International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.

6, June 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

Effect of Excess Air on 30 TPH AFBC Boiler on

Dry Flue Gas Losses and its Efficiency
Harish Ghritlahre1, Tej Pratap Singh2
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department,
Parthivi College of Engineering & Management, Bhilai-3, CG, India
Email: harish.ghritlahre@gmail.com1, tejpratap50@yahoo.com2

Abstract In the present work, effect of excess air on boiler efficiency by minimizing the dry flue gas losses has been
observed. There is stoichiometric amount of air required for complete combustion of fuel. In practice combustion conditions
are never ideal and excess air must be supplied to completely burn the fuel. It has been found that maximum efficiency of boiler
is obtained for the range of 20-40% of excess air. For the identical range of excess air the flue gas losses are also observed to be
minimum. Further boiler maximum combustion zone is found between 3.5 to 5% of O2. In this condition boiler efficiency is
81.87% & 79.41% which is closer to the deigned efficiency and the flue gas temperature is 1340C and 1350C. Indirect method
technique for calculating the dry flue gas losses.

Keywords Boiler, Boiler combustion, Excess air, Efficiency Calculation.

1. INTRODUCTION
Power plays a great role wherever man lives and works- in
industries, agriculture transportation etc. Power provides our
homes with light and heat. The living standard and prosperity
of a nation very directly with increase in use of power. As
technology is advancing the consumption of power is steadily
rising [1] .The industrial sector uses about 50% of the total
commercial energy available in India. Of the commercial
sources of energy, coal, lignite, and oil and natural gas are
mainly used. The Indian energy sector is highly energy
intensive and efficiency is well below that of other
industrialized countries. There is a growing need to bring
about improvement in the efficiency of energy use in the
industrial sector. More efficient energy use can increase
productivity and economic competitiveness as well as lower
greenhouse gas emissions per unit of output. There is
considerable scope for improving energy efficiency in
industries dealing with iron and steel, chemicals, cement,
pulp and paper, fertilizers, textiles, dairy etc. If such
industries can promote energy conservation. To meet the
demand supply gap in power, the way ahead clearly is to
wipe- out rampant revenue leakage and routine theft in the
state-dominated power sector, and to boost capacity addition
in generation and supply. Concurrently, what is needed is
improvement in thermal efficiency of power station, so as to
generate more electricity without proportionate increase in
fuel usage. Performance of the boiler, like efficiency and
evaporation ratio reduces with time, due to poor combustion,
heat Globally most fossil-fuelled electricity production is
from coal (63%) and in India also, we have significantly
higher share of coal fired fossil - fuelled electricity
generation. As per Ministry of Power website [1], coal
dominates the energy mix with 82% of total primary energy
consumption.
Effect of variation in air on boiler combustion and its
working has been found [2].
Due to poor combustion Performance of the boiler, like
efficiency and evaporation ratio reduces with time was
reported [3]. It has also shown [3] that the deterioration of
fuel quality leads to poor performance of boiler.
Richard Dolezal [4] has stated that, the intention in injecting
more air into furnace than is theoretically necessary for the
combustion of coal is to facilitate complete combustion of
coal, because it allows sufficient oxygen to be present even at
the end of the flame. It also states that, the injection in
injecting more air into furnace. The quantity of excess air
must therefore be selected so that the sum of losses due to
unburnt combustion products is a minimum.
As per Bonk D. and Freier, M [5], the solid fuel injection
system approach for a natural gas like rapid response to load
changes can be minized by improving air flow measurement
and control.
In essence, it is uniformity of the burner-to-burner
stoichiometries-not balanced pipe-to-pipe fuel
distributions-that dictates combustion uniformity.
Combustion uniformity is the key to the best boiler efficiency
as well as the lowest emissions. To achieve this uniformity,
pipeto-pipe fuel distribution as part of combustion
optimization.[6]
2. ANALYSIS OF EXCESS AIR
There is stoichiometric amount of air required for complete
combustion of fuel. In practice combustion conditions are
never ideal and additional or excess air must be supplied to
completely burn the fuel. Excess air is an expression of how
much more air is used for the combustion than strictly
necessary. The calculation is based on the measured level of
oxygen in the flue gases and the known concentration of
oxygen in the air. Excess air is generally expressed as a
percentage in the form of 20 % excess air. This means that a
combustion process has 120 % of the air needed for complete
theoretical combustion.

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 International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.6, June 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

Heat loss due to radiation and convection:

L5= (0.548 x [(Ts / 55.55)4- (Ta / 55.55)4] + 1.957 x (Ts -Ta)
1.25 x sq.rt of [(196.85 Vm + 68.9) / 68.9] x 0.86 x HAS
/7181 x GCV) x 100 (5)
Where,
Vm =Wind velocity in m/s
Ts= Surface temperature (K)
HAS= Heating surface ce area in m2

Heat loss due to unburnt in fly ash

L6 = (Df/100) x (A/100) x (Cf/ (100-C
(100 f)) x CV x 100
GCV (6)
Fig:- 1 schematic diagram of stoichiometric combustion
tion
Where,
Df =Distribution of fly ash in percentage
CV=Calorific Value of carbon Kcal/kg
In practice, a certain level of excess air is needed in all cases
to ensure complete combustion. This excess air is around 3 - Heat loss due to unburnt in bottom ash
5 % for liquid and gaseous fuels and approximately 11 % for L7 = (Db/100) x (A/100) x (Cb/(100-C
/(100 b)) x CV x 100
solid fuels, depending on the preparation of the fuel. Excess GCV (7)
air
ir is basically a factor to avoid. The unneeded air simply Where,
carries heat up the stack away from the burner and is wasted. Db=Distribution of bottom ash in percentage
A fine line must always be drawn between too much excess
air and incomplete combustion
By the use of (1) equation we found the heat loss by dry
flue gas of boiler.

