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Table of contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
Basics of boilers and boiler processes..................................................................................................3
Definition .........................................................................................................................................3
A simple boiler.................................................................................................................................4
A simple power plant cycle..............................................................................................................4
Carnot efficiency..............................................................................................................................5
Properties of water and steam ..........................................................................................................5
Introduction..................................................................................................................................5
Boiling of water ...........................................................................................................................6
Effect of pressure on evaporation temperature ............................................................................7
Basics of combustion .......................................................................................................................7
Principles......................................................................................................................................7
Products of combustion................................................................................................................8
Types of combustion....................................................................................................................8
Combustion of solid fuels ............................................................................................................8
Combustion of coal ......................................................................................................................8
Main types of a modern boiler .........................................................................................................9
Heat exchanger boiler model .........................................................................................................10
General .......................................................................................................................................10
Heat exchanger basics ................................................................................................................10
T-Q diagram ...............................................................................................................................11
Heat recovery steam generator model........................................................................................12
Heat exchanger model of furnace-equipped boilers ..................................................................13
References ......................................................................................................................................15
Introduction
The world energy consumption has doubled in the last thirty years and it keeps on increasing with
about 1,5 % per year. While the earth's oil and gas reserves are expected to deplete after roughly
one hundred years, the coal reserves will last for almost five hundred years into the future. In
Finland, 50 % of the electrical power produced, is produced in steam power plants. But there are
more reasons to why electricity generation based on steam power plant will continue to grow and
why there still will be a demand for steam boilers in the future:
A simple boiler
In order to describe the principles of a steam
boiler, consider a very simple case, where the
boiler simply is a container, partially filled with
water (Figure 1). Combustion of fuel produce
heat, which is transferred to the container and
makes the water evaporate. The vapor or steam
can escape through a pipe that is connected to
the container and be transported elsewhere.
Another pipe brings water (called feedwater)
to the container to replace the water that has
evaporated and escaped.
Since the pressure level in the boiler should be
kept constant (in order to have stable process
values), the mass of the steam that escapes has
to be equal to the mass of the water that is
added. If steam leaves the boiler faster than
water is added, the pressure in the boiler falls. If
water is added faster than it is evaporated, the
pressure rises.
If more fuel is combusted, more heat is generated and transferred to the water. Thus, more steam is
generated and pressure rises inside the boiler. If less fuel is combusted, less steam is generated and
the pressure sinks.
Carnot efficiency
When considering any heat process or power
cycle it is necessary to review the Carnot
efficiency that comes from the second law of
thermodynamics. The Carnot efficiency
equation gives the maximum thermal efficiency
of a system (Figure 3) undergoing a reversible
power cycle while operating between two
thermal reservoirs at temperatures Th and Tc
(temperature unit Kelvin).
max =
TH TC
T
=1 C
TH
TH
Hot reservoir Qh
(temperature Th)
Wcycle
=
Qh - Qc
Cold reservoir Qc
(Temperature Tc)
(1)
Wp
Wt
Cold reservoir Qc
(Temperature Tc)
0,6
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
Introduction
Water is a useful and cheap medium to use as a
working fluid. When water is boiled into steam
its volume increases about 1,600 times,
producing a force that is almost as explosive as
gunpowder. The force produced by this
0,1
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Temperature [K]
expansion is the source of power in all steam engines. It also makes the boiler a dangerous device
that must be carefully treated.
Evaporation of water
Phase change
180
160
140
Temperature [C]
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
temperature than that of saturated steam is called superheated steam. It contains no moisture and
cannot condense until its temperature has been lowered to that of saturated steam at the same
pressure. Superheating the steam is particularly useful for eliminating condensation in steam lines,
decreasing the moisture in the turbine exhaust and increasing the efficiency (i.e. Carnot efficiency)
of the power plant.
Pressure [bar]
22,12 MPa
100
200
300
400
Temperature [C]
Basics of combustion
Principles
The process of combustion is a high speed, high
temperature chemical reaction. It is the rapid
union of an element or a compound with oxygen
that results in the production of heat essentially, it is a controlled explosion.
Combustion occurs when the elements in a fuel
combine with oxygen and produce heat. All
fuels, whether they are solid, liquid or in
gaseous form, consist primarily of compounds
of carbon and hydrogen called hydrocarbons.
Sulphur is also present in these fuels.
