BOILER START UP PROCDURES

 PREPARATION
 WATER AND STEAM CIRCUIT
 AIR AND FLUE GAS CIRCUIT
 WATER FILL UP IN BOILER
 BED MATERIAL FILLING PROCEDURE
 BOILER LIGHTUP PROCDURES
 INTRODUCTION OF COAL TO BED AND STABILIZATION
 COMPARTMENTAL TRANSFER
By
P.PRABU
PREPARATION
 Inspect the boiler startup and check the following
 All the access doors are closed
 All personnel area cleared
 All material are removed from furnace and other area
 Starting equipment interlocks are in position
 Boiler is filled with D.M water
WATER AND STEAM CIRCUIT
 Check the following valves are in closed condition
 All control valves and their bypass valves
 Blow down valves
 Main steam stop valve
 Drain valves of water level gauges
 All drain valves of water wall headers and economizer headers
 Check the following valves are in open condition
 All isolation valves before and after control valves
 Drum air vents and Final super heater outlet air vent
 Main steam line drain
AIR AND FLUE GAS CIRCUIT
 Ensure the following
 I.D Fan inlet and outlet damper is closed (if VFD speed setting is
very minimum)
 F.D Fan inlet and outlet damper is closed
 Secondary air damper is closed
 P.A Fan inlet and outlet damper is closed
 Individual compartment FD dampers are closed
 Individual PA dampers are closed
 PA fuel feeding vertical drain line gates are closed
 Manual bed drain gates are closed
 Bed ash cooler drain gates are closed
 ESP and chimney are free from men and materials and doors are
closed
WATER FILL UP IN BOILER
 Ensure Economizer inlet & outlet header vents, steam drum
vent, main steam line vent and startup vent are kept full open
 Start boiler feed water pump and open discharge valve
gradually to full open condition
 Open 30% feed control valve gradually (10 to 15%) and fill the
water at a slow rate. Ensure removed air from the pressure
parts
 Close the air vents one by one after water flows out in the
vents in the order of economizer , Close all the bottom
headers drain valves
 During water fill up, post an attendant at the drum level to
monitor the local gauge glass and to communicate control
room when the drum level reached(50% of drum level)
BED MATERIAL FILLING PROCEDURE
Start ID.fan
 PA fan can be off condition if not necessary
 Start FD.fan
 Maintain the furnace pressure as -2 to -5 mmwc by using
VFD
 The individual compartments FD dampers shall be kept
full open and all other dampers like PA, Bed drain and
Bed ash cooler drain shall be kept closed
 Load the FD fan by using VFD and maintain air flow furnace
pressure around -2 to -5 mmwc
 Start filling the bed material from bed material bunker by opening
the gate
 Bed material shall be filled up to 200 to 250 mm height above the
air nozzle (bubble cap) top
 With cold air and cold bed material, fluidization may not be even
and bed material doesn’t spread evenly on entire bed. In that
condition close the 3rd, 4th and 5th compartment dampers
 Fluidize 1st and 2nd compartments only and if still fluidization is not
proper, increase FD air flow further until bed material is spread evenly
and fluidization is uniformly.
 Close the 1st comp. dampers and open 3rd dampers and fluidize
these compartments until bed material spreads evenly. Then close
the 2nd damper and open 4th damper and then close the 3rd damper
and open 5th damper.
After the required bed height is achieved in all the compartments
give air in the 1st compartment only. Note down the minimum and
maximum air requirement and Fans reference points for proper
mixing and stabilization during startup. Stop ID and FD fans. The
border has to be formed at end of 1st compartment.
 Then physically check the bed height (300 to 325mm from DP plate)
 Uniformly fill 350 kg of dry charcoal (size of 15-25mm) at 1st
compartment and then evenly spread 50 kg of diesel mixed charcoal
over the dry charcoal.
 Now the bed is ready for light up.
BOILER LIGHTUP PROCDURES
 Fire the charcoal with help of diesel.
 1st allow the firing with ID fan start and PA & FD fans. Maintain furnace pressure
-2 to -3 mmwc always and raise the air box pressure gradually (up to 100 mmwc)
in order to increase the top bed temperature to 800˚C and ensure fire catches in
all areas of charcoal.
 Give mixing air up to maximum fluidization for minimum 15 to 30 Sec and
reduce to minimum fluidization level. Ensure the through mixing of charcoal and
bed material. If not do one more mixing.
 Observe the furnace and bottom bed temperature gradually raising and top get
reducing.
 Increase the air flow in step by step gradually so as to raise the bed temperature.
 Set the PA Header pressure to minimum 700 mmwc and flush all the PA lines of
1st compartments.
 Watch the bed for uniform fluidization.
 Once the bed temp reaches 850 deg C, add bed material and bed
level shall be raised from the existing level to 450 mm.
 On the water side watch the drum level and maintain drum level
50% by using blow down and FW flow by switch on the feed pump
 Warm up the pressure parts till getting around 5 kg/cm2 drum
pressure and when the drum pressure reaches 5 kg/cm2 close the
drum vent valve.
 Main Steam startup vent valve should be kept in open condition till
the boiler is connected to the load to safeguard the super heater coils
from overheating.
 When steam drum pressure is around 5 kg/cm2 or after drain out of
all water particles close CSH, RSH and BSH outlet header drain valves
one by one.
INTRODUCTION OF COAL TO BED AND
STABILIZATION
 Once the bottom bed temp reaches around 450 deg C,Start the fuel
flow by fuel feeders switching on and run at minimum speed
 Observe the bed and check the coal catches fire or not.
 Without flame in the bed do not continue fuel feeding for long time.
 Slowly increase the fuel feeding RPM when the bed temp is around
600 deg C and in rising trend.
 Do not feed too much excess fuel. It will raise the bed temperature
and leads to clinker formation.
COMPARTMENTS TRANSFER
 Boiler startup with only one compartment is strongly recommended.
 The compartment transfer means activating a cold static adjacent
comp to the already activated comp by admitting fluidizing air to the
static comp along with startup compartment and mixing cold bed
material with hot bed material of the operating comp.
 Before activating the static compartment, increase the fuel flow in
the active comp and raise bed temp around 875 to 900 deg C to avoid
drop in bed temp the active comp.
 Open the air damper of the comp for a minute and open the FD
suction damper/increase the VFD RPM to maintain FD discharge
header pressure the same as of the operating comp before mixing.
 The cold bed material in the static comp will get mix up with the hot
bed material of the operating comp.
 The bed temp of the new comp will rise and bed temp of the
operating comp will begin to drop
 Mixing shall be done for a 50 deg C drop in the operating comp and
bed temp to be maintained above 750 deg C.
 The bed temp of the operating comp shall be once again reach up to
around 875 to 900 deg C before next mixing.
 The bed temp of the new comp shall be reach at least 450 deg C
before fuel feeding is start.
 Follow the above steps for remaining compartments .