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Steam Generators
UNIT 4 STEAM GENERATORS
Structure
4.1 Introduction
Objectives
4.2 Classification of Boiler
4.3 Fire Tube and Water Tube Boilers
4.4 Constructional Features of Boilers
4.4.1 Lancashire Boiler
4.4.2 Cochram Boiler
4.4.3 Babcock and Wilcox Boiler
4.5 Boiler Mountings
4.5.1 Steam Safety Value
4.5.2 Pressure Gauge
4.5.3 Water Gauge (Water Level Indicator)
4.6 Boiler Accessories
4.7 Fuels for Boilers
4.8 Performance of Boilers
4.9 Summary
4.10 Key Words
4.11 Answers to SAQs
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Steam is used as a working fluid in thermal (steam) power plants. Also steam produced
from water in nuclear power plant is the working fluid in nuclear power plants. In
addition, steam is used for process heating in industries like pharmaceuticals, leather,
textile, paper, tyre, distilleries, etc. The advantage of using steam in power plants and in
process industries is that isothermal heat transfer (both heating and cooling) can be
achieved by phase change and it is a reversible process. In addition, the exhaust steam can
be condensed and recycled and hence the working fluid replenishment needs are the
minimum. As steam is produced from water, it is relatively cheep and purity of water can
be improved by employing simple water treatment processes which are cost effective. Due
to the above reasons steam is extensively used in most of the process industries and in
power plants. In western countries district heating is accomplished by extracting steam
from power plants. Also in summer this steam heat is utilised to provide cooling by
employing absorption refrigeration systems. Thus, steam finds immense application in
most of the engineering processes.
Objectives
After studying this unit, you should be able to
understand the process of steam generation,
know the types of boilers,
describe the constructional features of boilers,
recognise the boiler mountings and accessories, and
measure the performance of boilers.

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Engineering

4.2 CLASSIFICATION OF BOILER
Based on the fuels used, construction type, application, water circulation and condition of
steam delivered boilers are classified as follows :
Based on Fuels
(a) Solid fuel fixed boilers
(i) lignite/coal
(ii) charcoal/wood
(iii) solid waste
(iv) biomass
(b) Fluid fuel fired boilers
Gas (petroleum based producer, watergas, blast furnace gas, etc.)
Based on Construction Type
(a) Packaged
(b) Field erected
(c) Water tube
(d) Fire tube
Based on Application
(a) Utility
(b) Industrial
(c) Domestic
(d) Marine
(e) Locomotive
(f) Cogeneration
Based on Water Circulation
(a) Natural circulation
(b) Forced or pumped circulation
Based on Operating Condition
(a) Sub-critical
(b) Super critical
Based on Steam Delivery Condition
(a) Wet
(b) Dry saturated
(c) Super heated
4.3 FIRE TUBE AND WATER TUBE BOILERS
Fire Tube Boilers
In the fire tube boilers, hot gases from the furnace pass through the tubes which are
surrounded by water. The hot gases heat the water. Fire tube boilers are low
pressure boilers and generally operate of pressures less than 1 bar. These are


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Steam Generators
extensively, used in process industries like paper, leather, textile. For example :
Cochram boiler, Locomotive boiler and Lancashire boiler.
Water Tube Boilers
In water tube boilers, water circulates inside the tube and is heated from outside by
the hot gases that are produced by burning fuel in the furnace. Normally high
pressure boilers are water tube boilers.
Fire tube and water tube boilers can be compared as follows :
Sl. No. Fire Tube Boiler Water Tube Boiler
1. Hot gases pass through the
tubes which are surrounded by
water.
Water passes through the tube
and hot gases surround the
tube and heat it from outside.
2. Any leak of water into tube
will lead to explosion.
Leakage of water cannot cause
service damage.
3. Because smoke or fire tubes
are subjected to compressive
stresses maximum pressure is
restricted to about 12 bar.
Water/steam can be at very
high pressures and tube
failure rarely occurs as the
surrounding pressure is
atmospheric only.
4. Suitable for low capacity
(up to 20 tone/hour).
Suitable for large very large
capacity.
5. Efficiency is low. Efficiency is high.
6. Periodic tube cleaning is
necessary to remove the
deposits to enhance the heat
transfer rate.
With the use of boiler feed
water tube inside cleaning is
not needed. External fouling
by ash is easily overcome by
500 t blowing.
4.4 CONSTRUCTIONAL FEATURES OF BOILERS
4.4.1 Lancashire Boiler
Lancashire boiler is a fire tube boiler and is shown in Figure 4.1. It consists of a
cylindrical shell inside which two large smoke (fire) tubes are placed. In addition to the fire
tubes the passages produced by the brickwork which support the boiler drum serve as hot
flue gas passage and transfer the heat to water through the shell (drum) wall. The furnace
is placed at the front end of fire tube. Coal is fired in the furnace on grate and the hot
gases produced pass through the fire tubes first reach the end of the tube and are turned
downward by the back end brick work. The gases then pass through the bottom channel up
to the front end of the boiler where they are split into two streams and pass through the
side flues. After passing through the side flues the gases get collected at the back end and
are let out of the atmosphere through the chimney. To control the flow of hot gases
through the boiler, dampers are provided. Standard boiler mountings are incorporated.






