Paper No.

FBC99-0087

Advancement of 10T/H Fluidized Bed Boiler Burning Fujian Anthracite With Extremely Low Volatile

Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Fluidized Bed Combustion May 16 - 19, 1999 Savannah, Georgia

Copyright 1999 by ASME

Advancement of 10T/H Fluidized Bed Boiler Burning Fujian Anthracite With Extremely Low Volatile
Changsui Zhao, Yufeng Duan, Xiaoping Chen, Xin Wu, Shuzhi Wu, Wenxuan Wang and Chao Huang Thermoenergy Engineering Research Institute Southeast University Nanjing 210096, P. R. China Telephone: +86(0)25-3793453 Telefax: +86(0)25-7714489 E-mail: cszhao@seu.edu.cn

ABSTRACT
The anthracite in Fujian Province, China with extremely low volatile content about 2%~4% is very difficult to burn in grate firing boilers, and operation conditions are very poor, such as steam output well below the nominal capacity and very low burning-out rate. Burning Fujian anthracite in specially designed bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) boilers with capacities between 4 T/H and 20 T/H are still unsatisfactory. In order to increase boiler output and utilize local coal more efficiently, a 10 T/H BFB boiler burning Fujian anthracite was retrofitted with several special techniques, in terms of underbed feeding of recycling fly ash, vortexing secondary air injection, continuous bottom ash removal and adding immersed tube surface. The boiler performances before and after the retrofitting were measured and compared. The experimental results indicate that steam output of the boiler is boosted from 7~8 T/H to more than 14 T/H, unburned carbon content (UBC) in ash from the convective banks drops from 31.39% to 3.89%, UBC in ash from the multicyclone drops from 38.87% to 22.19%, and UBC in fly ash drops from 35.3% to 18.07%. The boiler thermal efficiency increases from 67.27% to 82.93%. Boiler operation becomes more stable. Particulate emission is substantially lessened because of separation by the vortexing secondary air. The retrofitting was completely successful. The technique used and experiences obtained in the retrofitting can be widely applied in industrial BFB boilers. INTRODUCTION There is abundant anthracite reserve in China. Fujian Province is one of the provinces where the largest amount of anthracite reserve is. In addition, there is not any bituminous reserve. Fujian anthracite has extremely low volatile content, typically 2%~4% on dry ash free basis. It is a very difficult task to utilize local anthracite for industrial, residential and institutional needs efficiently and reliably. Traditionally, a lot of industrial grate firing boilers are specially designed for burning Fujian anthracite. But the situation is very disappointing, steam output is well below the nominal capacity and unburned carbon content in both bottom ash and fly ash is quite high, in extreme case even high than fixed

carbon content in raw coal unthinkably. Since 1970's, hundreds of bubbling fluidized bed boilers with capacities between 4 T/H and 20 T/H have been developed and operated in Fujian province. In order to burn local anthracite with low reactivity, boilers are designed to have following features. The freeboard is almost adiabatic except for a small amount of water tubes on the roof of the furnace. The gas velocity in the freeboard is very low, typically less than 1m/s. The freeboard temperature can be kept at high level. Particles from the bed have long residence time in the freeboard. There is a U-shaped inertial separator at the exit of the furnace. Fly ash particles escaped from the furnace burn further and are collected in the separator and then recycled back into the furnace. There is a multicyclone between the convective banks and the economizer. Fly ash particles collected in the banks and the multicyclone are supposed to be recycled back into the bed surface separately. Unfortunately, ash particles from the banks and the multicyclone can not be recycled because of lack of effective way. Operation conditions of the fluidized bed boilers are still unsatisfactory and boiler performances are below expected. Major common problems for the boilers are inadequate steam output, poor boiler thermal efficiency and low availability. As demonstration of modification, a 10 T/H fluidized bed boiler in an agricultural chemical company was retrofitted with fly ash underbed feeding, vortexing secondary air and continuous bottom ash removal. The measurements show that there is a big improvement in boiler performances, in terms of load, thermal efficiency and availability of the boiler. BOILER DESCRIPTION Boiler unit 3 in Shanming Agricultural Chemical Company Lt. is a bubbling fluidized bed boiler with the capacity of 10 T/H. The design fuel is Fujian anthracite with volatile content Vdaf of 2.84%. The schematic diagram of the boiler is shown in Fig. 1. The cross section of the bed is 2.4m1.38m and expanded to 4.6m3.9m in the cross section of the freeboard with a transition section. The total height of the furnace from the distributor to the roof is 7.85m. Two rows of vertical immersed tubes are arranged on each side of the bed. There is not any water-wall tube in the furnace. Only are 18 water tubes located on the furnace roof and four connecting water tubes across the freeboard. The U-shaped flue gas duct just located at the furnace exit separates coarser fly ash particles from the gas by inertial force when particle laden flue gas takes a U-turn there and the gravity. Collected particles are sent back to the freeboard via nozzles. Some particles are separated by the gravity in a convective bank section between two drums. Finer particles are collected in a honeycombed multicyclone. Fly ash particles collected in the banks and the multicyclone are supposed to be recycled back into the bed surface to get higher burn out rate. Passing through an economizer and two sets of air preheaters in the back pass, the flue gas is vent into the atmosphere through an induced fan. The ultimate analysis and low heating value of the design coal as received by weight are listed in Table 1. The specifications of the boiler are shown in Table 2. No limestone is fed into the bed for desulfurization because of very low sulfur content in the coal fired.