3. GOVERNING EQUATION FOR ANALYSIS

The Indirect Method: The principle losses that occur in a boiler 4. ULTIMATE ANALYSIS OF COAL: AIR DRIED BASIS
are. Raigarh region coal & Korba Region coal

Heat loss due to dry flue gas

L1 = m x Cp x (Tf - Ta) x 100 Coal(Raigarh) Percentage Coal(Korba) Percent
GCV of fuel (1) Constituents Constituents -age
Where, 35.87
m = Mass of dry flue gas in kg/kg of fuel C 32.57 C
Cp= Specific heat of flue gas in kCal/kgC H H
Tf= Flue gas temperature in C 3.01 2.82
Ta = Ambient temperature in C O 4.95 O 5.28
GCV = Gross Calorific Value Kcal/kg
M 13.2 M 12.0
Heat loss due to evaporation of water formed due to H2 in fuel
L2 = (9 x H2 x {584 + Cp (Tf - Ta)} x 100 S 0.5 S .52
GCV of fuel (2)
Where, N 1.87 N 1.10
H2=% of Hydrogen
Cp= Specific heat of water in kCal/kgC A 43.9 A 42.4
Heat loss due to moisture present in fuel GCV 3250 GCV 3366
L3 = (M x {584 + Cp (Tf -Ta)} x 100 Kcal/kg Kcal/kg
GCV of fuel (3)
Where,
M % of moisture

Heat loss due to moisture present in air

Calculation of requirement of theoretical Amount of Air
L4 = AAS x humidity factor x Cp x (Tf - Ta) x 100
Air = ((11.43 x C) + (34.5 x (H--O/8)) + (4.32 x S)) / 100
GCV of Fuel (4)
Kg/Kg of coal (8)
Where,
AAS =Actual mass of Air Supplied Kg/kg of coal
Where,
Cp= Specific heat of Air in kCal/kgC
C =% of fixed carbon

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 International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.6, June 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

H =% of Hydrogen
S =% of Sulphur 5
O =% of Oxygen

Percentage of Boiler Losses

Calculation of excess air: 4
% Excess Air = O2/(21-O2) (9)
Calculation of Actual mass of air supplied 3
AAS = {1+ (EA /100)} x Theoretical Air (10)

Calculation of actual mass of dry flue gas 2

Mass of dry Flue gas = Mass of CO2+ Mass of N2 in the fuel
+Mass of N2 in the combustion air supplied + Mass of oxygen 1
in flue gas (11)
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Various Heat Losses in Boiler
5. CALCULATION OF DRY FLUE GAS LOSSES AND BOILER
When O2 is 2-8%, By Solving the Equation (1) to (11) by use Fig. 4 Korba region fuel is used
of MATLAB 7.10.0 we get following results

6
Effect of excess air on Boiler dry flue gas Percentage of Boiler Losses
8 loss
Dry flue gas loss

6 4

2
2

0
2 3.5 4 5 6 6.5 7 8 0
Oxegen Percentage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Fig.2 Various Heat Losses in Boiler
Fig. 5 Raigarh region fuel is used

It observed that the increase in excess air leads the dry flue
Effect of execess air on boiler efficiency gas losses. The variation in fuel quality has been depicted in
Korba region figure 3 & it is clear that for Korba region coal Boiler
84 Raigarh region
efficiency is higher than the Raigarh region coal for the same
82
Boiler Efficiency

amount of air quality, for the above is observed to be the

80
higher CV of coal at Korba compared with Raigarh region.
78 For both the fuel the maximum efficiency zone lies between
76 3.5 to 5% O2.
74
72
70
2 3.5 4 5 6 6.5 7 8 6. DRY FLUE GAS LOSSES REDUCTION METHODOLOGY
Oxegen percentage The wet flue gas losses are mainly dependent on the quality
Fig. 3 of coal & they can not be controlled. Major controllable loss
is Dry Flue Gas Losses. It depends on amount of excess air
and flue gas exit temperature. Excess air reduces boilers
efficiency by absorbing heat that would otherwise be
Various Losses are as shown in fig. at 5% of O2 transferred to the boiler water and carrying it up the stack.
Excess air can be measured with a flue gas analyser.
The 30 TPH boiler operate O2% between 3 to 5%.The
maximum efficiency of that boiler is 81.87& 79.41%,when
the Raigarh and Korba region coal is used respectively. In
that condition the flue gas temperature is 134 oC and 135 oC
respectively. In that condition the dry flue gas loss is 4.83%
& 4.72%.

