced as secondary and tertiary air. The variety of fuels used in commercial size bubbling bed boilers is large, from coal to RDF and different sludges. The fuel is usually fed on the surface of the bubbling bed. Some air can also be used to distribute the fuel evenly on the bed surface. Bubbling fluidized bed boiler is commercially available also in a large scale. At the moment, the largest bubbling bed boiler ever built is in the United States. The unit is combusting sub-bituminous coal, and the thermal input of the unit is 387 MW. The design values for the steam produced by the unit are 105 bar and 540 C. The main parts of a BFB boiler are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Bubbling fluidized bed boiler (Foster Wheeler Energia Oy).

1.2

Circulating Fluidized Bed

The circulating fluidized bed boilers operate with higher fluidization velocities than BFBs. With coal, the net effect per cross section area of the furnace can be as high as 6 MW/m (Hyppnen and Raiko 1995). The main benefits of a CFB boiler over the bubbling fluidized bed can be found in the solids re-circulation. The solids circulation allows very uniform temperature distribution in the CFB boiler furnace. In a bubbling fluidized bed, the combustion takes place partially in the gas above the bed region, and the gas temperature in the furnace can be over 1200 C. Consequently, this may lead to high NOx emissions (Pels et al. 1994). Due to the solids re-circulation, the combustion efficiency of coal in CFB boilers is higher than in BFB boilers. The re-circulation also allows effective sulfur capture by limestone used as an additive in the bed material. According to Leckner and Amand (1987), the optimum temperature range for sulfur capture with limestone is between 800 and 850 C. If the temperature in the furnace can be maintained within these limits, the reaction of SO2 to CaSO4 can take place in the whole furnace instead of a small region. To guarantee a proper operation of the solids separator, gas back-flow through the solids return line must not occur. The pressure barrier for preventing the gas up-flow is created by a special gas seal. The gas seal area can be efficiently utilized as a location for external heat exchangers. The circulating solids increase the heat transfer rate in the furnace, but the risk of erosion caused by the bed material increases. Together with water wall corrosion this may cause very rapid material loss in the furnace. This is one of the risks which have to be noticed when designing a CFB boiler for fuels containing corrosive components. The cyclone and the solids return must also be designed to withstand the high solids flow rates. The circulating fluidized bed combustion represents relatively new technology. However, an increasing percentage of the new boilers constructed all over the world are based on circulating fluidized bed. The largest circulating fluidized bed boiler so far is the Gardanne coal combustion unit in Provence, France. The thermal input of the boiler is 600 MW, and the steam values produced by the unit are 163 bar and 565 C (Jestin et al.1996). A larger unit is being built by Foster Wheeler in Turow, Poland. The main components of a CFB boiler are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Circulating fluidized bed boiler (Foster Wheeler Energia Oy).

WEAR IN FLUIDIZED BED COMBUSTION

All mechanical components containing moving parts are susceptible to wear. At low temperatures, mechanical wear rates can be controlled with lubricants and material selection. In fluidized bed boilers, most moving parts are located outside the boiler itself, and do normally not require any special attention. The type of wear that must be taken into special examination is abrasion caused by moving particles. Combined with high material temperatures, the wear rates may be excessively high. The boiler components which are mostly exposed to abrasive wear are the parts which are in direct contact with the solid material. The suspension density of the solid material is at largest in the low region of the furnace, gradually decreasing towards the furnace roof. The risk of material wear is greatly reduced as the suspension density decreases. Another area with high suspension density is inside the solids separator, especially in the gas inlet and outlet channels. In these regions, the particle velocities are much higher than inside the furnace. Together with the solids suspension density, another key issue is the material temperature: at elevated temperatures, most materials have lower resistance against erosion. If a piece of equipment is located at place where both the particle density and velocity, and the material temperature are high, the risk of material loss is evident. The main parameters affecting the characteristics of the particles are fuel quality and make-up material.

2.1

Fuels for Fluidized Bed Combustion

At the early stages of its development, fluidized bed technology was used for combustion of different coals. After the benefits of this technology were proven, it was also applied to the combustion of peat and biomass. Lately, combustion of different recovered fuels in the fluidized bed boilers has become more common, mainly due to increased requirements for recycling. Figure 3 illustrates one way to classify fuels according to their physical characteristics. It has to be noted that all these fuels have been successfully combusted in fluidized bed boilers.

High moisture Wood chips Forest residues Bark Sawdust Wood wastes Peat Paper mill sludge Municipal sludge

Difficult ash properties Straw Olive waste Rice husk Other agrowaste RDF

Others Paper Demolition wood Shavings Grafite Lignite

Difficult to handle Refinery waste Oil spill clean-up waste Tires Leather, plastics

Figure 3.

