Technical Paper

BR-1883

IR-CFB Boilers: Supercritical Once-

through Developments for Power
Generation

Authors:
K.J. McCauley
D.L. Krat
M. Maryamchik
D.L. Wietzke
K.C. Alexander

Babcock & Wilcox

Power Generaion Group, Inc.
Barberton, Ohio, U.S.A.

Presented to:
Power-Gen Asia

Date:
October 3-5, 2012

Locaion:
Bangkok, Thailand
IR-CFB Boilers: Supercritical Once-through Developments
for Power Generation

K.J. McCauley, D.L. Kraft,

M. Maryamchik, D.L. Wietzke
K.C. Alexander
Babcock & Wilcox
Power Generation Group, Inc.
Barberton, Ohio, USA

Presented at: BR-1883

Power-Gen Asia
Bangkok, Thailand
October 3-5, 2012

Abstract Introduction
The paper provides an update on Babcock & Wilcox Over the years there has been a continuing need to provide
Power Generation Group, Inc. (B&W PGG) Internal Recir- steam and/or electric power to drive our economies, and the
culation-Circulating Fluidized-Bed (IR-CFB) boiler operat- use of available solid fuels has always been a key motiva-
ing experience, new commercial projects, and developments tor and enabler. From the 1800s when B&W irst provided
in large-scale supercritical boiler design and process. plants with grate (stoker) technology, to the 1970s with the
B&W PGG IR-CFB boilers feature a proven and unique introduction of bubbling luid-bed (BFB) technology, and
two-stage solids separator. The primary stage is an impact inally to the introduction of circulating luid beds, techni-
solids separator located at the furnace exit which collects cal advances have met the ever changing needs of industry.
the bulk of the solids and returns them to the furnace. The Modern grate (stoker) technology is used successfully today
primary separation stage is arranged as an array of water- for waste-to-energy power plants, and BFB technology is
cooled, segmented, U-shaped vertical elements (U-beams). used for niche applications such as high volume biomass
The secondary separation stage, typically a multi-cyclone (and in recent utility power plants for renewable energy
dust collector (MDC), is located in a lower gas temperature generation).
region of the boiler. With three-years of successful commer- Likewise, the circulating luid-bed (CFB) combustion
cial operation, the latest IR-CFB design is being expanded process has been a market-wide success. Hundreds of CFB
to higher capacity boilers of 300 MWe. boilers operate today and provide high availability, low
Operating experience of IR-CFB boilers conirms their maintenance and reliable operation for both industrial and
eficient performance and high reliability and availability. utility applications. The development of the CFB technology
Scale-up to 300 to 600 MWe, with higher steam tempera- has evolved over the past three decades. The latest efforts
tures, increases these eficiencies and beneits. This allows are focused on developing large capacity, supercritical once-
for a highly competitive utility-scale power plant for central through CFB boilers for utility electric power generation.
power generation using local coals. Pilot-scale operations The drivers for these scale-up efforts include the need for
are currently underway to inalize the design of an advanced higher plant eficiencies iring waste coal, low volatile an-
IR-CFB that will utilize in-bed heat exchangers (IBHX). thracite coal, high moisture lignite coal, highly erosive coal
This will allow for use of a greater range of fuels at higher and possible applications for oxy-fuel combustion.
capacities (>300 MWe) and for supercritical once-through A CFB boiler circulates solid particles within the com-
designs. Current results of the pilot testing and boiler de- bustion process to transfer heat from the chemical process
signs will be discussed, along with applicability to various to the boiler water-cooled tube enclosure and other heating
markets throughout Asia. surfaces (see Figure 1). In doing so, the furnace gas tempera-

