Fossil Fuel Steam Generator
Fossil Fuel Steam Generator
Fossil Fuel Steam Generator
Introduction
Steam generators are mainly used in both fossil-and nuclearfuel electric generation power plants. Main components are: a. Economizer b. Boiler c. Super heater d. Reheater e. Air pre-heater. Also there are some auxiliaries such as the stack, burners, fans and ash-handling equipments.
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1. Utility generators: those that are used for electric-power generating plants and they have two kinds: a. Subcritical water-tube drum type b. Supercritical once-through type, usually at 3500 Psia (240 Bar) 2. Industrial steam generators: they are used in industrial and institutional applications
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Fire-tube Boiler
They are the earliest form of boilers and are not used now a days in large utility power plants, but they are still used in industrial plants to produce saturated steam at the upper limits of 250 psig (18 bar) They are shell-type boilers: closed cylindrical vessel that contains water and an exposed portion to heat. They are stopped using because of the high stress at the shell that causes explosion in the extreme cases .
Models of water-tube-boiler
1. The straight-tube boiler: the tubes are straight 3-4 inch in outer diameter (OD) with 7-8 inch in spacing, connected to vertical headers. These headers are the down-comer or downtake , which supply saturated water. The other header is the riser or up-take, which receives water-steam mixture. 2. Bent-tube-boiler: it is bent, rather than straight tubes between several drums where they enter and leave rabidly Recent Developments It includes the integration of furnace, economizer, boiler, super heater, reheater, and pre-heater. The modern high pressure steam generator requires more super heating and reheating surface and less boiler surface than older units. Air pre-heaters are also used in modern boilers using a forced-draft (FD) fan.
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The leaving gases are still have some exregy (availability) but it is accepted because: 1. The gas temperature should be above the dew point to prevent condensation, which may form acids that would corrode metal components in its path. 2. The gases must have enough buoyancy to rise in a high plume above the stack The Boiler walls The advent of the water-cooled furnace walls, called water walls. Water cooling is also used for super heater and economizer chambers walls. The construction have varied among: a) Bar tubes tangent to the refractory b) embedded in the refractory c) studded tubes d) membrane design.
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Membrane design
It is the most modern design. It consists of tubes spaced on centres slightly wider than their diameter and connected by bars or membranes welded to the tubes at their centrelines. The membranes acts as fins to increase heat transfer.
Radiant boiler
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Water Circulation
There are two types of circulation: 1. Natural circulation due to density difference between the saturated water and the two phase mixture 2. Forced circulation by using a pump. This method gives more pressure about 2300 psia (160 bar) and higher. Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB) DNB: the point at which the heat transfer from a pipe that contains two phase rapidly decreases due to the insulating effect of a steam blanket that forms on the rod surface when the temperature continues to increase, so full boiling is avoided as this will cause burnout or failure as a result of DNB.
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X is the quality and S is the slip velocity as the steam is faster than the water.
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1. The driving pressure should balance the pressure losses of the single and two-phase fluids in the loop. 2. If the driving pressure is too low for the desired flow rate a pump is added to assist in circulation
Steam is separated in the drum by two methods: a) Gravity separation b) Mechanical separation
Gravity separation Factors that affect the gravity separation is: 1. Steam velocity 2. Positions of the down comer and riser nozzle with respect to the steam outlet 3. Operating pressure Gravity separation is economical only for low-steamcapacity, low pressure service.
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Mechanical separation
It has three steps: 1. Primary separation: removes most of the water from the steam and prevents the carry under of steam with the recirculating water to down-comer and risers. Baffle plates and the bent or corrugated plates are used for primary separation. 2. Secondary separation, also called steam scrubbing or drying. It removes mist or fine droplets and solids from steam. Screens, bent or corrugated plates and centrifugal separators are considered types of the secondary separation. 3. Centrifugal separation is used at high pressures and it is called cyclone or turbo separators. Typical utility steam drums range in length to more than 100 ft in diameter to more than 15 ft long and flow rate in terms of 28 hundreds tons per hour
Parameters that increase the convection a. Increasing the fuel-and air flow (combustion gas flow). b. Increasing the mass flow rate of the steam. Convection super-heaters are used for low temperature. Radiant Super heater They are placed exposed to the heat source which requires the improvement of metal temperatures. Radiation is proportional to T4f-T4w where Tf and Tw are the flame and tube wall absolute temperature. Tf is greater than Tw so radiation is mainly dependent on the flam temperature. As the steam flow rate increases the exit temperature become lower as Tw goes up. Radiant and convective super-heaters and re-heaters are used for high-temperature steam.
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Re-heaters
They are the same as the super-heaters but as their exit temperature is a little bite less than super-heaters and their pressure is 20%-25% less than the super-heater, they can stand less quality material alloys.
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