BOILERS

INTRODUCTION

STEAM GENERATOR OR BOILER

A steam generator or boiler is usually a closed

vessel made of steel. Its function is to transfer the heat
produced by the combustion of fuel to water and
ultimately to generate steam.
 BOILER PROPERTIES:

 (i) Safety. The boiler should be safe under operating

conditions.
 (ii) Accessibility. The various parts of the boiler should be
accessible for repair and maintenance.
 (iii) Capacity. Should be capable of supplying steam
according to the requirements.
 (iv) Efficiency. Should be able to absorb a maximum amount
of heat produced due to burning of fuel in the furnace.

 (v) It should be simple in construction .

 (vi) Its initial cost and maintenance cost should be low.

 (vii) The boiler should have no joints exposed to flames.

 (viii) Should be capable of quick starting and loading.

Generate maximum steam.

Light in weight and not occupy large space.

Proper safety regulations.

Cheaper in cost.

Easy cope up with fluctuating demands of

requirements.

Easily accessible for inspection and repair.

The source of heat for a boiler are :
WOOD

COAL

DIESEL

NATURAL GAS

NUCLEAR ENERGY
CLASSIFICATION OF
STEAM BOILERS
 Boilers

Circulation of Pressure of
Tube contain Method of firing
water steam

Water tube Fire tube Natural Forced

Internally Externally Low High

1
 CLASSIFICATION OF STEAM BOILERS

• Though there are many classifications of steam

boilers, yet the following are important.
 ACCORDING TO THE CONTENTS IN THE TUBE:

a) fire tube or smoke tube boiler

b) water tube boiler.

FIRE – TUBE BOILERS

2
WATER TUBE BOILERS

3
 ACCORGING TO POSITION OF FURNACE:
a) Internally fired boilers
b) Externally fired boilers

 ACCORDING TO AXIS OF FURNACE:

a) Vertical boilers
b) Horizontal boilers

 ACCORDING TO NUMBER OF TUBES:

a) Single tube boilers
b) Multi tube boilers
 ACCORDING TO METHOD OF CIRCULATION
OF WATER:
a) Natural circulation boilers
b) Forced circulation boilers

 ACCORDING TO THE USE

a) Stationary boilers
b) Mobile boilers
FACTORS AFFACTING TO SELECTION OF BOILER

 Following factors should be considered

 Quality of steam required
 Steam Generation rate
 Accessibility of repair and inspection
 Area
 Cost
 Erection facility
 Fuel and Water available
 COMPONENTS OF A BOILER

Boiler shell

Combustion chamber

Furnace

Grate

Heating surface

Mounting

Accessories
Pressure Gauge

Water level indicator

Safety valve

Fusible plug

Blow of cock

Steam stop valve

Feed check valve

Air preheater : It utilize the heat of exhaust gases.

Economizer: Heat is used to raise the temperature

of feed water supplied to the boiler.

Steam super heater: Used to super heat the

steam.

Feed pump: Raise the pressure of water and force

it into the boiler.

Injector: Used to feed water in boilers.

 Types of Boiler

FIRE TUBE BOILERS

Simple vertical boiler

Cochran boiler

Locomotive boiler

Lancashire boiler
 Water tube boiler
* La-Mont boiler
* Babcock and Wilcox boiler.

3-High pressure boiler

•La-Mont boiler
•Loeffler boiler
•Benson boiler
SIMPLE VERTICLE BOILER
COCHRAN BOILER
 WORKING OF COCHRAN BOILER

Considered to be one of the most efficient type multi

tubular boilers.
Consists of external cylindrical shell and fire box. The
shell and fire box both are hemispherical.
The fire box and combustion chamber is connected
through a short pipe.
The flue gases from the combustion chamber flow to
the smoke box through a number of smoke tubes.
 WORKING OF COCHRAN BOILER

The gases from the smoke box pass to the atmosphere

through a chimney
The external diameter of pipe is 62.5mm and are 165in
number.
Manhole is provided for cleaning.
LANCASHIRE BOILER

6
 LANCASHIRE BOILER

 The boiler consists of a long cylindrical external shell (1)

built of steel plates in sections riveted together.
 It has two large internal flue tubes (2).
 A fire grate (3) is also called furnace is provided at one
end of the flue tubes on which solid fuel is burnt.
 At the end of the fire grate there is a brick arch (5) to
deflect the flue gases upwards.
 The hot flue gases leaving internal flue tubes passes
through the bottom tube(6).
 LANCASHIRE BOILER