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group 1

 the luid cycles among liquid, two-phase and vapor states. A
closed condensing cycle provides enhanced eficiency, as it
also allows for close control of water chemistry required for
high pressure, high temperature cycles, and favors a mini-
mum of makeup water. An additional improvement is the
use of regenerative feedwater heating, which uses extraction
steam from various stages in the turbine to heat the feedwater
as it is pumped from the condenser to the economizer.
Cycle thermodynamic eficiency is improved by increas-
ing the temperature of the heat source for a constant heat
sink temperature. This temperature can be increased when
the feedwater pressure is increased because the boiler inlet
pressure sets the saturation temperature in the Rankine cycle
(see Figure 2). If the pressure is increased above the critical
point of 220 bar (3200 psi), the addition of heat no longer
results in a typical boiling process in which there is deined
interface between the steam and water. Rather, the luid can
be treated as a single phase. This is referred to as a super-
Fig. 1 B&W PGG IR-CFB.
critical steam cycle, originally referred to as the Benson®
tures are lowered for the sulfation reaction of calcium oxide Super Pressure Plant when irst proposed in the 1920s. The
(principally) and to prevent agglomeration of the solids. irst commercial unit featuring a supercritical cycle and two
Therefore, the primary function of the solids is to control stages of reheat was placed in service in 1957 using B&W
the furnace temperature to 815 to 900C (1500 to 1650F) for technology. In general, with equivalent plant parameters
the reduction of sulfur dioxide (SO2) by adding limestone (fuel type, heat sink temperature, etc.) the supercritical steam
to the circulating solids. The solids that exit the furnace are cycle generates about 4% more net power than the subcritical
captured and returned to the furnace to maintain adequate pressure regenerative Rankine steam cycle.
solids inventory to control the gas temperature. These factors, along with component design limitations,
The B&W PGG design of the furnace exit solids return must be considered in a cycle analysis where the objective is
system is an array of U-beams, or impact solids separators, to optimize the thermodynamic eficiency within the physi-
that discharge solids directly back to the upper furnace. cal and economic constraints of the equipment. In addition,
The majority of the solids attempting to exit the furnace there are constraints imposed by the economics of fuel selec-
are captured and returned within the furnace enclosure. tion and the environmental impacts of fuel combustion that
There is no major external solids return system. The B&W impact the design of the boiler/turbine regenerative system.
PGG design provides recycling of a minor solids stream
from a multi-cyclone dust collector (MDC) located in the
convection pass; however, this solid stream is quite small Bubbling luid-bed technology
compared to the solids collected by the U-beam separators. The BFB combustion process has been successfully ap-
The MDC impacts the upper furnace heat transfer rate, and plied in smaller industrial boiler applications (see Figure 3).
thus overall bed temperature, and provides improvement in In a smaller furnace, the coal can be fed over the top of the
carbon and lime utilizations. bed, and the bed gas velocities can be lowered without a large
cost penalty, lowering the erosion rate. In smaller, lower
velocity beds, the surface can be arranged to eliminate the
Supercritical steam cycle history need for complicated tube supports. Because of the lessons
B&W has been providing steam generation systems
since the original water-tube boiler designs in the 1800s
utilizing the Rankine cycle. Over the years the technology
has continually been improved with a signiicant milestone
being the introduction of the supercritical steam cycle by
B&W in the 1950s. Since that time B&W has continued to
lead the way in supercritical boiler applications, with the
largest being the 1300 MWe series of plants built in the
United States (U.S.). Today, B&W PGG has more than 135
supercritical units in service providing over 90,000 MWe
of electric power.
The Rankine cycle is the most widely used steam/water
cycle used for power generation, and is typical for solid fuel- Fig. 2 Steam temperature and pressure versus heat
ired power plants. The process is carried out reversibly since available.

2 Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group

 At this same time the CFB combustion process was being
developed which addressed these deiciencies. The coal feed
was simply fed into the lower furnace bed using a chute, and
the higher luidizing velocities typical of the CFB process
effectively mixed the coal, bed material and air. There were
no in-bed tube bundles to erode. The CFB process carried
the solids to the vertical furnace enclosure walls to transfer
the heat. High solids circulation rates allow uniform furnace
temperature. Without in-bed tube bundles, supports, and their
inherent maintenance, were not required.