Air space
Steam
Fire
C
B
Lined with fire brick
Water
guage
Pressure
guage
Safety
valve
Steam stop
valve
Low water high
steam alarm
Fire bridge
Chamber
Steam space
To chimney
External flue

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Engineering


Figure 4.1 : Lancashire Boiler
4.4.2 Cochran Boiler
Cochran boiler is a vertical fire tube boiler and is commonly used for small capacity steam
generation. The boiler shown in Figure 4.2 consists of a cylindrical shell with its crown
having a hemispherical shape. The upper surface of the furnace is also hemispherical in
shape. The hemispherical crown of the boiler shell gives maximum strength to withstand
the pressure of steam inside the boiler. The hemispherical crown of the fire box ensures
excellent absorption of radiant heat from the furnace. The fuel is fed into the grate through
the fire door and burnt. The hot gases thus produced pass through combustion chamber,
fire tubes, smoke box and finally are released to the atmosphere through the chimney. The
flow of gases through the chimney is controlled by a manually operated damper. To
reduce the gas flow the damper is closed and for maximum gas flow the damper is kept
almost fully open.














Figure 4.2 : Cochran Boiler
The ash formed due to burning of fuel is collected in the ash pit provided below the grate.
Fire brick layers prevent over heating of boiler shell. The steam generated due to heat
transfer from the fire tube walls to water surrounding it is collected in the top part of the
boiler.
In this boiler water gauge, pressure gauge, safety value, blow off valve and fusible plug
are found as mountings.
The pressure gauge indicates the steam pressure inside the boiler. Safety valve prevents
rise in pressure to values above design pressure.
If the pressure inside the boiler exceeds the design limit, the safety valve will open and
discharge steam to atmosphere till the pressure reaches normal working pressure.
Blow off valve is used to remove the sediments and other impurities and is located at the
lowest level of water column.
Fusible plug is located at the top of the fire box, when water level decreases below the
design limit due to failure of automatic control system, the fusible plug will melt and
create an opening through which water and steam will rush to the fire box put out the fire.
Chimney
Damper
Smoke box
Door
Fusible plug
Fire box
Fuel
Air
Ash pit
Blow off valve
Fire brick lining
Feed water in
Water gauge
Man hole
Safety valve
Stop valve
Pressure
gauge
Fire tube
Combustion
chamber
Grate
Steam space


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Steam Generators
4.4.3 Babcock and Wilcox Boiler
Figure 4.3 shows the constructional features of Babcock and Wilcox boiler. This is a
water tube boiler and is used for high pressure steam production. Coal is fed through the
fire door into the grate and is burnt. The hot gases from the furnace pass across the water
tubes baffle, super heater and then go to the chimney through the damper. The damper
controls the rate of bringing and the steam generation. Water from the steam-water drum
comes down to the down header and then go to the up take header through a large number
of water tubes inclined at about 1 ft to the horizontal for better circulation. At the end of
the down comer header, a mud drum is provided from which the impurities are periodically
removed.













Figure 4.3 : Babcock and Wilcox Boiler
Like other boilers this boiler is also provided with mountings such as water gauge,
pressure gauge and safety valve. Two inspection doors in the flue gas path and a man hole
in the boiler drum are also provided. The steam and water get separated in the steam-water
drum. Wet steam from the drum enters the wet steam header through an antiprining pipe.
This pipe removes most of the moisture (liquid water) and sends the steam to be super
heater tubes. The super heated steam is collected in the super heater header and is sent to
the steam turbine through main steam valve.
4.5 BOILER MOUNTINGS
The valves and gauges necessary for the safe operation of a boiler are known as boiler
mountings. These are directly mounted on the boilers. Some of the important mountings
are :
(a) Safety valve,
(b) Pressure gauge,
(c) Water gauge,
(d) Steam stop valve,
(e) Feed check valve,
(f) Fusible plug, and
(g) Blow off cock.
Pressure
gauge
Steam water
drum
Main steam valve
(Antipriming pipe) Steam separator
Man hole Chimney
Damper
Smoke box
Door
Waste gases
Fire brick lining
Inspection doors
Ash pit
Furnace
Door
Grate
Fire Door
Uptake header
3
1
2
Downcome
header
Mud
Drum
Steam space
1. Superheated steam header
2. Wet steam header
3. Superheated tubes

