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Flexibility of a 300 MW Arch Firing Boiler

Burning Low Quality Coals

Article in Journal of China University of Mining and Technology December 2007

DOI: 10.1016/S1006-1266(07)60147-3

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Dec. 2007 Journal of China University of Mining & Technology Vol.17 No.4

J China Univ Mining & Technol 2007, 17(4): 0566 0571

Flexibility of a 300 MW Arch Firing Boiler

Burning Low Quality Coals
FANG Qing-yan, ZHOU Huai-chun, WANG Hua-jian, YAO Bin, ZENG Han-cai
State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China

Abstract: Experimental investigations on the flexibility of a 300 MW Arch Firing (AF) coal-fired boiler when burning
low quality coals is reported. Measurements of gas temperature and species concentration and char sampling using a
water-cooled suction pyrometer were carried out along the furnace elevation. The carbon content and the size distribu-
tions of the char samples were obtained. The char morphology was examined using a field emission scanning electron
microscope (FESEM). The char sampling was performed on this type of boiler for the first time. The results indicate
that the flexibility of this boiler burning low quality coals under a moderate boiler load is better than its flexibility under
a high boiler load. Because of the insufficient capacity of the coal pulverizers used, in case of low coal quality the pul-
verized coal fineness will drastically decrease under high boiler loads. This causes an increase in the loss due to incom-
plete mechanical and chemical combustion. This is the main cause of a low burnout degree of the pulverized coal and
the decrease of the flexibility of this AF boiler under a high boiler load.
Key words: coal-fired boilers; flexibility; burnout; temperatures; size distributions
CLC number: TK 16

1 Introduction boilers[34]. More recently the influence of the secon-

The arch firing (AF) coal-fired boiler is one of the
main boiler types burning low volatile and anthracite
coals for electric power generation in China. Cur-
rently more than 70 AF boilers, having a total capac-
ity of approximately 27000 MW, are either in service
or under construction. This equipment is designed to
one of two capacity grades: 300 or 600 MW. The AF
boiler has the excellent characteristics of stable igni-
tion and combustion of the pulverized coal in the fur-
nace. However, practical operation still suffers from
the problems of high carbon content in the fly ash and
high NOx emission[12]. Therefore, it is extremely
important to investigate ways to improve the coal
combustion efficiency and to reduce pollution of the
AF boiler. Additionally, the type and the quality of
coals for many utility boilers in China change fre-
quently so that the boilers can not burn the same coal
for a long time. So it is also important to investigate
the flexibility of this type of boiler when burning low
quality coals.
Only a few relevant studies have reported on ex-
perimental measurements and simulations for the AF
Received 11 April 2007; accepted 14 July 2007
Projects 2006AA05Z301 supported by the Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China and 50636010 by the National Natural Science Foundation
of China
Corresponding author. Tel: +86-27-87542417-8506; E-mail address: power_fqy@163.com
dary-air damper opening on combustion characteris-
tics was studied. This included the measurement of
local gas temperature and species concentrations at
several locations in a 300 MW AF coal-fired boiler
burning Yangquan anthracite coal[5]. However, char
particles have not been sampled and analyzed. Re-
ports concerning the flexibility when burning low
quality coals in this type of boiler have not yet been
published.
In this paper the investigation of the flexibility of a
300 MW FW-designed AF coal-fired boiler burning
low quality coals is described. Measurements of local
gas temperatures and identification of species and
their concentrations in the gas stream as well as parti-
cle sampling were carried out on this boiler at four
monitor ports at different elevations. For the first time
sampling and analyzing of char particles were per-
formed on this type of boiler. The results may offer
valuable reference data and information for under-
standing the combustion characteristics of AF boilers
and for developing new technologies to improve the
performance of such boilers.
FANG Qing-yan et al Flexibility of a 300 MW Arch Firing Boiler Burning Low Quality Coals 567

2 Experimental

2.1 Utility boiler

In-situ experiments were performed on the 300
MW (1072 t/h) AF coal-fired boiler at Ezhou Power

30
Plant, Hubei, China. The boiler was manufactured by
Foster Wheeler (FW) Company using FW AF tech-

37
nology. The main features of the boiler are as follows:

23820
1) double arch firing furnace with partial refractory
coverage of the walls in the lower furnace; 2) directly

12530
firing arrangement using 24 FW double-cyclone arch

12663
burners, which enrich the coal/air mixture, and 4 FW
D-10D type ball mills; 3) staging configuration of the
secondary air. The boiler schematic is shown in Fig. 1.
The design coal type is a blended coal comprised of
60% Jincheng anthracite coal and 40% Linfeng bitu-

7310
minous coal. The coal properties are shown in Table 1.