IR-CFB technology
B&W PGG IR-CFB boilers feature a two-stage solids
separator. The primary separation stage is an impact solids
separator located at the furnace exit collecting the bulk of
the solids (95 to 97%) that are then returned to the furnace
by gravity. The primary separator is arranged as an array
of U-shaped vertical elements (U-beams). The secondary
separation stage, typically an MDC, is located in the lower
gas temperature region of the boiler convection pass, i.e.,
250 to 510C (480 to 950F).
The U-beam separator design has evolved through several
generations (see Figure 4), starting with 11 rows installed
Fig. 3 Bubbling luidized-bed boiler. externally to the furnace with solids recycle through non-
mechanical, controllable L-valves, to the current design
learned from coal-ired applications, improvements provide featuring a total of 4 rows, two of which are located in the
smaller capacity BFB boilers capable of using a wide range furnace. While each U-beam in earlier designs was made
of biomass fuels, and many BFB industrial projects have as a single piece supported from the top, the current design
been successful for many years. includes segments, each being supported independently from
The BFB process was introduced to the electric power a water-cooled tube (see Figure 5).
industry in the 1970s. The work during the irst ten years
was limited to studies and pilot-scale testing. Between the
late 1970s and mid 1980s, two demonstration facilities were
built, and three commercial installations were built.
All three commercial projects were successful and met
the owners’ needs. However, there were three signiicant
lessons with the utility size application of the BFB combus-
tion process:
1. The coal distribution was dificult for large or multiple
beds. The coal was injected into the bottom of the bed
with under-bed pneumatic systems. These systems
plugged and eroded and the availability of the system
was limited.
2. The beds had in-bed surface to control the bed tempera-
ture. The surface was generating surface that utilized
forced or pumped circulation and inal superheater
surface. These tube bundle surfaces eroded over time
due to the erosive impact of the bed material. Tube sec-
tions had to be replaced in 5 to 10 years of operation.
3. The tube bundles required support. The tube supports
were uncooled and typically operated at 850C (1560F).
The irst supports required constant maintenance which
affected availability. Later, the tube supports were
increased in mass and mechanically tied together (no
welds), which proved to be more successful, but quite
expensive. Fig. 4 U-beam separator design generations.

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group 3

 High solids collection eficiency
The collection eficiency of the two-stage solids separa-
tor is intrinsically high due to the greater eficiency of the
MDC. Higher solids collection eficiency helps to achieve
greater inventory of ine circulating particles in the furnace
that provides: a) higher furnace heat transfer rate, b) better
control of furnace temperature, and c) better carbon and
sorbent utilization due to the increased residence time of
ine particles.

Controlled furnace temperature

The furnace temperature is controlled in response to load
changes and variations of fuel and/or sorbent properties by
controlling the solids recycle rate from the MDC. The recycle
rate at high boiler loads is set to achieve the upper furnace
density required to maintain the target furnace temperature.
At low loads, the recycle rate directly controls the dense
bed temperature.

Low auxiliary power

The auxiliary power requirement is lower for impact
separator-type boilers since the total pressure drop across the
two-stage separator (U-beams and MDC) is typically only
1 kPa (4 in. wc). In addition, high-pressure air blowers for
luidization of returning solids are not needed.

Uniform gas low

The gases exiting the furnace to the U-beam separators
positioned across the furnace width provide for a uniform
two-dimensional gas low pattern. This allows placement of
in-furnace heat transfer surfaces as needed over the entire
furnace height and width, including the region adjacent to
the rear wall in the upper furnace. Selection of the furnace
height can be based on combustion and sulfur capture
Fig. 5 Segmented U-beam particle separators. considerations rather than heating surface requirements.
Combined with high collection eficiency of the two-stage
solids separator, this allows reduced furnace height.

