Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 8896

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Fuel Processing Technology

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / f u p r o c

Numerical simulations of the slagging characteristics in a down-red, pulverized-coal

boiler furnace
Qingyan Fang a, Huajian Wang a, Yan Wei a, Lin Lei b, Xuelong Duan b, Huaichun Zhou a,
a
b

State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, PR China
Hunan Electric Power Test and Research Institute, Changsha 410007, PR China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 12 April 2009
Received in revised form 26 June 2009
Accepted 27 August 2009
Keywords:
Pulverized coal
Down-red boiler
Slagging
Numerical simulation

a b s t r a c t
Numerical studies of the slagging characteristics under different operational conditions in a 300 MW down-red
boiler were carried out using slagging models coupled with gassolid two phase ow and combustion models.
Combined with the real operating conditions; comparative and detailed analysis on the slagging position, extent,
and causes is presented. The results show that the serious slagging is mainly on the side walls of the lower furnace.
Because of the more rapid expansion of the ue gas under the higher temperature, the ue gas in the furnace
center makes the ue gas on both sides deect and ow to the side walls; and the pulverized-coal ame impinges
on the side walls. This results in the slagging on the side walls. Under off-design operating conditions, such as
stopping some burners, the local ow eld is asymmetric and impinges on the local arch burner, front and rear
wall regions where the stopped burners are located. It leads to slight slagging on the arch burner regions and the
front and rear wall regions of the lower furnace. Based on the investigation, it has been found that the serious
slagging on the side walls can be effectively alleviated by cutting off the burners close to the side walls, reducing
boiler load and burning low slagging-tendency coals.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The arch-red (AF) boiler, also named down-red or W-ame
boiler, is one of the main boiler types that burn low-volatile and
anthracite coals for electric power generation in China. Currently,
more than 70 AF boilers, having a total capacity of approximately
27,000 MW, are either in service or under construction. The AF boiler
has excellent characteristics of stable ignition and combustion of the
pulverized coal in furnaces. However, its practical operation still
suffers from the problems of high carbon content in the y ash, high
NOx emission and serious slagging [1,2]. In order to better understand
the combustion characteristics in AF boilers, several experimental and
numerical investigations have been carried out in recent years [16].
The results of these works are of benet to the optimum design and
operation of similar boilers.
Ash deposits not only reduce the boiler heat transfer efciency to the
working uid, but also cause unscheduled boiler shutdowns in severe
cases. Therefore, ash deposits have been widely focused on [721]. In
addition to the slagging tendency of coals, the ash depositions are also
affected by several other factors, such as furnace structural size and
thermal parameters, burner type and secondary air distribution mode.

Corresponding author. Fax: +86 27 87540249.

E-mail address: hczhou@mail.hust.edu.cn (H. Zhou).
0378-3820/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2009.08.022

For the actual operating problems of utility boilers caused by slagging, it

is necessary rst to gain insight into the main causes and then to develop
some effective methods to alleviate or prevent it from happening. Some
research has been conducted on the ash deposition in coal-red utility
boilers [714]. Numerical methods have been successfully applied to
study the position, extent and causes of the ash deposits in large-scale
coal-red utility boilers [1521]. However, to the authors' knowledge,
there has been only one literature [20] to simulate the deposit growth
under slagging conditions for an AF boiler by Babcock & Wilcox
company's technique up to now. More research is necessary to elucidate
the causes of slagging in AF boilers.
In this paper, numerical simulations of the slagging characteristics
under different operational conditions in a 300 MW AF boiler were
carried out by use of slagging models coupled with gassolid two
phase ow and combustion models. Combined with the real operating
conditions, comparative analysis on the ash deposit position, extent
and causes is discussed in detail.

