BOILERS -TYPES, COMPONENTS

& MATERIALS

ASAD ALI
Definition:
– Boiler does not have any universal definition.
– ASME code defines boiler as:
“a closed vessel in which water is heated, steam is generated, steam is superheated, or any combination
thereof, under pressure or vacuum for use externally to itself by the direct application of heat from the
combustion of fuels, or from electricity or nuclear energy.”

CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS
Flow through the tubes Based on Circulation
Fire tube Natural circulation
water tubes Forced circulation
Combo Boiler in which flue gas and water One through (OT) or no drum boiler
flow both outside and inside the tubes; in Based on Draft
this type contains an external furnace and Natural or balanced draft
shell-type boiler in a sequence Forced draft or Pressurized fired boilers
Based on End use Based on Construction
Industrial boilers Package boilers
Utility boilers Field erected boilers
Marine boilers Based on Furnace Construction
Nuclear boilers Two-pass boilers
Based on Operating Pressure One and a half-pass boilers
Subcritical Boilers Single or tower-type boilers
Supercritical Boilers ~ 200 bar Down-shot boilers
 Why supercritical boilers?
Steam drum could be eliminated
No Evaporator coils required

Based on type of support

Bottom supported boilers
More economical till capacity 60 ton/hr
Based on Construction
Package boilers
Field erected boilers

Types of Package Boilers

Top supported Middle or girdle supported
The weight of load and expansion are
transferred to ground

Based on type of firing

• Mass/pile burning boilers
• Stoker-fired boilers
• Burner-fired boilers
• Fluidized bed combustion (FBC) boilers
• Pulverized fuel (PF) boilers
• Waste heat boilers
• Mass/pile burning boilers
– Smaller size boiler can be operated by hand firing system.
– This system was commonly used to drive coal engine locomotive in past. Here, coal chips
are put into the furnace frequently by shovels.
• Stoker Fired boilers
– When fuel i.e. coal is put into the steam boiler furnace by means of mechanical stoker,
the firing of boiler method is referred as mechanical stoker firing.

Stoker

Overfeed Underfeed

Travelling
Spreader Single Retort Multiple
Grate
Stoker Stoker Retort Stoker
Stokers

Bar Grate Chain Grate

Stokers Stoker
• Under Feed Mechanical Stoker firing
– The fuel is burnt on the grate and coal moves by gravity,
while the primary combustion air is fed under the grate.
• Overfeed Stoker Solid Coal Firing
– Chain Grate Stoker

Single Retort Underfeed Stoker

Spreader Stoker Firing

– Bar Grate Stoker

– Spreader Stoker Boiler

• Combination of grate and suspension burning.
• Good flexibility to meet the load fluctuation since
ignition is almost instantaneous when firing rate is
increased.
• Preferred in industrial applications.
• Fluidized bed Combustion Boilers
– Fluidized bed combustion (FBC) is burning of various solid fuels in the fluidized state—a condition where
a gas–solid mixture behaves like a free-flowing fluid.
– To meet the clean and cool (~ 850 C for sulfur calcium reaction) combustion lime stone added and Nox
generation was qualified.
– Increased combustion efficiency by high turbulence and longer residence time (suspension time of fuel).

Advantages of FBC Boilers Limitations of FBC Boilers

• Capability to burn almost any fuel • For Bio fuels Stoker firing is better. Because, bio
• Excellent multi fuel flexibility fuels have low S and burn at low temperature
• High combustion efficiency thus low NOx.
• In situ and very convenient desulfurization • 1% of power is consumed by fan
• Very low NOx generation • Tube and refractory erosion problem
• No slagging and fouling of tubes • Steeples load variation is not possible
• Good to excellent load response • >300 MWe is in initial phase
• Pulverized Fuel Boilers
– The combustion efficiency could be as high as 99.7% with high volatile content.
– High load response
– All types of coals, from anthracite to lignite and peat, have been burnt efficiently.
– Low-NOx burners, deSOx units, and deNOx units, all working in combination, have made PF boilers
environmentally compliant.
– Firing Mechanism:
• Milling plant
• Firing equipment
• Inside the furnace, coal burns similar to burner fired boilers.
• Burner Fired Boilers
– Liquid and gaseous fuels are burner fired. Solid fuels
when pulverized and mixed with air are also amenable
to burner firing.
– A burner brings together the fuels and air in right
proportions and admits them into the furnace chamber
to accomplish combustion in an efficient and safe
manner
– Types of Burners
• Register-Type Circular Burner
– Air registers are the fabricated portions of
the burners fitted to the windbox through
which air is admitted.
– They hold the fuel-firing parts in position,
namely, the oil atomizers and the gas rings
and spuds.
– The shape of the air register gives the
burner its name.
• Parallel-Flow type Circular Burner

