FUNDAMENTALS OF

BOILER DESIGN
NAREN SUKAIH

Algerian LNG plant explosion

19 Jan 2004

Algerian LNG plant explosion

ALGIERS (AFP) - At least 27 people were
killed and 72 injured when a huge
explosion, apparently caused by a
defective boiler, ripped through a
liquefied natural gas plant near the
eastern Algerian port of Skikda, a
government minister said

Fireman extinguish remaining fires at the vast petrochemical complex in the port city of Skikda, January 20, 2004,
following a huge explosion on Monday evening. Rescue workers searched through rubble for missing workers at
Algeria's largest refinery and export port on Tuesday after a blast at a nearby liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant killed at
least 23

Algerian LNG plant explosion

Algeria's largest refinery and export port on Tuesday after a blast at a

nearby liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant killed at least 23 people

15.1 WATER TUBE BOILERS

These range in capacity
from small low pressure heating units generating a few thousand
kilograms of steam per hour
to large central station boilers operating in the supercritical
pressure region and serving turbine-generators in the million
kilowatt range.

Capacity may be magnified more than a thousand times

from the smallest to the largest,
Pressure may extend from
just above atmospheric to
values of 35MPa or higher,

Steam temperatures may vary from

the boiling point to a
highly superheated condition at 650 C or above.

15.1 WATER TUBE BOILERS

What are the common elements in boilers
having such a diversity of design parameters?
Necessary to define the primary function of a
boiler.
simply to generate steam at pressures above the
atmospheric.
Steam is generated by the absorption of heat
produced in the combustion of fuel.
In some instances, such as waste heat boilers,
heated fluids serve as the heat source.

15.1 WATER TUBE BOILERS

Generation of steam by heat absorption from products of combustion
suggests that a boiler must have

a pressure parts system to convert incoming feed water into steam;

a structure within which the combustion reaction may take place,
at the same time facilitating heat transfer and
supporting boiler components;
means of introducing fuel and removing waste products;
and controls and instruments to regulate and monitor operation.

The elements a boiler designer has to deal with are using other
terminology such things as

drums,
headers and tubing
which make up the pressure parts system and
enclose the furnace in which combustion takes place;
burners and related fuel and ash handling equipment;
and fans to supply combustion air and exhaust waste gases.
Various types of instruments and controls - link these elements together
in a physical and an operational sense.

15.1 WATER TUBE BOILERS

These elements vary with the size and purpose
of the power plant in which the boiler is installed.
A large central station in which high thermal efficiency
as a primary requisite has many more refinements
and auxiliaries than
a small heating plant in which minimum capital
investment may be an important criterion.

No matter how many of these elements may be

present,

the boiler designer must integrate them

so that the boiler as a whole can function
as a carefully adjusted, complex system
which is capable of efficient operation over a wide
load range

Criteria Affecting Boiler Design

In addition to the basic elements which are of
concern to the boiler designer there are many
other factors which must be taken into
consideration.
Some of these are linked to the type of power plant
and its thermodynamic cycle;
others are related to fundamental considerations of
engineering science;
the remainders have to do with such things as fuels,
manufacturing techniques and controls.

All of them have a bearing on the practicality and

economy of a particular boiler design.

Criteria Affecting Boiler Design

Size and type of plant

Thermodynamic cycle
Fluid flow
Materials and metallurgy
Manufacturing processes
Fuels
Auxiliaries
Controls and instruments

Method of Operation
Heat Transfer
Feed water quality
Structural design
Testing results
Fuel burning equipment
Calculations
Specific boiler types

Criteria Affecting Boiler Design

For specific boiler applications, these design criteria
have a more pronounced effect on some types of
boilers than on others.
For example, in combined circulation boilers operating at
supercritical pressures,
metallurgy and water treatment have far more stringent
requirements than
for shop assembled boilers.

The latter, however, have been responsible for

many improvements in shop fabrication techniques,
and the designer takes advantage of this,
for example, by specifying panel wall construction for
central station boilers.

