Boiler commissioning

1.

Objectives

Preparation of equipments for reliable and trouble free operation.

This may involve.

a) Inspection , pre-operational checking and preparation of the equipments including specialized cleaning.
b) Trial run , initial operation and performance monitoring .
c) Problem analysis and solution
2.
3.
4.

Fulfilling contractual obligation like proving performance guarantee.

Compiling and creation of equipment performance data for future reference and comparisons
Training of operation and maintains personal
Activities during commissioning of a boiler
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii.
1.

Planning and preparation.

Pre-commissioning inspection and checks.
Trial run of equipments.
Pre-commissioning activates including specialized cleaning.
Trial operation of boiler and setting parameters for operation regimes
Performance testing.
Training of operation and maintains persona
Planning &preparation

2.

Preparation of Bar chart / PERT of commissioning operation

Preparation of equipment check lists
Trial run instruction report format of equipment repair format
inspection and pre commissioning checks
a) steam drum correct fitting up internals and cleaniness.
b) Super heater, Re heater , De superheater & Economiser ,longtitudanal& transverse spacings
c) Water valves & Buckstays
Expansion movements.
water seals also check for expansion clearness
bottom ash hoppers
The Buck stays system should be checked for correct installation and insulation filling whenever
envisaged.
d) Hangers of supports.
e) Safely valves.
f) Tangential wind Boxes.
g) Rotating equipment Fans, air heaters and pulverisers
i) Instrument tapping
j) F.S.S.S. (Furnace safeguard supervisory system)

Trial run of equipment

Water , Power , lubrication availability

Drive unit motor - no load trial coupling - no load trial for 8 hrs
Notice Abnormal sound ( unusual ) , vibrations , undue bearing temperature rise, starting current, no load current
etc.

Re commissioning activities
a) Air and gas tightness test
b) Chemical cleaning of boiler

c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)

Thermal flow test

Steam blowing
Safety valve setting & testing
Clean air flow test of pulverizes
Testing of protection and inter locks
Calibration of instrument

AIR and GAS tightness of Boiler

The air tightness and gas tightness tests are conducted to detect the source of leakages in the system.

The test is carried out before insulation.

Prior to carring out test all opening such as access doors, observation ports and all other openings closed.
A. Procedure for gas tightness

For conducting gas tightness test following procedure. Run F.D fan and open all the dampers in air and flue gas path
excluding I.D.fan discharge dampers.

Pressurrise the flue gas path to at least 50mm of water column.

The furnace pressure should not exceed 100 mm of W.C

Light up a smoke bomb in the furnace and one in the second pass through suitable opening and close opening immediately.

Check manhole doors , peepholes doors, duct joints, fan flanges,hopper joints etc for leakage.

The location of leakage points to be marked and rectification to be done.

Repeat the procedure till the system is tight on all respect

B .Similar procedure is adopted for air tightest

Run F.D. fans and keeping all dampers in air path open expect for the dampers in the wind box.

The system is pressurized to 100mmwc

A smoke bomb is introduced and lighted up in the section of each fan.

Chemical Cleaning of Boiler

Alkali boil out

To remove lubricants , oil and rust

Alkali soluble, sand , loose scale and corrosion products.

Alkaline materials used

i.

Caustic soda

NaOH

ii.

Soda ash

Na2Co3

iii.

Tri sodium phosphate

Na3 Po4H2O

iv.

Sodium sulphate

v.

Sodium nitrate

Na2SO4

The common use

To reduce oxygen w w corrosion

Na2No3

Preparatory

Filling of Boiler up to normal level in drum

Chemical adding system in drum by normal procedure or by manhole of drum.

Steam pressure raised to about 1/5 of operating pressure or up to 25 kg / cm2(G) whichever is lower and carryout
recirculation .

The pressure maintains at this level till results are obtained.

Every 2 to 4 hrs. Down comer ring header drains are opened for blow down for about 2 minutes, after putting out the
fire.

During process alkanality, silica level, PH and oil content are monitored at frequent intervals. (Generally less than 1
ppm)

On completion of process the boiler will be boxed up for slow cooling, and drained, & flushed free of residuals with
hot water followed by cold water flushing.