2. Mathematical models
2.1. Gassolid two phase ow and combustion models
The mathematical model is based on a Eulerian description for the
continuum phase and a stochastic Lagrangian description for the coal
particles. All the Eulerian partial differential equations that govern the

Q. Fang et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 8896

2.2. Slagging models

Nomenclature

S
Sp
pi
Tps
ps
Ts
N
R90
AF
PA
VA
SA

In the slagging models, the particle transport process was modeled

using a stochastic trajectory model, which accounted for the inuence of
gas phase turbulent ows on particle trajectory through random
particleeddy interaction [1820]. The model is also suitable for the
interaction of particle and gas phase turbulent ows within the
turbulent boundary layer, where the momentum equation of the
particle is integrated to the wall with particleeddy interaction time as
the integration time. This model can obtain relatively more accurate
results due to being able to consider the physical mechanism [17].
For the particle sticking model, the particle sticking probability is
primarily concerned with particle viscosity [17]. Critical viscosity was
adopted to estimate the inuence of the particle viscosity on the
sticking probability. In the present work, the critical viscosity of
105 Pa s was employed, which has been extensively used in previous
studies [17,18,20]. If the ash particle viscosity is less than the critical
viscosity, the particle sticking probability on the wall is 1; otherwise it
is the ratio of the critical viscosity to the practical particle viscosity.
The detailed formula is as follows:

variable
turbulent kinetic energy (m2/s2)
turbulent dissipation rate (m2/s3)
turbulent viscosity (kg/m.s)
density of gas (kg/m3)
diffusion coefcient
mass source from gas phase (kg/s)
mass source from coal particles (kg/s)
the sticking probability of particles of composition i
impacting particle temperature (K)
the sticking probability of deposit surface
surface temperature (K)
the number of particle size groups
pulverized-coal neness
arch-red
primary air
vent air
secondary air

pi Tps =
conservation of mass, momentum and energy can be written in the
following general form:



ui =

+ S + Sp
xi
xi
xi

89

where stands for the three momentum components, the turbulent

kinetic energy k and its dissipation , the enthalpy, and the mixture
fraction and its variance in the conservation equations of different
form. is the diffusion coefcient of the transported variable . For
the particle case of the mass conservation equation, variable is set to
unity and the right-hand side of the equation is zero. S is the source
term of the mass from the gas phase and Sp is the source term for the
mass of the coal particles.
The k model was used to model the turbulent ows in the furnace.
The stochastic particle trajectory model was used to simulate the motion
of the coal particles in the furnace. The energy balance of the coal particles
was used to calculate the time dependent particle temperature and to
describe the coal evolution. Volatile release was computed using the twoparallel-reaction model. Char combustion was modeled using the kineticdiffusion reaction model. The turbulent combustion of gas phase was
modeled using a mixture fraction model. The radiative heat transfer in the
furnace was calculated by the discrete transfer method. More detailed
description of these numerical models can be found in Refs. [22,23]. The
detailed computational evaluation of low NOx operating conditions
in a 350 MW Foster Wheeler (FW) AF boiler has been conducted in
the past research [6]. Therefore, in the present work, only the slagging
characteristics in FW AF furnaces is simulated and discussed.
An in-house code has been employed to conduct the simulations.
The governing equations of gas ow were discretized over a staggered
grid using the rst-order nite difference method with central
difference and integrated over each control volume in the computational domain. Each of the equations described in the above general
form were tri-diagonal and thus can be solved using TDMA solvers.
The equations were solved by successive under-relaxation iterations
until the solution satises a pre-specied tolerance and the SIMPLER
algorithm of pressure correction was applied to consider the coupling
of velocity and pressure elds. The gas phase was affected by the
source term that originated from the combustion of the particle phase,
and the solutions of momentum and energy equations for the particle
phase were based on the ow and temperature elds of the gas phase.

ref

pi Tps = 1

N ref

ref

where pi(Tps) is the sticking probability of particles of composition i,

Tps is the impacting particle temperature, is the particle viscosity,
ref is the critical viscosity. The model is simple and can t many
engineering applications. A temperature subarea method was applied
to obtain the particle viscosity [24]. The formulas of the high- and lowtemperature viscosities are different, and then the maximum viscosity
of these two viscosities is selected. This model is precise enough if the
particle critical viscosity in the interval is 104109 Pa s, and it is just in
the range of the current viscosity; therefore, this model can provide
creditable results and has a wide application.
The particle sticking probability is also affected by the deposit
surface stickiness. If the temperature of the deposit surface is above
1450 K, the surface is totally viscous, and the sticking probability of
the deposit surface is 1, otherwise the surface is not viscous, and thus
it is 0 [25].
Considering both the particle viscosity and deposit surface
stickiness, the capture efciency or the portion of the impacting
particles adhering to the surface is approximated by [25];
N