Table 1. C % 73.3

Coal ultimate analysis(*dry ash free basis) H O N S M A % % % % % % 1.18 0.58 0.14 0.15 10.8 13.85

Volatile* % 2.84

LHV kJ/kg 25197

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the 10T/H boiler Table 2. Boiler specifications Design data 10 1.3 194 2 42 0.44 0.56 157 1.6 NA 7.61 1 7.44 91.56 81.62 Operation data before retrofitting 9.63 1.06 185.5 3.16 35.3 0.48 0.52 204.8 2.2 0.0139 13.8 0.10 16.94 82.96 67.27 Operation data after retrofitting 14.4 1.3 194 2.86 18.07 0.42 0.58 151 1.6 0.17 7.48 0.87 5.42 93.71 82.93

Steam output T/H Steam pressure Mpa Steam temperature C UBC in bottom ash % UBC in fly ash % Fraction of bottom ash Fraction of fly ash Exhaust gas(EG) temperature C Excess air coefficient in EG CO content in EG % Heat loss due to EG % Heat loss due to CO % Heat loss due to UBC % Combustion efficiency % Boiler thermal efficiency %

Operational practice showed that outer row of vertical inbed tubes on each side of the bed could not be vigorously scoured by the bed materials. Inbed heat transfer surface area of 12.9 m2 is not sufficient for the nominal capacity of the boiler. The bed level can not be increased further because of limited pressure head of the forced fan. Normally, the steam output of the boiler is about 7 T/H to 8 T/H. Unfortunately, it is failed to recycle the ash particles collected in the tube banks and in the multicyclone back into the furnace due to lack of effective recycling device, such as J-valve, L-valve and non mechanical loop seal and lack of conveying air with high enough pressure head. Even if the particles can be recycled into the bed surface, it is still useless to increase the burning out rate of the particles. The reason is that the temperature of the particles is only 200C , and it takes quite long time to increase particle temperature to the point at which unburned carbon starts to burn. Within their residence time in the freeboard, the particles are carried out of the furnace before being heated up to burning temperature. Measurement results before retrofitting shown in the middle column of Table 2 indicate that unburned carbon content in fly ash is 35.3%. The ash particles collected in the tube banks and the multicyclone are neither recycled nor discharged. The heat loss caused by UBC in fly ash is 16.94%. Therefore, the combustion efficiency of Fujian anthracite in the boiler is only about 83%, the boiler thermal efficiency is as low as 67%. Furthermore, the bottom ash is manually disposed every two hours. The air static pressure in wind box, i.e., the bed level is periodically varied. The range of variation in the bed height is up to 200 mm. It causes periodical variation in the flow rate of the primary fluidizing air, which is harmful to stable and complete combustion in the bed. Operation conditions under full load and overload also show that the temperature in the freeboard is very high, sometimes reaches 1100C, which is close to the softening temperature of coal ash, that causes slagging on the roof. RETROFITTING In order to increase steam output of the boiler to meet the company's need for process steam and to utilize local coal more efficiently, several modification measures are taken for the boiler. First of all, the vertical immersed tube bank of 12.9 m2 is replaced by inclined immersed tube bank of 18.39 m2 with 15 related to the horizon. In that case, heat transfer coefficient between the immersed tubes and the bed increases. Second, two new fly ash underbed recycling systems (Lan et al.,1987) are installed for sending the fly ash particles collected in the convective banks and in the multicyclone, respectively. The system consists of the ash hopper, the stand pipe, the U-shaped valve, the injector, the underbed recycling nozzle and the Roots fan. The ash particles from the hopper and the stand pipe, controlled by the U-shaped valve, are injected into the bed via pneumatic conveying pipes and the underbed feeding nozzle which is located just above the air distributor. After getting into the bed, ash particles at the temperature of 200 C are heated up very quickly because intensive heat and mass transfer between ash particles and high temperature bed materials in the dense phase bed. During the residence time period in the bed, unburned carbon in ash particles starts to burn and continues to burn in the freeboard. In this way very high burning out rate can be reached when particles are recycled once. On the other hand, recycling of the fly ash particles collected in the convective banks exposes the

