E3S Web of Conferences 285, 07028 (2021) https://doi.org/10.

1051/e3sconf/202128507028
ABR 2021

To calculate heat losses with flue gases of coal-

fired boilers
Sergey Gordin, Ilya Zaychenko, Vera Sokolova * and Victoria Bazheryanu
Komsomolsk-on-Amur State University, 681013 Lenina 27, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia

Abstract. The article is devoted to solving the problem of increasing the

efficiency of solid fuel boilers ' blast control systems. Existing algorithms
for calculating losses with outgoing gases, the value of which determines
the efficiency of the boiler blow control system, have significant
disadvantages due to either high complexity of calculations or insufficient
accuracy of the Siegert formula. The authors of the article experimentally
confirmed the limitations of practical application of the Siegert formula in
the logic of solid fuel boiler blow control systems. To eliminate the
identified shortcomings, a new formula for calculating losses with
outgoing gases is proposed, which can be used in solid-fuel boiler blast
control systems, which has a sufficiently high accuracy and, at the same
time, low computational complexity.

1 Introduction
Solid fuel hot water boilers used in autonomous heat supply systems, as a rule, have a
design efficiency of 82..83%. The actual efficiency of boilers, determined by the results of
commissioning tests, is lower than the calculated one by 5..20% and fluctuates within wide
limits in the course of coal burning.
Such a decrease in the efficiency of solid fuel boilers is due to the peculiarities of
solid fuel combustion: at the beginning of the cycle, a portion of fuel enters the boiler
furnace, which heats up, moisture evaporates from it, and then the fuel begins to burn out
with a gradual decrease in the amount of burning fuel. To increase the efficiency of solid
fuel boilers, various air supply control systems are used. [1, 2]. As a rule, all these systems
include a gas analyzer that calculates losses with flue gases based on measurements of the
flue gas temperature, oxygen (O2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO)
gases.

2 Analysis of existing methods for calculating losses with flue

gases
Calculation of losses with flue gases can be done in two ways: by thermal calculation, or by
Siegert's formula.

*
Corresponding author: [email protected]

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
E3S Web of Conferences 285, 07028 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128507028
ABR 2021

Thermal calculation of losses with flue gases using the basic equations of fuel combustion
is performed according to the following system of formulas [3, 4]:
1) coefficient which depends on fuel composition:
H P − 0.126 ⋅ O P + 0.038 ⋅ N P
β = 2.37 ⋅
C P + 0.368 ⋅ S P

where: HP,OP,CP,SP,NP – the content in the fuel, respectively, of hydrogen, oxygen,

carbon, sulfur, nitrogen %

2) content of SO 2 and CO 2 in combustion products:

21 − O2
RO2 =
1+ β

where: O 2 – oxygen content measured by the gas analyzer in flue gases, %;

3) excess air ratio:

1659 + 21 ⋅ β ⋅ ( RO2 + CO ) − 8.4 ⋅ CO
α=
(100 ⋅ β + 79) ⋅ ( RO2 + CO ) − 0.5 ⋅ CO

where: CO – CO content measured by the gas analyzer in flue gases,%;

4) volume of air entering the boiler furnace:

air
Vdry = 0.089 ⋅ C P + 0.266 ⋅ H P + 0.033 ⋅ ( S P − O P )

273 + Tair 760

V air = α ⋅ Vdry
air
⋅ (1 + 0.0016 ⋅ d air ) ⋅ ⋅
273 hair

where: d air – moisture content of air, g / kg;

T air – air temperature, 0С;
h air – air pressure, mm Hg.
5) flue gas volume:

Cp S p ; smok
smok
VRO 2 + CO
= 1.86 ⋅ + 0.684 ⋅ VO2 = 0.21 ⋅ (α − 1) ⋅ Vdry
air

100 100

p
9 ⋅ H p + W p 1.293 ⋅ d air N
V smok
H 2O = + ⋅ α ⋅ Vdry
air ;
VNsmok = 0.79 ⋅ α ⋅ Vdry
air
+
80.4 804 2
125

CO
) ; VRO2 = VRO2 + CO − VCO
smok smok smok
smok
VCO = ⋅ (VRO
smok
2 + CO
+ VOsmok + VNsmok
100 2 2

where: Wр, Nр – content in fuel, respectively, moisture and nitrogen,%

6) enthalpy of air and flue gases:

