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“A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized
fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including boiler-
based power generation, cooking, and sanitation.”
MATERIALS
The pressure vessel in a boiler is usually made of steel (or alloy steel), or historically of
wrought iron. Stainless steel is virtually prohibited (by the ASME Boiler Code) for use in
wetted parts of modern boilers, but is used often in superheater sections that will not be
exposed to liquid boiler water. However electrically-heated stainless steel shell boilers are
allowed under the European "Pressure Equipment Directive" for production of steam for
sterilizers and disinfectors.
In live steam models, copper or brass is often used because it is more easily fabricated in
smaller size boilers. Historically, copper was often used for fireboxes (particularly for steam
locomotives), because of its better formability and higher thermal conductivity; however, in
more recent times, the high price of copper often makes this an uneconomic choice and
cheaper substitutes (such as steel) are used instead.
For much of the Victorian "age of steam", the only material used for boilermaking was the
highest grade of wrought iron, with assembly by rivetting. This iron was often obtained from
specialist ironworks, such as at Cleator Moor (UK), noted for the high quality of their rolled
plate and its suitability for high-reliability use in critical applications, such as high-pressure
boilers. In the 20th century, design practice instead moved towards the use of steel, which is
stronger and cheaper, with welded construction, which is quicker and requires less labour.
Cast iron may be used for the heating vessel of domestic water heaters. Although such
heaters are usually termed "boilers" in some countries, their purpose is usually to produce hot
water, not steam, and so they run at low pressure and try to avoid actual boiling. The
brittleness of cast iron makes it impractical for high pressure steam boilers.
FUEL
The source of heat for a boiler is combustion of any of several fuels, such as wood, coal, oil,
or natural gas. Electric steam boilers use resistance- or immersion-type heating elements.
Nuclear fission is also used as a heat source for generating steam, either directly (BWR) or,
in most cases, in specialized heat exchangers called "steam generators" (PWR). Heat
recovery steam generators (HRSGs) use the heat rejected from other processes such as gas
turbines.
TYPES OF BOILERS
1. Water Tube Boiler
2. Fire Tube Boiler
Most modern water boiler tube designs are within the capacity range 4,500 – 120,000
kg/hour of steam, at very high pressures. Many water tube boilers nowadays are of
“packaged” construction if oil and /or gas are to be used as fuel. Solid fuel fired water tube
designs are available but packaged designs are less common.
The features of water tube boilers are:
Forced, induced and balanced draft provisions help to improve combustion efficiency.
Less tolerance for water quality calls for water treatment plant.
Higher thermal efficiency shifts are possible.
CFBC boilers are generally more economical than AFBC boilers for industrial application
requiring more than 75 – 100 T/hr of steam. For large units, the taller furnace characteristics
of CFBC boilers offers better space utilization, greater fuel particle and sorbent residence
time for efficient combustion and SO2 capture, and easier application of staged combustion
techniques for NOx control than AFBC steam generators.
Safety valve: It is used to relieve pressure and prevent possible explosion of a boiler.
Water level indicators: They show the operator the level of fluid in the boiler, also known as a sight
glass, water gauge or water column is provided.
Bottom blowdown valves: They provide a means for removing solid particulates that condense and lie
on the bottom of a boiler. As the name implies, this valve is usually located directly on the
bottom of the boiler, and is occasionally opened to use the pressure in the boiler to push these
particulates out.
Continuous blowdown valve: This allows a small quantity of water to escape continuously. Its purpose
is to prevent the water in the boiler becoming saturated with dissolved salts. Saturation would
lead to foaming and cause water droplets to be carried over with the steam - a condition known
as priming. Blowdown is also often used to monitor the chemistry of the boiler water.
Flash Tank: High pressure blowdown enters this vessel where the steam can 'flash' safely and be used
in a low-pressure system or be vented to atmosphere while the ambient pressure blowdown flows
to drain.
