Performance Analysis and Optimisation of Boiler System for Improved Heat Rate

by

Dr.N.S.Murty Formerly AGM and Head of

Thermal Systems and Plant Performance Group BHEL (R&D) , Hyderabad .

The complexity of the system

The boiler system is required to supply the needed quality steam as per the demand It broadly consists of Coal supply system Air supply system Steam generating system Draught generating system Ash removing system With all controls and interlocks

Coal Supply System

The coal must continuously be driven to the furnace as per the requirement It must be pulverised and pre-heated From yard Bins Feeders Mills Bins Feeders Mills Furnace

Air supply system

This consists of PA and SA Fan systems Air Preheating system

cold air duct

PA APH SA hot PA duct APH Hot Duct Furnace Mills Furnace

Steam Generating system

This consists of Furnace Economiser Drum Water wall LTSH Platen SH FSH RH SH Spray RH Spray

Draught Generation system

The flue gas path from furnace to ESP is maintained under vacuum to ensure that no hot flue comes out of its path and endanger the surrounding This is accomplished by ID fan system

Ash Removal
From Furnace bottom ESP The functioning of Draught generation as well as Ash removal System has no role in the Unit optimisation. However their healthy running is essential for the running of the Unit.

All these systems are independent but are inter connected by control loops.

Scope for Optimisation

Heat is produced in the furnace system to generate the needed steam at the specified parameters. If more heat is generated in the system than the requirement; then one can expect that losses to become more. Thus for the best conditions of operation Qin = Qreq + Qlos And for any other condition of operation

Qin + = Qreq + (Qlos + )

Hence it is important to constantly monitor the system to bring down to zero.

Cost consideration
Let best = 1 QL / Qin b = 1 (QL + ) /( Qin + ) = best best / Qin For normal working let

This implies that if best is 0.88 and when it falls to 0.8712 then the coal consumption increases by 1%. For a 100 ton per hour coal consumption unit this amounts to 1 ton per hour or 7200 tons of extra coal for 300 days of unit operation. All this amounts to an annual loss of 1.08 crore rupees at a price of 1500 rupees per ton of coal.

Statement of the problem

Since the heat is supplied by burning of coal ; the problem is reduced to fix the MINIMUM coal needed for the given load under the prevailing constraints of the systems of the Unit.

The Boiler system must supply at any given load (W) the needed flow rate (ms) of superheat steam at the prescribed pressure (Ps) and temperature (Ts). Also, the system must maintain the HRH temperature (Thrh) at the prescribed value.

Thus the boiler system must maintain a set of 4 operating parameters ms, Ps , Ts and Thrh at any given load W. Hence one must have at least 4 independent parameters for controlling and maintaining the unique set of above 4 operating parameters.

The 4 independent parameters are

Coal flow rate Excess Air SH spray RH spray. Mill elevation and burner tilt only provide supplementary support.

Performance Prediction Model

This model predicts all the thermodynamic parameters online for the boiler system at all important locations of its sub systems. Thus, the performance of each sub system is worked out and a global equation for efficiency of the boiler system is obtained.

The unique set of parameters for the best boiler efficiency can then be found out

The following boiler sub systems are modeled

A. Air Supply system B. Coal Supply system C. Steam generating system

Air Supply system

P A Fan system F D Fan system I D Fan system Air Heater System

Coal Supply system

Coal Mill system

Steam generating system

Furnace System Platen Super Heater System Final Super Heater System Re heater System LTSH System Economizer System

Each sub system is analysed by appropriate mathematical model and the outlet parameters are predicted based on the conservation equations and known basic transfer equations of the system
I N P U T O U T P U T

xi

Sub system

yi

These models give

yi = F(x1,x2,.xn, 1, 2, 3 . m) Where 1, 2, 3 . m are system constants

The following data is assumed to be known

CBD Radiation losses Ultimate Analysis of Coal Carbon Loss Furnace Air in leak
Low and high limits of the parameters xmin,i xi xmax,i Where xi are W, Ps, Ts, Trh and mair

PA Fan System
APH A FAN A

FAN B

M I L L S

M I L L S
APH B

In this model the following are predicted PA Cold header pressure Hot header pressure

S A Fan System
APH A FAN A

FAN B

F U R N C E
APH B

In this model the following are predicted

SA SA header pressure

I D Fan System
FAN A

S T A C K
FAN B

Knowing the I D fan characteristics one can arrive at the needed pressure by controlling the fan inlet aero foils.

