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List of Content:
Summary
1. Size of furnace
2. Fuel gas system
3. Atomizing steam
4. Oil burner
5. Check of boiler performance boiler B
6. FD fan performance
7. Combustion control
8. Burner installation
9. Oil burner
10. Air slides of burner
11. Sootblowers
12. Peepholes
13. Minimum flow of boiler feed water pumps
14. Cavitation in BFW pumps at higher loads above 140 C boiler feed water temperature
15. Economizer water inlet temperature and dewpoint
16. Overheating of casing in superheater and evaporator area
1|Page23
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
Summary:
The fuel gas used is totally different then the design fuel gas. The maximum burner capacity
with fuel gas is therefore approx. 68% of the design capacity. The holes in fuel gas burner
needs to be increased to meet the maximum capacity.
The pressure drop over the fuel gas burner is much higher than expected during operation.
The maximum burner capacity is limited to 28% of the design capacity. Most likely the root
cause is the fouling on the gas spuds. If not then the holes in gas spuds needs to be redesigned
by burner supplier.
The atomizing steam was extreme wet during operation. By closing the spray water valve the
steam did get sufficient dry and flame seems oke. However, we are not sure about the length
as we could not look into peephole. Peepholes needs all to be made operational. The design is
as per normal practise. It is recommended to install a cyclone at each burner to separate any
water in the atomizing steam
The oil pressure at oil gun is not in line with the expected oil pressure as per burner supplier
data sheet. It is too high. This needs to be discussed with burner supplier.
The performance of boiler B was checked and is oke. However, the power consumption and
speed of FD fan is found too high. The air pressures at FD fan inlet and outlet needs to be
checked. Also the installation of impeller.
The excess air can be set at 15% which will lower the fuel consumption with 1.1% and also
lower the sulphur dewpoint to 140 C. This 140 C can be just met with the existing Boiler feed
water system. Higher is not possible due to cavitation in BFW pump. As per original design
the BFW pump should be able to run at 150 C. Therefore this problem has to be studied
further and to be discussed with pump supplier.
The combustion control is not on automatic. The control logic needs to be reviewed by
specialist.
The burners are wrongly installed in boiler C. The drawings of boiler supplier are not in line
with requirement of burner supplier. The burners need to be reinstalled and aligned in all 3
boilers. Burner box and top hat needs to be modified. Additional refractory needs to be
installed at front wall.
The ignition of burners is a problem. Many attempts are required. Slide dampers in the burner
should be operated in line with operating manual. It seems that during ignition the slide
damper is closed. This should be not the case. Needs discussion with the burner supplier.
2|Page23
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
The minimum flow of Boiler feed water pumps is not ensured properly. This can be simply
controlled with existing system. This control needs to be installed in DCS.
The casing of evaporator and superheater is overheated due to poor protection. The refractory
installed in boiler C was inspected and found installed wrongly. Also the drawings are not
showing a proper design of refractory in the casing in boiler C. Additional castable, fire stones
and ceramic fibre needs to be installed before any further start-up of boiler C. Guidance for
installation is included in this report.
3|Page23
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
1. Size of furnace
As far I am aware is each boiler sized for supplying continuously 55500 kg/hr steam into
process.
The boiler is given approx 10% overcapacity.
As far I know it is designed for 63 tph steam generation. Heat input with oil is 47.5 MW.
The furnace dimensions with oil firing are:
Length: 3.6 *( 47500/(2*9600*4.1868)*3.6)0.5 = 5.3 m (actual is 6.885 m)
The width of furnace should be: 1.5/3.6 * 5.3= 2.2 m (actual = 2.55 m)
The height of furnace should be 2.25/3.6 * 5.3 = 3.3 m (actual= 4 m)
The burner supplier did specify following flame dimensions for oil firing at 50.5 MW:
Flame length 4.5 m
Flame diameter 1.3 m
The total heating surface is 102 m2 (projected). Means the total heat release per m2 is 463
KW/m2, while the maximum allowable is 580 KW/m2.
It means that the furnace is of sufficient size.
4|Page23
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
The actual supplied fuel gas is totally different. The density and heating value of actual fuel
gas is:
Specific density of actual fuel gas is 0.55. The density of dry air is: 1.293 kg/Nm3.
Density = 0.55 *1.293= 0.71115 kg/Nm3.
Heating value of actual fuel gas is: 21500 BTU/lb (2.326 * 21500 * 0.71115= 35564
KJ/Nm3)
As per above table the differences between the design and actual used fuel gas are:
The actual fuel gas deviate in far extend from the fuel gas taken for design. The maximum
allowable burner load will be surely less due to those differences. It is assumed that fuel gas
velocity at outlet burner should be kept the same for proper mixing of fuel gas with air. (This
assumption needs to be verified with burner supplier.)
