Supercritical Boiler with Low Mass Flux,

Vertical Wall Design

J. Franke, Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany
T. Balakrishnan, V. Balarathinam, CETHAR Vessels Limited,
Tiruchirapalli, India
Abstract
Supercritical Boiler technology is gaining acceptance worldwide as Clean Coal Technology due to
its significant advantages like higher overall plant efficiency, reduced coal consumption, reduced
gaseous emissions like SOx, NOx and CO2 and particulate emission. Large capacity units of size
600 to 1000 MW are now built up with supercritical parameters. In India, the trend is clearly towards
large capacity Mega / Ultra Mega Power Projects based on supercritical technology. Evaporators of
once through supercritical boilers are designed with either high mass flux spiral/vertical wall or
low mass flux vertical wall. This paper deals with low mass flux vertical wall design developed by
Siemens AG, Germany. The authors of this paper feel that the low mass flux vertical wall design has
many distinct advantages over high mass flux spiral/vertical wall design.
Introduction
The major difference between a drum type
boiler and once through supercritical boiler is
the furnace wall design. An once through
furnace wall design needs to take care of the
temperature difference between tube-to-tube at
furnace wall outlet due to the variation in
furnace heat absorption. Also the occurrence
of boiling crisis like DNB and Dryout and
associated metal temperatures need to be
critically analyzed and taken care in the furnace
wall design. There are basically two types of
furnace wall designs used namely helically
wound spiral wall and vertical wall. The design
aspects of these two types of furnace wall are
discussed in this paper.
Furnace wall design requirements
Furnace sizing is decided by the heat input,
coal and ash characteristics like fouling &
slagging
tendency,
initial
deformation
temperature, and furnace heat loadings which
are derived from the experience of the boiler
manufacturer in firing different types of coal.
In short, furnace sizing philosophy is same for
both drum type and once through boilers.

However, the furnace wall design (evaporator

system) is different in case of once through
boilers.
A drum type boiler operates with circulation
ratio of normally around four to six (4 - 6).
This results in a steam quality of about 1725% (% of steam by weight) of the two phase
flow at the outlet of the furnace walls. With
this high water content of the two phase flow
the tube walls remain wetted at all loads. The
water and steam mixture leaves the furnace
wall at saturation temperature and there is no
temperature difference between adjacent
furnace wall tubes.
In once through boiler, the fluid passes
through the furnace walls only once and
enters superheater for further heating. When
the boiler operates at supercritical pressure at
higher loads (typically above 70 %), the
furnace walls have single phase fluid. The
supercritical fluid from economizer outlet
enters the furnace walls and its temperature
continuously increases along the furnace
height. When the boiler operates at lower
loads (below 70%), it will operate at sub
critical pressure. Hence at lower loads, single

phase water from economizer outlet enters the

furnace walls and upon addition of latent heat
of evaporation, gets converted into a two
phase mixture (water and steam). At certain
height along the furnace wall, all the water will
be evaporated into saturated steam. Further
addition of heat will increase the temperature
of steam such that it becomes superheated at
furnace wall outlet.
In other words, the fluid temperature at furnace
wall outlet in an once through boiler is not a
fixed temperature and there is tube-to-tube
temperature variation. The heat absorption of
furnace wall tubes varies due to their location
within the furnace enclosure, difference in
length and hence difference in hydraulic
resistance, variation in burner heat release
pattern and furnace cleanliness. For example,
the corner tubes receive less heat than the
middle tubes. Due to this variation in heat
absorption, the temperature of the medium at
furnace wall outlet is different from tube-totube.
A good furnace wall design of an once through
boiler should take care of the following:
1. The furnace heat absorption variation and the
temperature difference between tubes at
furnace wall outlet
2. Boiling crisis like DNB and Dryout are
properly addressed and associated peak tube
metal temperatures are kept within allowable
limits for the material selected.

Dryout
As the water and steam mixture flows along the
furnace wall, at higher steam quality boiling
crisis known as Dryout occurs. During the
occurrence of Dryout there is a sudden loss of
contact between the water and the tube wall
which results in deterioration of heat transfer
and rise in tube metal temperature. Refer Fig.1.

Fig.1
The occurrence of both boiling crisis (DNB and
Dryout) must be considered in the evaporator
design. In both cases the steam cooling must
be sufficient to ensure a reliable cooling.
Evaporator system
There are mainly two types of evaporator
system suitable for sliding pressure operation
being used today namely spiral wall design and
vertical wall design. Refer Fig.2.

Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB)

Under certain conditions of heat flux, mass flux,
tube geometry, steam quality and pressure, the
steam bubbles formed inside the furnace walls
do not collapse but coalesce to form a film of
superheated steam over the inner wall of the
tube. This condition is known as film boiling.
The point at which film boiling occurs is known
as departure from nucleate boiling (DNB).
Refer fig 1. When DNB occurs, the tube metal
temperature shoots up. For high heat flux, DNB
may occur at low steam quality.