Air Heater System

PA SA In this model the following are predicted Pressure drop along PA, SA & Flue paths Temperature rise for PA &SA Temperature drop for Flue gas

Flue Flue

Leakages
PA to SA PA to Flue SA to Flue

PA

SA

Coal Mill System

Coal Pulverised coal to furnace

In this model the following are predicted Pressure drop

Mill

Fineness level depending on the condition of the classifier

Cold PA

Hot PA

Furnace system
In this model the following are predicted Coal Flow rate

Flue gas at FOT

Heat transferred to water wall FOT

Platen Super Heater System

From LTSH

In this model the following are predicted SH spray

C=0.5 0.6 0.7

SH Spray

1.0

Platen Heater outlet temperature Flue gas temperature drop across heater Steam side pressure drop

NTU

= f(NTU,C)

Final Super Heater System

From Platen Super heater

HPT

In this model the Following are predicted Flue gas temperature drop Steam side pressure drop

Re-Heater System
In this model the Following are predicted Flue gas temperature drop RH Spray
RH Spray

IPT

From H P Turbine

Steam side Pressure drop

LTSH System
Platen SH

In this model the following are predicted Steam side temperature rise
From drum

Steam side pressure drop

Gas side temperature drop

Economiser system
In this model the Following are predicted
Drum

FW temperature rise Flue temperature drop

From Feed Control station

20
14 15 11 3 2 6 23 22 Coal Air 1 7 AH 8 4 19 17 21 18 16 5

General Assembly
The boiler system is modeled and identified by 23 Stations
12 10 9

13

The parameters such as Pressure, Temperature and Flow rate are predicted at each station

ESP

Furnace system heat transfer to water wall is predicted based on the mill elevations and burner tilt. Platen heater and Re heater are modeled for radiation and convection heat transfer and other heaters are modeled for convection heat transfer.

All needed data are continuously generated by PEM.

Heat Loss Calculation

All losses are calculated as per the PTC code on Boiler testing

Performance Evaluation Module ( PE M )

Boiler PEM is the online performance calculation package based on the field data. The field data is processed and validated using appropriate techniques. in case some field data is found to be erroneous or missing the same is appropriately interpolated from the design data with proper corrections.

The PEM displays all the calculations for each sub system and also for the entire system on demand at any desired fixed intervals of time.

System configuration
Prediction and Optimisation Module

Boiler PEM

Plant global data base

Graphic Display

Field signals

Boiler Efficiency
b = ( Qin QL ) / Qin

Where Qin is the product of coal flow rate and its calorific value
QL is a function of all the input parameters and system state conditions Hence b is a function of all the input parameters and system state conditions

Optimisation
The boiler system efficiency can be expressed for the given W, Ps, Ts, Trh as b = ( Qin QL ) / Qin

= F(mair, mcoal ,msh,spr,mrh,spr 1, 2, 3 . m )

From this one can arrive at the maximum value of the b by usual computational methods.

Effect of parameters on b
Coal flow rate: As coal flow rate increases heat input to the boiler system increases. At the optimum state the heat losses will be minimum and beyond that any increase in coal flow increases the heat losses and hence efficiency comes down.

Air flow rate: As air flow rate increases beyond chemically needed combustion quantity the b increases up to certain range because un burnt carbon loss reduces and beyond that range any increase in air reduces the b because the dry gas heat loss increases more than the heat added due to complete combustion of coal.

SH spray: The increase in SH spray indicates that platen and Final SH heat pick up is high. SH spray does not effect the cycle efficiency. However any increase in SH spray slightly reduces the dry gas heat loss .

RH Spray: RH spray is needed when the RH super heater heat pick up is high. Any quantity of RH spray slightly reduces the cycle efficiency. Hence this must be used at its minimum for a limited time only may be before the water wall steam blowing.

The overall study indicates that one must watch two parameters namely;
Air flow rate (Excess Air ) RH spray.

Summary
Optimisation was defined and its importance for power generation boiler system was explained. Evaluation of online performance of the boiler system, methodology for predicting the performance and arriving at the optimised state of the system were discussed and explained

JAIHIND