Based on this the capacity of each burner at fuel gas firing will be 35564/52109 *100% =68.2
% of the design capacity. This needs to be increased to the original design capacity by
changing the holes in the gas spuds. The final change needs to be requested to supplier
The total burner capacity is due to the change in fuel gas composition dropped to 3497*0.682
= 2385 Nm3/hr. The heat release is dropped from 50.5 MW to 23.6 MW.
The expected fuel gas pressure at inlet burner at 2385 Nm3/hr fuel gas supply is
0.71115/0.932267*1410= 1076 mbar
The fuel gas load chart for 2 burners firing the actual fuel gas is shown below:
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Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
The boiler A and B had following fuel gas supplies at 19 Sept 2018:
Boiler A B
Fuel gas pressure downstream mbar 200 870
Fuel gas flow Nm3/hr 32 860
Fuel gas pressure at inlet control mbar 3400 3400
valve
Opening fuel gas control valve % 23.5
(manual control)
The burner was running at 860 Nm3/hr with a fuel gas pressure of 870 mbar while we had
expected 320 mbar. Means that the pressure drop over the burner spuds is far too high what
reduce its maximum capacity to approx 1000 Nm3/h based on maximum 1200 mbar fuel gas
pressure at burner inlet. The high pressure trip is set at 1500 mbar.
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Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
The fuel gas pressure in Boiler A was at 19 sept 2018 200 mbar while in boiler B 870 mbar.
Means the fuel gas supply into boiler A is 46% of boiler B. Means fuel gas supply into boiler
A is approx 400 Nm3/hr. The reading is, however, 32 Nm3/hr. This large deviation is caused
by the low flow over the orifice. In fact for such low flows of 10 to 20% of design capacity
the orifice will be very inaccurate.
The flue gas flow meter is designed for 5000 Nm3/hr at a pressure of 2.94 to 3.92 barg. The
correct reference pressure is not mentioned in the data sheet. Also the density is different than
the actual one. What is taken as basis for the DCS to ensure correct fuel gas measurement?
3. Atomizing steam
Observed was a high amount of water continuously flowing out of drain line of atomizing
steam line close to boiler.
This means the steam is very wet when it enter the burner gun.
The water droplets in the steam will prevent the effective atomizing of the fuel oil in a very
fine mist. Large droplets will splash against the furnace walls and will burn very close to the
wall. High carbon deposits will be collected on the walls. Also in the peepholes
To avoid this the steam should be at least slightly superheated while entering the oil gun.
Approx. 20 C above saturation.
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Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
The problem of existing temperature control of atomizing steam can be found in the low
velocities in the atomizing steam line at desuperheater and the low openings of the water
spray control valve which was approx 1.4%.
The steam velocity in the atomizing steam line at desuperheater was approx:
Atomizing steam flow is approx for 2 boilers in operation: 4*115 kg/hr =460 kg/hr
steam at 12 bar and 210 C.
Steam velocity in 3 inch line is 460/(3600* 5.83) *1/A= 5 /m/s
After closing the block valve upstream the water spray valve the steam temperature at outlet
of PCV was increasing to 290 C. Mean a small leakage of water through water spray valve
and its bypass valves still occurred what is oke. It did take a long period before the steam at
oil burner did get free of water. From this it was concluded that the long 3 inch lines from
PCV to all 3 boilers was fully filled with water. This water we could not drain from lowest
point as a drain connection was missing.
After one hour we did check the oil flame in boiler B from rear wall boiler. By breaking the
glass we could see clearly the tubes of the front and side wall. The flame was at large distance
from the right side wall of boiler (seen from burner side boiler). The flame was bright. The
length we could not observe.
In order to increase the dryness of the steam I recommend to install a water separator with
condensate trap at inlet of the steam pressure reducing valve at inlet of the burner of each
boiler.
4. Oil burner
The tip of oil burner was checked. It is a Y jet type.
The design capacity of the oil burner is as per below table:
The maximum oil flow is 4342 kg/hr at oil pressure of 12 barg at oil burner inlet. See table
below.
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Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
The oil flow of boiler B was at 19 Sept 1770 kg/hr with an oil pressure at inlet of control
valve of 15 barg and at burner inlet of 6.6 barg with oil temperature of 125 C. The oil control
valve was 45 % open.
Expected oil pressure at inlet burner is 3.5 barg as per above load chart
The atomizing steam pressure is 6.4 barg. As per supplier it should be 6 barg and over the full
load range constant. The steam pressure can be set slightly lower. The oil pressure will then
also drop slightly.
9|Page23
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
The impression is that the expected oil pressure at inlet burner as given by supplier is based
on a constant pressure difference between atomizing steam and oil. This needs also to be
verified with supplier.