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 International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.6, June 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637
Dry gas loss is directly affected by the temperature of the
outgoing flue gases, as well as the excess air coefficient
significantly. The recommended values of excess air is
20-40%.The reduction of flue gas outlet temperature
however, would require extra investment for additional
surfaces in air pre heater. It should also be remembered, that
fuels containing sulphur should be dealt with carefully to
avoid corrosion. Corrosion (due to sulphur in fuel) can also
be minimised by special alloy steels for construction of last
stage heat recovery surfaces. Thus the reduction of flue gas
temperature (to increase the efficiency) would be largely a
trade off between initial capital cost and revenue savings of
fuels cost due to higher efficiency
Effect of excess air on flue gas temperature
150
145
Flue gas Temperature
140
135
130
125
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00%
Excess Air
Fig.6
Dry flue gas loss
The two main factors which cause this loss are the amount of
excess air used and the final gas temperature. The excess air
used depends mainly on the standard of the firing equipment
installed and to a lesser extent on the type of fuel used.
The dry flue gas loss may be calculated knowing how much
excess air is used, as indicated by the percentage oxygen in
the flue gas and the outlet flue gas temperature.
The final flue gas temperature depends on the following
factors.
a) Design of Appliance.
The shape and areas of heating surfaces affect the amount of
heat absorbed by the appliance and hence the overall
optimum thermal efficiency.
b) Operational Temperature or Pressure.
The higher the boiler water temperature the higher will be the
flue gas leaving temperature i.e. the boiler water (or air in the
case of space heaters) is being used to cool the heating
surfaces and hence the warmer the cooling medium, the less
cooling will be achieved.
c) Cleanliness of Heat Exchange Surfaces.
Both the water and combustion sides of boiler metal should
be reasonably free from deposits to get rapid transfer of heat
from the flame to water. Soot is as good an insulator as
asbestos and on the water side, scale formation will slow heat
transfer down to approximately one twentieth of that through
boiler steel of an equal thickness.
Deposits of waterside scale could be more dangerous than
soot although both affect heat transfer. Soot prevents heat
from reaching the boiler metal but scale prevents the heat
build up occurs, e.g. the metal temperature rises.
d) Firing rate
The flue gas temperature from any appliance will increase
with an increase in firing rate and vice versa. It therefore
follows that to achieve maximum thermal efficiency the
firing rate should be as low as possible. The maximum heat
demand should be used as a guide to firing rates required
rather than the size or rating of the appliance. This would
apply particularly where the boiler or air heater is oversized
for the maximum duty.
e) Excess Air
The flue gas temperature tends to increase with an increased
excess air supply due to changes in the amount of heat
transferred in the combustion zone.
The dry flue gas losses are maximum in any Boiler compared
to other losses.
But it depends on the above mentioned parameters like,
scaling, excess air, firing rate etc. Temperature of flue gas
should be controlled should not be more than 140C.There
should be corresponding variation in the air flow rate as the
load on the boiler varies.
80.00%
7. CONCLUSION
Boiler maximum combustion zone is found between 3.5 to
5% of O2 and in this condition boiler efficiency is 81.87% &
79.41% for Korba and Raigarh region fuel respectively
which is approaches the deigned efficiency and in this
condition the flue gas temperature is approximately 1350C.
However Increase in excess air lowers the flame temperature
results in lower heat transfer and it also enhances the flue gas
losses. Dry flue gas losses can be controlled by excess air
within a range of 20-40 %. This paper has been successful in
its purpose of reducing the dry flue gas losses in boilers and
increasing the efficiency of the boiler.
REFERENCES
[1] Ministry of power website http://www.powermin.nic.in/
[2]http://www.brighthub.com/engineering/mechanical/articl
es
[3] National productivity council (Bureau of Energy
Efficiency), Energy efficiency in Thermal Utilities for
preparation of National Certificate Examination for
Energy Managers & Energy Auditors.
[4] Richard Dolezal, Large Boiler furnaces, PP-79-84.,1980
[5] Bonk D. and Freier , M,1997, Assessment of
Opportunities for Advanced Technology Repowering,
Proceedings of the Advanced Coal Based and
Environment System Conference, Pittsburgh,july 22-24
P3,1997.
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 International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, No.6, June 2014
E-ISSN: 2321-9637

[6] Stabilizing Influence, Case Study about advanced

combustion control and artificial intelligence in a cement
plant World cement Magazine, , R.Zwick, Maerker
Cement, Harburg, Germany and Dirk Tiedtke, Powitec
Intelligent Technologies 2/2003
[7] P.Chattopadhyay, Boiler Operation Engineering, Tata
McGraw Hill Publication, 2008.
[8] ASME Standard:PTC-19-10 Performance Test Code for
flue Gas and Exhaust Gas Analysis.,1981
[9] British Standards,BS845: 1987
[10] ASME Standard: PTC-4-1[4] Performance Test Code
for Steam Generating Units.,1998
[11] Thermodynamics 5th Edition by Cengel and Boles,Book.
[12] P. K. Nag, Power Plant Engineering, Book,2nd Edition.

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