Products of combustion
When the hydrogen and oxygen combine, intense heat and water vapor is formed. When carbon and
oxygen combine, intense heat and the compounds of carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide are
formed. When sulfur and oxygen combine, sulfur dioxide and heat are formed. These chemical
reactions take place in a furnace during the burning of fuel, provided there is sufficient air (oxygen)
to completely burn the fuel. Very little of the released carbon is actually "consumed" in the
combustion reaction because flame temperature seldom reaches the vaporization point of carbon.
Most of it combines with oxygen to form CO2 and passes out the vent. Carbon, which cools before
it can combine with oxygen to form CO2, passes out the vent as visible smoke. The intense yellow
color of an oil flame is largely caused by incandescent carbon particles. As we mentioned in the
introduction to this segment, combustion can never be 100% efficient. All fuels contain some
moisture and non-combustibles:
Natural gas has 1 - 15% (depending on origin) of noncombustible gases like N2 and CO2.
Types of combustion
There are three types of combustion:
Perfect Combustion is achieved when all the fuel is burned using only the theoretical
amount of air, but as we said before perfect combustion cannot be achieved in a boiler.
Complete Combustion is achieved when all the fuel is burned using the minimal amount of
air above the theoretical amount of air needed to burn the fuel. Complete combustion is
always our goal. With complete combustion, the fuel is burned at the highest combustion
efficiency with low pollution.
Incomplete Combustion occurs when all the fuel is not burned, which results in the
formation of soot and smoke.
Combustion of coal
Oil and gas are always combusted with a burner, but there are three different ways to combust coal:
1. Turning chamber
2. Flue
gas
collection
chamber
3. Open furnace
4. Flame tube
5. Burner seat
6. Manhole
7. Fire tubes
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Water space
Steam space
Outlet and circulation
Flue gas out
Blow-out hatch
Main hatch
Cleaning hatch
Main steam outlet
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
Figure 11: Schematic of a Hyrytys TTK fire tube steam boiler [Hyrytys].
The Basics of Steam Generation - 9
flue gas
process steam
feed water
air
fuel
hot stream
cold stream
hot stream
T2
t2
t1
cold stream
T2
t2
t1
deltaQ
t1
T1
Tpinch
T2
t1
Q
external heating
required
external cooling
required
We start with the heat exchanger unit, where the evaporation occurs the evaporator. Assuming
that water enters the evaporator as saturated water and exits as saturated steam, the heat transferred
from the flue gas is the required heat to change the phase of water into steam. The phase change
occurs (water boils) at a constant temperature, and therefore the steam/water stream temperature
wont change in the evaporator.
In order to preheat the water for the evaporator, another heat exchanger unit is needed. This unit is
called economizer, and is a cross-flow type of heat exchanger. It is placed after the evaporator in the
flue gas stream, since the evaporator requires higher flue gas temperature than the economizer.
The heat exchanger unit that superheats the saturated steam is called superheater. The superheater
heats the saturated steam beyond the saturation point until it reaches the designed maximum
temperature. It requires therefore the highest flue gas temperature to receive heat and is thus placed
first in the flue gas stream. The maximum temperature of the boiler is limited by the properties of
the superheater tube material. Today's economically feasible material can take temperatures of 550600 C.
The result is a heat exchanger cascade of a HRSG (with a single pressure level), which can be found
in Figure 18. The T-Q diagram of the model is visualized in Figure 19.
Economizer
water
Sup
Eva
Eco
Evaporator
saturated
water
saturated
steam
Superheater
Q
Figure 19: T-Q diagram of the HRSG model in
Figure 18.
In a boiler with a furnace, adequate cooling has to be maintained and material temperature should
not exceed 600C. Thus the evaporator part of the water/steam cycle is placed in the furnace walls,
since the heat of the evaporation provides enough cooling for the furnace, which is the hottest part
of the boiler.
Since the furnace is inside the boiler, high flue gas temperatures (over 1000C) are obtained. After
the flue gas has given off heat for the steam production, it is still quite hot. In order to cool down
the flue gases further to gain higher boiler efficiency, flue gases can be used to preheat the
combustion air. The heat exchanger used for this purpose is called an air preheater.
The result is a heat exchanger model of a furnace-equipped boiler (e.g. PCF-boiler, grate boiler or
oil/gas boiler), which can be found in Figure 20. The T-Q diagram of the model is visualized in
Figure 21
Eco
Air out
Eva Sup
Air
Air in
Air preheater
Q
Figure 21: T-Q diagram of the heat exchanger
model in Figure 20.
References
1.
2.
Combustion Engineering. Combustion: Fossil power systems. 3rd ed. Windsor. 1981.
3.
Esa Vakkilainen, lecture slides and material on steam boiler technology, 2001
4.
of
the
English
Language:
Fourth
Edition,