Boilers & Thermic Fluid Heaters

ACADs (08-006) Covered

1.3.4.1

5.2.1.9.c

5.2.2.2

5.2.2.2

Keywords
Boiler, efficiency, blowdown, assessment, boiler
feedwater.
Description

Muhammad Qasim

Supporting Material

Training Session on Energy

Equipment

Boilers & Thermic

Fluid Heaters

Muhammad Qasim

Objectives
1. Describe the theory, construction,
and applications of boilers
2. Describe the common type of
boilers
3. Explain how to assess the
performance and efficiency of a
boiler
4. Describe methods to improve
boiler efficiency
5.List energy efficiency opportunities
Muhammad Qasim

Objectives

Introduction Purpose?
Type of boilers

Boiler Assessment

Energy efficiency opportunities

Muhammad Qasim

Introduction
What is a Boiler?
Vessel that heats water to become
hot water or steam
At atmospheric pressure water
volume increases 1,600 times
Hot water or steam used to transfer
heat to a process

Muhammad Qasim

Introduction
STEAM TO
PROCESS

EXHAUST GAS

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

STACK

VENT

DEAERATOR

PUMPS
ECONOMIZER

VENT

BOILER
BLOW DOWN
SEPARATOR

BURNER

WATER
SOURCE

FUEL
BRINE
CHEMICAL FEED
SOFTENERS

Figure: Schematic overview of a boiler room

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Introduction
Type of boilers
Assessment of a boiler
Energy efficiency opportunities

Muhammad Qasim

Types of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

What Type of Boilers Are There?

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Fire Tube Boiler

Water Tube Boiler
Packaged Boiler
Fluidized Bed (FBC) Boiler
Stoker Fired Boiler
Pulverized Fuel Boiler
Waste Heat Boiler

Muhammad Qasim

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1. Fire Tube Boiler

(Light Rail Transit Association)

Relatively small steam

capacities (12,000
kg/hour)

Low to medium steam

pressures (18 kg/cm2)

Operates with oil, gas

or solid fuels

Muhammad Qasim

Muhammad Qasim

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Muhammad Qasim

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Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

2. Water Tube Boiler

(Your Dictionary.com)

Used for high steam

demand and pressure
requirements

Capacity range of 4,500

120,000 kg/hour

Combustion efficiency
enhanced by induced
draft provisions

Lower tolerance for

water quality and needs
water treatment plant

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Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

3. Packaged Boiler
To
Chimney

Oil
Burner

(BIB Cochran, 2003)

Comes in complete
package
Features
High heat transfer
Faster evaporation
Good convective
heat transfer
Good combustion
efficiency
High thermal
efficiency
Classified based on
number of passes
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Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

4. Fluidized Bed Combustion

(FBC) Boiler

Particles (e.g. sand) are

suspended in high velocity air
stream: bubbling fluidized bed

Combustion at 840 950 C

Fuels: coal, washery rejects,

rice husk, bagasse and
agricultural wastes

Benefits: compactness, fuel

flexibility, higher combustion
efficiency, reduced SOx & NOx
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Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

5. Stoke Fired Boilers

a) Spreader stokers
Coal is first burnt in suspension then in
coal bed
Flexibility to meet load fluctuations
Favored in many industrial applications

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Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

5. Stoke Fired Boilers

b) Chain-grate or traveling-grate stoker
Coal is burnt on moving
steel grate
Coal gate controls coal
feeding rate
Uniform coal size for
complete combustion

(University of Missouri, 2004)

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Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

6. Pulverized Fuel Boiler

Pulverized coal powder blown with combustion

air into boiler through burner nozzles

Combustion
temperature at 1300
-1700 C

Benefits: varying coal

quality coal, quick
response to load
changes and high preheat air temperatures

Tangential firing
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Independence Steam Electric Station

- Newark, AR

Operation: Unit 1 - January 1983/Unit 2 - December 1984

Fuel: Low-sulfur coal mined near Gillette, Wyoming
Capability: 1,678 megawatts

Muhammad Qasim

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Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

7. Waste Heat Boiler

Used when waste heat
available at medium/high
temp
Auxiliary fuel burners
used if steam demand is
more than the waste heat
can generate

Agriculture and Agri-Food

Canada, 2001

Used in heat recovery

from exhaust gases from
gas turbines and diesel
engines
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Training Agenda: Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Introduction
Type of boilers
Boiler Assesment
Energy efficiency opportunities

Muhammad Qasim

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Boiler Assessment

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1. Boiler
2. Boiler blow down
3. Boiler feed water treatment

Muhammad Qasim

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Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1. Boiler performance
Causes of poor boiler performance
-

Poor combustion
Heat transfer surface fouling
Poor operation and maintenance
Deteriorating fuel and water quality

Heat balance: identify heat losses

Boiler efficiency: determine
deviation from best efficiency

Muhammad Qasim

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Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Heat Balance
An energy flow diagram describes geographically
how energy is transformed from fuel into useful
energy, heat and losses
Stochiometric
Excess Air
Un burnt

Stack Gas

FUEL INPUT

STEAM
OUTPUT

Convection &
Radiation

Blow
Down

Ash and Un-burnt parts

of Fuel in Ash

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Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Heat Balance
Balancing total energy entering a boiler against the
energy that leaves the boiler in different forms
12.7 %
8.1 %

100.0 %
Fuel

1.7 %

BOILER

0.3 %
2.4 %
1.0 %

73.8 %

Heat loss due to dry flue gas

Heat loss due to steam in fuel gas
Heat loss due to moisture in fuel
Heat loss due to moisture in air
Heat loss due to unburnts in residue
Heat loss due to radiation & other
unaccounted loss