formerly immersed part of the banks. It contributes to the increased output of the boiler and also the restrained abrasion of the banks. Thirdly, the vortexing secondary air technique (Nieh et al., 1992, Xu et al.,1993) is employed. Four nozzles of secondary air from the forced fan are arranged on both side walls in the freeboard at the proper elevation. The secondary air jets injected from the nozzles are tangential to an imaginary circle. The nominal ratio of the flow rate of the secondary air to the total flow rate is 12.5%. Swirling flow formed by the secondary air with high velocity causes entrained particles move towards the wall. Therefore, an internal recirculation of coarse particles is formed and the residence time of finer particles is prolonged. As a result, the burning out rate of entrained particles increases and particle elutriated from the furnace in the flue gas is lessened. The flue gas temperature can be controlled by the flow rate of the secondary air injected. Finally, an air-cooled vibratory feeder is refitted for bottom ash removal. The flow rate of bottom ash removal can be regulated by the current of the vibrator. Automatic continuous removal of the bottom ash makes it possible to keep the bed level constant, and thus combustion process in the bed becomes stable. It also diminishes the possibility of bed collapsing induced by manual disposal. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The comparison tests were carried out in February 1989 before retrofitting and in March 1998, respectively. The experimental results are shown in the right two columns of Table 2. The ultimate analysis and the low heating value of coal tested before retrofitting are listed in Table 3. The proximate analysis and the low heating value of coal tested after retrofitting is listed in Table 4. Table 3. Coal analysis data as received C H O S N %wt %wt %wt %wt %wt 54.09 1.01 2.57 0.98 0.50 Table 4. Coal analysis date, as received fixed carbon ash content moisture 63.53% 24.89% 6.92%

A %wt 32.57

M %wt 8.28

LHV kJ/kg 18976

volatile 4.66%

low heating value 22181kJ/kg

Some findings can be drawn from Table 2. Steam output of the boiler is almost doubled, from 7~8 tons per hour just before the retrofitting to over 14 tons per hour at the nominal steam parameters, over 2 tons per hour more than the objective output. Controllable and stable fly ash recycling leads to notable drop of unburned carbon content in fly ash from 35.3% to 18.07% and the boiler thermal efficiency increases by 15.66%. The gas temperature at the exit of the furnace is controlled between 930 C and 950 C at the maximum load of the boiler. No slagging problem on the furnace roof exists anymore. Sure enough, firing Fujian anthracite in circulating fluidized bed with high recirculation rate may reach better combustion efficiency more than 94% and better boiler thermal efficiency more than 83%, but for small-scale industrial boiler the capital cost and

operation cost of CFB boiler are higher than bubbling fluidized bed boiler. Successful retrofitting of the 10 T/H BFB boiler sets an example for hundreds of industrial BFB boilers firing local anthracite in Fujian or other low volatile anthracite in China. In the test before retrofitting, four kinds of fly ash particles collected in the U-shaped inertial separator, the convective banks, the multicyclone and the water-membrane separator were sieved. Their particle size distributions are shown in Fig.2. The size distribution of fly ash particles collected in the water-membrane separator after retrofitting is shown in Fig.3. The cut sizes d50 and d99 for 99% separation of four kinds of collected ash before retrofitting and the ash collected in the water membrane separator after retrofitting are listed in Table 5. It can be seen that the ash collected in the multicyclone is the finest, ts d50=67m and d99=190m. Two kinds of ash collected Table 5. The cut sizes d50 and d99 of fly ash particles before retrofitting Retrofitted U-separator convective banks multicyclone water membrane Water membrane 118 117 67 99 93 d50, m 384 398 231 520 330 d99, m

100

100

Accumulative passing weight (%)

60

Accumulative passing weight (%)

10 100 1000

80

80

60

40

40

20

20

0 10 100 1000

dp( m)

dp( m)

fly ash collected in (before retrofitting) the water-membrane separator the convective banks the multicyclone the U-shaped inertial separator

fly ash collected in(after retrofitting) the water-membrane

Figure 2. Ash particle size distribution

Figure 3. Ash particle size distribution

in the U-shaped separator and the convective banks by the gravity and the inertia are the coarsest, corresponding d50 are 118m and 117m, their d99 are 384m and 231m, respectively. The fly ash in the water membrane separator is quite coarse because when the ash hoppers for previous two stage separators are full and no ash is removal, some

coarse ash particles are collected in the final stage separator. After retrofitting d50 and d99 of the fly ash in the water membrane separator are still not satisfactory. It indicates that the separation performance of the multicyclone is not very good. The particle size distributions of fly ash can also be expressed in form of probability density of particle size P(d), as shown in Fig.4 and Fig.5.The peak probability density is located at 70m for the multicyclone ash and 100m for the other three kinds of ash before retrofitting. The peak probability density for the water membrane separator ash after retrofitting is about 95m.
14.0 16.0

