FUEL BURNING FURNACES :

• Fuel is burnt in a confined space called furnace.

• The furnace provides supports and enclosure for burning
equipment.
• Solid fuels such as coal, coke, wood etc. are burnt by means of
stokers
• Where as burners are used to burn powdered (Pulverized)
coal and liquid fuels.
• Solid fuels require a grate in the furnace to hold the bed of
fuel.
METHOD OF FUEL FIRING :
• The solid fuels are fired into the furnace by the following
methods :
1. Hand firing. 2. Mechanical firing.
Hand firing.
This is a simple method - less capital investment and used for
smaller plants. This method of fuel firing is discontinuous
process and there is a limit to the size of furnace which can be
efficiently fired by this method.

While burning coal the total area of air openings varies from 30
to 50% of the total grate area.

Hand fired grates are made up of cast iron.

• Fig. shows a hand fire grate furnace with a stationary fuel bed.
• The grate divides it into the furnace space… in which
- the fuel is fired and
- an ash pit through which the necessary air required for
combustion is supplied.
• The grate is arranged horizontally The fuel is charged by
hand through the fire door.
Disadvantages of hand firing :
(i) The efficiency of a hand fired furnace is low.

(ii) Attending to furnace requires hard manual labour.

(iii) Steady process of fuel feed is not maintained.

 Cleaning of hand fired furnaces may be mechanized by use of
rocking grate bars as shown in Fig.

The grate bars loosen the slag and cause some of it to drop
together with the ash into the bunker without disturbing the
process of combustion.
Mechanical firing (Stokers):
Mechanical stokers are commonly used to feed solid fuels into
the furnace in medium and large size power plants.
The various advantages of stoker firing are as follows :
• Large quantities of fuel can be fed into the furnace.
• Thus greater combustion capacity is achieved
• By feeding coal at a uniform rate.
• Stoker save labour of ash handling and are self-cleaning.
• Stokers save coal and increase the efficiency of coal firing.
The main disadvantages of stokers are as follows :
• More operating costs and repairing costs resulting from high
furnace temperatures.
• Construction is complicated.
• Troubles due to slagging and clinkering of combustion
chamber walls are experienced
• Always certain amount of loss of coal in the form of shifting
through the grates
• There is excessive wear of moving parts due to abrasive action
of the coal.
• Types of Stokers.
In overfeed stokers, the coal is fed into the grate above the
point of air admission, while in underfeed stokers, the coal is
fed into the grate below the point of air admission.
1. Overfeed stokers.
• In these stokers, the primary air enters the grate from the
bottom. The air while moving through the grate openings gets
heated up and the grate is cooled.
• The hot air that moves through a layer of ash and picks up
additional energy.
• The air then passes through a layer of incandescent coke where
oxygen reacts with coke to form- CO2 and water vapors
accompanying the air react with incandescent coke to form
CO2, CO and free H2.
• The gases leaving the surface of fuel bed contain volatile
matter of raw fuel and gases like CO2, CO, H2, N2 and H2O.
• Then additional air known as secondary air is supplied to burn
the combustible gases.
• The combustion gases entering the boiler consist of CO2, O2,
N2 and H2O and also CO if the combustion is not complete.
2. Underfeed Stokers. In underfeed stokers, air entering through
the holes in the grate comes in contact with the raw coal (green
coal).
• Then it passes through the incandescent coke where reactions
similar to overfeed system take place.
• The gases produced then passes through a layer of ash.
• The secondary air is supplied to burn the combustible gases.
TYPES OF OVER FEED STOKERS

• These types of stokers are used for large capacity boiler

installations where the coal is burned without pulverization.

• The overfeed stokers are of mainly two types

(a) Traveling grate stoker
(b) Spreader stoker.
Travelling Stoker.
• The travelling stoker may be chain grate type or bar grate
type.
• These two differ only in the details of grate construction.

• The grate surface of a chain grate stoker is made of a series of

cast iron links connected by pins to form an endless chain.

