Advanced Sootblowing Strategy Using SmartSootblower

Danny Tandra Clyde Bergemann, Inc Steam & Steam Power and Energy Cost Saving Committees PAPTAC December 12 - 13, 2006

Fouling

Plugging

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Expectation Gap Expectation

Sootblower Performance

High Steam Consumption

SmartSootblower Targeted Cleaning

Current Sootblower Technology

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Background
The flow of a sootblower jet is supersonic (Mach 3) Flow disturbance in the form of a shock wave is formed if a supersonic flow impinges on a solid object and is brought to a complete stop.

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Pitot tube immersed in stream of a supersonic flow

Mach = 1.5

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Sootblower Jet

Potential Core

Supersonic region

Offset

Subsonic region

Platen - 1

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Background
The position of sootblower nozzles with respect to boiler banks has been known to have a great effect on the ability of the jet to exert force on deposits.

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Platen

Platen

Platen Platen

Platen

Platen

Sootblower needs to be designed in such a way that we may have the full knowledge on where the sootblower nozzles are positioned with respect to the boiler banks and full control on the helix movement of the lance (Targeted Cleaning).

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Conventional Sootblower
Conventional sootblowers clean the heat exchanger tube surfaces with little or no knowledge of where the nozzles are positioned with respect to the boiler banks.

Helical motion of a conventional sootblower

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Conventional Sootblower
The helical movement produced by the conventional sootblower cannot be easily adjusted, which makes the sootblower cleans the entire tube surfaces with even intensity (over cleaning in some areas and under cleaning in others).

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Conventional Sootblower
Downstream nozzle no offset

Stroke I

Stroke II

Stroke I: The sootblower jet is in direct collision with the boiler tube. In this case, the jet will not be able to penetrate deep into the bank and exert significant force on the deposit.

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Advanced Strategy
SmartSootblower (DualMotor Sootblower) is equipped with two motors that independently control the transversing and rotating motion of the lance tube. This independent movement of the lance allows the sootblower nozzles to be positioned in such a way as to minimize the jet-tube interaction, hence dedicating all the jet power to remove deposits.

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Targeted Cleaning

Conventional Sootblower

Dual motor

Long helix in the

Stop & Rotate in the problematic area

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anny Tandra Ph.D.

SmartSootblower & Low Pressure Sootblowing Technology to combat plugging in Recovery Boilers and save energy

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Low Pressure Sootblowing Technology

History

Idea was originated from A Pulp & Paper Consortium Meeting in 2001 Organized by University of Toronto, Canada.
Pulp & Paper Companies Bowater Canadian Forest Products Inc. Daishowa Marubeni International Ltd. Domtar Inc. Georgia-Pacific Corporation International Paper Company Irving Pulp and Paper Limited MeadWestvaco Corporation Stora Enso Research AB Tembec Inc. Votorantim Celulose e Papel Westvaco Corporation Weyerhaeuser Company Willamette Industries Inc.

Boiler Manufacturers Alstom Power Inc. Andritz Oy Babcock & Wilcox Company Kvaerner Pulping Oy

Sootblower Manufacturer Clyde Bergemann, Inc.

Pulp & Paper Companies Aracruz Celulose S.A. Boise Cascade Corporation

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Motivation
Sootblowers ~ 300 psig Poppet valve Pressure Reducing Station Recovery Boiler High pressure steam 600 -1500 psig

Steam Turbine

Low pressure steam to mill processes 150 - 200 psig

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Low Pressure Sootblowing

Sootblowers 150 - 200 psig Recovery Boiler

High pressure steam 600-1500 psig

Steam turbine

Low pressure steam to mill processes 150 - 200 psig

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Incentive

Use less valuable-lower pressure steam for sootblowing.

Energy Savings:
High pressure sootblowing (900 psig ==> PRV => 300 psi ) Dollar saving = Difference in the steam cost Low pressure steam (150 - 200 psi)

Lower maintenance costs

Less noise

Longer jet penetration (> cleaning coverage)

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Can low pressure steam provide a comparable amount of cleaning power as the high pressure steam ?

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Deposit removal mechanism

Deposit will be removed from the tube surface if Fjet > Sadhesion. A contact area

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 In order for the Low Pressure Jet to achieve the same cleaning power as the High Pressure Jet, the LP sootblower has to be designed to produce a comparable amount of force as the HP sootblower.

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Low Pressure Blowing

Can low pressure steam provide a comparable amount of force as the high pressure steam ? ? ?

Fjet (Low Pressure) = Fjet (High Pressure)

. M(lb/s). Vjet(ft/s)|LP = . M(lb/s). Vjet (ft/s) |HP

Vjet |LP is always less than Vjet|HP the flow rate M(lb/s) and nozzle efficiency ( ) of LP have to be increased to match the force of HP.

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LP vs HP: A comparison
LP has larger nozzle Longer Jet Penetration
CFE-Low Pressure Bigger Nozzle Higher nozzle efficiency: 4 lance tube

High Pressure Nozzle

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LP vs HP: A comparison
Peak Impact Pressure (PIP) of HP Peak Impact Pressure of LP PIP (psi)

F = P (lbf/in2) . A (in2)

Deposit-Jet contact area (in2)

PIP of HP > PIP of LP, but the area under the curve (force) => comparable. The HP pushes the deposit with concentrated sharp jet while LP pushes the deposit with bigger and less concentrated pressure.

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Conclusion

Fluid Dynamic theoretical analysis supported by laboratory experiments, and CFD analysis suggest that LP sootblowing is feasible.

The capability of LP sootblower to control deposit accumulation has been confirmed by the success of the LP Field trial at Irving Pulp & Paper, Saint John, Canada.

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CB Low Pressure Installation CB supplied LP sootblowers to a newly built Andritz Boilers:

Weyerhaeuser Valliant, OK, USA (2005) Weyerhaeuser Campti, LA, USA (2006)
4 OD lance tube with two CFEIII LP nozzles are used.

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SmartSootblower & Low Pressure Sootblowing Technology to combat plugging in Recovery Boilers and save energy

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Plugging Process
Flue gas

Flue gas

Flue gas

Flue gas

Flue gas

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Conventional Strategy

Leeward

Windward

Flue gas

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anny Tandra Ph.D.

Advanced Strategy

Leeward

Leeward

Windward

Windward

Flue gas

Deposit

Minimize Jet-tube interaction by properly

positioning the nozzle SmartSootblower.

Long jet penetration Low Pressure Jet

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anny Tandra Ph.D.

Summary
It has been known that the position of sootblower nozzles with respect to the boiler bank has a great effect on the ability of the jet to remove deposits. The increase in sootblowing intensity using conventional sootblowers to combat local boiler fouling & plugging can promote sootblower-induced-tube-erosion (over cleaning in one area and under cleaning in others).

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Summary
SmartSootblower was developed with the main objective to suppress the jet-tube interaction and promote targeted cleaning by adjusting the sootblower transverse & rotational movements. Low Pressure Sootblower, which has the capability to form a longer penetration jet, can be installed in the SmartSootblower to combat plugging and save energy.

anny Tandra Ph.D.