i=1

i=1

fdep = pi Tps + 1 pi Tps ps Ts

where pi(Tps) is the sticking probability of particles of composition i, Tps

is the impacting particle temperature, ps(Ts) is the sticking probability of
the deposit surface, Ts is the surface temperature, and N is the number of
particle size groups.
3. The utility boiler and conditions for simulation
3.1. The utility boiler for simulation
The studied AF boiler, manufactured by Dongfang boiler company in
China with FW company's technique, is subcritical pressure, one middle
reheat, natural circulation, double arches and a single furnace in a
300 MW unit at Zhuzhou Power Plant, Hunan Province, China. A
schematic diagram of the boiler is shown in Fig. 1. The zone of the
furnace below the arches is the lower furnace (pulverized-coal burning
zone). That above the arches is the upper furnace (pulverized-coal
burnout zone). The dimensions of the upper furnace are
7.63 24.76 23.82 m, and those of the lower furnace are dimensions
of 13.73 24.76 15.48 m. The lower furnace is 4108 m3 in volume with

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Q. Fang et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 8896

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the boiler. Half of the boiler is shown in the present gure because of the symmetry in the furnace structure. (PA primary air, VA vent air, SA
secondary air).

639 m2 of refractory coverage on the walls. A directly ring pulverizedcoal preparation system is used with 4 double-entry double-exit ball
mills. The furnace is, on the arches, equipped with 24 FW double-cyclone
arch burners which can enrich the coal/air mixture. The mixture ow of
the pulverized coal and primary air is divided into a fuel-rich stream and
a fuel-lean stream. The fuel-rich stream is down injected into the lower
furnace through the burner nozzle. The fuel-lean stream is down
injected into the lower furnace from the vent air (VA) pipe nozzle.
Through nozzles A, B, C, D, E and F secondary air (SA) is supplied into the
furnace according to the need of staging air for gradual and complete
combustion. About 70% of the secondary air, divided into three streams
D, E and F, is supplied into the furnace under the arches. The remaining
secondary air, divided into three streams A, B and C, is introduced to
ports concentric with the fuel-rich nozzle, fuel-lean nozzle and oil
igniter. The design coal type is a blended coal with a dry-ash-free volatile
matter of 11.22% and an as-received lower heating value of 20,990 kJ/kg.
The designed R90 value of pulverized-coal neness is about 8%. There are
some observing ports on the side walls. These are convenient to measure
the local temperature and observe the slagging status inside the furnace.
3.2. Simulation conditions
The numerical procedure for slagging was performed as a postprocess, which is based on the modeling of the ow, combustion and
heat transfer. Gas emissivity is changed with ue gas temperature.
The values of 0.3 and 0.15 were adopted for the absorption and
scattering coefcients of particles respectively. The scattering of
particles was assumed to be isotropic. Wall function method and
temperature wall were employed respectively for velocity and thermal
boundary conditions. Because the heat exchange between the ame and
the water-cooled walls is mainly by heat radiation inside the furnace,
the effect of the deposit on the heat transfer was estimated by presetting
appropriate thermal radiation boundary conditions, such as the

temperature and emissivity values of the water-cooled walls and the

refractory belts. Due to the symmetry in the furnace structure and in the
aerodynamic elds inside the furnace, the simulations were carried out
on a half-boiler furnace along the width. Grid-dependent tests have
been performed and a 79 166 65 orthogonal and non-uniform mesh
was nally used. The mesh was rened near the burners for the purpose
of more accurate prediction. A typical 15,000 particle trajectories are
necessary to calculate the particle impacting information [17]. With the
rapid progress in the computing ability of computers, it is possible to
track more particles. The present simulation tracked 1,536,000 particles.
The simulation conditions are listed in Table 1. The slagging behavior
under 100% load with all 24 burners in service was rst simulated
burning Coal 1 in Case 1. Combined with the actual operational status,
detailed analysis on the slagging position, extent and causes was
presented. Then, to identify the effects of various operating conditions
on the slagging characteristics, the other ve cases have also been
conducted. Case 2 was carried out with the four burners close to the side
walls cut off at full load with the corresponding D, E and F secondary air
still being supplied. Cases 3 and 4 were performed under 75% and 50%
loads; and Cases 5 and 6 were as for Case 1, but for different coal types
(Coals 2 and 3, respectively).

