31 July, 2010 REPORT ON BOILER CONSTRUCTION AUDIT 135 TPH AFBC At the time of visit the boiler pressure

e parts work was completed except for sealing work. The pressure parts work is complete only within the boiler terminal points- that is from economiser inlet to main steam stop valve outlet. Importance of preservation The internal hydrotest was complete a month back. Still the water is inside the superheater. My first recommendation is to put the boiler on dry preservation. The boiler should be dried first. Normally the drying out the superheater water is to be done by fire. We may try to use compressed air or steam itself from the existing boiler and pressurise the SH from main steam line drain or vent. The pressure should not exceed more than 5 kg/cm2. If this is not done, we may experience pinhole failures in SH once the boiler is fired. The pit type corrosion would have progressed in such duration. If Shyam DRI wants to adopt wet preservation method, they have to use DM water with 200 ppm of hydrazine & pH of 9.5 to 10. The boiler should be pressurised to 5 kg/cm2g. Dehumidifier system can be connected to steam drum, in case of dry preservation. Alternately hot air can be circulated in boiler. The vents & drains have to be opened so that the hot air gets ventilated. Alternately silica gel can also be used to keep the inside of the boiler free of moisture. The drum has to be provided with silica gel in a tray on both sides. The gel will have to be dried out once in 15 days time. In conclusion, the boiler should be preserved properly since the water is filled already. Pending critical work in pressure parts The seal plate work is yet to be taken up. This is important now. As soon as the hydro test is cleared, the insulation may be started. It is advised to commence the seal work first before taking up insulation. Observations and suggestions in this visit 1. The boiler pressure parts expand downwards and the ash hopper should allow freedom for expansion. At present the clearance available is minimum 38 mm. The minimum clearance required is 48 mm to prevent the thermal force coming on the structure that supports furnace ash hoppers. It is advised to trim the hopper top edge so that 60 mm gap is maintained all around. This is very important from safety point of view. 2. The buckstays have not been provided with the cold expansion provision at corner links. This has happened perhaps due to erection of buckstays beams as received from shop. VESPLs site engineer could not spare the buckstay drawing as the same was available with him at the time of visit. However it was explained in person to him.

3. Each sparger pipe needs a drain pipe at the end to remove the seeped bed material into sparger duct. This can be a 50 / 65 nb pipe with a screwed type cast iron gate valve / ball valve. The dust being very fine in nature this would be enough. See typical installation in annexure 1. 4. The new PA fans by TLT were seen. The fans must be provided with guillotine gates for isolation purpose. 5. The ID fans also need isolation gates. Otherwise the gas will recirculate through the stand by ID fan. Then both the fans have to be pressed for service. 6. Inside the bunker horizontal beams are used. These beams are to be covered with tapered plates so that coal would not stagnate. In addition 20 mm drain holes are to be made at every meter to allow for water to drain out. The water can come from the coal itself during monsoon. 7. The HP chemical dosing pump shall be located at the DM plant itself or at a place where the dust pollution would not be there. 8. The gas inlet duct to economiser and APH gas outlet ducts are seen to be well engineered this time. 9. The Economiser casing & hopper stiffeners are found to be very well done this time. 10. The SH spacer clamps are missing at two places. This must be erected. 11. The SH spacer clamps are not be joined together. These shall be corrected. Only 10-12 coils are to be bunched together. 12. The least distance of coal nozzle cap to bed coil is seen to be 90 mm. The boiler comes down by 50 mm. Hence the remaining gap after thermal expansion will be 40 mm only. This is not acceptable. It was learnt that the Shyam DRI site engineers have already referred the matter to VESPL. VESPL reply was to be use phoscast refractory protection as it was done in first boiler. Yet the second coil also would need protection. 13. There is no gas baffle seen at economiser inlet VESPL shall be appraised about this. Since the economiser coils are fitted inside steel casing (which is generally out of plane) calls for gas baffling to prevent laning of flue gas along the casing. This generally results in economiser coil erosion. This shall be informed to VESPL. This may not be available in boiler no 1 as well. 14. The base frame of FD fan was seen modified to match the elevation requirement. The frame shall be stiffened with web stiffeners. The grouting shall be done up to first frame top. 15. It is seen that the boiler outlet duct is not fully welded to water wall panel. There will be air ingress at these locations. It is advisable to engage good welders for these critical locations. 16. Placement of channels as shims / packing plates for fans shall be avoided. They act as springs later. 17. The stiffener pipes inside the ID fan shall be strength welded. This is necessary to prevent the pipe damaging the fan itself in service. 18. It is seen that the PA fan discharge duct (the immediate one) needs stiffeners. The absence of stiffeners will lead to duct vibration. 19. The furnace ash hopper supporting beam welding to column must be fully done. Lot of load comes on these beams. 20. It is again seen that the PA fan is provided with multi-flap damper at the outlet. This will not be leak-proof. Only gates will do the job. 21. The bed coil bottom headers are supported by the top headers through the angle ties. It is seen that all the ties are cut. New angles are to be put in place at the earliest.