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Engineering

4.5.1 Steam Safety Valve
Safety valve prevents the rise in pressure to valves above the design pressure. If the
pressure inside the boiler exceeds the design limit, the safety valve opens and discharges
steam to atmosphere till the pressure reaches normal working pressure. These are available
in three designs :
(a) Dead weight,
(b) Lever loaded, and
(c) Spring loaded.
Dead Weight Safety Valve
Figure 4.4 shows as a line diagram the arrangement present in a dead weight safety
valve. The dead weight is calculated based on the working pressure (p) and the area
of cross-section of the valve (a) on which the pressure acts. The dead weight (W)
and the carrier weight (w) together exert a downward force and the steam pressure
and valve area produce is the upward force. If the steam pressure exceeds a limiting
value
+ | |
=
|
\
w W
p
a
then valve lifts of its seat and allows steam from boiler to be
vented to atmosphere till the limiting value of p is reached. Dead weight may be
reduced for a given pressure by reducing the area a. But this area should be large
enough to release the steam quickly and bring back the pressure to normal level in
the event of rapid build-up of excess pressure.







Figure 4.4 : Dead Weight Safety Valve
Lever Loaded Safety Valve
Figure 4.5 shows the principle of operation of this type of valve. In this valve
( ) . . + = W M N p a M
where W is the dead weight, a is the area of the valve seat, p is the steam pressure,
M is the distance of valve centre from fulcrum and N is the distance of dead weight
from the valve centre. Compared to dead weight safety valve in this valve by
increasing lever length (M + N) it is possible for us to use lower dead weights for a
given operating pressure.







Figure 4.5 : Lever Loaded Safety Valve
Carrier (w)
a
Dead weight (w)
Steam passage
(w+W) = p.a
Value
P
Valve
Lever
M N
W
a
p
W (M+N) + p.a.M


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Steam Generators
Spring Loaded Safety Valve
This valve is shown as a line diagram in Figure 4.6. It has two steam passages and
two valves. These valves close the passages under the action of a central spring. The
limiting pressure can be set by varying the tension in the spring. The extended lever
is operated occasionally to check the functioning of the valves. All high pressure
boilers have spring loaded safety valves. Slight increasing in mounting does not
affect the performance.











Figure 4.6 : Spring Loaded Safety Valve
4.5.2 Pressure Gauge
Normally Bourdon type pressure gauges are used in a boiler. Figure 4.7 shows the sketch
of a pressure gauge in which we find the Bourdon tube elliptical cross-sectional (area) is
connected by levers and gears to the pointer. The fluid pressure when transferred to the
Bourdon tube tries to make the cross-section circular and in this process the end of the
tube moves out which is communicated through links to the pointer which moves over the
scale and indicates the pressure. The pressure gauge is connected to the boiler through a
siphon (shown in Figure 4.8) tube filled with water.










Figure 4.7 : Pressure Gauge




Lever
Spring
P (Steam pressure
Value
Steam
passage
Bourdon
tube
Gear
sector
Pointer
Movement
Fluid pressure
Pressure guage
Connector
To standard
Guage
Steam
Space

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Basics of Thermal
Engineering






Figure 4.8 : Pressure Gauge Siphon
4.5.3 Water Gauge (Water Level Indicator)
This gauge is mounted on the boiler drum and is shown in Figure 4.9. The gauge has a
glass tube connected to the drum through two connecting tubes to the steam and water
sides of the boiler. To check the level of water both the values connecting the drum to the
gauge should be kept open. The gauge enables us to observe any dangerous fall in water
level in the drum which is detrimental to its working. Immediately feed pumps should be
operated to raise the water level to safe valve or firing should be stopped.









Figure 4.9 : Water Gauge
From the safety point of view two features are incorporated in this valve. One is the
provision of a thick glass shield and the other the automatic closing of steam and water
passages, as shown in figure in the event of breakage of the glass tube.
4.5.4 Steam Stop Valve
Figure 4.10 shows the constructional feature of steam stop valve. Figure 4.11 shows the
construction of feed check valve and Figure 4.12 gives the constructional features of
fusible plug. The sketches are self explanatory.