Characterization of fuels according to physical qualities.

Combustion of recovered fuels introduces some aspects that are not significant in the combustion of fossil fuels, such as increased risk of corrosion and bed material agglomeration. Generally, biofuels and recovered fuels contain high quantities of volatile matter, and they burn more rapidly than for instance solid coals. The ash content of biomass is often lower than that of fossil fuels. However, the composition of the ash may be very different from the ash derived from fossil fuels.

2.2

Role of Make-Up Material

The bed material, both in the BFB and the CFB, has three main roles: heat storage temperature stabilizer catalyst or sorbent. The most often used bed materials are silica based sands, and limestones. Limestones are mainly used for sulfur capture in CFB boilers. Different sorbents and additives can be added for alkali metal capture and emission control. Kaolin based sands are used when the potassium content of the fuel used is high, because potassium and silica can form compositions with low melting points. It has been reported by Baxter et al. (1996) that in the case of high-potassium fuels, the silica based sands will adsorb the potassium and react by forming potassium silicates with low sticky temperatures. This will lead to sintering in the bed. If such fuel is used, the bed has to be sufficiently regenerated by introducing new bed material and simultaneously taking out the used bed. Other bed materials such as magnesium and aluminum oxides have also been tested, but the problem always seems to be the costs: these materials are expensive, and their consumption is high. Some of these materials are also very erosive.

2.3

Role of Process Conditions

According to Meuronen (1997), erosion of heat transfer surfaces is dependent on process conditions, particle flow density, mass flow and velocity, angle of collision, and material properties of both the colliding particle and the heat transfer surface. Combustion reactions may generate components which initiate corrosion reactions of the heat transfer surfaces. When erosion is combined with corrosion, resulting erosion-corrosion may unexpectedly result in a very complex and rapid metal degradation (Reponen et al. 1999).

This type of wear is very difficult to detect reliably, because there are very few detectable corrosion products left on the sample. Several tests for erosion-corrosion have been reported (Wright, Nagarajan and Mertz 1984, Rautala et al. 1988), but generally, the results of these tests apply only on the process conditions used during the tests. General rules to estimate the rate or to reduce erosion-corrosion are not available. Different tube coatings for protection have been tested with varying results, see for instance Dutheillet and Prunier (1998). Currently, the best means of protecting heat transfer surfaces from erosion-corrosion is a proper boiler design.

WEAR OF BOILER COMPONENTS

Different boiler components show different wear behavior depending on the location and operating temperature. The main components of a fluidized bed boiler may be listed as follows: Furnace and other evaporating surfaces Solids separator and return (only in CFB boilers) Superheaters and other flue gas cooling elements Fuel feeding Ash discharge systems Flue gas cleaning Air and flue gas blowers Steam ducts Steam turbine with accessories

The scope of this paper is limited to problems characteristic to fluidized bed combustion, i.e. the parts which are in contact with the fluidized solid material and ashes.

3.1

Ash Discharge Systems

If we start from the lowest part of the boiler, the bottom ash discharge system is the first component exposed to particle erosion. Because this equipment is mainly used for cooling of the coarse material taken out from the boiler, the detected erosion rates have been low due to the fact that the mass flow rate of this ash is generally low, leading to low particle velocities against cooled surfaces. Generally, a thin protective coating is sufficient to minimize erosion rate. No special materials are needed for protection. Figure 4 shows an example of an ash discharge system with material cooling.

Figure 4.

Example of bottom ash discharge system with ash cooling.

Another location in which the ash is removed from the boiler can be found from the cold end of the boiler unit: the electrostatic precipitator (or baghouse filter) for removal of fly ash from the flue gas. The fly ash taken from the ESP is very fine: even the largest particles are under 100 m in size. The discharge temperature is normally around 150 C. These facts mean that the wear mechanisms and design criteria of the fly ash cooling and transport systems are different from the bottom ash removal systems. However, to minimize the effect of wear, same methods are generally used as in the bottom ash removal systems.