Boiler Output
The output or capacity of a boiler is often expressed in
tons of steam per hour or
in the power output of a turbine a generator in those cases where a
single boiler provides the entire steam supply for an electric
generating unit.
Neither term is a true measure of the thermal energy supplied by the
boiler.
Actual boiler output in terms of heat energy depends on several factors
other than quantity of steam.
Those include temperature of feedwater entering the economizer,
steam pressure and steam temperature at the superheater outlet,
and
the quantity, temperature and pressure of steam entering and
leaving the reheater.
Similarly, because boiler output is affected
by turbine and generator efficiencies,
generator output in kilowatts or megawatts is not entirely a true measure of
the energy output of the boiler alone.

Boiler Functions
In addition to its primary function of generating
steam under pressure, the modern boiler may be
required to perform some or all of the following
functions;
1. Provide steam of exceptionally high purity by removing
impurities from the saturated steam.
2. Superheat the steam generated in the boiler to the
desired temperature and
maintains this temperature constant over a specified
range of load.
3. In power plants operating on the re-heat cycle, resuperheat the steam which is returned to boiler

after expanding through the high pressure stages of

the turbine and
maintain the desired reheat temperature constant over a
specified range of load.

Boiler Efficiency
One of the best ways to comprehend the
significance of boiler efficiency is by means of the
Sankey diagram
which is generally associated with the evaluation of
thermo dynamic cycles.

Boiler Efficiency
shows the distribution of
heat energy in a coal
fired re-heat boiler for a
central station.
It can be seen that the
primary source of heat
is the fuel (A) and that
preheated
air
also
contributes to the total
heat in the furnace.
The amount of heat in
the
preheated
air
corresponds to that
extracted
from
the
exhaust gases by the
air preheater.

Boiler Efficiency
For central station boilers of the reheat type,
losses account for about ten per cent of the total heat
supplied in the fuel,
thereby realizing boiler efficiencies of 90 per cent or
higher.

becomes quite evident that boiler efficiency may be

represented by
the ratio of heat absorbed by water and steam (B)
to the heat in fuel (A).

Boiler Efficiency
Sankey diagrams for various types of boilers

Heat absorbing surfaces

The objective of the boiler designer is
to arrange heat transfer surface and fuel burning
equipment in such a manner
as to optimize thermal efficiency and economic
investment.
He has a choice of a number of types of surface for
absorbing and recovering heat.
Waterwalls, superheaters and reheaters
all absorb heat from the furnace gas as
they perform their respective functions of heating water
to the saturation point and
of superheating and resuperheating steam.
Air heaters and economizers
recover heat from the furnace exit gases
in order to preheat combustion air and increase the
temperature of incoming feedwater.

Heat absorbing surfaces

The boiler designer must proportion
heat absorbing and heat recovery surfaces in such a
manner as
to make best use of the heat released by the fuel.

Waterwalls, superheaters and reheaters are

exposed to convection and radiant heat,
Convection heat transfer predominates in air
heaters and economizers.
The relative amounts of these types of surface vary
with the size and operating conditions of the boiler.
A small low pressure heating plant with no heat recovery
equipment has
quite a different boiler arrangement from a large high
pressure central station
operating on a reheat regenerative cycle and
incorporating heat recovery equipment.

Heat absorbing surfaces

Heat absorbing surfaces

Low pressure heating boiler

box-like low pressure heating boiler has a

considerable amount of evaporative
surface, in the form of waterwalls, closely
spaced tubing joining the two drums

Central station reheat boiler

tower-like central station boiler, incorporates

superheater and reheater surface plus an
air heater and an economizer in addition to
a single drum and waterwalls.

WATERWALLS WATERWALLS
Practically all, modern power boilers are equipped
with waterwalls.
In large central station boilers,
waterwalls completely cover the interior surfaces of the
furnace,
thus providing practically complete elimination of
exposed refractory surface.

In addition, the waterwalls serve

as the sole means of heating and evaporating the
feedwater
supplied to the boiler from the economizer

WATERWALLS
Waterwalls usually consist of
substantially vertical tubes arranged tangent or
approximately so and are connected at top and bottom to headers.