Figure 4.10 : Steam Stop Valve




Steam
Water
Glass tube
Glass shield
Valve
seat
Ball takes dotted
Position when
Glass tube breaks


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Steam Generators





Figure 4.11 : Feed Check Valve





Figure 4.12 : Fusible Plug
4.6 BOILER ACCESSORIES
To increase the efficiency of boilers equipment like economiser, air pre heater and super
heater are added to the boiler. These are known as boiler accessories. They mainly serve
the purpose of existing maximum heat from flue gases. Other accessories are used to help
maintenance and also for meeting pollution control requirements. Brief description of
accessories used in modern boilers is given below.
Air Pre Heater
It is a heat exchanger used to heat the air entering furnace by extracting heat from
flue gas. Combustion of fuel using hot air improves furnace temperature and also
improves the thermal efficiency of the boiler.
Economiser
This is also a heat exchanger but heats the feed water again using flue gases. It is
placed in the path of flue gas just ahead of the air pre heater.
Super Heater
This heat exchanger heats the steam and raises the temperature. The radiant super
heater taking radiant heat is inside the furnace and the connective super heater is
having steam tubes across which the flue gases flow before entering the economiser.
Feed Water Pump
It forces the feed water into the boiler at the desirable operating pressure. It is a
special type of pump and handles hot water coming from condenser or feed heater
and raises its pressure to boiler pressure.
Condenser
This is another type of heat exchanger used to condense exhaust steam from engine
or turbine. The condensate obtained is re-circulated there by need for fresh feed
water is minimised. The condenser maintains vacuum pressure and thus improves
the driving potential of steam from boiler passing through turbine or engine and
improves the expansion ratio and hence efficiency.
Evaporator
Found only in ships. It is used to get pure water from available sea (salt) water.
Hollow plug
Crown plate Fusible metal

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Basics of Thermal
Engineering

Pressure Reducing Valve
This valve throttles the flow into the turbine. When sudden fall in load occurs on the
turbine this ensures that the power produced instantly matches with the load.
Draft Fans
These are of two types namely induced draft and forced draft. These aid natural
draft produced by the chimney and these fans ensure regulated supply of air for
combustion. They also help the smooth flow of flue gases.
Soot Blower
This helps to clean the external surfaces of water tubes by dislodging soot
accumulated over them. Clean surfaces are essential for good heat transfer.
Electrostatic Precipitator
This collects the fine dust particles and soot carried by the flue gases. Now-a-days
this is an essential component to ensure clean and safe environment surrounding
power plants.
Cooling Tower and Pump
Used to cool the raw water and supply this to the condenser as coolant.
Ash Handling Equipment
These help continuous disposal of ash from the ash pit.
4.7 FUELS FOR BOILERS
As indicated in Section 4.2 the fuels used in boilers could be classified as solid fuels and
fluid fuels. Lignite, coal, charcoal, wood, solid waste and biomass are solid fuels. Dry
solid fuels are made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen atoms. Carbon
and hydrogen predominate and S, N
2
and O
2
and or negligible quantities. The main
disadvantage of solid fuels is that they contain significant quantities of non-combustible
mineral matter called as ash. Particularly in Indian coals ash content varies from 20-50%
lignite and charcoal contain lesser ash. In the furnace design calculations the ash
production and disposal issues also need consideration.
The chemical composition of solid fuels is obtained in the laboratory and based on the
C, H, S composition the theoretical air required to burn 1 kg of fuel is calculated as
follows :

air
1 8
C + 8H + S O kg air/kg fuel
0.23 3

=
`
)
m
where C, H and S and O are mass fraction of carbon, hydrogen sulfur and O atoms
present in the fuel per kg fuel.
For example, if a coal has 85.2% C and 4.8% hydrogen and remaining quantity ash then
the theoretical mass of air needed to burn per kg coal is

, air
1 8
0.852 + (8 0.048) 11.55 kg air/kg fuel
0.23 3
| |
= =
`
|
\ )
th
m
However, p to about 20% of extra air is supplied to the furnace to ensure complete
combustion of fuel. The excess air supplied ensures complete combustion but reduces the
maximum flame temperature.
The term equivalence ratio, is used to refer to the actual fuel air ratio with theoretical
fuel air ratio. Thus, is given by