Table 1
Simulation conditions.
Case

Coal

Load (%)

Mills

Burners

1
2
3
4
5
6

1
1
1
1
2
3

100
100
75
50
100
100

4
4
3
2
4
4

24
20
18
12
24
24

Q. Fang et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 8896

91

4. Results and discussion

Table 2
Coal properties.
Item

Coal 1

Proximate analysis, wt.% (as received)

Volatile matter
4.83
Moisture
7.0
Ash
33.50
Fixed carbon
54.67
Lower heating value (kJ/kg)
20,040
Ultimate analysis, wt.% (as received)
Carbon
Hydrogen
Oxygen
Sulfur
Nitrogen

Coal 2

Coal 3

5.47
8.0
34.47
52.06
19,210

4.50
8.69
23.42
63.39
22,310

53.57
1.13
1.65
0.53
0.65

64.37
1.53
0.55
0.80
0.64

55.98
0.73
0.61
1.58
0.60

Table 3
Ash component, fusion properties and slagging tendency of the coals.
Item

Unit

Ash component
SiO2
Al2O3
TiO2
Fe2O3
CaO
MgO
K2O
Na2O
SO3
MnO2

%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%

Coal 1

Coal 2

56.97
26.92
0.95
5.98
1.41
0.64
3.76
1.09
0.67
0.19

Ash fusion point

DT
C
ST
C
FT
C

Coal 3

60.25
26.61
1.58
3.92
1.31
0.78
2.59
0.95
0.35
0.44

1220
1300
1400

54.54
29.30
1.15
5.04
1.66
1.50
4.75
0.50
0.12
0.04

1320
1460
N 1500

1450
N1500
N1500

DT deformation temperature.
ST softening temperature.
FT ow temperature.

Table 4
Operational parameters.
Item

Nozzle size Temperature Velocity Flow

Air rate Coal concentration
(K)
(m/s)
(kg/s) (%)
(kg/kg)

PA
VA
A SA
B SA
C SA
D SA
E SA
F SA

0.253 m
0.253 m
0.330 m
0.330 m
0.600 m
0.30 m2
0.30 m2
0.92 m2

366
366
599
599
599
599
599
599

19.8
4.8
35.2
35.2
5
8.1
8.1
11.3

43.2
10.7
27.4
27.4
19.4
33.6
33.6
145.6

12.8
3.2
8.1
8.1
5.8
9.7
9.7
42.6

0.946
0.199

Vent air valve opening is 30%.

The adjustable vane is located at the lowest position of the primary air nozzle.

The properties of the coals used are given in Table 2. The ash
component and fusion temperatures of the coals are illustrated in
Table 3. The operating parameters of the boiler are listed in Table 4. In
order to compare the effects of various operating conditions on the
slagging, the same coal and the same particle size distribution were
used. The pulverized coal particles were divided into 10 groups
according to their initial sizes as shown in Table 5.

