TOWER TYPE BOILERS VS TWO PASS BOILERS

Salient Features of Pulverized Coal Tower Type Boiler:

I. Recommended for highly erosive fuel. Since flue gases passes without any change in direction,
the erosion rate in these types are lower.
II. Super-critical units go with tower type arrangement since it can adapt to the spiral wall
construction easily [1]
III. The tower type arrangement also facilitates the layout of mills.
IV. Low primary NOx emissions using advanced tangential firing systems and effective over fire air
arrangements, resulting in less SCR catalyst material and less reagent consumption.
V. Reliable plant operation enhanced by tower type boiler with fully drainable heating surfaces,
therefore impose no limitation on the inlet gas temperature resulting in faster startup periods
and reduced stresses in pressure parts[2]
VI. Tower type arrangement doesn’t allow parallel erection of pressure parts and generally takes
longer as the pressure welds are ~30% more, despite increased accessibility all around.
VII. Higher amount of settlement of ash on the heat transfer surface and so they require a higher
frequency of soot blowing.

VIII. Tower type boilers are somehow exposed to high maintenance and spare cost due to its design:
 Since in tower type boilers the entire heat transfer surfaces penetrate through the water wall
tubes, there is a high probability of air ingress in the boiler causing erosion. Therefore, a
carefully designed sealing arrangement and its timely inspection and maintenance is of very high
importance. (see Fig. 2)
 The supporting tubes and the support elements of tube banks are in the gas path exposing them
to the erosive forces and high temperatures. Such supports are on high stress due to load of
pressure parts, high temperature and aggressive nature of exhaust gases. In case there is any
leakage in a supporting tube, it should be removed on urgent basis. In this regard they may take
short interval overhauls for inspection. The start-up time is limited by the temperature attained
by the support tubes which are dry initially.
 Spares cost is high in tower type boilers due to large number of supports in the gas path, large
number of sealing arrangements, longer piping (due to height of boiler), longer belts for coal
conveying etc.
 Use of high capacity cranes at times of major overhaul is an added cost.
 Any pressure part failure leads to higher amount of downtime due to space constraints during
inspection of tube leakages in the tube banks

IX. In tower type boiler with opposed firing and tangential firing, it makes sense to have mills and
bunkers on either side of the boiler, which:

 Reduces the length of coal pipes, and the overall length from boiler to chimney
 The mill vibrations are also kept away from the TG hall & control room
  This helps to keep all the dirty plats away from the clean TG hall
 Mills on each side minimize the hot suction ducting and mill piping
This is at the expense of long fuel feeders and more complex conveying system for coal supply to
the bunkers inevitable with this layout (in our case of two boilers).

Figure 2: Penetration of Membrane wall

Figure 1: PC Tower Type boiler layout

Salient Features of Pulverized Coal Two Pass Boiler:

I. As the Heat surfaces are evenly split between two passes the boilers are not so tall. Structure is
short and erection is easier
II. Aside from shorter structure the boilers are usually supported on six or more columns and
hence the structure can be a little lighter.
III. The suspension hangers for the vertical heat surfaces are located above the furnace roof outside
the gas flow and are thus protected from the erosive forces of the gases. Smaller number of
sealing arrangement required.
IV. Vertical superheaters and reheaters are easy to support as they are held from the roof and are
free to expand downwards. The roof is flat and usually made of superheater tubes which
minimizes the relative expansion issues for the superheater and reheater tubes as they
penetrate the roof. Hence the gas leakage issues are also minimal.
V. Pressure parts and pressure welds are less in comparison to tower type boilers
 VI. Flue gases turn over the convection banks as they go to the second pass from the first making
them vulnerable to tube erosion both in the inter-pass area and the first set of tubes in the
second pass. Suitable erosion protection measures are required to be installed
VII. In two-pass design, the superheater and at times the reheaters are not drainable. This requires
careful monitoring of gas temperatures at furnace exit leading to longer start-up times besides
greater care during start-up
VIII. It uses conventional layout for mills i.e between boiler and TG Hall

Figure 1 Two Pass PC Boiler layout

The choice between two-pass and tower-type boilers is not easy to make as each has its advantages.
Customer preference, and their prevailing O&M practices also influence the choice, besides pure
technicalities.

[1] Spiral tube wall in furnace results in uniform heating of all the tubes, departure from nucleate boiling and a smaller number
of tubes than vertical wall arrangement. Due to no nucleate boiling it is also considered as maintenance free under normal
operation.

[2] Due to non-drainable headers, condensate remained in the tubes and required a gentle heating during startups. Direct
impact of high temperature flue gases to these tubes will cause vapor locking inside the tube that will ultimately results in tube
damage due to overheating. In addition, boiler design with drainable headers can be preserved during longer layoffs.