During the same period, the design of the MDC separator

has been modiied for improved eficiency, reliability and High solids separator reliability
maintainability. The MDC solids recycle system has evolved The U-beams and MDC have high reliability and low
from dense-phase pneumatic transport to gravity conveying. maintenance since they do not include any maintenance-
Operating experience of IR-CFB boilers has clearly intensive components such as refractory, solids return seal,
conirmed their eficient performance and high reliability expansion joints, or vortex inders. The U-beam design that
and availability. has evolved through twenty-ive years of operating experi-
ence requires essentially no maintenance, due to the falling
ash capturing incoming ash with no ash to metal impact.
Proven design features
The design of a solids separator is the core of IR-CFB
combustion technology because it has a major impact on the Minimal refractory use
boiler layout, cost, fuel and sorbent utilization, operational The amount of refractory used in B&W PGG CFB boilers
lexibility, and reliability. B&W PGG CFB boilers with is 80 to 90% less than that used for similar capacity CFB
two-stage solids separation provide the following design boilers with non-cooled hot cyclones and 40 to 50% less
features that positively beneit each of these key parameters: than CFB boilers with cooled cyclones. The startup time

4 Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group

for B&W PGG CFB boilers is not limited by the rate of India. Twenty of these units are in commercial operation,
temperature rise of the refractory; instead it is limited by while the rest are in various stages of design, fabrication,
adding heat to the pressure parts, like all other non-luid-bed construction and commissioning.
boiler technologies.

New commercial projects

Low maintenance
A substantial number of new B&W PGG CFB units have
A distinct feature of B&W PGG IR-CFB boilers is low been in operation or will be coming online in the next few
maintenance. Among the factors contributing to this feature years. Two of the units (AGP, U.S. and Alunorte, Brazil)
are: low overall amount of refractory, lower furnace refrac- featuring the latest design of the U-beam particle separator
tory interface Reduced Diameter Zone (RDZ) design (see (see Fig. 5) are in commercial operation. The design and
Figure 6), low furnace exit velocity, and an absence of hot performance characteristics of these units were described
expansion joints. in an earlier paper (Maryamchik, 2008).
The highest capacity IR-CFB units are sold for Meenakshi
Power in Krishnapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, which
Dynamic load change
were in the early stages of commissioning at the time this
Enhanced dynamic load change response is possible due paper was being written. The units are designed for iring
to the reduced refractory and the ability to adjust furnace Indian and Indonesian coals (moisture = 25 to 45%, ash =
inventory using a variable ash recycle rate from the MDC. 5 to 19%, sulphur = 0.6 to 0.7%, HHV = 13,250 to 19,990
kJ/kg (5700 to 8600 Btu/lb)). The main boiler performance
characteristics are provided in Table 2 and its arrangement
Wide turndown ratio
is shown in Fig. 7.
A wide turndown ratio (5:1) without auxiliary fuel is The U-beam particle separator (Fig. 5) system is com-
possible due to the selection of furnace velocity and control- prised of four rows (two in-furnace and two external) of U-
lable solids recycle. beams. Each beam assembly consists of segments supported
from a water-cooled tube. The design allows independent
thermal expansion of each segment. The U-beam segments
Operating experience are made of stainless steel material, which has proved
B&W PGG has a long history of boiler reliability in the suitable for U-beam fabrication in previous B&W PGG
U.S. and worldwide. The long-term availability of CFB CFB projects. Solids collected by the U-beams fall along
units supplied by B&W PGG's licensee in India, Thermax the beams and return to the furnace directly (from the irst
Limited, is shown in Table 1 (Maryamchik 2005). Thermax U-beam row) or by sliding along the U-beam zone loor.
Limited has been very active in the CFB market and has Superheater and reheater banks are located downstream of
successfully sold over 50 CFBs in India and 4 CFBs outside the U-beams followed by the economizer.
The MDC is the second stage of the solids collection
system and is located immediately downstream of the
economizer followed by the tubular air heater. The air heater
is a gas-through-tube type and is side-split for primary and
secondary air. After the air heater, gas lows through an
electrostatic precipitator (ESP), and an induced draft (ID)
fan to a stack.
Solids collected by the MDC are recycled back to the
furnace through recycle lines utilizing conveyors and gravity
feed. Controlling the MDC solids recycle rate allows precise
and effective furnace temperature control.

