SOOTBLOWING SEQUENCE

Soot blowing is done to remove the ash particles that adhere/stick to the outer surface of the
exchangers of the convection pass (S/H3, S/H1, Economizer, Primary Air Heater, and Secondary
Air Heater). There are number of steps that need to be followed in sequence for soot blowing of
the boiler. The soot at the surface of the exchangers creates hindrance in the heat transfer and
that must be removes time to time.

General Information:
Long Retractable Soot blowers = 04 (CSX-1042A/B/C, CSX-1043A)

Short Retractable Soot Blowers = 05 (CSX-1043B/C, CSX-1044A/B/C)

Total No. of soot blowers per boiler = 09

The soot blowers remove the soot from exchangers of convection pass. Its breakdown is as
follows

Super-heater 3 CSX 1042A (7th Floor)

Super-heater 1 CSX 1042B/C (6th Floor)

Economizer CSX 1043A/B/C (Between 5th and 6th Floor)

Air Heater (Primary, Secondary) CSX 1044A/B/C (3rd and 4th Floor)

Soot Blowing Criteria:

The criteria that is defined in the document is that, the soot blowing sequence should be started
when the flue gas temperature at the outlet of the economizer exceeds it normal temperature by
15oC (∆T = 15oC).

But the practiced criterion is taken to be the inlet temperature of the bag house. Means when the
inlet temperature of the bag house increases 15oC above its normal temperature the soot blowing
sequence is started. In general when the inlet temperature of bag house reaches 170oC the
soot blowing is started.
Soot Blowing Steps
The soot blowing involves a number of steps and that should be followed in sequence.

1. When the bag house inlet temperature reaches 170oC the soot blowing sequence is
started.
2. From the DCS the red button is pressed and soot blowing sequence is actuated. The
MOV-1010-59 starts to open and it opens 100%.
3. The line is first pressurized and heated before starting the soot blowing. For that the
pressure control valve PCV-1010-10 is used.
4. The pressure required for the soot blowing is about 25kgf/cm2g.
 Pressure set point for soot blowing = 25kff/cm2g
The set point of PCV is increased slowly and gradually in steps of 2 or 3kgf/cm2g. Let’s
say the pressure set point is first set to 2kgf, then after 1-2 minutes when the line has
achieved this pressure then the set point of PCV is increases to 5kgf. In this way the
pressure of 25kgf/cm2g is achieved within 11-12 minutes.
5. Remember that at this stage only inlet MOV and PCV are open and drain shutoff valve is
closed. It will open when the sootblowing line will attain a pressure of 25kgf/cm2g and
temperature 194oC.
6. Now pressure is achieved, the next requirement is the temperature. Before starting the
sootblowing the line should be heated to a temperature of 301oC. The logics are feed into
the PLC that when the temperature is not 301oC and pressure is 25kgf/cm2g the
sootblowing will not start. About 30 minutes it takes to achieve this pressure from the
starting time from the DCS.
7. If the 30 minutes are completed and the temperature is not 301oC the sootblowing will
not start, until this temperature is reached. And similarly if the line has reached to a
temperature of 301oC but 30 minutes time is not completed, even then the soot blowing
will not start. Both the requirements should meet.
8. Now, when line has attained the required temperature and pressure the soot blowing
starts. The 1st long retractable sootblower moves in the forward position and just as it
reaches the maximum travel distance in the forward direction it hits the limit switch and
starts travelling reverse. It doesn’t stay in there. It just goes forward and then after
reaching the maximum extension it travels in reverse direction.
 Total time taken by the forward and reverse movement of long retractable
sootblower is 7-8 minutes.

*NOTE 1: One thing that is very important to remember is that, just as the sootblowing
starts and 1st long retractable sootblower CSX 1041A starts moving forward, the main line
shut off drain valve closes and its bypass valve is opened during all the sootblowing
operation which has a steam trap too.
9. A problem that we faced at our plant was that, when the 1st long retractable sootblower
returns and the next sootblower starts moving forward there was a delay in this interval.
And during this interval the line pressure started increasing. So now the logic in the
system has been changed. When the 1st long retractable sootblower starts its reverse
movement then from that point to 180 seconds later, the shutoff drain valve opens in
order to prevent the excessive buildup of the pressure. And it remains open until the next
sootblower moves forward. After 10 seconds of the forward movement of next
sootblower the shutoff drain valve again closes.

*NOTE 2: The shut off drain valve opening and closing sequence is as follows.

 It opens when the pressure of the line reaches 25kgf/cm2g and temperature of the
line reaches 194oC, after the start command from the DCS.
 Then after 30 minutes when sootblower starts its forward movement the shutoff
drain valve closes.
 Then 180 sec after the start of the reverse movement of long retractable
sootblower the shutoff drain valve opens again. Total reverse time of long
retractable sootblower is about 3 minutes and 30 sec.
 Then after 15 seconds of the forward movement of the next long retractable
sootblower the shutoff drain valve closes again. This sequence continues for all
long retractable soot blowers.
 Then for short retractable sootblowers the shutoff valve opens after 70 seconds
from the starting point of reverse movement of short retractable sootblowers.
 And it remains open 11 seconds after the starting point of forward movement of
the next sootblower. Then it closes.

10. Then similarly after the long retractable sootblowers the short retractable sootblowers
blow the soot from the outer surface of the exchangers. But their travel time is different
from long sootblowers.
 Total travel time of a single short retractable sootblower is 3 minutes 40 seconds.
(Forward + Reverse)
11. Then after all the sootblowers have passed through the blowing sequence the inlet line
MOV-1010-59 closes and the line is depressurized and the shutoff drain valve is kept
open until the line is depressurized and then it is closed too.
12. Total time taken in this sootblowing process is about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
*NOTE 3:

When the 1st long retractable soot blower starts then the steam quantity in the system
reduces as the steam is drawn by the sootblowing system, so the remaining less steam
passing through the S/H 2 and S/H 3 absorbs more heat and its temperature can shoot
to a dangerous limit. So when the 1st soot blower starts its forward movement and
steam is drawn in this soot blower, within 1 minute time window the attemperators
TCVs are controlled and their set points are reduced (set points are in temp. readings)
to maintain the steam outlet temperature at 515oC. In this way water flow is increased
so that temperature doesn’t exceed a certain limit. Mostly TCV-1010-05/06 set points
are changed, but if need be the TCV-1010-03/04 set points can also be changed.

*NOTE 4:
When the soot blowing is started, the I.D fan damper is adjusted so that the negative draft of
I.D fan is increased to about -22mmH2O at the furnace top, where the draft during normal
operation is -5mmH2O. But after some time the draft is again adjusted to its normal value.
This is the recommended practice.