2578 2200
The designed R90 value of pulverized coal fineness is
about 8%. The maximum coal feed rate of each mill
is 12.17 kg/s. The pulverized coal fineness increases 15480

almost linearly as the mill load decreases.

2.2 Apparatus and instrumentation 8574

A set of equipment was designed for conducting

temperature measurements, flue gas analysis, and
55
char particulate sampling in large-scale, coal-fired
boilers. The equipment comprises a water-cooled
suction pyrometer, a particle sampling device with Fig. 1 Schematic of the boiler being studied
constant speed and a multi-functional analyzer for the (unit: mm; MP-monitor port)
flue-gas.
Table 1 Coal proximate and ultimate analysis (as received)
Proximate analysis (%) Ultimate analysis (%) Heating value
Coal type
V M A FC C H N O S Qnet.ar (J/g)
Designed 11.00 8.30 22.98 57.72 60.17 2.680 0.670 4.920 0.280 22553
1 18.59 8.60 44.01 28.87 41.85 2.150 0.635 1.768 0.987 16075
2 17.48 9.00 31.15 42.65 54.09 2.080 0.717 1.863 1.096 19135

The water-cooled suction pyrometer consists of a
water-cooled annular pipe with 89 mm outside di-
ameter, 80 mm inside diameter. The pipe is 3.5 m
long and has a 20 cm long triple-walled carbon steel
radiation shield affixed to the front end. The radiation
shield is resistant to high temperatures up to 1673 K.
A B-type platinum-rhodium-30/platinum-rhodium-6
thermocouple, which can measure temperatures from
273 to 1873 K, was used. Thermocouple wire 0.5 mm
diameter was placed within a 4-mm-diameter corun-
dum sheath.
A KM900 flue gas analyzer was used to measure
the local concentrations, of various gases: O2, CO2,
CO and SO2. The measurement errors for O2 and CO2
were about 0.2% to 0.3%, while those for CO and
SO2 were about 20106 to 5106.
A highly efficient cyclone segregator was used to
collect char particles from inside the furnace.
2.3 Experimental conditions and methods
The measurements and char sampling were con-
ducted through four monitoring ports (MPs) along the
furnace elevation, as shown in Fig. 1. MP1 was lo-
cated near the ignition zone of the pulverized coal in
the furnace, MP2 was in the combustion zone, MP3
was in the burnout zone, and MP4 was at the furnace
exit. The four MPs were chosen to follow the trajec-
tory of the pulverized coal particles so that a proper
understanding of the combustion process would be
obtained from the resulting measurements. The
measurement points for gas temperatures, chemical
composition of the gases and the sampling of char
particles were 1.0 m away from the side wall of the
furnace and 1.8 m away from the burner closest to the
side wall along the furnace width.
First, measurements were conducted at MP1 under
boiler loads of 200, 230, 260 and 270 MW. The igni-
tion characteristics of the pulverized coal will be re-
568 Journal of China University of Mining & Technology Vol.17 No.4

lated to the boiler load. Then measurements were Cases 5 and 7. More information on the instruments,
conducted at MP2, 3 and 4 under 270, 280 and 300 the experimental procedures and the measurement
MW loads, respectively. This can reveal the combus- uncertainty has been provided elsewhere[6].
tion process of the pulverized coal as it passes along Two bituminous coals (Coals 1 and 2), typically
the furnace elevation. During the experiments the with high volatiles, high ash content and low heating
temperature measurement and sampling of char parti- value, were burned during the experiments. Coal 1
cles were performed simultaneously. The char parti- was burned in Cases 16 and Coal 2 was burned in
cles were first separated from the mixture of char Case 7. The proximate and ultimate analysis of the
particulates and flue gas. Then the flue gas entered two coals is shown in Table 1. The main operating
the flue gas analyzer. There were seven experimental parameters and conditions of the boiler are listed in
cases in total. The fly ash below the electrostatic pre- Table 2.
cipitators and the bottom ash were also sampled in
Table 2 Main boiler operating parameters in the experiments
Case 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Measurement point MP1 MP1 MP1 MP1 MP2 MP3 MP4
Boiler load (MW) 200 230 260 270 270 280 300
Coal feed rate of each mill (kg/s) 8.6 10.1 11.2 11.9 11.7 12.1 11.6
Total air flow rate (kg/s) 237.9 272.3 306.7 318.2 318.2 329.7 352.6
Primary air temperature (K) 354 355 359 361 360 362 364
Secondary air temperature (K) 577 584 590 592 591 594 598
O2 at furnace exit (%) 3.4 3.3 3.5 3.0 2.8 2.9 2.6
Note: 1) A/B/D/E/F secondary air damper openings were respectively 100%, 25%, 15%, 15% and 40%. 2) Vent air damper openings were 30%. 3)
Flow straightening vanes were located the lowest positions in the burners. 4) The mass fraction of vent air was about 6%8% at the vent air damper
opening of 30% and the lowest position of the flow straightening vanes[7]. 5) Four mills were all in service, and the burners near the measurement
points were always in service during the experiments.