 These flue gases move to the front of the boiler where

they divide and flow into side tube (7).
 The flue gases then enter the main flue (9) which leads
them to chimney.
 The damper (8) is fitted at one side flues to control the
draught and thus regulate the rate of generation of steam.
 A spring loaded safety valve (10) and stop valve (11) are
mounted.
 LOCOMOTIVE BOILER

 Locomotive boiler is a horizontal fire tube type mobile

boiler. The main requirement of this boiler is that it
should produce steam at a very high rate. Therefore, this
boiler requires a large amount of heating surface and large
grate area to burn coal at a rapid rate. In order to provide
the large heating surface area, a large number of fire tubes
are setup and heat transfer rate is increased by creating
strong draught by means of steam jet
LOCOMOTIVE BOILER

7
 ADVANTAGES

• Large rate of steam generation per square metre of

heating surface. To some extent this is due to the vibration
caused by the motion.
• It is free from brickwork, special foundation and chimney.
This reduces the cost of installation.
• It is very compact.

The pressure of the steam is limited to about 20 bar.

 BOILER MOUNTINGS

 SAFETY MOUTINGS
 Safety valves (2 Nos)
 Fusible plug
 Control mountings
 Water level indicator
 Pressure Gauge
 Blow of cock
 Steam stop valve
 Feed check valve
 Inspection Mountings
 Man hole
 Mud hole
 BOILER ACCESORIES

• Air preheater : It utilize the heat of exhaust gases.

• Economizer: Heat is used to raise the temperature

of feed water supplied to the boiler.

• Steam super heater: Used to super heat the

steam.

• Feed pump: Raise the pressure of water and force

it into the boiler.

• Injector: Used to feed water in boilers.

 BOILER ACCESORIES

• Air preheater

9
 BOILER ACCESORIES

• Economizer
 BOILER ACCESORIES

• Steam super heater

11
 BOILER PERFORMENCE

1. Evaporative capacity
2. Equivalent evaporation
3. Factor of evaporation
4. Boiler efficiency
 1. Evaporate capacity

• Ability to evaporate water.

• Generally it is expressed in terms of
A. Kg of steam/hour
B. Kg of steam /hour/area of heating surface
C. Kg of steam/kg of fuel is fired
 2. Equivalent evaporation

• It can be defined as the amount of water evaporated from

water at 100 deg C to dry and saturated steam at 100 deg
C.
• Simply it means that the capacity of boiler to generate
same evaporation.
 3. Factor of evaporation

• Ratio of heat received by 1kg water under working

condition to that received by 1kg of water evaporated
from and at 100deg C.
• Fc=h-hf/2257
Performance of a Boiler

1. Boiler performance
• Causes of poor boiler performance
-Poor combustion
-Heat transfer surface fouling
-Poor operation and maintenance
-Deteriorating fuel and water quality

• Heat balance: identify heat losses

• Boiler efficiency: determine
deviation from best efficiency
Performance of a Boiler

Heat Balance
An energy flow diagram describes geographically
how energy is transformed from fuel into useful
energy, heat and losses
Stochiometric
Excess Air
Un burnt

Stack Gas

FUEL INPUT STEAM

OUTPUT

Convection & Blow Ash and Un-burnt parts

Radiation Down of Fuel in Ash
Performance of a Boiler

Heat Balance
Balancing total energy entering a boiler against
the energy that leaves the boiler in different forms
%
Heat loss due to dry flue gas

% Heat loss due to steam in fuel gas

%
100.0 % Heat loss due to moisture in fuel
BOILER %
Fuel Heat loss due to moisture in air

2% Heat loss due to unburnts in residue

%
Heat loss due to radiation & other
unaccounted loss
%
Heat in Steam
Performance of a Boiler

Heat Balance
Goal: improve energy efficiency by reducing avoidable losses

Avoidable losses include:

- Stack gas losses (excess air, stack gas

temperature)
- Losses by unburnt fuel
- Blow down losses
- Condensate losses
- Convection and radiation
Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Efficiency
Thermal efficiency: % of (heat) energy input that is
effectively useful in the generated steam

BOILER EFFICENCY
CALCULATION

1) DIRECT METHOD: 2) INDIRECT METHOD:

The energy gain of the The efficiency is the
working fluid (water and steam) different between losses
is compared with the energy and energy input
content of the boiler fuel.
 Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Efficiency: Direct Method