Burner Firing Types

• WASTE HEAT BOILERS
1. Heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) in power
plants
2. Waste heat recovery boilers (WHRBs) in process
industries
• Fired HRSGs
– Heat recovery steam generators can be fired or unfired,
depending on whether additional fuel is burnt.
– There are two modes of firing:
1. Supplementary firing, if the fuel (oil or gas) is
burnt for generating part of the steam need
2. Auxiliary firing, if the fuel is burnt for generating
100% steam
 BOILER SELECTION
Several factors effect boiler type:
1. Pressure Requirement
2. Flow Requirement
3. Fuel Type
• Calorific Value
• Combustion efficiency
• Emissions
• Effect of fuel on boiler parts
4. Special Considerations
1. Floor space required
2. Backup Requirement
1. Load requirement
2. Down time
3. Turndown
5. Other Factors
• Thermal efficiency
• Fuel to Steam Efficiency
6. Economics
TYPICAL BOILER TYPE SELECTION CHART
 BOILERS COMPONENTS
• Furnace
• Boiler Bank (or evaporator bundle)
– To cool the flue gasses and transfer heat to the saturated surfaces to add latent heat.
• Super heater and Reheater tube banks
• Back end equipment consisting of
– Economiser
– Air heater
• Fabricated Parts
– Steam Drums
– Steam Drum Internals
– Unheated Risers and Down Comers
– Integral piping
 FURNACE
• A chamber made of water cooled surfaces to provide:
– Burning fuel for adequate time for combustion
– Cool the flue gasses and transfer heat
– Heat transfers inside furnace by radiation & Volume
and surface area become important parameter
• Division Walls
– As the boilers grow in size, the furnace volume
increases cubically whereas surface increases by
squares, leading to a mismatch—there is more volume
than surface.
– Division walls are introduced to correct this mismatch.
• ( To be discussed in evaporator section)
• Wing walls and platen SH
– introduced for picking up heat economically also help
to correct volume-to-area ratio.
• (to be discussed in detail in superheater section)

Furnace walls
• Modern boilers employ fully water-cooled surfaces as furnace enclosure walls, with little or no refractory that
calls for costly downtime and maintenance.
• Membrane wall has welded strips (membrane) which act as fins.
Stages of Membrane Panel Development:
1. Full Brick Construction
2. Tangent Walls
3. Membrane Panels
Advantages of Membrane Panels over Tangent Walls:
• Reduced manufacturing time, with space between tubes
• Easy to replace the pre manufactured Panel
• Lesser Tubes Requirements

Refractory Lining of Furnaces

• Avoided unless, there is a specific requirement for:
• Erosion protection (Stoker fired, BFBC boilers, burner fired)
• Corrosion Protection (CFBC boilers)
• Overheat prevention (floor of oil and gas fired boilers)
• Refractory Lining is hold using studs, with characteristics:
• Pin studs : 8 - 12 mm in diameter and 15–25 mm long
• welded to tubes on a triangular pitch
• Stud Material CS or SS. However, SS is more common.
• Materials: Al2O3, PCO, SiC, or any such castable as required:
• SiC : most conductive, dense, and expensive, in CFBC
 To transfer the heat as well as to withstand erosion.
• Al2O3 : for erosion resistance.
• PCO is popular in Black Liqour recovery boilers.
 BUCKSTAYS
• provided every 2–3 m along the furnace height
• hold the furnace in shape against internal gas pressures
• Excessive pressure allows the gases to escape from the corners
without damaging the tubes
• To avoid implosion (sudden trip of the fuel )the flexible design
also plays vital role

SUPER HEATERS & REHEATERS

The superheater is a heat exchanger that overheats (superheats)
the saturated steam.
• The benefits of using superheated steam are:
• Zero moisture content
• No condensate in steam pipes
• Higher energy production efficiency

