Training Session on Energy

Equipment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boilers & Thermic

Fluid Heaters
Presentation from the
Energy Efficiency Guide for Industry in Asia
www.energyefficiencyasia.org

UNEP 2006

Training Agenda: Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Introduction
Type of boilers
Assessment of a boiler
Energy efficiency opportunities

2
UNEP 2006

Introduction

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

What is a Boiler?
Vessel that heats water to become
hot water or steam
At atmospheric pressure water
volume increases 1,600 times
Hot water or steam used to transfer
heat to a process
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UNEP 2006

Introduction
STEAM TO
PROCESS

EXHAUST GAS

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

STACK

VENT

DEAERATOR

PUMPS
ECONOMIZER

VENT

BOILER
BLOW DOWN
SEPARATOR

BURNER

WATER
SOURCE

FUEL
BRINE
CHEMICAL FEED

Figure: Schematic overview of a boiler room

SOFTENERS

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UNEP 2006

Training Agenda: Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Introduction
Type of boilers
Assessment of a boiler
Energy efficiency opportunities

5
UNEP 2006

Types of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

What Type of Boilers Are There?

1. Fire Tube Boiler
2. Water Tube Boiler
3. Packaged Boiler
4. Fluidized Bed (FBC) Boiler
5. Stoker Fired Boiler
6. Pulverized Fuel Boiler
7. Waste Heat Boiler
8. Thermic Fluid Heater (not a boiler!)
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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1. Fire Tube Boiler

(Light Rail Transit Association)

Relatively small steam

capacities (12,000
kg/hour)

Low to medium steam

pressures (18 kg/cm2)

Operates with oil, gas

or solid fuels

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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

2. Water Tube Boiler

(Your Dictionary.com)

Used for high steam

demand and pressure
requirements

Capacity range of 4,500

120,000 kg/hour

Combustion efficiency
enhanced by induced
draft provisions

Lower tolerance for

water quality and needs
water treatment plant 8

UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

3. Packaged Boiler
To
Chimney

Oil
Burner

(BIB Cochran, 2003)

Comes in complete
package
Features
High heat transfer
Faster evaporation
Good convective
heat transfer
Good combustion
efficiency
High thermal
efficiency
Classified based on
number of passes

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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

4. Fluidized Bed Combustion

(FBC) Boiler

Particles (e.g. sand) are suspended in high

velocity air stream: bubbling fluidized bed

Combustion at 840 950 C

Capacity range 0,5 T/hr to 100 T/hr

Fuels: coal, washery rejects, rice husk, bagasse

and agricultural wastes

Benefits: compactness, fuel flexibility, higher

combustion efficiency, reduced SOx & NOx
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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

4a. Atmospheric Fluidized Bed

Combustion (AFBC) Boiler
Most common FBC boiler that uses preheated
atmospheric air as fluidization and combustion air

4b. Pressurized Fluidized Bed

Combustion (PFBC) Boiler
Compressor supplies the forced draft and
combustor is a pressure vessel
Used for cogeneration or combined cycle power
generation
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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

4c. Atmospheric Circulating Fluidized

Bed Combustion (CFBC) Boiler

Solids lifted from bed,

rise, return to bed

Steam generation in
convection section

Benefits: more
economical, better space
utilization and efficient
combustion

(Thermax Babcock & Wilcox Ltd, 2001)

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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

5. Stoke Fired Boilers

a) Spreader stokers
Coal is first burnt in suspension then in
coal bed
Flexibility to meet load fluctuations
Favored in many industrial applications

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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

5. Stoke Fired Boilers

b) Chain-grate or traveling-grate stoker
Coal is burnt on moving
steel grate
Coal gate controls coal
feeding rate
Uniform coal size for
complete combustion

(University of Missouri, 2004)

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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

6. Pulverized Fuel Boiler

Pulverized coal powder blown with combustion

air into boiler through burner nozzles

Combustion
temperature at 1300
-1700 C

Benefits: varying coal

quality coal, quick
response to load
changes and high preheat air temperatures

Tangential firing
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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