The carbon content of the char samples was meas- ing combustion rate of the pulverized coal and be-
ured by the loss on ignition (LOI) approach and the cause heat is being transferred to the water-cooled
extent of coal burnout was calculated by the ash trace walls. Finally, because of further heat exchange, the
balance method. The size distributions of the char temperature of the gas, 1288 K, is lower at the fur-
samples were determined using a MAM5004 laser nace exit (near MP4) where gases and unburned coal
size analyzer made by the Malvern Company, UK. particles leave the furnace.
The carbon content of the fly ash and bottom ash was Temperature
measured in a muffle oven. The overall burnout was Burnout degree
1420 R90 35
also estimated for Cases 5 and 7. The char morphol- 94
1400 92
ogy and carbon content were examined using FESEM 30
1380 90
with an energy spectrometer. 1360 88 25
1340 86
20
84
3 Results and Discussion 1320
82 15
1300 80
3.1 Gas temperature 1280 78 10
1 2 3 4
Fig. 2 shows the gas temperatures along the fur- 270MW 270MW 280MW 300MW
MP and boiler load
nace elevation. As the coal particles move through the
furnace they first enter the lower furnace from the Fig. 2 Gas temperatures, R90 and coal burnout degree
along the furnace height
burner nozzles on the arches and then they are heated
by the recirculation of high temperature gas and
flame radiation. The particulate temperature increases Although the boiler load was not the same in all
rapidly and the pulverized coal particles ignite and cases, the gas temperature distribution along the fur-
burn in the ignition zone near MP1 releasing a great nace elevation still properly demonstrates the com-
amount of heat from the intensive combustion of the bustion characteristics in the AF boiler.
pulverized coal. The gas temperatures in the combus- The gas temperatures at MP1 under boiler loads of
tion zone near MP2 rise up to 1392 K due to both the 200, 230, 260 and 270 MW are shown in Fig. 3. It is
combustion of pulverized coal and the partial refrac- observed that the gas temperature initially decreases
tory lining of the walls. After that the pulverized coal with the increase in the boiler load but increases
particles turn upward into the upper furnace, the again when the boiler load is higher than 260 MW.
burnout zone near MP3. Here the gas temperatures This trend is explained as follows: 1) When the boiler
drop from 1392 K to 1323 K because of the decreas- load increases the flow velocity of the coal/air mix-
ture increases. This causes the residence times of the
FANG Qing-yan et al Flexibility of a 300 MW Arch Firing Boiler Burning Low Quality Coals
pulverized coal particles in the ignition zone to be
reduced. As a result, the ignition heat of the coal/air
mixture increases and release of the volatile matter,
ignition and combustion of the pulverized coal are
delayed. Therefore, the gas temperatures in this re-
gion drop. But when the boiler load exceeds 260 MW
the temperatures in the whole furnace increase and
the recirculation of high temperature gas and flame
radiation into this zone increase greatly. Consequently,
the local gas temperatures rise again. 2) The volatile
matter release, ignition and combustion of the pul-
verized coal are delayed because the fineness of the
pulverized coal decreases as the boiler load increases.
This results in a reduction of the local gas tempera-
ture, which will be validated by later analysis.
Fig. 3 Gas temperatures, R90 and coal burnout
degree at MP1
When the boiler load is higher than 260 MW the
effect due to the increase in the whole furnace tem-
perature is stronger than that of the decrease in the
pulverized coal fineness. So the gas temperature in-
creases.
3.2 Char sizes
The pulverized coal fineness is an important factor
affecting the burnout degree of the pulverized
coal[89]. Fig. 4 presents the size distributions of the
char samples. R90 is generally used to characterize the
pulverized coal fineness. The values of R90 of the
chars sampled at MP1 under the boiler loads of 200,
230, 260 and 270 MW are shown in Fig. 3. R90 in-
creases almost linearly from 9.93% to 16.0%, 23.02%
and 28.47% with the increase of the boiler load. This
indicates a linear decrease of the char fineness with