Types of superheater surfaces

Radiation superheaters
• Heat is mainly transfer by radiation
• Present at the top of furnace in reach of the boiler flame
radiation
• Tubes in the boiler walls or pannels
Convection superheaters
• Most Common
• Heat Transfer by convection
• Protection from radiation is sometimes provided with
couple of evaporator coils
• Sometimes placed in second pass of boilers and are
known as back-pass superheaters.
Back-pass superheater set
• Convection superheater located where flue gas starts flowing
downwards
• Common in large CFB coal and oil boilers
Panel Superheaters
• Functions on both radiation and convection heat transfer
depending upon its location
• Tightly bundled tubes which hung from the roof
• Distance between the panels is generally 300-500 mm
• Resistant to fouling and withstands high heat flux
Wing wall superheater
• Kind of Panel superheater Panel superheaters in construction
• Welded bank of tubes in front wall of boiler
• Common in CFB applications
• Receives heat mainly from radiation
Pendant and Platen Type:
• Type of convective superheaters
• They are vertical type
• Always present in horizontal crossover duct
Reheater
• Low perssure drop to be maintained
• Relatively large tube dia Pendant superheaters
• Design is similar to convective superhaters

Reheaters
EVAPORATORS
Furnace Wall Evaporators
• The furnace is constructed with an air tight membrane wall
• Finned carbon steel tubes

Convection Evaporators
• In boilers with low steam pressure, more latent heat is
required
• Only membrane wall does not suffice
• Requirement is overcome by Convection evaporation
• They are generally placed after superheaters
• They can cause local tube overheat problems at partial loads

Boiler generating bank

• Large surface made up of tubes fully expanded between
steam and water drums
• Less common in modern boilers
• Found in low pressure boilers

Radiant Evaporator (Division Wall)

• A division wall is an evaporator wall in the middle of the

furnace
• Usually from bottom to top, receiving radiation heat from
both sides.
ECONOMIZERS
• package of tubes fastened on the walls of the flue gas
channel
• Flue gas at dew point can cause corrosion to tubes at
low temperature

AIR PREHEATER
• Regenerative air preheaters (Ljungstrom)
 package of tubes fastened on the walls of the flue gas
channel
 Flue gas at dew point can cause corrosion to tubes at
low temperature
• Recuperative air preheaters
 advantage of recuperative air preheaters in general is
the lack of leakage
 Types: Regenerative air preheaters
 Tubular recuperative air preheater
 Plate recuperative air preheater

FABRICATED PARTS
Steam Drums
• Surge tank
• Internals to separate steam and water
Water-drum
• Were Known as mud drums
• To maintain contineous riser feed
steam purifier (Steam Drum internals)
• Combination of separators and driers
• Steam separation
 Steam is separated at high velocities
 Baffle type separators , Cyclone separators
Risers and Down comers (Unheated)
• risers are pipes that feed and evacuate water
walls and other evaporator surfaces, respectively.
• Downcomers are the supply pipes that start from
the drum to feed the water walls and convection
banks.
• They made of CS unless at high pressures; low-
alloy steel such as SA 213 T1 (0.5% Mo) or T11 (or
1.25% Cr and 0.5% Mo) is used for thickness
reduction.
• large-bore downcomers
• In large boilers and to maintain additional supply
of water
Integral piping
• Soot blower
• Blowdown—continuous and intermittent
• Drain and vent—sampling
• Terminal piping—feed inlet, main steam outlet,
and RH inlet and outlet piping
AUXILIARIES
Fans
• Forced draft at the entrance of boiler
• Induced draft at the exit of the boiler
• generally one type of configuration except in balanced draft
where both are present
• Types: Centrifugal Fans Propeller Fans
 Centrifugal fans
 Propeller fans
 Axial Fans (propeller fans with housing to guide the Fluid)
 Tube axial (no guide vanes)
 Vane axial
Dust Collectors
• Mechanical dust collectors (MDCs)
 Cyclone or centrifugal separators
 large diameter
 multiclones Tube and Vane axial Fans

 Inertial separators
• ESP or electrostatic precipitator filters
 Most popular with collection efficiency 99.9%
 Relatively high capital associated but low OPEX

• Bag or Fabric filters FFs

 High collection efficiency
 Comparatively less capital but short life (2-3 years)

• Wet or liquid scrubbers Large Diameter Cyclone Multiclone

 Gas is diverted in scrubber Separator
 Contact with liquid forms slurry
 Clean gas escapes away
Particle collection in Electrostatic separator Bag or Fabric Filter