12.0

10.0

fly ash collected in (before retrofitting) the water-membrane separator the convective banks the multicyclone the U-shaped inertial separator
P(d) (1/ mm)

12.0

fly ash collected in (after retrofitting) the water-membrane

P(d) (1 / mm)

8.0

8.0

6.0

4.0 4.0 2.0

0.0 0 200 400 dp( m) 600 800

0.0 0 200 400 600 800

dp( m)

Figure 4. Probability density distribution of particle size

Figure 5. Probability density distribution of particle size

Unburned carbon contents in collected ash are analyzed with the particle size and shown in Fig.6 and Fig.7. Figure 6 shows that the diameter of the particles with the maximum carbon content is about 30m for the ash in the water membrane separator and that is between 50m and 60m for the other kinds of ash. When the size is smaller than the peak, the carbon content decreases obviously. When the size exceeds the size related to the peak value, the carbon content drops sharply first. After reaching a valley size, it increases gradually. Plotting multiplication of the size probability density and the carbon content versus the particle size, we can get distribution of the unburned carbon loading P(d)C(d) with the particle size. The carbon loading curves for the tests before and after the retrofitting are depicted in Fig.8 and Fig.9, respectively. It implies that the heat loss due to unburned carbon is mainly caused by the ash particles with the diameters between 40m and 120m. Therefore, the key to creasing the combustion efficiency further is to manage to separate more effectively the ash particles with the size mentioned above and recycle them to the bed. It seems that the existing multicyclone of the boiler is supposed to be improved.

60

60

50

fly ash collected in(before retrofitting) the water-membrane separator the convective banks the multicyclone the U-shaped separator

50

40

40

fly ash collected in (after retrofitting) the water-membrane

C(%)

30

C(%)
0 200 400 600 800

30

20

20

10

10

0 0 200 400 600 800

dp( m)

dp( m)

Figure 6. Unburned carbon content distribution

Figure 7. Unburned carbon content distribution

P(d)C(d) (1/mm)

P(d)C(d) (1/mm)

fly ash collected in (before retrofitting) the water-membrane separator the convective banks the multicyclone the U-shaped inertial separator

fly ash collected in(after retrofitting) the water-membrane

0 0 200 400 600 800

0 0 200 400 600 800

dp( m)

dp( m)

Figure 8. Unburned carbon loading curves

Figure 9. Unburned carbon loading curves

CONCLUSIONS 1. The retrofitting of the boiler with several practical techniques is very successful. Its experiences can be applied to hundreds of industrial BFB boilers firing Fujian anthracite and other small- scale BFB boilers firing low volatile anthracite in China. 2. The performances of the retrofitted boiler are very satisfactory. The steam output is almost doubled and beneficial to meeting the need of the company for process steam. The

combustion efficiency and the boiler efficiency increase by 10.75% and 15.66%, respectively. 3. The unburned carbon loading distribution curves indicate that for the boiler tested the heat loss due to UBC is mainly caused by the fly ash particles with the diameter between 40m and 120m. 4. The effect of the vortexing secondary air is manifested as increasing combustion efficiency, lessening particulate emission from the furnace as well as controlling freeboard temperature. 5. Stable and continuous bottom ash removal is beneficial to stability of both steam parameters and the coal combustion. REFERENCES Lan Jixiang, et al., The Experimental Investigations of Fine Ash Recycle in a AFB Burning Lean Coal. Proc. of 9th Int'l Conf. on FBC, 1987:10961100. Nieh S.,et al, Measurements of Gas-Particle Flows and Elutriation of a 18'' I. D. Cold Vortexing Fluidized-Bed Combustion Model. Powder Technogy, 1992, 69:139146. Xu Yiqian, et al., Combution Characteristic and NOx Emission Control in Vortexing Fluidized Bed. Proc. of 12th Int'l Conf. on FBC, 1993: 123128. NOMENCLATURE A C C(d) CO dp d50 d99 H LHV M N O P(d) S Ash content, % Carbon content, % Carbon content in particles eith diameter of d, % Carbon monoxide, % Particle diameter, m Cut size, m Particle diameter for 99% separation, m Hydrogen content, % Low heating value, kJ/kg Moisture content, % Nitrogen content, % Oxygen content, % Probability density of particle with mean diameter of d Sulphur content, %