3.2

Primary Air Distributor

The next component is the primary air distributor plate, the grid. The grid is usually constructed of membrane tubes, protected by refractory. The air is led through the grid via openings in the fins between the membrane tubes, and distributed evenly by special nozzles. The main purpose of these nozzles is to provide stable fluidization of the solid material above the grid. The number of nozzle designs available is huge, and the selection of the right nozzle type and size has to be performed according to the fuel type and bed material characteristics. Generally, the grid nozzles are designed to last several years, after which they are replaced due to wear: an example of a worn grid nozzle is shown in Example of worn grid nozzle used in Figure 5. Lately, the need for longer-lasting grid Figure 5. a CFB boiler. nozzles due to increased corrosion risk in combustion of recovered fuels has initiated new development projects involving products manufactured by powdermetallurgy. These tests are under way, and the first results are expected during the summer of 2001. Another means of reducing the wear of grid nozzles is the grid design: the operating principle of a new type of grid is shown in Figure 6. This grid type effectively removes all coarse material imported with the fuel, without suffering from material wear. The main reason for this is that all nozzles in one side of the grid centerline are aligned to direct their jet into the same direction. Thus, the formation of vortexes and turbulent areas is minimized.

FUEL FEEDING

FLUIDIZATION BOTTOM ASH DISCHARGE

FLUIDIZATION

PRIMARY AIR

Figure 6.

Grid designed for removal of coarse material.

3.3

Furnace

The furnace walls form the largest evaporating surface in a boiler. With these surfaces, a fraction of the water inside the walls is turned into steam. The walls are panel constructions made of tubes welded together with fins so that the evaporator tubes are not in direct contact with each other. The walls should be designed without discontinuities due to an evident risk of vortex formation, which in turn may lead to local erosion. The areas of air inlets and other openings must be designed accordingly. The lowest region of the furnace, and especially the region under one meter level takes the most particle collisions. Due to this, the lowest sections of furnace walls are lined with refractory material. In CFB boilers, some of the material which has risen with the combustion gases falls down along the membrane walls. When this material hits the edge of the refractory lining, it may cause increased particle collision rate at some locations. The most common way of minimizing this problem is to use welded overlays. Foster Wheeler has solved this problem with the boiler design: a patented construction called kickout is used to divert the particle flow and thus to minimize the risk of membrane wall erosion. Bubbling fluidized boilers do not generally suffer from furnace wall erosion due to lower fluidization velocity.

3.4

Solids Separator and Solids Return

In CFB boilers, the purpose of the solids separator is to separate the solid particles from the flue gases. The design of the separator sets the separation efficiency, which in turn determines the circulation mass flow rate. The separator inlet, in which the particle velocity may exceed 30 m/s, has to be protected against erosion. Conventional, cyclone-type separators are normally protected against erosion by thick thermal insulation made of ceramic bricks. Foster Wheeler has developed a novel design in which the solids separator has become an integrated part of the combustion chamber structure. This rectangular solids separator, the recirculation system and the furnace are now built as integrated cooled panels: a design which naturally provides several advantages such as footprint size reduction and lighter refractory. The system has been proven for fuels such as coal, peat and wood waste. The principle of the compact design and corresponding boiler layout are shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7.

Improved CFB boiler design by Foster Wheeler.

3.5

Superheaters and Other Heat Transfer Surfaces

The term superheater defines equipment used for heating of the generated steam to temperatures above the saturation point in order to increase the energy content and thus to allow electricity production with high efficiency. Superheaters can be located inside the furnace, in the flue gas ducts, or in special fluidized bed heat exchangers. The amount of material wear depends on the operating temperature and environment. Heat transfer surfaces inside the furnace are exposed to the same risks as the furnace walls. A design called Omega panel has been widely used to minimize the risk of superheater material loss inside the furnace, the principle is shown in Figure 8. These panels must be shielded both from the erosion caused by particles rising with the flue gas and the dense suspension falling along the walls. Heat resistant steels such as SA253MA are often used for these shields. This steel does not always provide the required protection. In these cases, materials made by powdermetallurgy have shown very promising results, typically providing more than ten times longer material lifetimes.

The lowest tubes are shielded

Figure 8.

Design principle of an Omega panel (Huhtinen et al. 1994).

The integrated heat exchanger (INTREX) developed by Foster Wheeler utilizes hot solid material TUBE COILS returned from the separator or solids STEAM COLLECTOR SAND taken straight from the furnace to the OUTLET heat exchanger. The design of the integrated heat exchanger provides means for efficient heat transfer FLUIDIZED control, which allows controlling of SOLIDS furnace temperature to optimize emissions and combustion over a wide load range, or for a range of fuels with different calorific values. An integrated HEADER superheater also enables full superheat WIND BOX temperatures to even lower loads than the conventional designs. Another benefit of this superheater design is FLUDIZATION AIR that if the fuel contains harmful impurities, such as chlorine, the Figure 9. Principle of external superheater (Makkonen 2000). location in the return line of the solids separator decreases the concentration of impurities entering the region of the heat transfer surface, thus reducing potential for corrosion (Makkonen 1998). The fluidization velocity in the INTREX heat exchanger is always kept under 1 m/s. This efficiently minimizes the risk of erosion caused by the fluidized particles. The operating principle is illustrated in Figure 9.
SAND FROM FURNACE OR SOLIDS SEPARATOR