22. The sparger air ducts are again seen bolted to ash hoppers. These gaskets give way in service due to heat. It is advised to seal weld these flanges to the ash hopper casing wall as done in boiler no 1. 23. Many holes are seen in waterwall panel, wherein outside light is coming in. These shall be attended before insulation clearance is given. 24. The seal box around the furnace are not closed fully yet. The outside light is seen inside. 25. The bunker to fuel feeder chute should be erected in such a way that the chute delivers the coal in inclined plate. This will help in proper feeding as the bunker pressure will loosen the coal. When erected directly above the rotary feeder, the bunker pressure will compact the feeder pockets. 26. The bed coil / clinker door seal box comes in the bed zone. There will be spillage of bed ash on to the expansion joint if the scalloped plate of seal box fitted with large clearance. We can avoid damage to fabric expansion joint. The fabric joints are common at many sites. All the above points are covered with photograph and explained in annexure 1. With this inspection, the boiler hydrotest stage inspection is completed. Pre-commissioning inspection is to be taken before the light up. K.K.Parthiban

Annexure 1: Photographs of 135 TPH boiler ( 2nd) & comments

Photo 1: All hanger rods shall be loaded before commissioning. The simplest way is to check the sound when the hanger rod is tapped with a steel hammer. The sound should die faster if the hanger rod is adequately loaded.

Photo 2: The hanger rod shall have clearance at the beam hole to accommodate the deflection.

Photo 3: The fit up is wrong or the 45 deg bend was not true. The erection of piping risers should commence at drum so that the shortage in length can be easily adjusted.

Photo 4: Bunker ties connection to main column is an important one. The gusset plates have to transfer enormous amount of load. The plate connection is not correct. Gusset angle system on top and bottom is the preferred one.

Photo 5: The impeller to suction cone at TLT FD fan is seen here. The overlap and radial clearances shall be logged before clearing the fan.

Photo 6: Using box channels shall be prohibited while leveling the fans. This causes a spring effect later. Only solid plates shall be used as packers and they shall be tack welded together before grouting.

Photo 7: The Batliboi make ID fan received d at site is seen without base stiffener welding. The entire missing welds shall be done immediately.

Photo 8: The APH and APH gas outlet duct is seen with proper stiffener system unlike the first boiler. However the approach platforms are not provided for inspection of APH inside. At least before light up the approach should be made available.

Photo 9: The stiffener pipe inside ID fan shall be strength welded in TLT make ID fan. It should not give way at service.

Photo 10: Such expansion joints shall be seal welded instead of bolting. All fasteners are not required if we are going to do seal welding.

Photo 11: The PA fan outlet duct needs stiffening.

Photo 12: The PA fan is provided with suction IGV and a multi-louver damper on discharge side. There has to be a guillotine gate for positive isolation. Otherwise we have to run two fans. Already in first boiler two ID fans and two PA fans are being run just at the cost of guillotine gate. The power saving in such matters pay back the expenses of guillotine gate. Top management has to give clearance for this.

Photo 13: The connecting angles between headers are important as they take the load of bottom header and bed coils.

Photo 14: At present the coal cap to bed clearance is found to be 90-100 mm only. This should have been 125 + 50 mm in cold condition. After the boiler expands down on thermal expansion the gap would be 125 mm as per design requirement.

Photo 15: The gaskets used in sparger pipe flanges can give way in service due to heat. In fact the same would occur in coal pipes too. The flanges shall be seal welded to ash hopper.

Photo 16: The boiler comes down 48 m or so. The seal plates welded to bed coil would come down and transfer the load on to ash hoppers. This is not desirable. A gap of 60 mm shall be ensured all around to avoid interference.

Photo 17: The sealbox welding to waterwall tubes shall be completed to avoid spillage of hot bed ash on fabric expansion joint. As per drawing there may not be seal weld fearing damage by unqualified welders.

Photo 18: There are many unclosed fins in waterwall. The fin welds have to be closed before hydrotest. Otherwise they may show up in service only.

Photo 19: This is another seal box in furnace near which the waterwall fins is not closed.

Photo 20: Sparger drains engineered in another boiler. This kind of arrangement is recommended in this boiler too. Each sparger needs a drain with a valve at the end of the sparger duct.

Photo 21: The idea of providing a hopper with a tapered plate was to land the bunker outlet chute on the taper portion. This helps in loosening of coal due its pressure exerted by the coal column above. If chute is above the rotor of the feeder, it compacts the coal in the feeder. In fact the hopper should have been little bigger so that the coal column pressure fully acts on taper plate.

Photo 22: In many boilers the boiler outlet duct is not fully seal welded to the fins. This results in ash leakage in service. The ash falls on people. Please carry out the welds engaging a separate welder.

Photo 23: It is seen that the boiler outlet gas duct / economiser inlet gas duct is well stiffened. It is good.

Photo 24: The fit up is wrong. The buckstay outer frame does not expand with boiler. Hence it should allow the boiler to expand. The corner links are preset outwards by a distance that corresponds to expected thermal expansion. These details can be seen in the buckstay erection drawing.

Figure 1: Typical preset adopted by boiler manufacturers.

Photo 25: The ash hopper is support beams are connected to main boiler column through seat angles. For such loads, moment brackets would have been right. It is advised to carryout complete welding at all around including the seat angles.

Photo 26: Ensure the welding is done at all locations where the ash hopper beams are tied to main columns.

Photo 27: Economiser to casing shall be sealed fully. It is seen that large amount of patch up work is pending. Since time is available now, we should engage welders to complete the patch up work.

Photo 28: The SH spacer clamps are to be joined together. It is meant only for bunching 10 to 12 coils.

Photo 29: Spacers are seen missing in the superheater coils. The joint made between the SH coil spacers shall be removed.

Photo 30: The economiser needs gas baffles between the coils and the casing to prevent preferential erosion of end row of tubes & bends. Ensure these are installed.

Photo 31: In almost sealbox the tube to fin welding is not closed. This is not OK. Ash leaks through this gap and falls on persons who walk by. Ash leakage fills in insulation mattress.