Acid cleaning

To remove scales and deposit formed on the heat transfer surfaces in conduct with water. Copper deposition sometime
occurs during three years period

Material used Hydro fluoric acid ( 3% to 5% )

Preparatory Recirulation method

Filling of boiler by D.M. water followed by - leak proof test by pump.

Raise the temprature to the required value ( 60 0 to 700 ) by adding steam to dissolved tank & recirculate by Pump
flushing is to conduct till clear and solid free flushing water is achived.

Measurement of suspended solids & total iron concentration were taken.

Add acid to the circulating water.

Sometimes ammonium bi-flu ride is added to dissolve silica.

Sometimes ammonium bromate in use in stage to remove copper deposition .

Recirculation is continued by pump.

Samples are taken every 15 minutes from different location and analysed for acid connection (%) PH valve, silica,
and iron contents.

The process is terminated when iron concentration stablise ( About 4 hrs time)

The system is drained under positive nitrogen pressure and rinsed with D.M.water. This is follow till no traces of
acid are detected in the sample.

Finally passivation stage the chemical (Hydrazine 200ppm & ammonia 10 ppm ) added to the hot circulating water.

To achive permanent base protection layer, second stage passivation is carried out at temp about 200 0c to 2500 c

To raise the Boiler pressure up to 40kg/cm2

THERMAL FLOW TEST

The thermal test is conducted to detect passage obstruction in water wall, economiser and superheaters.

The chocked tube is identified with the help of thermal flow meter using the principle that the rate of cooling of heated tube
depends upon the fluid flow rate inside the tube.

The test measures the time taken for a heated tube to fall a temperature from 100c above ambient to 30c above ambient.

This timing for the different tubes of the circuit is compared for detecting the choked tubes.

For conducting the test, a flow should be maintained so as to create the velocity minimum 0.1m /sec reasonably accurate by
establishing the flow circuit.

Normally the acid cleaning circuit and pumps used will be sufficient.

While conducting the test in the water wall, the down comers are to be blanked for obtaining satisfactory velocity in the water
wall tubes.

Steam Blowing

Steam blowing operation is intended to remove mill scales , welding slags, debris or other foreign materials, left over in
superheaters, reheaters and steam piping.

The boiler is filled with D.M. Water at normal level.

Pressure is raised by firing to about 40 kg / cm2 and firing discontinued.

The outlet valves in the steam lines are opened, venting out the steam to atmosphere.

The high differential pressure between boiler and atmosphere created a high mass flow of steam at velocities much higher
than normal.

When the pressure drops down to 25kg / cm2 ,the valves are closed.

The cycle are repeated till the lines are adequately cleaned.

As the every blow induces a thermal shock to the boiler components , each blow should be limited about 40 0 c drop in
saturation temperature , which can be modulate by pressure drop.

Effectiveness steam blowing is evaluated by target plate placed in the stream near the outlet to atmosphere.

As the main object of steam blowing is to prevent damage to the turbine blades from foreign materials carried in the steam,
the target plate is made of same material that of turbine blades .

Blowing should be continued till clear targets are obtained.

Safety valve settings

At the end of steam blowing , the safety valves in the boiler will be floated and set to operate at the required pressure.
This is done to ensure the availability of the safety valves from pressure release in times of necessity
Sometimes as per safety requirements , this is done in the presence of Boiler inspector
The boiler pressure is gradually raised
All the safety valves ( except the one to be floated ) are gagged
When the boiler pressure is around 10% lower than the set value , the valve is warmed up and eased by hand popping
Then the pressure is gradually raised
When the safety valve floats , the pressure is noted down using a calibrated pressure guage and firing stopped.

As the boiler pressure decays, the safety valve reseating pressure is also noted
Any adjustment required for setting lifting pressure or blow down pressure is done as per safety valve o & m manual .
The procedure is repeated till the safety valve lifting pressure and blow down pressure are within acceptable limits .
The above procedure is repeated for all safety valves .
Generally the floating is stared from the highest pressure safety valve and proceeded in the order of decreasing set pressure,
this is avoid the gagging of all other safety valves.
Before declaring the completion of this operation, gags from the safety valves should be remove.