9/29/2016 LOI(LossonIgnition)TheTruth|chargewave

LOI(LossonIgnition)TheTruth
bychargewave

LossonIgnition

In all FBC, AFBC & CFBC boilers the LOI term can be heard aloud as the Governmental regulations are increasing their
pressuretodrivetheashutilization.

My study of LOI has been linked to Boiler Design, Design Injection velocity of Air into the bed material, Resistance of Air,
turbulence created by Air, Design Fuel properties, Fired Fuel properties, Steam Load %, PA, FD, WBP, SA settings, furnace
draftetc.&howparametersareinterlinked.

LOIoccursdueto3phenomenon

1)IncreasedAirInjectionVelocityorIncreasedTurbulence

2)DecreasedAirInjectionVelocity

3)VariableAirInjectionVelocity

While it may be appreciated that Boiler Performance is directly linked to operating Steam Load & input Air corresponding
settings, it may be borne in the mind that it is difficult to track whether Air Injection Velocity has been any of the 3 above
categories,unlesstheLOIisknown.

LOIisdirectlyproportionaltoairvelocitydeviationinthesystem+1.5%

ResultsofIncreasedAirInjectionVelocity:

TheabovecanbecausedduetolowerWBPoperationthanrequired,bedoverdraining,orhigherPAorhigherFDoperation
than required or lower density of the fuel or due to increased density of bed material or due to decreased moisture in fuel or
significantchangeinignitiontemperatureofthefuelfired&thatofthedesign.

ForCoalfiredboilerstheLOIwillbecoal,ifthereisincreaseinAirInjectionVelocity.WhenAshVM%istested,itwilltest
positive,indicatingcoalflight.

ForCoalfiredboilerstheLOIwillbecarbon,ifthereisdecreaseinAirInjectionVelocity.WhenAshVM%istested,itwill
testnegative,indicatingcarbonunburnt&noornegligibleVM.

For Coal fired boilers the LOI will be coal & Carbon, if there is variable Air Injection Velocity. This phenomenon has been
observedinBoilerswherethereussteamloadvariation&Airsettingsarevariedasperoperationalloads.

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So, when LOI value is declared, it is important to understand that Air velocity deviations are causing the phenomenon & not
combustionfailure.

LoweringLOIinasystem

FirstconductthetestforVM%intheflyashtoknowtheairvelocitydeviationeitherupwardsordownwards.

IfVMispositive,thenAirInjectionvelocityishigh&viceversa.

LOIreductioncannotbeachievedwellinvariableloadboilers.

Identifydeviationsbetweendesigncoal&operatingcoalbydensity,bymoisture.

IfFCofthecoalisincreasingthenthetimeofcombustionhastobehigher,turbulencehastobelower&viceversa.

CaseStudies

Ihavemadeseveralcasestudies&testedseveralashsamplesforpresenceofVM.Thedeviationofairvelocityhasbeenalways
rightinindicatingVMpresenceorabsenceintheLOI.

Case1:A70TPHAFBCboilerwashavingLOIof8to9%,whentestedforVM,theashtestedpositiveto3.5to4%VM.

Thefollowingwereobservedintheoperations

1)WBPisconstant,irrespectiveoftheoperatingload

2)ThereisseverefluctuationinoperatingLoad,compartmentsswitchedON&OFFtooffsetload

3)WBPwashigherthannecessary

4)ThePAwaslesserthannecessary

5)TheFDwasOKforhigherload,buthigherforlesserloadthannecessary

6)Thedraftwasmaintainedat2mmwc,insteadofdesigndraftof5mmwc

The above operation indicated Air velocity would increase during switch to Low Load & Velocity would decrease when
switchedtohigherLoad.

Thedraft,O2couldnotbemaintained.

The Ash samples also displayed variance in VM as per the operations. Higher VM when operating at low loads & lower VM
whenoperatinghigherormediumloads.

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The main reason was identified that the boiler was designed for higher ash coal & operating coal was having lesser ash hence
lesserdensitycausinghigherairvelocity.

VMpresenceindicatedlossofCoalasfireditselftoAsh,butreportedasLOI.

Case2:A20TPHAFBCboiler,flyashwascheckedforVMpresence&itwasverylow,indicatinglossofFCinAsh

Thefollowingwereobservedintheoperations

1)WBPisconstant,irrespectiveoftheoperatingload

2)ThereisseverefluctuationinoperatingLoad,FDairisdecreasedorincreasedasperLoadfluctuation.Allcompartmentsare
functional

3)WBPwashigherthannecessary

4)ThePAwaslesserthannecessary

5)TheFDwaslesserthannecessary

6)Thedraftwasmaintainedat2mmwc,insteadofdesigndraftof5mmwc

TheaboveoperationindicatedAirvelocityalreadyindecreasedconditionirrespectiveoftheload.

Thedraft,O2couldnotbemaintained.

TheAshsamplesalsodisplayedvarianceinFCasperoperatingLoad.

Themainreasonwasidentifiedthattheairsettingsindicatedinsufficientairinthesystem,causingLOIasunburntcarbon

Likewise,Ihadchecked&verifiedover50boileroperationdatas&in99%casesmypredictionthatVMwouldbepresentin
AshoronlyFCwouldbepresentinAshwascorrect.

CorrectionsforloweringtheLOI

Ifairvelocityishigher,ithastobroughtdown&viceversaaspertheoperationload.

In99%ofthecases,theLOIdroppedto<2%oncetheairvelocitywascorrected.

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TruthaboutLOIisthatitoccursduetodeviationinairvelocity&notduetoimpropercombustion.

Impropercombustionistheresultofdeviation.

PSAnandPrakash

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