Automatic Blowdown/Continuous Heat Recovery System: This system allows the boiler to
blowdown only when makeup water is flowing to the boiler, thereby transferring the maximum
amount of heat possible from the blowdown to the makeup water. No flash tank is generally
needed as the blowdown discharged is close to the temperature of the makeup water.
Hand holes: They are steel plates installed in openings in "header" to allow for inspections &
installation of tubes and inspection of internal surfaces.
Steam drums internals, A series of screen, scrubber & cans (cyclone separators).
Low- water cutoff: It is a mechanical means (usually a float switch) that is used to turn off the burner or
shut off fuel to the boiler to prevent it from running once the water goes below a certain point. If
a boiler is "dry-fired" (burned without water in it) it can cause rupture or catastrophic failure.
Surface blow down line: It provides a means for removing foam or other lightweight non-condensable
substances that tend to float on top of the water inside the boiler.
Circulating pump: It is designed to circulate water back to the boiler after it has expelled some of its
heat.
Feed water check valve or clack valve: A non-return stop valve in the feed water line. This may be
fitted to the side of the boiler, just below the water level, or to the top of the boiler.
Top feed: In this design for feed water injection, the water is fed to the top of the boiler. This can reduce
boiler fatigue caused by thermal stress. By spraying the feed water over a series of trays the
water is quickly heated and this can reduce lime scale.
Desuper heater tubes or bundles: A series of tubes or bundles of tubes in the water drum or the steam
drum designed to cool superheated steam. Thus is to supply auxiliary equipment that does not
need, or may be damaged by, dry steam.
Chemical injection line: A connection to add chemicals for controlling feed water pH.
Steam accessories
Main steam stop valve
Steam traps
Main steam stop/Check valve: It is used on multiple boiler installations.
Combustion accessories
Fuel oil system
fuel oil heaters
Gas system
Coal system
Soot blower
Other essential items
Pressure gauges
Feed pumps
Fusible plug
Inspectors test pressure gauge attachment
Name plate
Registration plate
Controlling draught
Most boilers now depend on mechanical draught equipment rather than natural draught. This
is because natural draught is subject to outside air conditions and temperature of flue gases
leaving the furnace, as well as the chimney height. All these factors make proper draught
hard to attain and therefore make mechanical draught equipment much more economical.
THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF MECHANICAL DRAUGHT:
1. INDUCED DRAUGHT
This is obtained one of three ways, the first being the "stack effect" of a heated chimney, in
which the flue gas is less dense than the ambient air surrounding the boiler. The denser
column of ambient air forces combustion air into and through the boiler.The second method
is through use of a steam jet. The steam jet oriented in the direction of flue gas flow induces
flue gasses into the stack and allows for a greater flue gas velocity increasing the overall
draught in the furnace. This method was common on steam driven locomotives which could
not have tall chimneys. The third method is by simply using an induced draught fan (ID fan)
which removes flue gases from the furnace and forces the exhaust gas up the stack. Almost
all induced draught furnaces operate with a slightly negative pressure.
2.FORCED DRAUGHT
Draught is obtained by forcing air into the furnace by means of a fan (FD fan) and ductwork.
Air is often passed through an air heater; which, as the name suggests, heats the air going
into the furnace in order to increase the overall efficiency of the boiler. Dampers are used to
control the quantity of air admitted to the furnace. Forced draught furnaces usually have a
positive pressure.
3.BALANCED DRAUGHT
Balanced draught is obtained through use of both induced and forced draught. This is more
common with larger boilers where the flue gases have to travel a long distance through many
boiler passes. The induced draught fan works in conjunction with the forced draught fan
allowing the furnace pressure to be maintained slightly below atmospheric.