New developments in B&W PGG CFB

design

300 MW IR-CFB boiler

With a three -year proof of successful commercial op-
eration of key design features, the latest IR-CFB design is
being expanded to higher capacity boilers (see Figure 8).
Fig. 6 Reduced Diameter Zone (RDZ) design for erosion The 300 MW IR-CFB boiler features a top-supported furnace
protection at the upper refractory edge. and horizontal convection pass enclosure made of gas-tight

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group 5

 Table 1
Plant Availability (all data in % of total time available)
Kanoria 1 Kanoria 2 Indian Rayon Saurashtra Cement
(commissioned in 1996) (commissioned in 2005) (commissioned in 2006) (commissioned in 2008)
Years reported 1997-2011 2006-2011 2007 – 2011 2009 – 2011
Plant availability 90.9 94.3 96.3 95.9

membrane walls. It contains full height water-cooled panels, by the additional heat exchanger surface in the external
or division walls (about 1/3 the depth of the furnace), and heat exchanger.
steam-cooled wing walls. All other design features are the One design integrated the external heat exchanger into the
same as the lower capacity B&W PGG IR-CFB boilers. lower furnace. The total amount of solids captured by the hot
cyclone still lows into the integrated heat exchanger. The
integrated heat exchanger shares a wall between the CFB
Supercritical once-through CFB with IBHX lower furnace and the heat exchanger. There are openings
in this shared wall that allow translation of solids between
the furnace to the integrated heat exchanger. At full load, the
History
majority of the solids through the heat exchanger come from
In the beginning applications of the CFB for the power the hot cyclone return solids. Essentially, the heat exchanger
industry, the boilers were small capacity for low steam functions as an external heat exchanger since the solids
pressure and temperature conditions. As such, the furnaces and heat to the heat exchanger come from the external hot
were quite small and the relationship of the furnace surface cyclone. At lower loads, the cyclone solids are signiicantly
to volume was quite large. That is, there was a high amount lower and the furnace solids low into the heat exchanger to
of furnace surface for a relative small amount of gas volume, supplement the heat requirements. In this mode the heat ex-
which lowers or cools the furnace to a lower temperature changer essentially functions as an internal heat exchanger.
than lower surface-to-volume ratio furnace designs (larger B&W PGG designed an In-Bed Heat Exchanger (IBHX)
boilers). Therefore, the furnace enclosure surface was ad- that is totally internal to the furnace (see Figure 9). The
equate to control the gas temperatures in the furnace to a heat exchanger utilizes only solids from the lower furnace
relatively constant 840 to 900C (1550 to1650F) throughout because there is no major solids stream from an external
the height of the furnace. source. This makes the heat exchanger a 100% internal
As the CFB design scaled up, the surface-to-volume ratio heat exchanger over the entire load range of the CFB. Since
decreased, which necessitated adding more surface in the B&W PGG’s IBHX is totally reliant on solids internal to the
furnace to maintain the furnace temperature proile. One furnace, the location of the heat exchanger is not dependent
method used by several manufacturers to add surface in the on alignment with furnace exterior walls and the outlet of
furnace was to cool solids collected by the hot cyclone using a hot cyclone.
a BFB heat exchanger between the hot cyclone outlet and
the furnace return chute. Since these solids left the furnace
to be separated from the lue gas and returned to the lower
furnace, these solids are considered external to the furnace.
These external heat exchangers can have solids bypass
conduits and a valve to control the amount of solids that low
to the heat exchanger. The bypassed solids and the cooled
solids recombine and return to the furnace. By controlling
the bypass low and the resultant equilibrium temperature
after mixing, the furnace temperature can be controlled.
That is, the lower surface-to-volume ratio is compensated

Table 2
Meenakshi CFB Performance Characteristics per
Project Speciication
Main steam low @ MCR, klb/hr (t/hr) 1091 (495)
Reheat steam flow @ MCR, klb/hr (t/hr) 886 (402)
Main steam pressure, psig (barg) 2020 (139)
Reheat steam pressure, psig (barg) 378 (26)
Main steam temperature, F (C) 1004 (540)
Fig. 7 General arrangement of 150 MW Meenakshi
Reheat steam temperature, F (C) 1004 (540) Power CFB boiler.