10 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
Value added to your Power, Steam and water generating systems
Note: The boiler B was running at very low load of 12 tph. Approx 20% MCR. At this load
the measured flows are inaccurate and therefore no data is collected. The flue gasses at outlet
was blackish what indicate that more air needs to be supplied. I recommend at least 7 vol% at
this load
6. FD fan performance
The FD fan capacity is as per below table:
The fan of boiler B was running with electric motor at almost maximum speed of 1341. The
power consumption 107 KW
The air flow was 40209 Nm3/hr (45364 m3/hr), ambient temperature approx 35 C and oxygen
content in flue gas was 4.43 %. The flue gas pressure in furnace was 10 mbar. Those values
are not much deviating from the expected values.
The expected pressure drop over the burner is 12 mbar. Means at outlet FD fan a pressure of
12 +10 = 22 mbar is expected. Over the inlet is 3 mbar pressure drop expected.
The setting of high air pressure in windbox is set at 40 mbarg. The air pressure is during
operation below this value.
The design flow as per above table is 53245 m3/hr while the actual flow was 45364 m3/hr at
35.5 tph steam capacity. When we bring the excess air down to 15% than the maximum boiler
capacity would be 47.4 tph plus approx 20% due to margin in static head. Expected
maximum steam capacity will be after adding the 20% approx 57 tph.
Based on the volume and head the expected power consumption is (40108*
(273+35)/273)/3600 * 2500/0.6 *1/1000= 52 KW. The measured power consumption of the
FD fan was at 35.5 tph 97 KW. Total 87% higher. This could be caused by:
Higher static head over burner due to higher pressure drops over burner and inlet
section of FD fan
Very low efficiency of FD fan.
The final QH curve of FD fan is required to verify the performance. Please send.
However, clear is that the air flow is limiting the boiler capacity most likely in far extend. The
air flow is known to us, however the air pressure at inlet and outlet of FD fan not. For that
reason it is requested to measure following pressures:
The low air pressure on windbox what is also approx the outlet pressure of fan
The pressure high on windbox on both burners in order to verify the air flow through
each burner throat.
The air pressure at outlet of venture
The air pressure at inlet of FD fan
11 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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Further the correct installation of FD fan impeller and its rotation plus the open area of the
silencer at FD fan inlet needs to be checked.
8. Burner installation:
For proper working of the burners the settings as per instructions of burner supplier should be
followed accurately. Question mark is how the burners in boiler A and B are installed. To
ensure the proper installation in boiler C we did check the installation of the 2 burners in the
front wall.
The Burner is installed with exception of the oil burner. The burner is not set straight,
concentric and aligned as per the required distances as per below sketches. Also the refractory
quarl is not installed yet.
Further the outer ring (top hat) is not properly set.
Below the required distance between the swirler and refractory
The installation procedure as per section 3 of installation, operation and maintenance manual
should be followed accurately. Is not followed as we observed.
The refractory around the burner is not installed correctly. The membrane wall tubes around
the burner needs to be covered also in order to give more radiation heat to the ignition zone of
burner and to protect the tubes of overheating. The burner supplier requires 50 mm high
refractory supported with anchors. See below
12 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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picture.
The main problem is that the outlet of burner venturi is not set at same line as refractory. See
below sketch.
Further it is observed that the dimensions mentioned in the drawing of burner windbox in
front wall of the boiler supplier are not in line with the drawing of the burner supplier. See
below the comparison in below sketch.
13 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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The burner had to be installed 175 mm deeper into the front wall. The exact dimension of
burner needs to be measured. Check first the length of 1315 mm of burner. And then
determine the final correction to be made.
It is not necessary to modify the refractory installed at air inlet side of front wall. Would be
too much work. Of course the additional refractory at furnace side should be installed and also
the refractory for forming the quarl at burner outlet. The problem will be that the top hat is too
small. This one needs to be extended with most likely 175 mm. Determine this additional
length after measuring the actual dimensions. See below sketch:
14 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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The burner front of windbox needs to be installed approx 175 more towards the front wall.
The complete burners have to be removed out of the windbox as the tophat needs to be
modified in length and the tag welds of ring to tophat have to be removed. The font plate can
be cut in its surrounding and slided 175 mm into the windbox and welded again.
The distance between the outlet of burner venturi and swirler should be set at 105 mm.
Also the position of the gas pipes should be set as per drawing. See below sketch:
Also install the anchors of material SS310 in front wall in order to have support for the
additional refractory to be installed to those tubes. Weld the anchors to membrane wall strip
only. Not to the tubes.