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Steam Generators

theo act
act theo
| | | |
| |
\ \
= =
| | | |
| |
\ \
F A
A F
F A
A F

when is less than 1 then the ratio is referred as fuel rich (deficient air) and when is
greater than one then it is having fuel lean (excess air) and when = 1 the moisture is
known as chemically correct or stoichiometric mixture.
The solid fuels particularly coal and wood contain significant amount of moisture and this
moisture joins the H
2
O produced due to combustion of hydrogen atom in the fuel and the
volume or mass fraction of H
2
O as water vapour is significant. Therefore, the temperature
of the flue gases till they leave the chimney need to be maintained at a higher value. This
temperature should be at least 10
o
C greater than the saturation temperature corresponding
to the partial pressure of water vapour in the flue gases. This temperature is generally
referred to as flue gas dew point. However, if we do not maintain this temperature the
chances of conducting of water vapour in flue gas is high burnt, and hence sulfuric acid
droplets will be formed. This acid attacks the chimney and its lining causes damage and
also is a health hazard to the surrounding.
Fluid Fuels
Fluid fuels gaseous fuels are referred to as fluid fuels. The liquid fuels are mostly
derived from petroleum and they have following advantages over solid fuels :
(a) Higher calorific value,
(b) Ease of storage and handling
(c) Free from ash
(d) Maximum combustion efficiency
(e) Ability to produce higher flame temperature.
Gaseous fuels have the following advantages :
(a) Better control of combustion
(b) Higher combustion efficiency
(c) Freedom from ash
(d) Clean
(e) Ease of storage and handling.
For liquid and gases fuels of known chemical composition (say C
x
H
y
) for
theoretical air required could be calculated by chemical fraction balance
(stoichiometry) as follows :

2 2 2
2 2
air
fuel
4.76 kmol
kmol kmol 3.76 kmol 1 kmol
2
3.76
2
( 3.76 )
Products
+ +
= +
x y
y
x a
y
x CO H O N
C H a O N
It is seen that to burn completely one kmol of fuel C
x
H
y
4.76 a kmol of air needs to
be supplied. The coefficient a is determined from elemental balance and we find

2
= +
y
a x
Suppose the fuel used is methane, CH
4
, the value of
4
1 2
4
= + = a . The
combustion equation is

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Basics of Thermal
Engineering


4 2 2 2 2 2
2 ( 3.76 ) 2 2 7.52 = + + + + CH O N CO H O N
Hence
4
4
2 4.76 kmol air
9.52 kmol air/kmol CH
1 kmol CH

= =
A
F

On mass basis this works out to

4
9.52 28.86 (MW of air) kg air
17.1
116 (MW of methane) kg CH
= =
A
F

Since a is the number of moles of air required for complete combustion of fuel it is
referred to as stoichiometric coefficient and the value of
| |
|
\
A
F
derived as above is
referred to as
| |
|
\
s
A
F
stoichiometric or chemically correct air fuel ratio. As discussed
in earlier section actual
| |
|
\
A
F
word could be different from this and
| |
|
\
A
F

equivalence ratio is used to refer to richness or lean condition of moistures.
Calorific Value of Fuels
When one kg of solid or liquid fuel is burnt with chemically correct or
stoichiometric air and the products of combustion contain only CO
2
, H
2
O and N
2

then the heat released during this complete combustion process is referred to as the
calorific value (kJ/kg). If the products of combustion contain H
2
O in the water
vapour state then the heat released in known as net or lower calorific value (NCV).
On the other hand of the products of combustion contain H
2
O in the liquid state the
heat released is called as gross or total calorific value (GCV). They are related by
the following relation :
kJ/kg =
w fg
NCV GCV m h
where m
w
is the mass in kg of water vapour produced per kg of combustion of fuel
and h
fs
is the latent heat (enthalpy of vaporisation) at 25
o
C. In combustion
calculations and in boiler performance we should very clearly state whether they are
performed based on GCV or NCV to avoid confusion.
Generally bomb calorimeters are used to measure the gross calorific value of solid
and liquid fuels (kJ/kg) and gas calorimeters are used to measure GCV of gaseous
fuels (in kJ/m
3
). If is also possible for h
s
to determine the CVS using
thermodynamic tabulated data if the chemical composition of fuels is precisely
known.
4.7 PERFORMANCE OF BOILERS
The performance of boilers need to be evaluated periodically to ensure that the boiler
operates satisfactorily. The parameters which need to be evaluated during boiler trial
are :
(a) equivalent evaporation, and
(b) boiler efficiency.
In addition heat balance test on boiler enable us to find out the various losses which
occur in the boiler.
Equivalent Evaporation
Different boilers are designed to generate steam at different pressures and also
during operation the steam generation pressure could be different from that


