Combustion Process

Historical Introduction
• Fire exists from the earliest existence of man on earth
• Until 1880, man did not achieve a quantitative
understanding of the combustion process
• In 1697, G.E.Stahl proposed Phlogiston theory-
Phlogiston was a hypothetical mysterious substance
which combined with a body to render it combustible
• In 1774, Joseph Priestly discovered the unique power
of oxygen for supporting combustion
• In 1781, Henry Cavendish demonstrated the compound
nature of water
 Combustion Process
Historical Introduction
• About the same time, Lavoisier made the precise measurements
and formulated the volume and weight relationship that underline
the modern theory of combustion
• In 1811, Amendeo Avagadro established that the number of
molecules in a unit volume under standard conditions is same for
all gases
• During the same period, John Dalton enumerated the law of
partial pressures
• In 1803, John Dalton’s study of the physical properties of gases
led to formulation of atomic theory including the law of
combining weight
• In 1808, Gay Lussac observed that gases always combine in
volumes that bear simple ratios to each other
 Combustion Efficiency
• Combustion efficiency – effectiveness of
combustion equipment to convert the internal
energy in fuel to heat energy for use by the process
• Any heat loss lowers the efficiency of the process
• Combustion efficiency = Total energy contained
per unit of fuel - losses (radiation, unburned and
flue gas)
• Continuous monitoring of Oxygen and
combustibles (CO or H2)-the best way to improve
combustion efficiency
 Combustion Theory
• Three essential components of combustion – fuel,
oxygen and heat
• Chemical elements that react with oxygen to
release heat are Carbon and Hydrogen commonly
known as hydro carbons
• C + O2  CO2 + 14093 btu/lb (stoichiometric air
150 ft3 of air / lb of fuel)
• H2 + ½ O2  H2O + 61000 btu/lb (stoichiometric
air 2.38 ft3 per ft3 of fuel)
• Stoichiometric combustion – just right amount of
oxygen and fuel mixture (without any excess)
 Why air instead pure oxygen?
• Air contains 21% by volume or 23% by
weight of Oxygen and is readily available
• Pure oxygen needs processing, the cost of
which outweighs the benefit on combustion
and heat release
 Why excess air?
• Inadequate mixing of air and fuel, fluctuating
operating and ambient conditions, burner
performance and wear and tear
• To ensure that fuel is burned completely or with
little combustibles, some amount of excess air is
provided
• Normal excess air
– Gas 5%, Oil 10%, coal 20%
 Excess Air
• Solid fuels require the greatest and the gaseous fuels require the least
quantity of excess air
• At design load,

–Solids –Gas
•Pulverised coal15 to 30% •Natural gas 5 to 10%
•Coke 20 to 40% •Refinery gas 8 to 15%
•Wood 25 to 50% •Blast furnace gas15 to 25%
•Bagasse 25 to 45% •Coke oven gas 5 to 10%

–Liquids
•Oil 3 to 15%
 Negative aspects of high excess air
• Increase in auxiliary power (FD & ID fan)
• Increase in furnace temperature and NOx formation
• Increase in loss of sensible heat carried away by flue
gas
• Increase in erosion due to increase in flue gas
velocity
• Limitation on boiler load due to exhaustion of ID
fan capacity
• Shift in heat transfer from furnace to convection
pass resulting in heating up of down stream
components
 Impact of lesser air than
stoichiometric requirement
• Incomplete combustion leading to
– Reduction in energy release
– Increase in unburned hydro carbons (Co &
CnHm) in flue gas
– Increase in unburned carbon level in fly and
bottom ashes
– Slagging in boiler furnaces
Reference curves for Optimum % Oxygen at
Economiser outlet for minimum heat rate
Curve to estimate % excess air based % Oxygen
 Basis for controlling excess air
• By monitoring oxygen and combustibles in
flue gas at Eco outlet by installing on-line
analysers

• Monitoring unburned carbon level in fly

and bottom ashes
Method of evaluating air leakage in furnace
Combustion Efficiency
Combustion Efficiency
Combustion Efficiency
 Functional Requirement for
combustion Equipment
• Easy ignition and reliable flame scanning
• Maximum Heat release (at desired rate)
• Optimum turn down
• Efficient combustion (Minimum un-burned)
• Optimum temperature
• Minimum Excess air
• Minimum emission
• Minimum slag formation
• Desired flame shape
• Heat release profile matching furnace heat absorption
need
Factors Influencing Combustion

• Fuel Characteristics
• Design of burners and furnace
• Operational aspects
 Fuel aspects
• Organic aspects
– Petrography
– Heat release rate
• Inorganic aspects
– CCSEM, Ash formation, TMA,
• Physical aspects
– Grindabity, Specific gravity, particle size
distribution
 Heat Value of Fuels
• High Heat Value (HHV)
= 8080C+34500(H2-(O2/8))+2220S Kcal/Kg (Dulongs
Formula)
– Where C,H2,O2 and S represent weight in kg of Carbon,
Hydrogen, Oxygen and Sulphur per Kg of fuel
• Low Heat Value (LHV)
=HHV-Latent heat of steam formed
– The amount of steam formed during combustion=9H2
where H2 is the weight of Hydrogen per kg of fuel
– Latent heat of 1 Kg of steam at 760 mmHg and 100
DegC is 538.9 Kcals/Kg
 Coal