6 Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group

 that utilizes a two-stage solids separation system (U-beams
and MDC). The supercritical once-through full load steam
conditions are 597C/594C/310 bar (1106F/1101F/4500 psi)
and the capacity is 400 MWe net. There are two areas of
signiicant differences between the two designs: the furnace
height and the overall cost of the solids collection system.
The furnace height from the bubble caps to the roof for the
hot cyclone design is signiicantly greater than the height of
the B&W PGG design (up to ifty feet). The furnace height
for the hot cyclone design is typically set to obtain 2600 kJ/
kg (1100 Btu/lb) enthalpy leaving the furnace circuit, which
is a standard criterion for once-through technology. The
absorption in both furnaces must, by deinition, be identi-
cal to obtain the same steam dry-out condition required of
once-through technology.
The difference in height is explained by how the hot
cyclone furnace is surfaced as compared to the B&W PGG
furnace surfacing. With B&W PGG’s U-beam design, the
lue gas lows through the same open plan area through the
Fig. 8 General arrangement of 300 MW IR-CFB boiler.

The IBHX is used to provide the inal superheat and re-

heat steam temperatures. The BFB style provides the greatest
temperature differential between the solids and tube metal
temperature for optimal heat transfer. Because 100% of the
solids enter the IBHX from the furnace inventory, the avail-
ability of solids is greater than required for the inal superheat
and reheat absorption duties throughout a wide load range.
Therefore, these steam temperatures can be maintained to
boiler loads as low as 30%.
In addition to compensating for the surface-to-volume
ratio issues for larger furnaces, the IBHX allows for the opti-
mization of the inal superheat and reheat surface. If the inal
superheat and reheat steam temperatures were achieved in a
combination of upper furnace and convection pass surfaces,
the overall heat transfer coeficient would range narrowly
from the upper furnace to the convection pass values. The
heat transfer coeficient in the BFB is multiple times higher,
which reduces the amount of surface directly by the increase
in the coeficient. Therefore, the amount of the highest alloy
material is signiicantly reduced by the ratio of the overall
heat transfer coeficient. As the steam conditions advance
to higher temperatures, the cost saving for this higher coef-
icient becomes more signiicant and becomes a major cost
driver for the implementation of a heat exchanger.
To summarize, the IBHX compensates for the lower
surface-to-volume ratio of larger furnaces, the steam tem-
perature control turndown capabilities of the IBHX with
100% internal solids is not affected by the diminishing
solids availability from the hot cyclone, and the amount of
the most expensive metallurgy is signiicantly reduced by
the high heat transfer coeficient in the BFB.

Supercritical once-through CFB design study

B&W PGG completed a study comparing the differ-
ences between a CFB utilizing a hot cyclone and its design Fig. 9 Internal Bed Heat Exchanger (IBHX).