4.1. Validation for simulation results

Fig. 2 shows the velocity eld, temperature and oxygen concentration distributions over the central cross section of the burner. It is
apparently seen that the velocity eld in Fig. 2(a) presents a W shape,
which indicates that the practical aerodynamic characteristics inside
the AF boiler furnace are reected properly. Below the regions of the
furnace arches, there exist two recirculation zones, which can entrain
high-temperature ue gas, enhance the heat transfer between the
pulverized coal particles and high-temperature ue gas, and thus
benet the stable ignition and combustion of the pulverized coal. It can
be observed in Fig. 2(b) and (c) that, due to the heating by the
convection of the high-temperature fuel gas and by the ame radiation,
the pulverized coal particles are ignited in time, and then combust
intensively to release a great amount of heat. Due to many refractory
belts, a high-temperature and low-oxygen-concentration zone is
formed in the central region of the lower furnace, where the
temperature is between 1700 K and 1900 K and the oxygen concentration is below 6%. They are favorable conditions for the stable ignition and
combustion, and burnout of the low-volatile and anthracite coal. The
radiative and mixed superheaters in the upper part of the furnace and
above the nose were not included in the model established. This may
lead to the slight increase in the ue gas temperature in the upper
furnace. But it will not affect the ue gas temperature of the lower
furnace because the length between the lower furnace and these
superheaters is more than 10 m. In order to validate the simulation
results of the ow, combustion and heat transfer in general, a suction
thermocouple was used to measure the local temperature through the
observing ports along the furnace height when Coal 1 was burned. The
measurement points were 1.0 m away from the right side wall. Fig. 3
shows that the calculated temperatures agree well with the measured
values. Therefore, it is deemed that the present numerical results are
reasonable and reliable.
Fig. 4 shows the sticking particle masses on the right side and front
walls under 100% load in Case 1. The sticking particle masses on the
right side wall of the lower furnace are much larger than those on the
right side and front walls of the upper furnace, and those on the front
and rear walls of the lower furnace is near zero. This indicates that the
slagging mainly occurs on the side walls at heights between 5 and
17.5 m, where the refractory belts are laid in the lower furnace. In the
region of heights between 9 and 13 m, where the D, E and F secondary
air nozzles are located, the slagging is very serious. There is no
slagging on the front and rear walls of the lower furnace. Fouling
happens on the surfaces of water-cooled walls in the upper furnace.
To validate the rationality of the simulation results of the slagging, the
actual slagging pictures taken through the observing ports (in Fig. 5)
at the elevations of 9.74 m and 12.24 m indicate that the slagging was
serious on the side walls of the lower furnace at the height range of
the D, E and F secondary air nozzles. The slag is dense and hard to clear
off. But, it can be inferred from the pictures at the heights of 17.84 m
and 21.60 m that it is mainly fouling on the water-cooled walls of the
upper furnace. These are consistent with the predicted results.
Detailed analysis of the effects of the aerodynamic eld, temperature and oxygen concentration distributions on the slagging position,
extent and causes are discussed next. Fig. 6 illustrates the temperature
and oxygen concentration distributions in the regions close to the side
walls. It can be seen that there exists a region below the furnace
arches, where the temperature is up to 1800 K while the oxygen

Table 5
Particle sizes and mass percentage of the pulverized coal.
Diameter (m)
Mass percentage (%)

5
21.50

15
26.40

35
25.80

60
14.80

90
6.30

130
2.90

170
1.40

205
0.60

235
0.20

250
0.10

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Q. Fang et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 8896

Fig. 2. Computed results over the central cross section of the burner, (a) velocity eld (m/s), (b) temperature distribution (K), and (c) oxygen concentration temperature distribution
(vol.%).

concentration is only about 1%, implying a strongly reducing

atmosphere. It indicates an obvious slagging tendency in the regions
of the side walls. Both the simulation results and practical operation
show that the serious slagging mainly occurs on the partial side walls
of the lower furnace in the studied boiler.

close to the side walls, where no air ow enters at the beginning of the
combustion. Therefore, the more rapid expansion of ue gas in the
furnace center makes the ue gas on both sides deect, driving the ow

4.2. Analysis of slagging causes

Fig. 7 shows the typical velocity elds on the cross sections at various
depths. It can be observed that the ue gas ow deects obviously
toward and impinges on the right side wall. The velocity elds on the
cross sections at different heights in Fig. 8 also demonstrate that the ow
impinges on the right side wall. The impinging is more serious in the
regions of the right side wall around the heights of the D, E and F
secondary air nozzles, while slighter in the regions of the right side wall
above the arches. Due to the intensive combustion of the pulverized
coal, a high-temperature zone is formed in the center of the lower
furnace. Because the ue gas temperature in the central zone is higher
than that on both sides, the expansion of high-temperature ue gas in
the central zone is more rapid. Furthermore, there exists a lowtemperature zone 3.0 m long between the side walls and the burners

Fig. 3. Calculated and measured temperatures.

Fig. 4. Slagging masses on (a) the side and (b) the front walls under 100% load.

