The Principles Used In New technologies combustion control In Coal fired stations

Poor fuel/air control drives need to operate at non-optimal excess air levels
Limited capability to control coal & air flow distribution to each burner
Comfort Zone

A/F

Historical boiler capability > Coal flow bias up to +/30% > Combustion air flow bias up to +/- 20% Large burner-to-burner fuelair ratio imbalance of up to +/- 36%

Combustion optimization can help offset problems due to low-NOx modifications

Combustion Sensors O2/CO Sensors

Overfire Air Reburn Fuel Main Fuel

Fuel & Air Controls Optimization Methodology

Air

Baseline boiler emissions and temperature characteristics

NOX & CO Emissions
0.40 1.2 2,650 1.0

FEGT

NOx, lb/MMBtu

CO, lb/MMBtu

0.8 0.20 0.10 0.2 0.00 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2 0.0
CO

FEGT, deg. F

0.30

NOx

2,600 2,550 2,500

Right Avg.

0.6 0.4

Left

2,450 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.8 3.2

Oxygen, % wet

Oxygen, % wet

Significant stratification in gas temperatures and oxygen profile

Combustion sensors installed in furnace and in backpass

Sensors Installed: > In-situ CO sensors = 15 > Combustion sensor (LOI/FEGT) = 5 > Burner Profiler = 25

O2/CO Sensor Probe

Sensor results prior to boiler optimization

Combustion Sensors
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5

CO Sensor Data

260 240 220 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

Relative LOI

Sensor

Sensor response to changing oxygen

CO Sensors
Test #2 3.0% O2
440 400 360 320 280 240 200 160 120 80 40 0

Econ. O2 Probes
2.86 3.71 3.57 3.10

1.53 2.30

2.26 3.29

2.17 3.55

N/A 3.00

Test #6 2.7% O2

1.01 1.57

2.05 2.54

1.85 3.06

N/A 2.55

Test #7 2.2% O2

0.50 1.15

1.43 2.08

1.77 2.69

N/A 2.23

Test #7 2.2% O2

0.36

1.46

1.48

N/A

Coal flow balancing and measurement systems

Automated Coal Flow Dampers Coal Flow Sensors

Balancing dampers can significantly improve coal flow balance

35

Coal Flow Balance, % (absolute)

30 25 20 15 10 5

Baseline Manually Balanced

Balancing limited by low air velocities

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 E1 E2 E3 E4 E5

Coal Pipe

Automatic balancing system is successful attaining and maintaining fuel distribution

Burner C1 Burner C2 Burner C3 Burner C4

Burner C5

Burner Coal Flow Bias

15% 10% 5% 0% -5% -10% -15% -20% -25% Baseline Manual Tune Auto Tune

Fuel Balancing PLC

Distributing burner air properly is a critical step in combustion optimization

Once fuel distribution is balanced, the initial burner air settings can be set uniformly. The next step in optimizing combustion is to trim air distribution. Burner air adjustments are made to move air to air-starved regions in the furnace and to improve air and fuel mixing within regions.

Further Combustion optimization through O2 / CO sensors

CO Profile after coal flow balancing only
1150 1080 1020 960 900 840 780 720 660 600 540 480 420 360 300 240 180 120 60 0

High CO In Corner

CO Sensor Levels (relative ppm)

Further Combustion optimization through O2 / CO sensors

Adjust right-to-left air balance using upper rear wall burners
1150 1080 1020 960 900 840 780 720 660 600 540 480 420 360 300 240 180 120 60 0

CO Sensor Levels (relative ppm)

Further Combustion optimization through O2 / CO sensors

Adjust right-to-left air balance using lower rear wall burners
1150 1080 1020 960 900 840 780 720 660 600 540 480 420 360 300 240 180 120 60 0

CO Sensor Levels (relative ppm)

Further Combustion optimization through O2 / CO sensors

Adjust right-to-center air balance using upper rear wall burners
1150 1080 1020 960 900 840 780 720 660 600 540 480 420 360 300 240 180 120 60 0

CO Sensor Levels (relative ppm)

Further Combustion optimization through O2 / CO sensors

Final result (next day)
1150 1080 1020 960 900 840 780 720 660 600 540 480 420 360 300 240 180 120 60 0

CO Sensor Levels (relative ppm)

Further Combustion optimization through O2 / CO sensors

Final result (next day)
0.005
Probability Distribution Function

0.004

Initial Final

0.003

0.002

0.001

0.000 -400 -200

200

400

600

800

Coal Flow Bias, %

1150 1080 1020 960 900 840 780 720 660 600 540 480 420 360 300 240 180 120 60 0

CO Sensor Levels (relative ppm)

Summary
Sensors, fuel/air controls, and tuning methodology provide opportunity for continuous combustion optimization Available technologies: > Combustion Sensors > Automated coal flow balancing > Tuning and Optimization Combustion optimization can permit operation at reduced excess air and lead to: > Reduced NOx > Improved efficiency > Reduced unplanned outages and load drops > Recovered derate or increased output