760
J air = V air ⋅ cair ⋅ Tair ⋅
hair

2
E3S Web of Conferences 285, 07028 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128507028
ABR 2021

760
J smok = (VRO
smok
⋅ c RO2 + VCO
smok
⋅ cCO + VOsmok ⋅ cO2 + VNsmok ⋅ c N 2 + VHsmok
2O
⋅ c H 2O × Tsmok ⋅
2 2 2
hsmok

where: c air ,c RO2 ,c co ,c o2 ,c N2 ,c H2O – heat capacity of air and combustion products,
kcal/m3·0С;
T smok - flue gas temperature, 0С;
h smok - flue gas pressure, mm Hg.

7) relative losses with flue gases:

QH − ( J smok − J air )
qA = ⋅100
QH

where: Q H – lower heat of combustion of fuel, kcal/kg;

There are two options for Siegert's formula [5]:

FT − AT
qA = f ⋅ (1)
CO2

or
 A1 
qA = ( FT − AT ) ⋅  + B  (2)
 CO2 
 O 
CO2 = CO2max ⋅ 1 + max 2

 O2 

where: qA – flue gas losses, %

FT – flue gas temperature, 0С
AT – ambient temperature, 0С
O 2 – flue gas oxygen value (rounded towards the nearest whole number), %
f, A1, B – conversion factors depending on the fuel type
CO 2 – concentration of carbon dioxide in flue gases, %
Both methods of calculating losses with flue gases have their disadvantages: the
thermal calculation contains many formulas that are often difficult to implement in the logic
of an industrial controller and which require a lot of calculations; Siegert's formula is more
an estimate of efficiency than an exact calculation.
Practical tests carried out at the boiler house of the Selikhino village of the Khabarovsk
Territory using 3BR coal and having the following characteristics, according to the
certificate: Cр=55.0, Sр=0.33, Aр=8.7, Wр=35.97 and the net calorific value Q н =4248
kcal/kg, showed that the value of losses with flue gases, determined by the Siegert formula,
is lower than on the basis of thermal calculation. The summary data of practical tests are
given in Table 1.

3
E3S Web of Conferences 285, 07028 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128507028
ABR 2021

Table 1. Result of practical tests.

Siegert's Siegert's Thermal
№ T air O2 CO T smok
formula (1) formula (2) calculation
1 26,6 16,9 9,83 175,8 19,70 16,71 28,01
2 26,6 16,4 8,34 205,9 21,10 18,07 30,44
3 26,6 17,1 9,78 187,8 22,37 18,90 31,78
4 26,6 19 8,93 110,8 22,79 18,53 30,67
5 26,6 17,9 2,14 141,5 20,06 16,68 28,57
6 26,6 18 8,67 149,8 22,23 18,45 31,00
7 26,6 17,7 2,02 140,9 18,75 15,65 26,76
8 26,6 16,3 15,29 213,3 21,50 18,45 30,64
9 26,6 16,4 15,82 194,3 19,73 16,90 27,98
10 26,6 16,8 8,87 189,3 20,97 17,82 29,99
Average 20,92 17,62 29,58

As follows from the table, for the test performed, the results of calculating qA by the
Siegert formula differ from the results of the thermal calculation by 30..40% downward.
This experience confirms that the Siegert formula gives an underestimated value of the
losses with flue gases. In addition, the practical application of this formula is limited to a
small set of possible values of the conversion factors depending on the fuel type. As a rule,
these coefficients are given only for the enlarged type of fuel: coal, brown coal, gas, fuel
oil, etc.
To identify the limitations of Siegert's formula, a comparative calculation of losses with
exhaust gases for brown coal used at the boiler house of the village of Selikhino,
Khabarovsk Territory, was performed for a wide range of input parameters:
1) CO content in flue gases: from 0% to 20%
2) О 2 content in flue gases: from 0% to 20%
3) flue gas temperature: from 1000С to 3000С
As a result of a comparative calculation, it was found that Siegert's formula not only
gives a constant underestimated value of losses with flue gases, but also the accuracy of the
formula fluctuates within a fairly wide range, and the error can reach 50%. The result of the
comparative calculation is shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 1. Comparative calculation of qA

4
E3S Web of Conferences 285, 07028 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128507028
ABR 2021

Thus, the application of the Siegert formula to determine the losses with flue gases in
the control systems of the blast of solid fuel boilers can lead to control errors due to the
reasons indicated above.