Heat in Steam

Muhammad Qasim

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Heat Balance
Goal: improve energy efficiency by reducing
avoidable losses
Avoidable losses include:
- Stack gas losses (excess air, stack gas
temperature)
- Losses by unburnt fuel
- Blow down losses
- Condensate losses
- Convection and radiation

Muhammad Qasim

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Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1. Boiler Efficiency
Thermal efficiency: % of (heat) energy input that is
effectively useful in the generated steam

Muhammad Qasim

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Assessment of a Boiler
2. Boiler Blow Down
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Controls total dissolved solids (TDS) in the

water that is boiled

Blows off water and replaces it with feed water

Conductivity measured as indication of TDS

levels

Calculation of quantity blow down required:

Blow down (%) =

Feed water TDS x % Make up water

Maximum Permissible TDS in Boiler water
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Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Blow Down

Two types of blow down
Intermittent
Manually operated valve reduces TDS
Large short-term increases in feed water
Substantial heat loss

Continuous
Ensures constant TDS and steam purity
Heat lost can be recovered
Common in high-pressure boilers

Muhammad Qasim

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Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Blow Down

Benefits
Lower pretreatment costs
Less make-up water consumption
Reduced maintenance downtime
Increased boiler life
Lower consumption of treatment
chemicals

Muhammad Qasim

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Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

3. Boiler Feed Water Treatment

Quality of steam depend on water
treatment to control
Steam purity
Deposits
Corrosion

Efficient heat transfer only if boiler

water is free from deposit-forming
solids

Muhammad Qasim

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Assessment of a Boiler
Boiler Feed Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Deposit control
To avoid efficiency losses and reduced
heat transfer
Hardness salts of calcium and
magnesium
Alkaline hardness: removed by boiling
Non-alkaline: difficult to remove

Silica forms hard silica scales

Muhammad Qasim

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Assessment of a Boiler
Boiler Feed Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Internal water treatment

Chemicals added to boiler to prevent scale

Different chemicals for different water types

Conditions:
Feed water is low in hardness salts
Low pressure, high TDS content is tolerated
Small water quantities treated

Internal treatment alone not recommended

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Assessment of a Boiler
Boiler Feed Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

External water treatment:

Removal of suspended/dissolved solids and

dissolved gases

Pre-treatment: sedimentation and settling

First treatment stage: removal of salts

Processes
a) Ion exchange
b) Demineralization
c) De-aeration
d) Reverse osmoses

Muhammad Qasim

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Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Stack temperature control

Feed water preheating using economizers
Combustion air pre-heating
Incomplete combustion minimization
Excess air control
Avoid radiation and convection heat loss
Automatic blow down control
Reduction of scaling and soot losses
Reduction of boiler steam pressure
Variable speed control
Controlling boiler loading
Proper boiler scheduling
Boiler replacement

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Energy Efficiency Opportunities

1. Stack Temperature Control
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Keep as low as possible

If >200C then recover waste heat

2. Feed Water Preheating

Economizers
Potential to recover heat from 200 300 oC flue
gases leaving a modern 3-pass shell boiler

3. Combustion Air Preheating

If combustion air raised by 20C = 1% improve
thermal efficiency

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Energy Efficiency Opportunities

4. Minimize Incomplete Combustion
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Symptoms:
Smoke, high CO levels in exit flue gas

Causes:
Air shortage, fuel surplus, poor fuel distribution
Poor mixing of fuel and air

Oil-fired boiler:
Improper viscosity, worn tops, cabonization on
dips, deterioration of diffusers or spinner plates

Coal-fired boiler: non-uniform coal size

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Energy Efficiency Opportunities

5. Excess Air Control
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Excess air required for complete combustion

Optimum excess air levels varies
1% excess air reduction = 0.6% efficiency rise
Portable or continuous oxygen analyzers
Fuel

Kg air req./kg fuel

%CO2 in flue gas in practice

Solid Fuels
Bagasse
Coal (bituminous)
Lignite
Paddy Husk
Wood

3.3
10.7
8.5
4.5
5.7

10-12
10-13
9 -13
14-15
11.13

Liquid Fuels
Furnace Oil
LSHS

13.8
14.1

9-14
9-14

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Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

6. Radiation and Convection Heat

Loss Minimization

Fixed heat loss from boiler shell, regardless of

boiler output

Repairing insulation can reduce loss

7. Automatic Blow Down Control

Sense and respond to boiler water conductivity

and pH
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Energy Efficiency Opportunities

8. Scaling and Soot Loss Reduction
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Every 22oC increase in stack temperature = 1%

efficiency loss

3 mm of soot = 2.5% fuel increase

9. Reduced Boiler Steam Pressure

Lower steam pressure

= lower saturated steam temperature
= lower flue gas temperature

Steam generation pressure dictated by process

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Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

10. Variable Speed Control for Fans,

Blowers and Pumps

Suited for fans, blowers, pumps

Should be considered if boiler loads are
variable

11. Control Boiler Loading

Maximum boiler efficiency: 65-85% of rated load

Significant efficiency loss: < 25% of rated load

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Energy Efficiency Opportunities

12. Proper Boiler Scheduling
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Optimum efficiency: 65-85% of full load

Few boilers at high loads is more efficient than

large number at low loads

13. Boiler Replacement

Financially attractive if existing boiler is
Old and inefficient
Not capable of firing cheaper substitution fuel
Over or under-sized for present requirements
Not designed for ideal loading conditions
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Training Session on Energy

Equipment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boilers & Thermic

Fluid Heaters
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Muhammad Qasim

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