High Pressure Boiler

A boiler is called a high pressure boiler when it operates with a steam pressure
above 80 bar. The high-pressure boilers are widely used for power generation in
thermal power plants.
In high-pressure boiler if the feed-water pressure increases, the saturation
temperature of water rises and the latent heat of vaporization decreases. The feed
water can be heated to saturation of temperature in the economizer with the help of
waste heat. Recovery from the exhaust gases escaping to chimney. Then the boiler
supplies only latent heat of vaporization and superheat. Thus, a boiler operation at
high pressure will require less heat addition for steam generation.

Features of High pressure Boilers

High-pressure boilers have the following features:
1. Forced circulation of water in all modern high-pressure boilers, the force
circulation of water is maintained with the help of pumps. It increases the help of
pumps. It increases the mean temperature of heat addition and evaporation capacity
if the boiler.
2. Large number of small diameter tubes the surface-area-to-volume-ratio (area
density) increases with the use of small-diameter tubes. It helps in high rate of the
heat transfer to water flowing inside the tubes. Therefore, a large number of small
density tubes in a zigzag manner are used for water circulation in forced circulation.
Further, use of a short tube reduces the pressure loss and gives better control the
quality of steam.
3. Higher steam pressure and temperature the steam is generated at a pressure
between 80 bar to 300 bar and temperature of 450C to 585C with two super
heaters in series. The use of such stream is very suitable for power generation. It
increases thermal efficiency of the plant and reduces the moisture contents in low
pressure stages of expansion in the turbine.
4. Improved mode of heat transfer modern high-pressure boilers use the heat
transfer by radiation along with conduction and convection. The total heat-receiving
equipment is divided into several parts. So they can easily be located in various
zones of the furnace for most efficient heat transfer to the water circuit.
5. Improved mode of heating the high-pressure boilers use the following methods
for improved heat transfer rate:
Evaporative of water above critical pressure of steam.
Heating of water by mixing superheated steam for high heat transfer
rate.
Increasing the combustion air velocity over the tube.
 6. Pressurized combustion for increasing the combustion rate and thus heat-release
rate, pressurized air is used in the furnace. It gives large amount of heat in a small
space.
7. Compactness the high rate of heat transfer inside the boiler reduces the overall
size of the boiler and the boiler becomes compact.
8. High efficiency High-pressure boilers have better firing methods, monitoring,
furnace conditions, control flue gases and water velocity.
9. Intensive heating the furnace temperature in high-pressure boilers is high
enough and therefore, 70% of heat is transferred to water by radiation. This is a
faster way of heat transfer.
10. Once through construction in high-pressure boiler operating at and above the
critical pressure, the water directly flashes into steam in the tube itself. It eliminates
the need of a boiler drum.

Advantages of High pressure Boilers

High-pressure boilers use the forced circulation of water which ensures the positive
circulation of water and increased evaporative capacity.
They require less heat of vaporization.
They are compact and thus require less floor space.
Due to high velocity of water, the tendency of scale formation is minimized.
All parts are uniformly heated and the danger of overheating is minimized.
The steam can be raised quickly to meet the variable load requirements without use
of complicated control devices.
The plant efficiency is increased.
With the use of high-pressure boilers, the steam generation is economical.

Types of high pressure boilers

1. La-Mont Boiler
2. Loeffler Boiler
3. Benson Boiler
1. La-Mont Boiler

A forced circulation boiler was first introduced by La-Mont in the year 1925 which is used in
Europe and America. This is a modern high pressure boiler (water tube type steam boilers)
working on forced circulation system.

Working principle of La Mont Boiler

The image shows the flow circuit of La Mont Boiler.

Steam separator drum

The la Mont boiler consists of a steam separator drum which is placed wholly outside the boiler
setting . The drum receives a mixture of steam and water from the evaporator tubes and feed
water from the economizer. The steam is separated from water in the drum.

Circulating pump
The water from the drum is then drawn to the circulating (centrifugal) pump through the down-
comer. The pump circulates water (forced circulation) equal to 8 to 10 times the weight of
steam evaporated. This prevents the tubes from being overheated.

Distributing header
The circulating pump delivers the feed water to the distributing header with orifices at a pressure
above the drum pressure.
Evaporator
The header distributes water through orifices into the evaporator tubes acting in parallel. Orifice
in the header controls the flow of water to the evaporator tubes. Here part of the water is
evaporated and a mixture of steam and water from these tubes enters the drum.

Convection superheater
The steam produced in the boiler is nearly saturated. This steam as such should not be used in the
steam turbine. The presence of moisture in it will cause corrosion of turbine blades, etc. to raise
the temperature of steam and thereby to increase the turbine efficiency, superheater is used.
The principle of convection superheater is similar to steam generating tubes of the boiler. The hot
flue gases at high temperature sweep over convection superheated tubes and raise the
temperature of steam. Convection superheater thus receives heat from the flue gases flowing
from the combustion chamber, entirely by convective heat transfer. Such a superheater may be
more conveniently located since it is not necessary for it to see the furnace.
Saturated steam from the top of the drum enters the convection superheater placed in the path of
the flue gases and is superheated.

Steam outlet
Superheated steam from the superheater passes out to the steam turbine through the steam outlet.