7. Waste Heat Boiler

Used when waste heat
available at medium/high
temp
Auxiliary fuel burners
used if steam demand is
more than the waste heat
can generate

Agriculture and Agri-Food

Canada, 2001

Used in heat recovery

from exhaust gases from
gas turbines and diesel
engines

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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

8. Thermic Fluid Heater

Wide application for indirect process heating

Thermic fluid (petroleum-based) is heat transfer

medium

Benefits:
Closed cycle = minimal losses
Non-pressurized system operation at 250 C
Automatic controls = operational flexibility
Good thermal efficiencies
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UNEP 2006

Type of Boilers
8. Thermic Fluid Heater
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

User equipment

2. Circulated
to user
equipment

1. Thermic
fluid heated
in the heater

3. Heat transfer
through heat
exchanged

4. Fluid
returned to
heater
Control
panel
Insulated
outer wall

Blower
motor
unit
Fuel oil
filter

Exhaust

(Energy
Machine India)
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UNEP 2006

Training Agenda: Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Introduction
Type of boilers
Assessment of a boiler
Energy efficiency opportunities

19
UNEP 2006

Assessment of a boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1. Boiler
2. Boiler blow down
3. Boiler feed water treatment

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1. Boiler performance
Causes of poor boiler performance
-Poor combustion
-Heat transfer surface fouling
-Poor operation and maintenance
-Deteriorating fuel and water quality

Heat balance: identify heat losses

Boiler efficiency: determine
deviation from best efficiency
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Heat Balance
An energy flow diagram describes geographically
how energy is transformed from fuel into useful
energy, heat and losses
Stochiometric
Excess Air
Un burnt

Stack Gas

FUEL INPUT

STEAM
OUTPUT

Convection &
Radiation

Blow
Down

Ash and Un-burnt parts

of Fuel in Ash

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Heat Balance
Balancing total energy entering a boiler against the
energy that leaves the boiler in different forms
12.7 %
8.1 %

100.0 %
Fuel

1.7 %

BOILER

0.3 %
2.4 %
1.0 %

73.8 %

Heat loss due to dry flue gas

Heat loss due to steam in fuel gas
Heat loss due to moisture in fuel
Heat loss due to moisture in air
Heat loss due to unburnts in residue
Heat loss due to radiation & other
unaccounted loss

Heat in Steam
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Heat Balance
Goal: improve energy efficiency by reducing
avoidable losses
Avoidable losses include:
- Stack gas losses (excess air, stack gas
temperature)
- Losses by unburnt fuel
- Blow down losses
- Condensate losses
- Convection and radiation

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Efficiency
Thermal efficiency: % of (heat) energy input that is
effectively useful in the generated steam

BOILER EFFICENCY
CALCULATION

1)

DIRECT METHOD:

2) INDIRECT METHOD:

The energy gain of the

working fluid (water and steam)
is compared with the energy
content of the boiler fuel.

The efficiency is the

different between losses
and energy input

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Efficiency: Direct Method

Boiler efficiency () =

Heat Input x 100

Q x (hg hf) x 100
=
Heat Output
Q x GCV

hg -the enthalpy of saturated steam in kcal/kg of steam

hf -the enthalpy of feed water in kcal/kg of water
Parameters to be monitored:
- Quantity of steam generated per hour (Q) in kg/hr
- Quantity of fuel used per hour (q) in kg/hr
- The working pressure (in kg/cm2(g)) and superheat
temperature (oC), if any
- The temperature of feed water (oC)
- Type of fuel and gross calorific value of the fuel (GCV) in
26
kcal/kg of fuel
UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Efficiency: Direct Method

Advantages

Quick evaluation
Few parameters for computation
Few monitoring instruments
Easy to compare evaporation ratios with
benchmark figures

Disadvantages

No explanation of low efficiency

Various losses not calculated
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Efficiency: Indirect Method

Efficiency of boiler () = 100 (i+ii+iii+iv+v+vi+vii)

Principle losses:
i) Dry flue gas
ii) Evaporation of water formed due to H2 in fuel
iii) Evaporation of moisture in fuel
iv) Moisture present in combustion air
v) Unburnt fuel in fly ash
vi) Unburnt fuel in bottom ash
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vii) Radiation and other unaccounted losses UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Efficiency: Indirect Method