These tubes receive their water supply

from the boiler drum by means of downcomer tubes
connected between bottom of drum and lower headers.

In a typical central station boiler,

roughly 50 per cent of the heat released
by the combustion of fuel in the furnace
is absorbed by the waterwalls,

Heat so absorbed is utilized in

evaporation of all or a relatively large percentage of the water supplied to
the boiler.

The steam generated and a substantial quantity of accompanying water

is discharged from the top of the water- wall tubes into the upper waterwall
headers
and then passes through riser tubes to the boiler drum.
Here the steam is separated and the accompanying water together with the
incoming feedwater is returned to the waterwalls through the downcomers.

Superheaters and Reheaters

The function of the superheater is
to increase the temperature of the steam generated in the
boiler.

Steam enters the superheater at

saturated temperature at practically dry saturated
condition, and
consequently the absorption of heat appears as sensible
heat in increasing the steam temperature.

The reheater receives superheated steam which

has partly expanded through the turbine.
The function of the reheater is to re-superheat this steam
to a desired temperature.

Designs of superheaters and reheaters vary

depending largely on the duty to be performed.
For relatively low final temperatures, superheaters of the
convection type are generally used.

Design Considerations
Fuels
Coal is to a large extent the base fuel in power
generating stations
although natural gas and oil are used where costs are
favorable.
In contrast to gas, coal contains ash which consists of a
number of objectionable chemical elements and
compounds.
Oil, generally contains only small amounts of ash. The
objection able constituents of the ash, however, may
have a far reaching effect on the design.

Design Considerations
Fuels
Ash is of concern since
at the high temperatures resulting from the burning of fuel in
the furnace, fractions of the ash become partially fused and
sticky.
Depending on the quantity and fusion temperature, the
partially fused ash may adhere to surfaces contacted by the
ash-containing combustion gases,
causing objectionable buildup of slag on or bridging between
tubes.
Chemicals in the ash may attack materials such as alloys
used in superheaters and reheaters.
In addition to the deposits in the high temperature sections of the
unit,
the air heater which is, the coolest part may he subject to
corrosion and plugging of gas passages due primarily to sulfur
compounds in the fuel acting in combination with moisture
present in the flue gas.

Design Considerations
Furnaces
Furnace design must take into consideration
water heating and steam generation in the wall tubes
as well as the processes of combustion.
Practically all large modern boilers are designed
with walls comprised of water cooled tubes to form
complete metal coverage of furnace enclosure
in addition,areas outside of the furnace which form
enclosures for sections of superheaters, reheaters and
often economizers are also designed in a manner similar
to the furnace using either water or steam cooled tube
surfaces.
Present practice is to use
tube arrangements and configurations
which permit practically complete elimination of
refractories in all areas that are exposed to high
temperature gases.

Design Considerations
Furnaces
Tube diameter and thickness are of concern from the
standpoints of circulation and metal temperatures.
Natural circulation boilers generally use larger diameter tubes than
controlled circulation or once through boilers.
This practice is dictated largely by the need for more liberal flow
area to provide the lower velocities necessary with the limited head
available.
The use of small diameter tubes becomes advantageous in high
pressure boilers since the lesser tube thicknesses required result in
lower outside tube metal temperatures.
Small diameter tubes are advantageously used in controlled or
forced circulation boilers where pumps provide adequate head for
circulation and maintenance of desired velocities.
Factors such as velocity of water and water steam mixtures, quality
of water and steam mixtures are of particular concern in high heat
absorption areas of high pressure boilers.

Design Considerations
Circulation
In practically all types of boilers,
the difference in density between steam and water
is utilized to provide or to assist in providing water
circulation.

Generally, the waterwall downtakes

serve as the high density leg of the U-tube,
the waterwalls or the boiler bank containing mixture of
steam and water constitutes the low density leg.

The available head for providing circulation is also

affected by frictional and entrance and exit losses in
the several circuits.
adequate circulation can only be provided if losses are low enough to
make sufficient circulating head available.
Generally, boilers are designed in such a manner that steam
discharged from the waterwall headers and to the drum is
accompanied by limited quantity of water.