89
Steam Generators
envisaged at the time of designing it. Therefore, we need to relate the ability of
boiler to raise steam to standard conditions. For all boilers the stand conditions
considered are : Temperature of feed water = 100
o
C, steam generated is dry
saturated at 100
o
C. Accordingly for this condition the enthalpy of vaporisation
(latent heat) at 100
o
C is found to be 2257 kJ/kg.
The term Equivalent Evaporation is defined as the amount of water evaporated
from saturated liquid water at 100
o
C to dry saturated steam at 100
o
C.
Let us consider a boiler generating m
w
kg of steam per hour at a pressure p and
temperature T.
For this given p and T the enthalpy of steam generated is h. (The value of h needs to
be taken from steam tables by considering T and p and depending up on T and p
steam could be wet, saturated or super heated).
Let the specific enthalpy of water entering boiler be h
f
.
The heat gained by water in boiler per hour = m
w
(h h
f
). The equivalent
evaporation (m
e
) from an definition is given as

( ) ( )
kg/hr
225.7

= =
w f w f
e
fg
m h h m h h
m
h

Boiler Efficiency
It is the ratio of heat actually utilised to general steam to the heat supplied by
burning fuel in the same period.

Boiler
( )
( . )

=
w f
f
m h h
m C V

where mw and mf are mass of steam and mass of fuel per hour reported and CV
could be gross C . V or net C . V depending upon the flue gas emit temperature
(kJ/kg) and h and h
f
are enthalpy or steam delivered and enthalpy of feed water
respectively.
Generally is most performance calculations CCV is used to compute
Boiler
.
Heat Losses in a Boiler
Boiler efficiency of 100% is impossible to achieve. This is mainly due to the
following heat losses observed in any boiler.
(a) Heat loss to fuel gases,
(b) Heat loss due to incomplete combustion,
(c) Heat loss due to un-burnt fuel, and
(d) Convection and radiation loss.
Heat Loss through Fuel Gases
This has two components, namely
(i) the dry flue gas loss, and
(ii) heat carried away by moisture.
The Dry Flue Gas Loses
= m
g
C
pg
(T
g
T
a
)
where m
g
is mass flow rate of dry flue gas (or) mass of dry gases
formed by kg and per unit time.
T
g
is the exit temperature of the boiler gases
o
L
T
a
is the ambient temperature of air
o
C and
C
pg
is the specific heat of the dry gas, kJ/kg k

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Basics of Thermal
Engineering

Heat Loss through Moisture
= m
s
(h
s1
h
f1
)
where m
s
is the mass of moisture produced per kg of fuel due to H
2

burning
h
f1
= enthalpy of liquid water at ambient condition, and
h
f2
= enthalpy of moisture at partial pressure and at unit gas
temperature T
o
C.
Heat Loss due to Incomplete Combustion
This is calculated using the measured volume (mole) fractions of CO in the
flue gases and relating it with CO
2
produced if combustion were complete.
Heat loss due to incomplete combustion

2
CO C
23680 kJ/kg fuel
CO + CO
=
where CO, CO
2
volume (mole) fractions expressed as percentage and C is the
mass fraction of carbon in the fuel 23680 kJ/kg is the difference in heat
release due to incomplete combustion of C to CO instead of CO
2
.
Heat Loss due to Un-burnt Fuel
This is calculated by the following formula :
=
ub
Q m GCV
where m
ub
is the un-burnt fuel mass per kg fuel supplied and GCV is the
gross calorific value.
Convection and Radiation Loss
This is very difficult to calculate and hence referred to unaccounted loss. This
loss is calculated as to unaccounted loss = heat released per kg fuel
(Flue gas loss + loss due to incomplete combustion + heat is loss due to
un-burnt fuel).
4.8 SUMMARY
Steam generators are the machines, which produce the steam for using of steam power
plants. Steam is used as a fuel in any steam power plants. Steam is also used in the steam
engine. Steam is generated in the boilers. Boilers are classified in various means. In this
unit, we have learnt about various types of boilers, boiler mountings, boiler accessories,
etc. we have also studied about fuels used for boilers and their classification. It also
explained about the measuring of performance of the boilers and boiler efficiency.
4.9 ANSWERS TO SAQs
Refer the preceding text for all the Answers to SAQs.