Heat Input x 100 Q x (hg – hf) x 100
Boiler efficiency () = =
Heat Output Q x GCV

hg -the enthalpy of saturated steam in kcal/kg of steam

hf -the enthalpy of feed water in kcal/kg of water
Parameters to be monitored:
- Quantity of steam generated per hour (Q) in kg/hr
- Quantity of fuel used per hour (q) in kg/hr
- The working pressure (in kg/cm2(g)) and superheat temperature
(oC), if any
- The temperature of feed water (oC)
- Type of fuel and gross calorific value of the fuel (GCV) in kcal/kg of
fuel
Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Efficiency: Direct Method

Advantages
• Quick evaluation
• Few parameters for computation
• Few monitoring instruments
• Easy to compare evaporation ratios with
benchmark figures

Disadvantages
• No explanation of low efficiency
• Various losses not calculated
Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Efficiency: Indirect Method

Efficiency of boiler () = 100 – (i+ii+iii+iv+v+vi+vii)

Principle losses:
i) Dry flue gas
ii) Evaporation of water formed due to H2 in fuel
iii) Evaporation of moisture in fuel
iv) Moisture present in combustion air
v) Unburnt fuel in fly ash
vi) Unburnt fuel in bottom ash
vii) Radiation and other unaccounted losses
Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Efficiency: Indirect Method

Required calculation data
• Ultimate analysis of fuel (H2, O2, S, C, moisture
content, ash content)
• % oxygen or CO2 in the flue gas
• Fuel gas temperature in ◦C (Tf)
• Ambient temperature in ◦C (Ta) and humidity of air in
kg/kg of dry air
• GCV of fuel in kcal/kg
• % combustible in ash (in case of solid fuels)
• GCV of ash in kcal/kg (in case of solid fuels)
Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Efficiency: Indirect Method

Advantages
• Complete mass and energy balance for each
individual stream
• Makes it easier to identify options to improve
boiler efficiency

Disadvantages
• Time consuming
• Requires lab facilities for analysis
Performance of a Boiler

2. Boiler Blow Down

• Controls ‘total dissolved solids’ (TDS) in the
water that is boiled
• Blows off water and replaces it with feed water
• Conductivity measured as indication of TDS
levels
• Calculation of quantity blow down required:

Feed water TDS x % Make up water

Blow down (%) =
Maximum Permissible TDS in Boiler water
Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Blow Down

Two types of blow down
• Intermittent
• Manually operated valve reduces TDS
• Large short-term increases in feed water
• Substantial heat loss

• Continuous
• Ensures constant TDS and steam purity
• Heat lost can be recovered
• Common in high-pressure boilers
Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Blow Down

Benefits
• Lower pretreatment costs
• Less make-up water consumption
• Reduced maintenance downtime
• Increased boiler life
• Lower consumption of treatment
chemicals
Performance of a Boiler

3. Boiler Feed Water Treatment

• Quality of steam depend on water
treatment to control
• Steam purity
• Deposits
• Corrosion

• Efficient heat transfer only if boiler

water is free from deposit-forming
solids
Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Feed Water Treatment

Deposit control
• To avoid efficiency losses and
reduced heat transfer
• Hardness salts of calcium and
magnesium
• Alkaline hardness: removed by boiling
• Non-alkaline: difficult to remove

• Silica forms hard silica scales

Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Feed Water Treatment

Internal water treatment

• Chemicals added to boiler to prevent scale
• Different chemicals for different water types
• Conditions:
• Feed water is low in hardness salts
• Low pressure, high TDS content is tolerated
• Small water quantities treated
• Internal treatment alone not recommended
 Performance of a Boiler

Boiler Feed Water Treatment

External water treatment:
• Removal of suspended/dissolved solids and
dissolved gases
• Pre-treatment: sedimentation and settling
• First treatment stage: removal of salts
• Processes
a) Ion exchange
b) Demineralization
c) De-aeration
d) Reverse osmoses
Performance of a Boiler

External Water Treatment

a) Ion-exchange process (softener plant)
• Water passes through bed of natural zeolite of
synthetic resin to remove hardness
• Base exchange: calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)
replaced with sodium (Na) ions
• Does not reduce TDS, blow down quantity and
alkalinity

b) Demineralization
• Complete removal of salts
• Cations in raw water replaced with hydrogen ions
Performance of a Boiler

External Water Treatment

c) De-aeration
• Dissolved corrosive gases (O2, CO2)
expelled by preheating the feed water
• Two types:
• Mechanical de-aeration: used prior to addition
of chemical oxygen scavangers
• Chemical de-aeration: removes trace oxygen
 Performance of a Boiler