External treatment is the reduction or removal of impurities from water outside the boiler. In
general, external treatment is used when the amount of one or more of the feed water
impurities is too high to be tolerated by the boiler system in question. There are many types
of external treatment (softening, evaporation, deaeration, membrane contractors etc.) which
can be used to tailor make feed-water for a particular system. Internal treatment is the
conditioning of impurities within the boiler system. The reactions occur either in the feed
lines or in the boiler proper. Internal treatment may be used alone or in conjunction with
external treatment. Its purpose is to properly react with feed water hardness, condition
sludge, scavenge oxygen and prevent boiler water foaming.
The water treatment facilities purify and deaerate make-up water or feed water. Water is
sometimes pretreated by evaporation to produce relatively pure vapor, which is then
condensed and used for boiler feed purposes. Evaporators are of several different types, the
simplest being a tank of water through which steam coils are passed to heat the water to the
boiling point. Sometimes to increase the efficiency the vapor from the first tank is passed
through coils in a second tank of water to produce additional heating and evaporation.
Evaporators are suitable where steam as a source of heat is readily available. They have
particular advantages over demineralization, for example, when the dissolved solids in the
raw water are very high.
Certain natural and synthetic materials have the ability to remove mineral ions from water in
exchange for others. For example, in passing water through a simple cation exchange
softener all of calcium and magnesium ions are removed and replaced with sodium ions.
Since simple cation exchange does not reduce the total solids of the water supply, it is
sometimes used in conjunction with precipitation type softening. One of the most common
and efficient combination treatments is the hot lime-zeolite process. This involves
pretreatment of the water with lime to reduce hardness, alkalinity and in some cases silica,
and subsequent treatment with a cation exchange softener. This system of treatment
accomplishes several functions: softening, alkalinity and silica reduction, some oxygen
reduction, and removal of suspended matter and turbidity.
Chemical treatment of water inside the boiler is usually essential and complements external
treatment by taking care of any impurities entering the boiler with the feed water (hardness,
oxygen, silica, etc.). In many cases external treatment of the water supply is not necessary
and the water can be treated only by internal methods.
INTERNAL TREATMENT
Internal treatment can constitute the unique treatment when boilers operate at low or
moderate pressure, when large amounts of condensed steam are used for feed water, or when
good quality raw water is available. The purpose of an internal treatment is to react with any
feed-water hardness and prevent it from precipitating on the boiler metal as scale;
condition any suspended matter such as hardness sludge or iron oxide in the
boiler and make it non-adherent to the boiler metal;
provide anti-foam protection to allow a reasonable concentration of dissolved
and suspended solids in the boiler water without foam carry-over;
eliminate oxygen from the water and provide enough alkalinity to prevent
boiler corrosion.
In addition, as supplementary measures an internal treatment should prevent corrosion and
scaling of the feed-water system and protect against corrosion in the steam condensate
systems.
During the conditioning process, which is an essential complement to the water treatment
program, specific doses of conditioning products are added to the water. The commonly used
products include:
PHOSPHATES-DISPERSANTS, POLYPHOSPHATES-DISPERSANTS
(SOFTENING CHEMICALS)
Reacting with the alkalinity of boiler water, these products neutralize the hardness of water
by forming tricalciumphosphate, and insoluble compound that can be disposed and blow
down on a continuous basis or periodically through the bottom of the boiler.
Increase the dispersive properties of the conditioning products. They can be:
Natural polymers: lignosulphonates, tannins
Synthetic polymers: polyacrilates, maleic acrylate copolymer, maleic styrene copolymer,
polystyrene sulphonates etc.
Sequestering agents: such as inorganic phosphates, which act as inhibitors and implement a
threshold effect.