3 The proposed method for calculating losses with flue gases

The appearance of the loss curve with flue gases obtained on the basis of thermal
calculation suggests that there may be a different formula besides Siegert's formula, devoid
of both the drawbacks of Siegert's formula and having less computational complexity
compared to thermal calculation.
To determine such a formula, many calculations of losses with flue gases were carried
out on the basis of thermal calculation formulas for the following ranges of values of input
parameters:
1) CO content in flue gases: from 0% to 20%
2) О 2 content in flue gases: from 0% to 20%
3) flue gas temperature: from 1000С to 3000С
4) fuel carbon content: from 50% to 70%
5) ash content in fuel: from 5% to 15%
6) the content of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen in the fuel was taken to be 0%, sulfur -
0.33%, which corresponds to the average content of these substances in coal and brown
coal.
The moisture content in the fuel was determined for the given parameters by the
formula:
W p = 100 − H p − O p − C p − S p − N P

The results obtained were processed by statistical methods and the following formula
for determining the losses with flue gases was obtained:
 Cp 
qA = 0.03 ⋅ ( FT − AT ) ⋅  2.1 − + 1.2 ⋅ (α − 1)  +
 100 
 Cp Ap 
+ 1.446 − 0.64 ⋅ − 0.42 ⋅  ⋅ (α − 1)
 100 100 

where: qA – flue gas losses, %

FT – flue gas temperature, 0С
AT – ambient temperature, 0С
Cp,AP – content of carbon and ash in the fuel %
α – excess air ratio
The proposed formula, in comparison with Siegert's formula, has a number of
advantages:
1) there are no coefficients depending on the type of fuel, and parameters such as ash
content and carbon content may be from a coal certificate;
2) the formula is applicable for all types of coal.

5
E3S Web of Conferences 285, 07028 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128507028
ABR 2021

However, this formula does not take into account the content of hydrogen and oxygen in
the fuel. It is possible that for such fuels a similar formula can be obtained.
To check the accuracy of the proposed formula, a comparative calculation of losses with
flue gases was carried out on the basis of thermal calculation formulas for the following
ranges of values of input parameters:
1) CO content in flue gases: from 0% to 20%
2) О 2 content in flue gases: from 0% to 20%
3) flue gas temperature: from 1000С to 3000С
4) fuel carbon content: from 50% to 70%
5) ash content in fuel: from 5% to 15%
Comparative calculation of the determination of losses with flue gases based on the
formulas for thermal calculation and the proposed formula showed that this formula gives a
fairly accurate result, and the average deviation is no more than 1.2%. The result of the
comparative calculation is shown in Figure 2.

Fig. 2. Comparative calculation of qA according to the new formula

4 Conclusion
1. According to the results of a comparative calculation, it was shown that the Siegert
formula used in modern gas analyzers gives an underestimated value of qA, as well as a
nonlinear accuracy.
2. For each type of fuel, a formula can be obtained that is similar to Siegert's formula, but
with a higher accuracy.
3. The proposed formula for calculating losses with flue gases has low computational
complexity and can be used in any automation systems for coal-fired boilers.

References
1. A.E. Medvedev, K.P. Volykov Automatic regulation of the operating mode of a water-
heating boiler with a layered coal furnace - Bulletin of Kuzbass State Technical
University. № 3 (73). P. 65-69. (2009)

6
E3S Web of Conferences 285, 07028 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202128507028
ABR 2021

2. S.A. Gordin, I.V. Zaychenko. About intelligent adaptation of PID-regulation in control

systems of low-power boilers. - Modern science: topical problems of theory and
practice. Series: Natural and technical sciences. № 3. P.95-99 (2020)
3. Thermal calculation of boiler units (Standard method). Edited by N.V. Kuznetsova et
al., M., Energy. (1973)
4. GOST R 56777-2015 Boiler plants. Method for calculating energy consumption and
efficiency. (2015)
5. The practical guide to the gas analyzer - Testo -
https://mcgrp.ru/files/viewer/132637/55.