Design Considerations
Metallurgy
The selection of materials for superheaters and reheaters in boilers
designed for high pressures and temperatures in excess of 538
C
requires the use of high strength alloy tubing.
In addition to matters
of strength and oxidation resistance in superheater and reheater
materials,
the use of high steam pressure requires increased tube
thicknesses in all tubes subject to steam pressure.
Furthermore, the thicker tubes
are subject to higher outside metal temperatures.
Since chemical action is accelerated at higher temperatures, the
tube metal is more subject to external corrosion.
This is of particular concern when burning fuels containing
objectionable impurities.
The designer takes account of such conditions in selecting material
and tube sizes.

Design Considerations
Controlled Steam Temperature
The desire to maintain turbine efficiency
over a wide range of load and
to avoid fluctuations in turbine metal temperatures
has resulted in a need to maintain constant steam and
reheat temperatures over the anticipated operating load
range.
In order to satisfy this requirement
it is necessary that the boiler be equipped with means for
controlling and maintaining constant steam and reheat
temperatures
over the desired range.
If uncontrolled, steam temperatures rise with in creasing
steam output.
This is characteristic of convection type superheaters which
necessarily account for the major share of the heat absorbed
by the super heater.

Design Considerations
Boiler Drum
The boiler drum serves two functions,
the first and primary one being that of separating steam from the,
mixture of water and steam discharged into it.
Secondly, the drum is used to house the equipment used for
purification of steam after being separated from the water.

The quantity of water contained in the boiler below the

water level
is relatively small compared to the total steam output.
Consequently, regardless of the drum size, the matter of water
storage is not significant.

Primarily the drum size is

determined by the space required to accommodate steam separating and
purifying equipment.
Drum diameter and length should be sufficient to provide accessibility for
installation and inspection.
Length generally depends on furnace width, or in the case of high capacity
units, it may be controlled by the space required for the steam separating
devices

Design Considerations
Heat generated in the combustion of fuel
appears as sensible and
latent heat in the products of combustion.
Roughly 50 percent of the heat so generated is absorbed by water
circulated through tubes forming the furnace wall lining.
Heat absorbed generates steam by the evaporation of part of the
circulated water.

To a limited degree the furnace heat absorbing surface is

dictated by
the size and dimensions required for proper combustion of the fuel.

Other limitations are often imposed

such as ash content and
fusion temperature, in the case of coal firing.

For coals containing low fusion temperature ash,

the gas temperature leaving the furnace may be limited by
considerations of slag accumulations and
bridging between tubes of boiler or superheater.

Design Considerations
Determination of the Surface
The amount of heating surface to be provided in each of the
several elements of the boiler depends on a number of
factors.
It is of course necessary that surface be adequate to satisfy design
and operating requirements.
Also of importance are proper applications and arrangements of
surfaces to insure effective utilization. The latter is to a large degree
dictated by economic considerations.

The present practice of using steam and reheat

temperatures of 538 C and higher
not only requires the use of expensive alloys in sections of these
elements attaining metal temperatures of 593C and higher
but also requires the use of large amounts of tubing.
It is thus important to give careful consideration to designs which
provide the desired performance and reflect economic
considerations

Design Considerations
Furnace
Heat generated in the combustion of fuel
appears as sensible and
latent heat in the products of combustion.
Roughly 50 percent of the heat so generated is absorbed by water
circulated through tubes forming the furnace wall lining.
Heat absorbed generates steam by the evaporation of part of the
circulated water.
To a limited degree the furnace heat absorbing surface is
dictated by the size and dimensions required for proper combustion of the
fuel.

Other limitations are often imposed

such as ash content and
fusion temperature, in the case of coal firing.

For coals containing low fusion temperature ash,

the gas temperature leaving the furnace
may be limited by considerations of slag accumulations and
bridging between tubes of boiler or superheater.

Design Considerations

Welded Panel Walls

Superheaters and Reheaters
Economizers
Tubular Air Heaters
Regenerative Air Preheater
Calculations for Materials Selection