the increasing boiler load. It can be seen from Table 2
that the coal feed rate of each mill increases linearly
with the increase of the boiler load. So the char fine-
ness almost decreases linearly as the coal feed rate of
each mill increases.
The R90 values of the char sampled along the fur-
nace elevation are shown in Fig. 2. The decrease of
the particle diameter with the gradual burnout of the
pulverized coal, which is well known, is displayed by
the reduction of R90 from 28.47% (MP1) to 11.13%
(MP2). The R90 values of 26.05% and 31.23%, MP3
(280 MW) and MP4 (300 MW) respectively, are big-
ger than the 11.13% measured at MP2 (270 MW).
569
This shows that the char fineness drastically de-
creased under higher boiler loads when burning Coals
1 and 2. Because of a higher heating value of Coal 2,
the coal feed rate of 11.6 kg/s in Case 7 is less than
the 12.1 kg/s feed rate in Case 6. However, the char
fineness at MP4 in Case 7 is bigger than that at MP 3
in Case 6. Because Coal 2 is more difficult to pulver-
ize than Coal 1, the fineness of Coal 2 is less than that
of Coal 1. On the other hand the volatile content (dry
ash-free) of Coal 1, 39.21%, is higher than that of
Coal 2, 29.20%. It is known that coal particles with a
higher volatile content have a tendency to fragment
more violently during combustion[10].
Fig. 4 Char size distributions
The swelling, shrinkage and fragmentation during
combustion of the bituminous coal particles in the
furnace may cause the difference in R90 between the
chars and the pulverized coals. In fact, the coal parti-
cles are all exposed to the combustion process with
swelling, shrinkage and fragmentation, so R90 of the
chars sampled within the furnace are comparable and
can approximately indicate the fineness characteris-
tics of the pulverized feed coals. It is seen from the
analysis above that in the case of low coal quality the
pulverized coal fineness will drastically decrease un-
der high boiler loads. This is mainly because the ca-
pacity of the coal pulverizer is insufficient when low
quality coals are burned[2].
3.3 Gas species analysis
Fig. 5 shows the experimental data of the gas spe-
cies concentrations along the elevation. A reduction in
O2 content and an increase in CO2 content reflect the
transient combustion process of the pulverized coal in
the furnace. A steep reduction in SO2 content may
come from the further oxidation of SO2, and needs
further investigation. The SO2 concentration at MP4
(300 MW) is higher than that at MP3 (280 MW) be-
cause the production of SO2 increases with the higher
sulfur content in Coal 2 and, generally, with an in-
crease in the boiler load. The CO content at MP4
(300 MW) is higher than that at MP3 (280 MW). This
demonstrates an increase of loss due to incomplete
chemical combustion under higher boiler loads.
570 Journal of China University of Mining & Technology
Fig. 5 Gas species concentrations along the furnace elevation
3.4 Coal burnout
The coal burnout degree at MP1 under the boiler
loads of 200, 230, 260 and 270 MW are presented in
Fig. 3. It is clear that the coal burnout degree drops
from 92.57% to 88.04%, 86.79% and then 78.70%
with the increase of the boiler load. This trend is op-
posite to the increase of R90 with increasing boiler
load. This demonstrates an important effect of the
pulverized coal fineness on the burnout degree. Also,
as shown in Fig. 3, in addition to pulverized coal
fineness the in-furnace temperature has an important
influence on the coal burnout characteristics. Within
the range of the boiler load in these experiments the
coal burnout degree and gas temperature drop con-
currently. However when the boiler load exceeds 260
MW, in spite of the increase in the gas temperature
the coal burnout degree still reduces with an increase
in R90. So both the in-furnace temperature and pul-
verized coal fineness are major factors having great
impact on the burnout degree. But when the boiler
load is higher than 260 MW the pulverized coal fine-
ness becomes the predominant factor. The coal burn-
out degree near MP1 under the different boiler loads
is significantly higher because the ignition and com-
bustion of Coal 1, with its high volatile content of
39.21% (dry ash-free), are greatly enhanced close to