• The grate surface of a bar grate stoker is made of a series of

cast iron sections mounted on carrier bars. The carrier bar rides
on two endless type drive chains.
• The air required for combustion is supplied through the air
inlets situated below the grate.
• The secondary air is supplied through the openings provided
in the furnace wall above the grate as shown in figure.
• The chain travels over two sprocket wheels, one at the front
and one at the rear of furnace.
• The traveling chain receives coal at its front end through a
hopper and carries it into the furnace. The ash is tipped from
the rear end of chain.
• The speed of grate (chain) can be adjusted to suit the firing
condition. The air required for combustion enters through the
air inlets situated below the grate.
• Although initial cost of this stoker is high but operation and
maintenance cost is low.
The advantages of chain grate stoker :
• It is simple in construction
• It is more reliable in service and maintenance charges are low.
• It is self-cleaning stoker.
• The heat release rates can be controlled just by controlling the
speed of chain.
Disadvantages of chain grate stoker :
• The amount of coal carried on the grate is small as the increase
in grate size creates additional problems. This cannot be used
for high capacity boilers 200 tons/hr or more.
• The clinker troubles are very common.
• There is always some loss of coal in the form of fine particles
carried with the ashes.
Spreader Type or Sprinkler Stoker:
• This is a overfeed type stoker. The coal burns on this stoker
remains partly in suspension and partly on the grate.
• The spreader stoker installation consists of variable feeding
device, a mechanism for throwing the coal uniformly on the
grate and with suitable openings for admitting the air.
• Air supplied by F.D. fan enters the furnace through the
openings provided in the grate. A portion of this air is used to
burn the fuel on the bed and remaining air is used to burn
volatile matter in suspension.
• Secondary supply of air creates high turbulence and complete
the combustion of volatile matter and suspended particles.
The advantages of spreader stoker :
• A wide variety of coal from lignite to semi anthracite as well
as high ash coal can be burn easily.
• Clinkering difficulty is reduced by spreading action.
• It gives quick response to load change similar to pulverized
fuel system
• Its operation cost is considerably low.
Disadvantages of spreader stoker :
• It is always difficult to operate spreader with varying sizes of
a coal and with varying moisture content.
• A natural result of suspension burning of fine fuel particles is
the entrainment of ash in the products of combustion.
• Many fine unburnt carbon particles are also carried with the
exhaust gases and it is necessary to trap these and return to the
furnace for burning. Otherwise it would add as a loss to the
combustion system.
UNDERFEED STOKERS
• In underfeed stokers, the fuel is fed from underneath the fire
and moves gradually upwards. The primary air is supplied
just below the level at which combustion takes place.
• The fuel releases the volatile matter as it passes through the
initial fuel bed from bottom. The released volatile matter
mixes with fresh air and enters into the combustion zone.
• Therefore, the entire combustion process is highly efficient
and gives high rates of heat release.
• The underfeed stokers fall into two main groups, the single
retort and multiple retort stokers.
Single Retort Stoker
• The fuel is placed in large hopper on the front of the furnace,
and then it is further fed by reciprocating ram into the bottom
of the horizontal trough.

• The air is supplied through the tuyeres provided along the

upper edge of the grate.

• The ash and clinkers are collected on the ash plate provided
with dumping arrangement.

• The coal feeding capacity of a single retort stoker varies from

100 to 2000 kg per hour.
multi retort stoker
Multi retort stoker :

•The multi retort stoker consists of alternate retorts for pushing coal
and tuyere boxes for supplying air.

•The coal falling from the hopper is push by reciprocating ram

during the inward stroke.

•The ash is collected at the another end as shown in figure. The

amount of coal and air pressure in main wind box is varied to meet
the variable load demand.

•The number of retorts may vary from 2 to 20 with coal burning

capacity from 300 to 2000 kg per hour per retort.
PULVERIZED COAL
• Coal is pulverized (powdered) to increase its surface exposure
thus permitting rapid combustion.
• Efficient use of coal depends greatly on the combustion
process employed.
• For large scale generation of energy the efficient method of
burning coal is confined still to pulverized coal combustion.
• The pulverized coal is obtained by grinding the raw coal in
pulverizing mills. The various pulverizing mills used are as
follows:
(i) Ball mill (ii) Hammer mill
(iii) Ball and race mill (iv) Bowl mill.
• The essential functions of pulverizing mills are as follows:
(i) Drying of the coal
(ii) Grinding
(iii) Separation of particles of the desired size.

• The coal pulverizing mills reduce coal to powder form by

three actions as follows:
(i) Impact (ii) Attrition (abrasion) (iii) Crushing.
• Most of the mills use all the above mentioned three actions in
varying degrees.
• In impact type mills hammers break the coal into smaller
pieces whereas in attrition type the coal pieces which rub
against each other or metal surfaces to disintegrate.
• In crushing type mills coal caught between metal rolling
surfaces gets broken into pieces. The crushing mills use steel
balls in a container. These balls act as crushing elements.
 BALL MILL

• A line diagram of ball mill using two classifiers is shown in Fig. .

It consists of a slowly rotating drum which is partly filled with
steel balls.
• Raw coal from feeders is supplied to the classifiers from where it
moves to the drum by means of a screw conveyor.
BALL MILL
• As the drum rotates the coal gets pulverized due to the
combined impact between coal and steel balls.
• Hot air is introduced into the drum.
• The powdered coal is picked up by the air and the coal air
mixture enters the classifiers, where sharp changes in the
direction of the mixture throw out the oversized coal particles.
• The over-sized particles are returned to the drum.
• The coal air mixture from the classifier moves to the exhaust
fan and then it is supplied to the burners.
• In this mill coal is pulverized by a combination of crushing,
impact and attrition between the grinding surfaces.
• The advantages of this mill are as follows :
(i) Lower capital cost (ii) Lower power consumption
(iii) Lower space required (iv) Lower weight.
BALL AND RACE MILL

Ball and Race Mill.