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group 7

U-beams as through the upper furnace. That is, there is no Water/steam circuitry
acceleration of the lue gas/solids mixture. With the hot The water/steam low path begins when the feedwater
cyclone design, the lue gas and solids accelerate from the enters through the economizer followed by the IBHX en-
large furnace plan area to the much smaller entrance area closure and furnace enclosure. The low continues upward
of the cyclone acceleration lue to the cyclone. Due to this through the furnace division walls, furnace wing walls,
acceleration of the lue gas/solids, pendent surface must separator and into the convection pass enclosure and U-beam
not be near the cyclone entrances to prevent erosion. The cooled supports. The steam path then continues through the
internal vertical surface, division walls and platens can only convection pass superheater, several passes for attempera-
be installed in the center of the furnace and away from the tion, and the furnace wing walls and inally the IBHX inal
cyclone entrance walls, which constrains the design. For the superheat. The reheat path follows to the convection pass
U-beam technology, these surfaces can be installed directly reheat and IBHX inal reheat.
in front of the furnace exit without a concern for erosion
because the lue gas/solids are not accelerated when enter-
ing the U-beams. Flue gas path
Therefore, the B&W PGG design permits installation The lue gas leaves the IBHX section and the primary
of the required surface to obtain the required enthalpy in a zone and combines above the secondary air nozzles. There
shorter furnace height by concentrating the wing walls in are dual outlets at the top of the furnace. The primary outlet
front of the U-beams. The only way the hot cyclone design superheater sections are in the convection pass that aligns
can install enough surface to satisfy the enthalpy requirement with the inal superheat IBHXs on the front wall. The reheat
is to the increase the furnace height. convection pass sections align with the inal reheat IBHXs
Another issue related to the taller furnace height is on the rear wall. The split lue gas exits the CFB convec-
predicting performance accurately. Predicting the furnace tion passes and lows to separate MDCs. The lue gas then
absorption for a once-through design is critical. Over absorp- recombines before lowing through the common convection
tion means higher tube temperatures in the furnace outlet pass containing the economizer and regenerative air heater.
circuits. Under absorption means the outlet enthalpy would The requirement for the dual outlet is utilized for the
be lower than design dry-out conditions for the primary U-beam height and entering lue gas velocity. The lue gas
superheater. B&W PGG uses the MDC ash recycle to trim temperature continues to decrease from the bottom to the
the furnace overall temperature and wall absorption. Vary- top of the U-beams. Halving the U-beam height minimizes
ing the MDC recycle within the capability of the recycle the temperature imbalance entering the superheater sections.
equipment can vary the furnace temperature by +/- 50C Additionally, for a single outlet design and maintaining a
(+/- 120F) and consequently vary the wall absorption. This, constant maximum U-beam height, the furnace depth would
coupled with the supercritical once-through furnace height have to increase and furnace width decrease to maintain
being maintained at normal height, demonstrates not only the same lue gas velocity in the furnace and entering the
the uniqueness of the B&W PGG design, but the lower risk U-beam area. The depth is the most expensive dimension
of furnace absorption changes because the solids density is for the boiler; mostly caused by extremely long superheater
not as expected at the taller furnace heights. headers and long furnace buckstay spans for pressure con-
The second area of signiicant difference is the cost of tainment. The dual outlet optimizes performance and cost
the hot solids collection systems. The hot cyclone construc- for large capacity CFBs.
tion is membraned superheater surface and the total area of
the cyclone enclosure and lue is more than the enclosure
surface area of the furnace. These cyclones are large and Reheat temperature control
after applying pin studs and thin refractory, the total cost The dual furnace outlet design and reheat coniguration
can be four to ive times higher than the U-beams, MDC in only one of the low paths allow for some amount of lue
and MDC recycle system. gas biasing for reheat temperature control, within the toler-
ance of the solids return systems.
B&W PGG supercrtical once-through CFB
design
In-bed heat exchanger development
Following the study, B&W PGG completed a detailed
As discussed previously, the two primary reasons for the
supercritical once-through CFB design for a waste coal
BFB heat exchangers are compact surfacing within the fur-
plant in China. The design conditions are 565C/565C/240
nace to compensate for the surface-to-volume ratio for large
bar (1050F/1050F/3500 psig) at 350 MWe net capacity. An
furnaces, and placing the most expensive tube metallurgy in
actual turbine balance is used for the steam and feedwater
the highest heat transfer area of the boiler to minimize the
conditions. The pressure reduces with load down to 86 bar
cost of inal superheat and reheat tubes. To this end, B&W
(1250 psig) at 27% load. At this load, the main superheat is
PGG has developed the patented IBHX.
maintained at 565C (1050F) and the reheat is maintained at
A cold model and a hot pilot plant have aided in the
565C (1050F) down to 40% load.
characterization and conirmation of performance. The