the burner nozzles in the furnace.
The coal burnout degree along the furnace eleva-
tion is shown in Fig. 2. The contrary trends between
coal burnout degree and R90 can also be observed.
The increase of the coal burnout degree from 78.70%
to 93.15% at MPs1 and 2 shows the gradual burnout
of the pulverized coal along the particle trajectories.
The coal burnout degrees at MP3 and MP4 of 92.19%
and 90.22% (MP3 280 MW and MP4 300 MW re-
spectively) are lower than the 93.15% measured at
MP2 (270 MW). As discussed above, because Coals
1 and 2 are low quality coals the pulverized coal
fineness will drastically decrease under higher boiler
loads. This will result in an increase in loss due to
incomplete mechanical combustion. The coal burnout
degrees in the ignition, combustion and burnout
zones in the furnace are about 78.70%, 14.45% and
less than 6.85%, respectively. It can be seen from Fig.
1 that the distance the pulverized coal particles travel
Vol.17 No.4
in these three zones is about 2.0 m, 10.0 m and 14.0
m, respectively. These data confirm that most of the
combustible matter in the pulverized coal particles is
rapidly burned off in a short time within a short dis-
tance and after that the combustion rate of the coal
char particles decreases. This is because thermal de-
activation and ash inhibition in the later stages of
combustion result in a longer burnout time within a
proportionately longer distance[11].
The carbon content of the fly ash and bottom ash in
Case 5 (270 MW) are 4.96% and 10.90%, respec-
tively. The overall burnout degree of the pulverized
coal is 94.65%. The carbon content of the fly ash and
bottom ash in case 7 (300 MW) are 15.81% and
23.09%, respectively. In this case the overall burnout
degree was 89.10%. It can be concluded that the
flexibility of this boiler burning low quality coals
under a moderate boiler load is better than its flexibil-
ity under a high boiler load.
Fig. 6 shows some representative morphology of
the char samples and fly ash in Case 5. The chars at
MP2 are mainly Tenui- and Crassi-particles[1214] such
as alveolate and fibriform (Fig. 6a and b). They have
considerable effective reaction area and are easy to
burn off. Fig. 7 shows some representative morphol-
ogy of the char samples and fly ash in Case 7. The
chars at MP4 are mainly solid chars (Fig. 7a and b).
This type of char has little effective reaction area and
is difficult to burn off. The chars in the fly ash are
mainly unburned dense solid in which the carbon
content exceeds 60% (Fig. 6c and Fig. 7c). Mi-
cron-dimension pores can not be observed under
FESEM on the surfaces of this dense solid. This type
of char does not crack during the pyrolysis and early
combustion of the pulverized coal in the furnace and
is hard to burn off, becoming the main source of the
unburned carbon. The difference in char morphology
between Cases 5 and 7 may be one of the reasons for
the observed difference in the overall burnout degree
between these two cases.
(a) 79.10% C (b) 89.06% C (c) 69.28% C in the fly ash
Fig. 6 Char morphology images in Case 5 (270 MW)
(a) 80.29% C, MP4 (b) 83.57% C, MP4 (c) 85.91% C in the fly ash
Fig. 7 Char morphology images in Case 7 (300 MW)
 FANG Qing-yan et al Flexibility of a 300 MW Arch Firing Boiler Burning Low Quality Coals 571

4 Conclusions pulverizer, in case of low coal quality the pulverized

1) The flexibility of the AF boiler burning low
quality coals under a moderate boiler load is better
than that under a high boiler load.
2) Both in-furnace temperature and pulverized-coal
fineness are major factors having great impact on the
burnout degree of the pulverized coal. When the
boiler load exceeds 260 MW the pulverized coal
fineness becomes the predominant factor.
3) Because of the insufficient capacity of the coal
coal fineness will drastically decrease and even dete-
riorate under a high boiler load. This results in in-
creasing loss due to incomplete mechanical and
chemical combustion. It is the main cause of a low
coal burnout degree and of the decrease in the flexi-
bility.
4) The dense solid chars with a carbon content of
more than 60% are the main source of unburned car-
bon in the fly ash.

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