CONCLUSIONS

In fluidized bed combustion, the presence of rapidly moving particles creates an increased risk of material erosion. Thus, fluidized bed boilers have to be designed accordingly. Those parts which are exposed to continuous sand blasting have to be constructed to withstand this constant abrasion. The most critical parts may be made of special materials, such as steels or metal matrix composites made by powdermetallurgy. The increased material cost is eventually paid back by increased availability and much longer material lifetime. The recent material development and tests made with advanced materials have shown very promising results. However, methods of attaching these special metals to the conventional materials and reducing the production costs are still under development. With metal matrix composites, ordinary welding is seldom possible. If a component has to be manufactured in a large quantity, cast products compete with price and availability. Unless there are special demands for wear resistance, a well-known material is readily selected. It is strongly believed that in the near future powdermetallurgy will provide more cost-efficient and durable materials, which will also be used in fluidized bed combustion.

REFERENCES

Baxter L. L., Miles T. R., Miles T. R. Jr., Jenkins B. M., Dayton D. C., Milne T. A., Bryers R. W. and Oden L. L., The Behavior of Inorganic Matter in Biomass-Fired Power Boilers, Field and Laboratory Experiences, Vol. 2, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Springfield, 1996 Dutheillet Y. and Prunier V., Evaluation of the Erosion-Corrosion Resistance of Coated Metallic Materials for CFBCs Applications, 6th Liege Conference on Materials for Advanced Power Engineering, Liege 1998, pp. 779-787 Huhtinen M., Kettunen A., Nurminen P. and Pakkanen H., Hyrykattilatekniikka, Painatuskeskus Oy, 1994, ISBN 95137-1327-X, in Finnish Hyppnen T. and Raiko R., Leijupoltto, in Poltto ja Palaminen, Raiko R., Kurki-Suonio I., Saastamoinen J. and Hupa M. (Ed.), International Flame Research Foundation, Jyvskyl 1995, ISBN 951-66-448-2, in Finnish Jestin L., Jacob T., Lucat P. and Levy M. D., Provence 250 MWe CFB Boiler Unit: A Major Milestone to Larger CFB Boiler, in The Future of Fluidized Bed Combustion, VGB Technical Scientific Report Thermal Power Plants 212 e, VGB Technische Vereinigung der Grosskraftwerksbetreiber E. V., Essen 1996 Leckner B. and Amand E., Emissions from a Circulating and Stationary Fluidized Bed Boiler: a Comparison, in 1987 International Conference on Fluidized Bed Combustion, Volume Two, Mustonen J. P., (Ed.), New York, 1987 Makkonen P., Foster Wheeler ZWS Kessel mit dem Neuen INTREX berhitzer (Foster Wheeler CFB with the New INTREX Superheater), in Dampferzeugeranlagen 1998" (Steam Generation Plants 1998), VGB Technische Vereinigung der Grosskraftwerksbetreiber E.V., VGB Conference, Leipzig 1998 Makkonen P., Latest Improvements in CFB Boiler Design for Combustion of Difficult Fuels, The Second Annual Seminar of the KESTO -Technology Programme, Helsinki, 14.11.2000 Meuronen V., Ash Particle Erosion on Steam Boiler Convective Section, Doctoral Thesis, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta 1997, ISBN 951-764-181-8 Rautala P, Mkel U., Orjala M. and Selin L., Materiaalivertailu eroosio-korroosio-olosuhteissa (Comparison of Materials in Erosion-Corrosion Environment), VTT Research Report 549, Espoo 1988, In Finnish Reh L., Hirsch M., Collin P. H. and Flink S. N., Process for Burning Carbonaeous Materials, United States Patent 4.165.171, 1979 Reponen P, Liu X., Hellman J. and Lindroos V., Erosion-Corrosion at Elevated Temperatures, Report TKK-MOP-C10, Helsinki University of Technology, Laboratory of Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science, Espoo 1999, ISBN 95122-4500-0 Wright I. G, Nagarajan V. and Merz W. E., Erosion-Corrosion of Metals and Alloys at High Temperatures, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Battelle, Columbus Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio 1984