Economizer
The quantity of superheated steam thus delivered to turbine is continuously made up in the form
of feed water. Feed water supplied by the feed pump is heated in the economizer on its way to
the steam separator drum.
The economizer is a device used to preheat the feed water using the hot gases leaving the boiler.
Before the gases are let off to the atmosphere, they are made to flow in a definite passage in the
economizer so that some of the heat in the hot gases, which otherwise gets wasted, can be used to
preheat the feed water. The preheated water requires only a small amount of heat to be supplied
in the boiler, resulting in some saving of the fuel burnt. This results in an increase in the boiler
efficiency.

Air preheater
Since the heat of the exit gases cannot be fully extracted through the economizer, the air
preheater is employed to recover some of the heat escaping in these gases. These exit gases
preheat the air from the blower in the air preheater. The preheated air is supplied to the furnace
for combustion.

Capacity
The capacity of la-mont boiler is about 50 Tonnes/hr of superheated steam at a pressure of 170
kgf/sq.cm. and at a temperature of 500C
2. Loeffler Boiler
This is also a modern high pressure water tube boiler using the forced circulation principle and
named after Prof.Loeffler.

Salient features of Loeffler Boiler

The novel feature of the Loeffler Boiler is to evaporate water solely by means of superheated
steam. The furnace heat is supplied only to economiser and superheater. In other words, steam is
used as a heat absorbing medium.

The major difficulty experienced in La-Mont

boiler is deposition of salt and sediment on the inner surfaces of water tubes. The deposition
reduces the heat transfer, ultimately, the generating capacity. This difficulty was solved in
Loeffler boiler by preventing the flow of water into the boiler tubes. Feed water is evaporated in
the drum using part of the superheated steam coming out from the water-heater. Thus only the
dry saturated steam passes through the tubes. Poor feed water can, therefore, be used without any
difficulty in the boiler, which is great advantage of this boiler.

Working principle of Loeffler Boiler

The image shows the outline diagram of Loeffler Boiler.

Economiser
The feed water from the feed tank is supplied to the economiser by feed pump. In the economiser
the feed water is made to flow through a number of tubes surrounding which the hot gases
leaving the furnace pass over. There is a heat exchange from the hot gases to the feed water,
which is preheated in the economiser.
Evaporated Drum
It is housed away from the furnace. It contains a mixture of steam and water. The feed water
from the economiser tubes enters the evaporator drum into which is also passed two-thirds of the
superheated steam generated by the boiler. The superheated steam gives its superheat to the water
in the drum and evaporates it to saturated steam.

Mixing Nozzles
The nozzles distribute and mix the superheated steam throughout the water in the evaporator
drum.

Steam circulating pump

A steam circulating pump forces this saturated steam from the evaporator drum to the radiant
superheater through the tube of the furnace wall.

Radiant superheater
The radiant superheater is placed in the furnace. The hot gases in the furnace are used for
superheating the saturated steam from the drum. The radiant superheater receives heat from the
burning fuel through radiation process.

Convection superheater
Steam from the radiant superheater enters the convection superheater where it is finally heated to
the desired temperature of 500C. The convection superheater receives heat from the flue gases
entirely by convective heat transfer. Both radiant and convection superheater are arranged in
series in the path of the flue gases.

Steam outlet
About one-third of the superheated steam from the convection superheater passes to the steam
turbine while the remaining two-thirds is passed on to evaporator drum to evaporated the feed
water to saturated steam.

Capacity
Capacity of the Loeffler boiler is about 100 Tonnes/Hr of superheated steam generated at a
pressure of 140 kgf/sq.cm and at a temperature of 500C.
3. Benson Boiler
The first modern high pressure drumless boiler developed by benson was put into operation in
1927 in west Germany power station.

Working principle of Benson Boiler:

This boiler has a unique characteristic of absence of steam separating drum. The entire process of
heating, steam generation and superheating is done in a single continuous tube.

Economiser
The feed water by means of the feed pump is circulated through the economiser tubes. Hot flue
gases pass over the economiser tubes and the feed water is preheated.

Radiant evaporator

The feed water from the economiser flows into the radiant evaporator with radiant parallel tube
sections. The radiant evaporator receives heat from the burning fuel through radiation process
and majority of water is converted into steam in it.

Convection Evaporator
The remaining water is evaporated in the convection evaporator, absorbing the heat from the hot
gases by convection. Thus the saturated high pressure steam at a pressure of 210 kg/sq.cm is
produced.

Convection superheater
The saturated steam is now passed through the convection superheater where the saturated steam
os superheated to 650C. The radiant evaporator, the convection evaporater and the convection
 superheater are all arranged in the path of the flue gases.

Steam outlet
The superheated steam is supplied to the steam turbine through the steam outlet.

Capacity
Capacity of benson boiler is about 150 tonnnes/hr at a pressure of 210 kgf/sq.cm. and at a
temperature of 650C. (Efficiency may be improved by running the boiler at a pressure slightly
lower than the critical pressure).

Salient features of Benson Boiler

1. As there are no drums, the total weight of benson boiler is 20% less than other boilers.
This also reduces the cost of the boilers.
2. As no drums are required, the transfer of the benson parts is easy. Majority of the parts
may be carried to the site without pre-assembly.
3. Since no drum is used, this is an once-through boiler and the feed water entering at one
end is discharged as superheated steam at the other end.
4. Circulating pump and downcomers are dispensed with.