Reverse Gas Filters

Dry Electrostatic Precipitator

 Low carbon
Boiler Materials Carbon steels
• Low carbon and High weldability steels High carbon
• The mean temperature range of 450-480 oC is the rough C–Mn/C–Mo steels
dividing line for CS and Alloy steels
• The use of SS has been reduced by the use introduction of high Alloy steels 1 1/4% Cr–1/2 Mo steels
2 1/4% Cr–1% Mo
Alloy 9Cr 1Mo steels 9Cr–1Mo–V

Stainless steels

Plate material for steam Drum, Reheater Headers and Superheater headers
 Tube material for Economiser, evaporators, super and reheater tubes

In the column pertaining to use, 1 refers to furnace walls exposed to high heat, 2 refers to ECON and other enclosures not exposed to high heat, and 3
refers to SH and RH.
$ refers to DIN 17456, which is the specification for SS tubes.
Stainless steels
Carbon Steels
• Mo and Cr increase strength. • H represents the hardenability requirements, which is
• creep resistance is acquired through Mo referred as "solution treatment" in case of austenitic SS.
• Solution treatment reduces the chances of sensitization
High Alloy Steels • Ti, Cb and Mo are used for chromium stability at
chrome carbide precipitation temperature where as,
• Vanadium provides high creep resistance and high Mo also contributes in Stability against SCC.
strength at high temperature.
• For high temperature service TP 310 with high Cr and Ni
is used.
 FFL Auxiliary Boiler/Utility Steam Generator (USG)
MACCHI Titan-M 75 t/hr 42 bar(g) 390 oC
watertube, natural circulation steam generator

The boiler mainly consists of the following parts:

• STEAM DRUM WITH INTERNALS • SUPERHEATER
 Deflecting and separating plates  Superheater split in two stages (primary
 Horizontal separators (cyclones) and final);
 Steam driers  B/w them one spray water desuperheater
 Perforated feed pipe  Inlet and outlet headers on both
 Chemical dosing pipe superheaters
 Continuous blow down pipe
• WATER DRUM WITH SADDLES • Boiler bank
 Saddles on concrete foundations  Single gas pas cross flow design
 Furnace with membrane waterwalls;  Sidewalls : longitudinal finned tubes
 Front Firing  evaporator bundle with bare tubes
 D-tubes forming the floor, side and roof furnace walls
 Refractory only in housing of burners and furnace • Economizer;
floor  Located at boiler flue gas outlet
• DOWNCOMERS, RISERS AND FEEDERS TUBES  The flue gas path is directed vertically from
 The cold rows of evaporator bank act as downcomers top to bottom
 two unheated external downcomers are also  while the water flows in the counter
provided direction.
 the boiler is equipped with several risers and feeders  The economiser is insulated for energy
tubes “unheated type” saving
 located outside the flue gas path.
 FFL HRSG AE&E Nanjing Boiler
Unfired Case: 49.3 t/hr 43 bar 390 oC
Fired Case: 75 t/hr 43 bar 390 oC

The boiler mainly consists of the following parts: Module #1 HP superheater 1-3, HP evaporator
• DUCT BURNERS panels 4 – 7
 The maximum rated heat release is 59.7 MW Module #2 HP evaporator panel 8-10, Economizer
 Fires the exhaust of gas turbine, which has enough panels 11-14
oxygen to combust the fuel.
 The duct burner spans the entire duct and fires the
exhaust.
 9 horizontal burner runners separated by gas baffles
 NOT THE END BUT THE LIGHT TO START SUCCESSIVE JOURNEY

ASAD ALI
HRSG Back GA
 HRSG
Close View
Back
Back
 Module # 1

Module # 2

Back
 MACCHI USG
BACK
View #1

GA

View # 2
BACK
Back to View #1

MACCHI USG
 GA view # 2
GA of USG
BACK

Back to View #1

Steam Drum inlet

Evaporator
Super
heater
Super heater inlet

Economiser
Forced Draft fan

BFW Line
 GA of USG
BACK

Economiser is placed
outside of the boiler just
before stack in the flue
gas outlet path.
Burners

Economiser
 External Downcomers
BACK SA 234 Gr WPB (low alloy steel)
SA 106 Gr B (from steam drum to first joint)
 PANEL SUPERHEATER
SA 213 T11 tubes
SA 335 P11 piping

Primary

BACK
Secondary
 EVAPORATOR
SA 210 A1 tubes

Boiler Header Material SA 106 Gr B

BACK
 ECONOMISER
Finned Tubes
SA 210 GR A1 TUBES
SA 105 HEADERS

BACK
 NUCLEAR BOILER
BACK