External Water Treatment

Mechanical
Vent
de-aeration
Spray
Boiler Feed
Water
Nozzles • O2 and CO2 removed by
Stea
heating feed water
m
Scrubber
Section • Economical treatment
(Trays) process

Storage
• Vacuum type can reduce
Section O2 to 0.02 mg/l
De-aerated • Pressure type can
Boiler Feed
Water
reduce O2 to 0.005 mg/l
( National Productivity Council)
Performance of a Boiler

External Water Treatment

Chemical de-aeration
• Removal of trace oxygen with scavenger
• Sodium sulphite:
• Reacts with oxygen: sodium sulphate
• Increases TDS: increased blow down
• Hydrazine
• Reacts with oxygen: nitrogen + water
• Does not increase TDS: used in high pressure
boilers
Performance of a Boiler

External Water Treatment

d) Reverse osmosis
• Osmosis
• Solutions of differing concentrations
• Separated by a semi-permeable membrane
• Water moves to the higher concentration

• Reversed osmosis
• Higher concentrated liquid pressurized
• Water moves in reversed direction
 Performance of a Boiler
External water treatment
d) Reverse osmosis
Pressure

Feed Water Fresh Water

More
Concentrated
Solution
Concentrate Water Flow
Flow

Semi Permeable Membrane

Introduction
Type of boilers
Performance of a boiler
Energy efficiency opportunities
 Energy Efficiency Opportunities

1. Stack temperature control

2. Feed water preheating using economizers
3. Combustion air pre-heating
4. Incomplete combustion minimization
5. Excess air control
6. Avoid radiation and convection heat loss
7. Automatic blow down control
8. Reduction of scaling and soot losses
9. Reduction of boiler steam pressure
10. Variable speed control
11. Controlling boiler loading
12. Proper boiler scheduling
13. Boiler replacement
Energy Efficiency Opportunities

1. Stack Temperature Control

• Keep as low as possible
• If >200°C then recover waste heat

2. Feed Water Preheating

Economizers
• Potential to recover heat from 200 – 300 oC flue
gases leaving a modern 3-pass shell boiler

3. Combustion Air Preheating

• If combustion air raised by 20°C = 1% improve
thermal efficiency
 Energy Efficiency Opportunities

4. Minimize Incomplete Combustion

• Symptoms:
• Smoke, high CO levels in exit flue gas
• Causes:
• Air shortage, fuel surplus, poor fuel distribution
• Poor mixing of fuel and air
• Oil-fired boiler:
• Improper viscosity, worn tops, cabonization on
dips, deterioration of diffusers or spinner plates
• Coal-fired boiler: non-uniform coal size
Energy Efficiency Opportunities

5. Excess Air Control

• Excess air required for complete combustion
• Optimum excess air levels varies
• 1% excess air reduction = 0.6% efficiency rise
• Portable or continuous oxygen analyzers
Fuel Kg air req./kg fuel %CO2 in flue gas in practice

Solid Fuels
Bagasse 3.3 10-12
Coal (bituminous) 10.7 10-13
Lignite 8.5 9 -13
Paddy Husk 4.5 14-15
Wood 5.7 11.13

Liquid Fuels
Furnace Oil 13.8 9-14
LSHS 14.1 9-14 66
Energy Efficiency Opportunities

6. Radiation and Convection Heat

Loss Minimization
• Fixed heat loss from boiler shell, regardless of
boiler output
• Repairing insulation can reduce loss

7. Automatic Blow Down Control

• Sense and respond to boiler water conductivity
and pH
Energy Efficiency Opportunities

8. Scaling and Soot Loss Reduction

• Every 22oC increase in stack temperature = 1%
efficiency loss
• 3 mm of soot = 2.5% fuel increase

9. Reduced Boiler Steam Pressure

• Lower steam pressure
= lower saturated steam temperature
= lower flue gas temperature
• Steam generation pressure dictated by process
Energy Efficiency Opportunities

10. Variable Speed Control for Fans,

Blowers and Pumps
• Suited for fans, blowers, pumps
• Should be considered if boiler loads are
variable

11. Control Boiler Loading

• Maximum boiler efficiency: 65-85% of rated load
• Significant efficiency loss: < 25% of rated load
Energy Efficiency Opportunities

12. Proper Boiler Scheduling

• Optimum efficiency: 65-85% of full load
• Few boilers at high loads is more efficient than
large number at low loads

13. Boiler Replacement

Financially attractive if existing boiler is
• Old and inefficient
• Not capable of firing cheaper substitution fuel
• Over or under-sized for present requirements
• Not designed for ideal loading conditions