Q. Fang et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 8896

93

Fig. 5. Actual slagging and fouling pictures taken through the observation ports, (a) Z = 9.74 m, (b) Z = 12.24 m, (c) Z = 17.84 m and (d) Z = 21.60 m.

towards the side walls, and it impinges on the side walls. It is the most
important reason for the ue gas ow impinging on the side walls.
Fig. 9 shows the typical trajectories of the pulverized coal particles.
The pulverized coal particles re gradually during the downward
movement. When reaching the central zone of the furnace, they turn
and move upward due to the effects of the D, E and F secondary air
ows. Then they enter the upper furnace, the fuel-burnout zone, and
gradually burn out, and leave the furnace nally (Fig. 9(a)). From
Fig. 9(b), it can be observed that the pulverized coal particles,

especially those from the burners close to the side walls, move
towards and impinge on the side walls following with the ue gas
while burning at the same time. They burn intensively in the regions
close to the side walls, where a high-temperature and low-oxygenconcentration zone (see Fig. 6) is formed because of the refractory
coverage of the side walls. Therefore, the high-temperature and even
molten coal and ash particles directly impact on the side walls, which
is the essential reason for the slagging or the existence of a slagging
tendency on the side walls.

Fig. 6. (a) Temperature (K) and (b) oxygen concentration (vol.%) distributions on the
cross section close to the side wall.

Fig. 7. Velocity elds on the cross sections along the furnace depth, (a) X = 3.790 m, (b)
X = 6.865 m.

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Q. Fang et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 8896

also exists a small slagging tendency on the wing walls. The large
quantity and momentum of the D, E and F secondary air can prevent
the ow of the mixed pulverized coal and air from the arches from
directly impinging on the water-cooled walls of the ash hopper.
Therefore, slagging does not occur on the water-cooled walls of the
ash hopper.
4.3. Slagging characteristics under different operational conditions

Fig. 8. Velocity elds on the cross sections along the furnace height, (a) Z = 10.0 m, the
center of F SA nozzle, (b) Z = 12.20 m, between D and E SA nozzles.

There is no slagging tendency on the front and rear walls of the

lower furnace, in the region where the temperature is below 1200 K
and the oxygen concentration is above 15%, presenting an obviously
oxidative atmosphere. There are many secondary air slot nozzles (D, E
and F secondary air nozzles) located uniformly on the front and rear
walls of the lower furnace. The secondary air from these slot nozzles
can form air curtains which effectively prevent the impact of coal and
ash particles and consequently the slagging on the front and rear walls
of the lower furnace. It can be also seen from Fig. 2(b) and (c) that the
ash particles are less likely to deposit on the arches, in a region where
the temperature is not high and the oxygen concentration is over 15%.
In the upper furnace, the heat exchange between the ame and the
low-temperature water-cooled walls can cool the high-temperature
ue gas, char and ash particles. Therefore, only fouling occurs on the
water-cooled walls of the upper furnace. As discussed above, there