15 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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Then the modified top hat with loose ring and the burner can be reinstalled and aligned. After
it is completely aligned as per installation manual and drawings then the quarl former can
installed. Then the refractory around the burner venture and quarl former and to the
membrane wall can be installed. After curing the quarl former can be removed.
9. Oil burner:
The oil gun of burner needs also to be installed properly. See installation drawing and sketch
below.
In case of an individual burner stop or trip while the other remain in operation the air slide of
stopped/tripped should be closed directly. At purging it should be fully open.
16 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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11. sootblowers:
The long retractable sootblower is damaged during operation most likely due to too low steam
supply. The steam needs to cool the pipe lance during insertion into the high temperature flue
gasses.
The sootblowers are supplied with high pressure steam from HP main steam line. The 40.5
barg needs to be lowered to approx 12 barg in the blowing pipe downstreams the poppet
valve. This needs to be set during commissioning. To set this for each blower a pressure
gauge should be installed on the connection of poppet valve as per below sketch and
procedure. It is recommended to check this for each sootblower installed.
The rotable sootblowers in evaporator require 2 connections for air supply. One to the
conncetion near flange and one on the poppet valve. Please check if both are installed. See
below sketch.
17 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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Further the sootblower nozzles needs to be installed inbetween the tubes sothat the tube
cannot be damaged by the steam blowing with high speed out of the nozzles. See below
sketch. It was observed that the nozzles are not installed as such. The nozzles are installed
very close to the tube.
The semi-retractable sootblowers are installed properly. During operation soot could be built
up between the strips installed in the bottom of the economizer. This will cause corrosion of
bottom plate. See sketch below. It is recommended to remove those when the economizer
bottom plate needs to be removed for cleaning the economizer from sever soot formation.
Further it is recommended to install then also one additional steam nozzle on each lance of
sootblower sothat the bottom can be cleaned also during sootblowing.
18 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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Due to the high steam pressure it is expected that the leakage over the sootblowers will be
relative high when the poppet valves are closed. It is important to open the block valve at
common line first before starting the operation of all sootblowers and to close directly after
finalization of sootblowing sequnce of the boiler. The operation of the stop valve is manual. It
can be made motorized and included in the automatic sequence operation of the sootblowers
so that it cannot be forgotten to close what will save surely high amounts of HP steam.
12. peepholes:
The peepholes are overheated. Glasses are damaged. During operation flue gasses are flowing
out of peepholes.
After reviewing the installation it is concluded that the installation is correct. The glasses are
severe fouled by the oil. Clearly due to poor atomizing and splashing of oil droplets against
the walls. The overheating of casing of peepholes is surely due to the splahing of oil against
the walls and accumulated in those peephole openings.
It is important to set the air supply to the peepholes such that the pressure behind the glass is
higher than in the furnace. Also it should be higher when the flapper in the peephole is
opened. Check if this is the case.
19 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
Consultancy Byco refinery at 19 September
2018
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I did notice that an orifice is installed in the common minimum line to the deaerator. The hole
in the orifice needs to be measured and the pressure drop over it has to be calculated in order
to ensure proper working.
I understood that the Sulphur content in oil fired is 2.57 %. With 15% excess air the dewpoint
will be 140 C what can be managed in this moment as mentioned above in section 13. As per
performance table in section 4 the boiler is now running at 4.7 vol% wet oxygen content in
flue gasses. Means the dewpoint is approx 155 to 160 C.
Most likely there is some condensation on the tubes at economizer inlet. For that reason it is
important to keep the excess air down at 15%. Also for energy savings it is important. It will
save approx 1.1% of energy costs.
The space in top casing along the steam drum is filled with ceramic and mineral wool.
The mineral wool is totally not suitable for those high flue gas temperatures and will
have no binders and disappear after some operating hours. The ceramic wool could be
resistant, however, the fibres should then be installed vertical to the flue gas flow. As
pyrox blocks. If not then it has no resitant against the erosion effect of flue gasses and
fibres will get loose and will be taken out by flue gasses.
In the bottom casing along the water drum a low layer of castable is installed. Approx
50 mm. This is much too less. Further the opening beweeen the bottom and tubes is
large and flue gasses of high temperature (1000 C) can bypass thought this opening to
boiler outlet and heat all casing in bottom.
The sides of the superheater casing, connected to the membrane walls are not
protected with insulation and will be in contact with the flue gasses of 1000 C and will
get severe overheated.
Below the pictures with observations made.
21 | P a g e 2 3
Inspection report of boilers at
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2018
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22 | P a g e 2 3
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Further the lower and upper side in the superheater casing needs to be protected properly. See
below the sketches for guidance
Further ceramic fibre needs to be removed and castable needs to be installed in the casing in
bottom and top of evaporator along the drums. See below sketches for guidance.
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