Required calculation data
Ultimate analysis of fuel (H2, O2, S, C, moisture
content, ash content)
% oxygen or CO2 in the flue gas
Fuel gas temperature in C (Tf)
Ambient temperature in C (Ta) and humidity of air in
kg/kg of dry air
GCV of fuel in kcal/kg
% combustible in ash (in case of solid fuels)
GCV of ash in kcal/kg (in case of solid fuels)

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Efficiency: Indirect Method

Advantages

Complete mass and energy balance for each

individual stream
Makes it easier to identify options to improve
boiler efficiency

Disadvantages

Time consuming
Requires lab facilities for analysis
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler
2. Boiler Blow Down
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Controls total dissolved solids (TDS) in the

water that is boiled

Blows off water and replaces it with feed water

Conductivity measured as indication of TDS

levels

Calculation of quantity blow down required:

Blow down (%) =

Feed water TDS x % Make up water

Maximum Permissible TDS in Boiler water
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Blow Down

Two types of blow down
Intermittent
Manually operated valve reduces TDS
Large short-term increases in feed water
Substantial heat loss

Continuous
Ensures constant TDS and steam purity
Heat lost can be recovered
Common in high-pressure boilers
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boiler Blow Down

Benefits
Lower pretreatment costs
Less make-up water consumption
Reduced maintenance downtime
Increased boiler life
Lower consumption of treatment
chemicals

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

3. Boiler Feed Water Treatment

Quality of steam depend on water
treatment to control
Steam purity
Deposits
Corrosion

Efficient heat transfer only if boiler

water is free from deposit-forming
solids
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler
Boiler Feed Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Deposit control
To avoid efficiency losses and reduced
heat transfer
Hardness salts of calcium and
magnesium
Alkaline hardness: removed by boiling
Non-alkaline: difficult to remove

Silica forms hard silica scales

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler
Boiler Feed Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Internal water treatment

Chemicals added to boiler to prevent scale

Different chemicals for different water types

Conditions:
Feed water is low in hardness salts
Low pressure, high TDS content is tolerated
Small water quantities treated

Internal treatment alone not recommended

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler
Boiler Feed Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

External water treatment:

Removal of suspended/dissolved solids and

dissolved gases

Pre-treatment: sedimentation and settling

First treatment stage: removal of salts

Processes
a) Ion exchange
b) Demineralization
c) De-aeration
d) Reverse osmoses

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler
External Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

a) Ion-exchange process (softener plant)

Water passes through bed of natural zeolite of
synthetic resin to remove hardness
Base exchange: calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)
replaced with sodium (Na) ions
Does not reduce TDS, blow down quantity and
alkalinity

b) Demineralization
Complete removal of salts
Cations in raw water replaced with hydrogen ions
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

External Water Treatment

c) De-aeration
Dissolved corrosive gases (O2, CO2)
expelled by preheating the feed water
Two types:
Mechanical de-aeration: used prior to addition
of chemical oxygen scavangers
Chemical de-aeration: removes trace oxygen
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler
External Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Mechanical
de-aeration

Vent
Spray
Nozzles

Boiler Feed
Water

Stea
m

Scrubber
Section
(Trays)

O2 and CO2 removed by

heating feed water
Economical treatment
process
Vacuum type can reduce
O2 to 0.02 mg/l

Storage
Section
De-aerated
Boiler Feed
Water

( National Productivity Council)

Pressure type can

reduce O2 to 0.005 mg/l
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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler
External Water Treatment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Chemical de-aeration
Removal of trace oxygen with scavenger
Sodium sulphite:
Reacts with oxygen: sodium sulphate
Increases TDS: increased blow down
Hydrazine
Reacts with oxygen: nitrogen + water
Does not increase TDS: used in high pressure
boilers

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

External Water Treatment

d) Reverse osmosis
Osmosis
Solutions of differing concentrations
Separated by a semi-permeable membrane
Water moves to the higher concentration

Reversed osmosis
Higher concentrated liquid pressurized
Water moves in reversed direction