• Coals having FC / VM ratio closer to 1 will have

better flame stability
• VM less than 13% is not preferable for PC firing
• Residence time
– 110 Mw 1.75 sec, 210 Mw-2.2 sec, 500 Mw-3.5 sec
• Crossing point temperature -175 to 250 Deg.C
• Flammability temperature – 400 to 600 Deg.C
 Coal Quality Vs Air
regimes
• Low ash, high volatile, high moisture, high
CV (imported coal)
– Flame propagation affected more by moisture
than by ash
– Priority for drying coal. Hence PA can not be
reduced below a particular level
– Necessary to incorporate split coal nozzle or
diverters
 Coal Quality Vs Air
regimes

• Low moisture, low volatile, high ash

– Flame propagation affected by high ash
– Reduce primary air to minimum extent possible
– Increase OFA
Arrangement of Coal and
Air Ports in the Wind Box
of a Typical Tangential
Fired 500 MW Boiler
Furnace
 Primary Air
• P.A / Coal ratio 1.5 to 2.5 (2 for better combustion
efficiency)-lower the P.A better the flame stability
• P.A normally 1/4th (20-25%) of total air
• Variable P.A control gives better scope to improve burner
performance
• Primary air velocity 25 m/sec (to be > 20 m/sec to avoid
settling in coal pipe. To be > 15 m/sec to avoid flash back)
• Minimum P.A temperature 57 Deg. C to avoid condensation
• Maximum P.A temperature tested 127 Deg.C to avoid mill
fire and softening & sticking of coal in coal pipe
• Normal P.A mix temperature is around 80 Deg.C
 Functions Of Primary Air
• To dry the moisture in coal and facilitate
better grinding in the mill
• Transport the pulverised coal from the mill
to the furnace at a velocity higher than
settling velocity of pulverised particle and
that of flash back
 Functions Of Fuel Air
• Helps to position the flame front (Not too
away with potential for blow off-Not too
close with potential for heating & distorting
nozzle)
– Considerations
• Good Flame Stability
• View For Flame Scanner
• Protection of Nozzle From Distortion
 Impact of Fuel Air
increasing with Feeder
Speed
• Primary stream need not be uniform in all
the four corners
• Fuel air increase may further degenerate
flame where PA/Coal ratio is already high
 Fuel Air Vs Feeder Speed
• Fuel Air can not be increased with feeder speed
• With increase in feeder speed, the primary air would
increase
– Since Indian coals have more non combustibles (50%
compared to 10-20% in North American coals). Much more
primary air is required than required for volatile combustion
– Addition of fuel air can affect the flame stability and unburned
carbon level

Feeder speed will increase if fuel CV goes down as well as boiler

load increases
 Secondary Air
• 75 to 80% of total air distributed at different tiers
• Secondary air velocity ~40 m/sec for better
momentum and mixing
• Secondary air temperature ~ 227 deg.c
• Air distribution in tiers decide combustion
efficiency
• Fuel air is provided for the twin purposes of
cooling nozzles and for positioning flame front-
close the damper if flame front is away and open if
flame front is close to nozzle
• Other damper openings to be adjusted depending
on the operating tiers
 Functions Of Auxiliary Air
• Ensuring completion of combustion
• Enough momentum to penetrate into
primary stream (expanded flame jet
containing the char of the coal particles)
and provide air to the whole cross section of
char to be burnt
• Stage the air for gradual mixing to reduce
NOx
 Flame Front

Aux Air

Fuel Air

PA + Coal

Aux Air

Temperature
Typical Mixing and Flame Front In Corner Firing
 Effect of changing
auxiliary air

• Auxiliary air quantum should not be below

the level where the momentum is not
adequate to penetrate the primary jet flame
– This happens if PA is high and FA is also high
and the total air is limited to 3.5% O2
(Under such conditions the wind box
pressure <100 mmwc)
 Functions Of Over Fire Air
• Primarily indented to reduce unburned
carbon in fuel burnt in the top elevations
• Since the air in the bottom elevations are
proportionately reduced it also reduces
Thermal NOx formation in the lower
elevations
 Effect of Over Fire Air

• OFA intended for reducing unburned and

NOx
• By closing OFA combustion completion of
lower elevations is advanced, FOT comes
down, Unburned may go up
 Need for biasing / extent
of biasing AuxAir
• Biasing is
– subjective – Fuel, Mill System, Boiler size
– Objective – Unburned carbon reduction, Lower/higher
FOT, Reduction of spray, Higher SH steam temperature
• Eg. IFFCO/PHULPHUR VU40
– Biasing towards bottom reduced unburned levels in
bottom ash
• NTPC, Ramagundam 500 Mw
– Biasing towards top reduced SH Spray
 IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF THE
EXISTING COAL BASED POWER PLANTS

• Boiler Operational Improvements

– Tuning Combustion Air Regimes
• Prevention of air leakage
• PA/Coal ratio around 2
• Flame front 300 to 500 mm away from nozzle tip
• Fuel air at minimum opening
• Excess air to reduce carbon loss and slagging
• Minimize OFA if furnace is slagging