BALL AND RACE MILL
• Fig. shows a ball and race mill. In this mill the coal passes
between the rotating elements again and again until it has
been pulverized to desired degree of fineness.
• The coal is crushed between two moving surfaces namely
balls and races. The upper stationary race and lower rotating
race driven by a worm and gear hold the balls between them.
• The raw coal supplied falls on the inner side of the races. The
moving balls and races catch coal between them to crush it to a
powder.
• The necessary force needed for crushing is applied with the
help of springs. The hot air supplied picks up the coal dust as
it flows between the balls and races, and then enters the
classifier.
• Where oversized coal particles are returned for further
grinding, where as the coal particles of required size are
discharged from the top of classifier.
BOWL MILL
BOWL MILL

• The bowl mill grinds the coal between a whirling bowl &
rollers mounted on pivoted axis.
• The pulveriser consists of stationary rollers and power driven
bowl in which pulverization takes place as the coal passes
between the bowl and rollers.
• The hot primary air supplied in to the bowl picks up coal
parcels and passes through the classifier, where oversized coal
particles falls back to bowl for further grinding.
• The required size coal particles along the primary air supplied
to the burner.
HAMMER MILL
HAMMER MILL

• The hammer mills have swinging hammers connected to an

inner ring and placed within the rotating drum. The coal to
be pulverized is fed in to the path of hammers.
• Grinding is done by the combination of impact on large
particles and attrition on small particles .
• The hot air is supplied to dry the coal as well as carrying coal
particles to burners.
• It is compact low in cost and simple in operation.
• How ever its maintenance is costly and its capacity is limited.
The power consumption is high when fine powder is required.
PULVERISED COAL FIRING
• Pulverised coal firing is done by two system :
(i) Unit System or Direct System.
(ii) Bin or Central System.
Unit System:
• In this system (Fig.) the raw coal from the coal bunker drops
on to the feeder.
• Hot air is passed through coal in the feeder to dry the coal.
• The coal is then transferred to the pulverising mill where it is
pulverised.
• Primary air is supplied to the mill, by the fan. The mixture of
pulverised coal and primary air then flows to burner where
secondary air is added.
• The unit system is so called from the fact that each burner or a
burner group and pulveriser constitute a unit.
 Unit or Direct System.

Advantages of unit system:

(i) The system is simple and cheaper than the central system.
(ii) There is direct control of combustion from the pulverising
mill.
(iii) Coal transportation system is simple.
Bin or Central System:
• It is shown in Fig. Crushed coal from the raw coal bunker is
fed by gravity to a dryer where hot air is passed through the
coal to dry it.
• The dryer may use waste flue gases, preheated air or bleeder
steam as drying agent.
• The dry coal is then transferred to the pulverising mill. The
pulverised coal obtained is transferred to the pulverised coal
bunker (bin).
• The transporting air is separated from the coal in the cyclone
separator.
• The primary air is mixed with the coal at the feeder and the
mixture is supplied to the burner.
Advantages of central system:
l. The pulverising mill grinds the coal at a steady rate irrespective
of boiler feed.
2. There is always some coal in reserve. Thus any occasional
breakdown in the coal supply will not effect the coal feed to
the burner.
3. For a given boiler capacity pulverising mill of small capacity
will be required as compared to unit system.
Disadvantages of central system:
1. The initial cost of the system is high.
2. Coal transportation system is quite complicated.
3. The system requires more space.
Fig. shows the equipments for unit and central system of pulverised
coal handling plant.

Equipments for Central and Unit System

PULVERISED COAL BURNERS :
• Burners are used to burn the pulverised coal.
• Burners are devices use to burn coal particle by uniform
mixing of coal and air and creation of turbulence within the
furnace.
• The main difference between the various burners lies in the
rapidity of air-coal mixing i.e., turbulence.
• For bituminous coals, the turbulent type of
burner is used
• For low volatile coals, the burners with long
flame should be used.
• A pulverised coal burner should satisfy the following
requirements:
1. It should mix thoroughly primary air with coal particles
and secondary air.
2. It should create turbulence and maintain stable
combustion.
3. It should control the flame shape and it travel in the
furnace.
4. The velocity of primary air and coal particles should be
same as that of flame velocity to avoid flash back.
5. The burner should have ability to withstand overheating
due internal fires and excessive abrasive wear.
• The various types of burners are as follows :
1. Long Flame Burner (U-Flame Burner). In this burner air and
coal mixture travels a considerable distance thus providing
sufficient time for complete combustion. [Fig. (a)].
2. Short Flame Burner (Turbulent Burner). The burner is
fitted in the furnace and the flame enters the furnace
horizontally. [Fig. (b)].
3. Tangential Burner. In this system, one burner is fitted at the
corner of the furnace. The inclination of the burner is so made
that the flames produced are tangential to an imaginary circle
at the centre. [Fig. (c)].
 (b)
(a)

(c )
4. Cyclone Burner. It is shown in Fig.(d). This burner uses
crushed coal intend of pulverised coal. Its advantages are as
follows :
(i) It saves the cost of pulverisation because of a crusher needs
less power than a pulveriser.
(ii) Problem of fly ash is reduced. Ash produced is in the molten
form and due to inclination of furnace it flows to an
appropriate disposal system.