November Article

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TUBULAR AIR HEATER TUBES CHOKING.... AN EXPERIENCE

PROBLEM : In one of the commissioning site having 3 units of 210 MW rating, the boilers have been supplied with Tubular Air Heater. During the process of loading of the First unit for Full load operation, the unit had to be shut down while cutting in the first mill due to non-achieveable of the Air temperature after air heater. This was causing problems in getting the desired Mill outlet temperature required for proper combustion. Site pesonnels reported that water was dripping from the bottom of the air heater hopper openings during the boiler operation. This led to a doubt that there could be a tube leakage in the second pass and so while checking the boiler the Air-Heater tubes were found completely blocked. No tube leakages was seen while carrying put the Hydro-Test on the boiler. The chocked tubes were the reason for the very low air temperature at air-heater outlet. OBSERVATIONS :

1. The tube blockages were concentrated only in the MIDDLE and the FINAL block. The FIRST block
was absolutely clear.

2. The concentration of the blocked tubes were in the LOW TEMP zone i.e. in the area where flue gas
temps are LOW and the air temperature are also low.

3. The boiler had been operating for a number of days on oil firing only for pre-commissioning and
commissioning and the air temperatures are also low.

4. Steam Coil Air Pre Heater (SCAPH) was not in service during the entire oil firing period due to non
completion of jobs.

5. The ambient temperature was also very low (being Winter season).
ANALYSIS : Since SCAPH was not in service, hence the secondary air entering the air-heater block (FINAL BLOCK) was very low, being winter season. With the boiler being operated only on oil for a very long time, the flue gas temperature at the FINAL BLOCK air heater was very low at around 60 deg.cent. This combination of low air and low flue gas temperatures resulted in LOW AIR HEATER TUBE METAL TEMPERATURE, lower than the DEW POINT resulting in CONDENSATION of the vapors in flue gas. This explains the observations of the site personnels of water dripping at the air-heater hopper bottom. The condensate with the ash resulted in chocking of the tubes. The FIRST block did not experience the tube chocking as no condensation took place here due to higher flue gas temperature and also higher air temperature. SOLUTIONS RECOMMENDED : The basic solution is to raise the air-heater tube metal temperature above the Dew Point to avoid the Condensation mechanism. Hence it was decided that boiler would be taken into operation only when SCAPH is made ready and available for operation. FEEDBACK : The unit was taken into service only after the SCAPH was made available and the unit is operating without any further report of the said problem. EXPERIENCES OF OTHER SITES : A few of our 110MW boilers has been provided with similar tubular air heaters and it has been informed that these sites never experienced such degree of tube blockage any time. FEEDBACK FROM BOILERS OF OTHER MAKE : Boilers of a few manufacturers always goes with Tubular air heaters. They do not provide Steam Coil Air Pre-heater and the following are incorporated either alone or together for start-up purposes.

a. Air Heater AIR-BYPASS system. b. FD Fan Hot Air RECIRCULATION system.

FEEDBACK OF SITES WITH OTHER MAKE :

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November Article

http://www.jantermanter.com/octproblem.htm

A. In one of the station with a number of 210 MW units, the boiler has been provided with FD fan Hot-Air
Recirculation system. Feedback gathered is that these are not being used and thay do not face tube blockages experienced are cleared off in annual shut-downs. B. In one of the stations having a number of 60 MW units, the boiler has been provided with both FD fan Hot Air Recirculation and Air-Heater AIR BYPASS system. These systems are not being used and they are not facing large scale chocking till date. INFERENCES : Based on the DATA as stated above, it is inferred that this unique large scale tube blockage experience resulting in unit shut down is because of operation of the boiler on oil at very low loadings for long period.

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