Common internal chemical feeding methods include the use of chemical solution tanks and
proportioning pumps or special ball briquette chemical feeders. In general, softening
chemicals (phosphates, soda ash, caustic, etc.) are added directly to the fee-water at a point
near the entrance to the boiler drum. They may also be fed through a separate line
discharging in the feed-water drum of the boiler. The chemicals should discharge in the fee-
water section of the boiler so that reactions occur in the water before it enters the steam
generating area. Softening chemicals may be added continuously or intermittently depending
on feed-water hardiness and other factors. Chemicals added to react with dissolved oxygen
(sulphate, hydrazine, etc.) and chemicals used to prevent scale and corrosion in the feed-
water system (polyphosphates, organics, etc.) should be fed in the feed-water system as
continuously as possible. Chemicals used to prevent condensate system corrosion may be fed
directly to the steam or into the feed-water system, depending on the specific chemical used.
Continuous feeding is preferred but intermittent application will suffice in some cases.
BOILER DESIGN
Boiler design is the process of designing boilers used for various purposes. The main
function of a boiler is to heat water to generate steam. Steam produced in a boiler can be used
for a variety of purposes including space heating, sterilisation, drying, humidification and
power generation. The temperature or condition of steam required for these applications is
different, so boiler designs vary accordingly.
Modern boiler design offers several benefits. In the past, improper design of boilers has
caused explosions which led to loss of life and property. Modern designs attempt to avoid
such mishaps. Further, mathematical modeling can determine how much space a boiler will
need and the type of materials to be used. When the design specifications of a boiler are
determined, design engineers can estimate a cost and time schedule for the construction.
Accessories and mountings are devices which form an integral part of boiler but are not
mounted on it. They include economizers, superheaters, feed pumps and air pre-heaters.
Accessories help in controlling and running the boiler efficiently. Certain common
mountings (specifically those required by the Indian Boiler Act) include:
Feed check valve - regulates the flow of water into the boiler and prevents the back flow of
water in case of failure of the feed pump.
Steam stop valve - regulates the flow of steam that is produced in the boiler to the steam
pipe, and may also be used to stop the supply of steam from the boiler
Fusible plug - placed at the lowest level of water and above the combustion chamber, its
function is to extinguish the fire as soon as the water level in the shell of the boiler falls
below a certain marked level.
Blow-off cock - removes water from the shell at regular intervals to remove the various
impurities that may be settled at the bottom of the shell.
Safety valves - automatically prevent the steam pressure from exceeding safe levels
Water-level indicators - indicate the level of water in the shell.
Combustion in a Boiler
After reading the above section now we will describe combustion chemistry, products
of combustion, byproducts of combustion, and excess combustion air. It also discusses
the relationship between boiler efficiency and excess air, boiler inputs and outputs,
fuel higher heat value, and the applications of thermodynamic laws and principles to
boiler efficiency.
This module discusses and gives examples of boiler efficiency calculations by the
input/output and heat loss methods. This module discusses the advantages and
disadvantages of using the heat loss method to calculate boiler efficiency.
Additionally, this module discusses the purpose and methods for the optimum
dispatching of multiple boilers.
“Calculating the total air flow to meet stoichiometric conditions and excess air
requirements for a given fuel of known composition”.
Combustion is the process in which hydrogen, carbon, and sulfur in a fuel become oxidized by
being combined with oxygen from the air. Of these elements, carbon and hydrogen are the major
sources of heat when oxidized. Sulfur oxidation is more significant as a source of corrosion and
pollution.
Complete combustion can occur when the exact amount of air necessary to furnish the oxygen
for complete combustion of a fuel's carbon and hydrogen is present. Incomplete combustion
occurs because of insufficient combustion air and/or incomplete turbulence for complete mixing
of fuel and air.
Typical fuels for use in boilers around the world are natural and fuel gas, fuel oils,
and coal. In industrial boilers mostly, we only use gases and fuel oils, not coal. The
typical energy contents of boiler fuels are:
Fuel Oils must be stored, heated, and pumped to the point of use. There, oils must be
atomized with either steam or air before combustion can take place in the burner.
Coal must be crushed, then either used in a suspension of air or liquid, burner on a
grate, or burned in a fluidized bed.
Burners for liquid fuel oils typically require a viscosity of 135 - 150 Saybolt universal
seconds (SSU). Therefore, the more viscous liquid fuels must be heated before they
are pumped.