As analyzed above, slagging mainly occurs on the side walls of the

lower furnace. Therefore, the slagging intensity on the right side wall
of the lower furnace was used to study the slagging characteristics
under different operational conditions. Here, the slagging intensity is
equal to the ratio of the total masses of the sticking particles to the
slagging area in a unit time on the right side wall of the lower furnace.
In Case 2, the four burners close to the side walls were cut off. The
primary and secondary air from the arches is not supplied, but the D, E
and F secondary air corresponding to the burners cut off is still
supplied from the lower furnace. Compared to the slagging in Case 1,
when all 24 burners were in service, the slagging intensity is
signicantly reduced from 4.99 10 5 kg/m2 h to 2.53 10 5 kg/m2 h.
As discussed above, one of the essential reasons for the serious slagging
on the side walls is that the pulverized coal particles, especially those
from the burners close to the side walls, impinge on the side walls
following the high-temperature ue gas and burn intensively in the
regions close to the side walls. By cutting off the burners close to the side
walls, the coal particles impinging on the side walls will be largely
reduced, and the combustion temperature in the regions close to the
side walls will also be decreased effectively. As a result, the slagging
extent can be alleviated. Furthermore, the D, E and F secondary
air corresponding to the burners cut off can increase the oxygen
concentration in the regions close to the side walls, which can also lower
the slagging tendency on the side walls. Therefore, it is concluded that it
is effective to prevent the slagging on the side walls by cutting off the
burners close to the side walls, which has been validated by the actual
operating experiences burning Coal 1 and a similar AF boiler burning a
low-volatile and high slagging-tendency coal at Dafang power plant,
Guizhou Province, China.
In Case 3, three mills and 18 burners are in service for 75% load,
and in Case 4, two mills and 12 burners for 50% load. Compared with
the slagging status at 100% load in Case 1, the slagging intensity is
reduced from 4.99 10 5 kg/m2 h to 2.24 10 5 kg/m2 h, and then to
1.91 10 5 kg/m2 h. It means that the slagging is obviously alleviated
in these two cases. Therefore, it is also effective to prevent or alleviate
the slagging on the side walls by reducing the load. This is mainly
because fewer coal particles, owing with the ue gas, impinge on the
side walls and the furnace temperature is lower under lower loads,
resulting in a lower slagging intensity. It is also found that there exists
slight slagging on the partial front and rear walls of the lower furnace
and the burner regions of the furnace arches. Most of the primary and
some of the secondary air corresponding to the burners cut off will not
be supplied, and only a little secondary air is introduced to cool the
nozzles. Under these operating modes, an asymmetric aerodynamic
eld will be formed, resulting in deviant combustion in the furnace.
The high-temperature ue gas and part of particles will impinge on the
local regions on the arches and the front and real walls corresponding to
the burners cut off, and consequently the slight slagging occurs in these
local regions. So, the present simulations suggest that the operational
burners should be periodically switched on to prevent serious slagging
on the local regions of the front and rear walls in the lower furnace,
which may block D, E and F secondary air nozzles and be harmful to the
safety and economic performance of the boiler.
Coals 2 and 3 with different slagging tendencies were employed under
full load in Cases 5 and 6. Compared with the slagging status burning Coal
1 in Case 1, the slagging intensity is reduced from 4.99 10 5 kg/m2 h to
3.5310 5 kg/m2 h, and then to 2.9510 5 kg/m2 h. It is well known

Q. Fang et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 91 (2010) 8896

95

Fig. 9. Typical particle trajectories in the furnace in the (a) depth direction, and (b) height direction.

that burning low slagging-tendency coals can effectively improve the

slagging characteristic. As the ash fusion points shown in Table 3, the
softening temperatures of Coals 2 and 3 are higher than that of Coal 1. This
indicates that the slagging tendencies of these two coals are lower than
that of Coal 1. Therefore, burning these two coals will result in lower
slagging intensities on the side walls. It also suggests that a coal of high
slagging tendency should be burned by mixing it with one having a lower
slagging tendency.
5. Conclusions
Numerical simulations of the slagging characteristics under different
operational conditions in a 300 MW FW AF boiler have been performed
using slagging models coupled with gassolid two phase ow and
combustion models. The simulated slagging characteristics agreed well
with the actual slagging status in the real furnace.
It has been found that the serious slagging is mainly on the side
walls of the lower furnace. Because of the more rapid expansion of
the ue gas under the higher temperature, the ue gas in the furnace
center makes the ue gas on both sides deect towards the side walls,
and the pulverized-coal ame impinges on the side walls. It is the
essential reason for the slagging on the side walls. Under off-design
operating conditions, such as cutting off some burners, the local ow
eld is asymmetric and impinges on the local arch burner, front and
rear wall regions where the stopped burners are located. It results in
the slight slagging on the arch burner regions and the front and rear
wall regions of the lower furnace. Some fouling occurs on the watercooled walls of the upper furnace. A small slagging tendency also
exists on the wing walls. The present study suggests that cutting off
the burners close to the side walls, reducing load and burning the
coals with low slagging tendency are the effective measures to
alleviate the serious slagging on the side walls.
Acknowledgements
The nancial support of this research from the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Nos. 50806024, and 50721005), the HiTech Research and Development Program of China (863 program,

contract No. 2007AA05306) and the Program of Introducing Talents of

Discipline to Universities (111 project, No. B06019), China are
acknowledged.

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