8 Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group

cold model has been built and performance characterized. bed to drain excess solids. The remainder of the solids low
A 2.5 MWt hot pilot facility has been designed (see Figure down through the in-bed tube bundle, transferring heat to
10), and the construction, commissioning and testing will the steam and exiting through the underlow conduits to the
be completed in 2012. lower CFB furnace.
Results of the cold model have been successful. Some of The bed luidization in the IBHX is capable of the range
the features that have been conirmed by the cold model are: from minimum-to-bubbling luidization regimes. The size
1. The patent-pending control of solids low method (un- distribution of the solids in the IBHX is quite ine as com-
der-low conduit) through the heat exchanger conirmed pared to the CFB primary zone, so the bubbling-bed veloci-
the solids low is variable and controllable. ties are signiicantly lower than the bed velocities associated
2. The solids entering through the top of the IBHX are iner with the irst BFBs.
than the primary zone solids, which increases the heat The three major issues associated with previous utility-
transfer and lowers the required luidization velocity. scale experiences with BFBs were solved in the IBHX BFB
3. The amount of solids entering the IBHX is greater than design.
required for the desired absorptions. 1. The luidizing velocities are low so the erosion potential
4. The solids overlow nozzles are adequate to remove the is low.
excess solids from the top of the bed. 2. There are no uncooled major supports requiring main-
5. Fluidization of the bed can be varied from minimum tenance.
luidization to bubbling luidization regimes while low- 3. There is no direct iring of coal in the BFB, so distribu-
ing solids through the under-low conduits. tion of coal is not an issue.
The 2.5 MWt pilot plant will conirm the hot performance
including the heat transfer coeficient, solids low, and over-
all heat absorption duty. Open-bottom bed drain system
B&W PGG utilizes its open-bottom bed drain system un-
der the IBHX. B&W PGG has applied the same technology
IBHX design to the IBHX for the effective removal of oversized material,
The IBHXs are located on the lower furnace front and rocks and agglomerates, from the loor of the IBHX to reduce
rear walls. They are not full width, but are segmented to blockage of the underlow conduits.
allow room for coal feed chutes and startup burners. There The open-bottom construction is a hopper that is illed
are four heat exchangers on two opposing sides. The heat with bed material and is effectively 100% open to the loor
exchangers on one side are inal superheat and the heat of the bed. Air pipes with bubble caps enter from one side
exchangers on the other side are inal reheat. The width of for the primary air to luidize the BFB compartments. Double
the tube sections is set by the maximum length of the tubes disk batching valves located on the bottom of the hoppers
to be end-supported only; that is, no middle supports and cycle to intermittently drain material. The drain action al-
the issues associated with uncooled supports are eliminated. lows oversized material to sink below the bubble caps and
The tubes forming the wall between the CFB furnace and no longer interfere with the BFB luidization process. Once
the IBHX form overire air nozzles at the top of the IBHX. the material is in the hopper, the heat in these solids can be
This leaves the top opening fully open for solids to enter the dissipated or recuperated in various ways depending on the
IBHX. These nozzles also allow placement of the secondary frequency of the batch drain cycles. The solids leaving the
air penetration at its proper location for mixing at the top bed drain hopper can be screened and returned to the CFB
of the primary zone. There are overlow nozzles above the bed or simply transported by a drag chain conveyor to the
ash removal system.

Conclusion
The use of a supercritical once-through design for
advanced CFBs for electric power generation is a natural
evolution of a proven product to meet the ever-changing
worldwide energy needs. The supercritical once-through
design uses technology that has been proven since the
1950s, including supercritical Rankine water/steam cycles,
BFB technology and CFB technology. Development of
these into a unique product provides for sustainable use of
natural resources, a lower carbon impact for electric power
generation, and an environmentally conscious application.

Fig. 10 IBHX pilot plant.

Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group 9

References
• M. Maryamchik and D.L. Wietzke, Proceedings of 18th
International Conference on Fluidized Bed Combustion,
ASME, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 22-25, 2005,
FBC 2005-78004.
• M. Maryamchik, Proceedings of the 9th International
Conference on Circulating Fluidized Beds, Hamburg,
Germany, May 13-16, 2008.
• S.P. Ganehsan, M. Maryamchik and D.L. Wietzke,
Proceedings of the 2010 PowerGen – India Conference,
New Delhi, India, April 21-23, 2010.
• M. Maryamchik and D.L. Wietzke, Proceedings of the
2010 Coal-Gen Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
August 10-12, 2010.

Copyright© 2012 by Babcock & Wilcox Power Generaion Group, Inc.

a Babcock & Wilcox company
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10 Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group