Combustion of any fuel requires three T’s, e.g. time temperature, and turbulence. A
short time, a high temperature, and a very turbulent mixture indicate a rapid and
complete combustion. However, when turbulence is low, the flame is cooler and it
may take longer to get complete combustion. Longer burning time and less turbulence
has been found to create less nitrogen oxides, a pollutant. Sometimes, complete
combustion does not take place because enough time is not given for the flame to burn
completely before hot gases contact cooler heat transfer surfaces in the boiler.
Equation illustrates the formula for complete combustion of carbon. One mole of carbon
(weighing 12 pounds) combines with one mole of oxygen (containing 2 atoms and weighing 32
pounds) to produce one mole of carbon dioxide weighing 44 pounds and containing 14,093 BTU
per pound C of heat energy.
Equation illustrates the formula for the complete combustion of hydrogen. Two moles of hydrogen
weighing 4 pounds combine with one mole of oxygen weighing 32 pounds to produce 2 moles of
water weighing 36 pounds and containing 61,100 BTU per pound H2 of heat energy.
Major Chemical Reactions undergoes during combustion
Combustion of Hydrogen always creates WATER! Since this water is in the hot combustion zone,
it is immediately vaporized after it is formed. It absorbs heat to vaporize, e.g. equal to the latent
heat of vaporization. The ASTM procedures typically specify the latent heat of vaporization for
this combustion water as 1040 Btu/lb. Because of the vaporization of combustion water, there is
less heat available to make steam in the boiler.
The more hydrogen in the fuel, the lower the actual energy available from combustion. Since gas
has more hydrogen than fuel oil than coal, gas is inherently less efficient to burn than oil than coal.
The actual efficiency losses are described below. Note that boiler efficiency calculations generally
use HHV and process heater calculations use LHV.
Equation illustrates a formula for the incomplete combustion of carbon. Two moles of carbon
combine with one mole of oxygen to produce two moles of carbon monoxide and 4,000 BTU per
pound C of heat energy. Some of the potential heat energy is in the carbon monoxide.
Carbon Monoxide to Carbon Dioxide
Given the right conditions and more oxygen, carbon monoxide can be converted to carbon dioxide
to release the remaining heat energy. The formula for the conversion of carbon monoxide to
carbon dioxide is shown in Equation 5.
In reality, if just the theoretical amount of air needed to burn a fuel were supplied, it would not be
enough to complete the combustion. A certain amount of additional or excess air is required to
ensure complete mixing and optimum heat-release characteristics. Excess air is also necessary
from a safety perspective. If the amount of oxygen at the burner drops below the theoretical
amount, an explosion may occur because of the buildup of unburned hydrocarbons. Table 3
indicates the minimum typical excess air required for combustion at full load.
As load on a boiler decreases, the turbulence in a burner is reduced, thus increasing the need for
excess air. In all boilers, the excess air required for complete combustion is increased at reduced
loads. This fact is indicated in Figure that shows an excess air curve for a specific boiler.
Total Air Flow Requirements
The Procedure to Calculate Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide in Flue Gas (Work Aid 1D) describes the
necessary calculations to determine the percent excess oxygen and carbon dioxide in boiler flue
gas, on a dry basis. The inputs required for these calculations include the measured oxygen in the
flue gas and the measurement basis (i.e., wet versus dry), an ultimate analysis of the fuel, and the
absolute humidity in the air.
Excess air equals excess oxygen. Excess air equals the %O2 by volume in the flue gas divided by
the total air required for stoichiometric combustion. Equation 6 is a procedure to calculate excess
air:
Flue gas constituents and concerns
Flue gas percentages of O2, of opacity, and of CO2, CO, SO2, and NOx in the flue gas can be all
used to determine excess air requirements. Most commonly used to determine the percentage of
excess air are the percentage of O2 and the percentage of CO2.