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UNEP 2006

Assessment of a Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

External water treatment

d) Reverse osmosis
Pressure

Fresh Water

Feed
Water
More
Concentrated
Solution
Concentrate
Flow

Water Flow

Semi Permeable
Membrane

43
UNEP 2006

Training Agenda: Boiler

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Introduction
Type of boilers
Assessment of a boiler
Energy efficiency opportunities

44
UNEP 2006

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Stack temperature control

Feed water preheating using
economizers
Combustion air pre-heating
Incomplete combustion
minimization
Excess air control
Avoid radiation and convection
heat loss
Automatic blow down control
Reduction of scaling and soot
losses
Reduction of boiler steam
pressure
45
Variable speed control
UNEP 2006

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

1. Stack Temperature Control
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Keep as low as possible

If >200C then recover waste heat

2. Feed Water Preheating

Economizers
Potential to recover heat from 200 300 oC flue
gases leaving a modern 3-pass shell boiler

3. Combustion Air Preheating

If combustion air raised by 20C = 1% improve
thermal efficiency

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UNEP 2006

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

4. Minimize Incomplete Combustion
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Symptoms:
Smoke, high CO levels in exit flue gas

Causes:
Air shortage, fuel surplus, poor fuel distribution
Poor mixing of fuel and air

Oil-fired boiler:
Improper viscosity, worn tops, cabonization on
dips, deterioration of diffusers or spinner plates

Coal-fired boiler: non-uniform coal size

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UNEP 2006

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

5. Excess Air Control
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Excess air required for complete combustion

Optimum excess air levels varies
1% excess air reduction = 0.6% efficiency rise
Portable or continuous oxygen analyzers
Fuel

Kg air req./kg fuel

%CO2 in flue gas in practice

Solid Fuels
Bagasse
Coal (bituminous)
Lignite
Paddy Husk
Wood

3.3
10.7
8.5
4.5
5.7

10-12
10-13
9 -13
14-15
11.13

Liquid Fuels
Furnace Oil
LSHS

13.8
14.1

9-14
9-14

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UNEP 2006

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

6. Radiation and Convection Heat

Loss Minimization

Fixed heat loss from boiler shell, regardless of

boiler output

Repairing insulation can reduce loss

7. Automatic Blow Down Control

Sense and respond to boiler water conductivity

and pH
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UNEP 2006

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

8. Scaling and Soot Loss Reduction
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Every 22oC increase in stack temperature = 1%

efficiency loss

3 mm of soot = 2.5% fuel increase

9. Reduced Boiler Steam Pressure

Lower steam pressure

= lower saturated steam temperature
= lower flue gas temperature

Steam generation pressure dictated by process

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UNEP 2006

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

10. Variable Speed Control for Fans,

Blowers and Pumps

Suited for fans, blowers, pumps

Should be considered if boiler loads are

variable

11. Control Boiler Loading

Maximum boiler efficiency: 65-85% of rated load

Significant efficiency loss: < 25% of rated load

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UNEP 2006

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

12. Proper Boiler Scheduling
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Optimum efficiency: 65-85% of full load

Few boilers at high loads is more efficient than

large number at low loads

13. Boiler Replacement

Financially attractive if existing boiler is

Old and inefficient

Not capable of firing cheaper substitution fuel

Over or under-sized for present requirements

Not designed for ideal loading conditions

52
UNEP 2006

Training Session on Energy

Equipment
Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

Boilers & Thermic

Fluid Heaters
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION

53
UNEP GERIAP

Disclaimer and References

Thermal Equipment/
Boilers

This PowerPoint training session was prepared as part of

the project Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction from
Industry in Asia and the Pacific (GERIAP). While
reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the
contents of this publication are factually correct and
properly referenced, UNEP does not accept responsibility for
the accuracy or completeness of the contents, and shall not
be liable for any loss or damage that may be occasioned
directly or indirectly through the use of, or reliance on, the
contents of this publication. UNEP, 2006.
The GERIAP project was funded by the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)
Full references are included in the textbook chapter that is
available on www.energyefficiencyasia.org

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UNEP 2006