Fig.2

Spiral wall high mass flux design

1. Smaller OD tubes

In an once through boiler, the feed water flow

matches the superheated steam output and
hence the flow per tube is less compared to a
drum type circulation boiler. In order to increase
the flow per tube or mass flux to ensure
sufficient cooling of the tubes throughout the
boiler operating regime, a spiral wall evaporator
system with the following design concept is
adopted.

2. Furnace wall construction is made up

of vertical single pass upward flow
tubes.

1. Smaller OD tubes.
2. Helically wound spiral wall construction in
which the tubes are inclined (15 to 25 deg.)
and furnace tubes pass through the
circumference of the furnace more than one
time and connected to a transition header
above the burner zone. Above the transition
header the furnace enclosure is made up of
vertical water wall tubes. The spiral wall
concept reduces the number of parallel
tubes and hence increases the mass flux
through the tubes. As all tubes pass
through all the furnace walls, any variation
in heat absorption is applicable to all these
tubes and hence the temperature difference
between these tubes is minimized.
3. To achieve reliable cooling the mass flux
generally adopted is around 2000 kg/(m2s)
at full load. It may be chosen higher for
other reasons, e.g. to lower the minimum
load for once through operation.
4. Smooth tubes are adequate, as the mass
flux is high.

In a spiral wall design with high mass flux, a

tube which receives more heat draws less flow
due to higher frictional loss. The fluid flow
response with respect to heat absorption
variation is illustrated in Fig.3.
Vertical wall low mass flux design
In vertical wall evaporator system the following
design concept is adopted.

3. A mass flux of around 1000 kg/(m2s) is

used and this is known as low mass
flux design.
4. Rifled tubes with optimized tube
geometry are used in the lower
furnace and smooth tubes are used in
the upper furnace.
The vertical wall low mass flux design is based
on an important flow characteristic known from
natural circulation boilers and therefore called
Natural flow characteristic which is illustrated
in figure.3
In a parallel tube water / steam flow circuit, the
system hydraulic resistance i.e. pressure drop
is the same in all tubes which come from the
same inlet header and have the same outlet
header. However, there is variation in heat
absorption among these tubes as explained
earlier. A tube which receives more heat
produces more steam. But since the mass flux
is already low by design, the increase in
frictional pressure loss (dynamic head) is low
compared to the decrease in static head and
therefore draws more flow to maintain the
system pressure drop in the circuit. Similarly, a
tube having less absorption will receive lower
flow. Thus a natural flow characteristic is
established with the low mass flux design. This
ensures that the temperature difference
between adjacent tubes at furnace wall outlet is
kept to a minimum. Refer Fig.3

Fig.4

Behaviour of Individual Tubes with Higher Heat Input

The advantages of using OMLR tubes are

illustrated in Fig.5. It can be observed from the
figure that the peak metal temperature is the
lowest for OMLR tubes compared to smooth
tubes and standard rifled tubes with the same
mass flux. For identical wall temperatures the
mass flux in an OMLR tube can be halved
compared to a smooth tube.

Fig.3
Use of Rifled tubes in the lower furnace
As the heat release rate is high in the lower
furnace particularly in the burner region, it is
essential to ensure sufficient cooling of the
tubes in order to protect them at the location of
boiling crisis and associated peak metal
temperatures.
To reduce the peak metal temperatures,
BENSON low mass flux vertical wall design
uses specially developed Optimized Multi Lead
Rifled (OMLR) tubes in the lower furnace
region. Fig.4 illustrates that an OMLR vertical
tube ensures wetting of the inner wall such that
the Dryout occurs - compared to a smooth tube
- at a safer elevation above the burner zone
and at higher steam quality with higher steam
velocities.

Fig.5
Vertical wall, high mass flux design:
There are some designs with vertical single
pass upward flow tubes with higher mass
fluxes. This design does not exhibit the natural
circulation characteristics as in low mass flux
design. Standard rifled tubes with orifices are
used in this design to take care of the tube-totube temperature differences.

Vertical wall vs. spiral wall design

Following table gives a comparison of the different evaporator designs.

Parameter

Spiral wall

Mass flux

High
High
(around 2000 kg/(m2-s) at full load or
1800 to 2000 kg/(m2-s) at
above)
at full load

Low
(around 1000 kg/(m2-s) at full load)

Furnace wall tube

Smooth tubes

Rifled tubes & Orificing

Optimized Multi Lead Rifled Tubes

(OMLR)

Pressure drop in
furnace wall

Higher

Higher

Lower ; Good savings in BFP power

consumption

Furnace
wall attachments &
buckstays

Complex
Simple,
Typical increase in weight for a 660 MW Self supporting
boiler is approx. 400 MT.

Simple
Self supporting

Manufacturing and
construction

Difficult compared to vertical design Easier

Easier

Experience of vertical low mass flux

design
Yaomeng power station in China had 2 x
300MW subcritical units. The first unit was
refurbished by Doosan Babcock into an once
through vertical wall low mass flux design
based on BENSON boiler technology and
commissioned in year 2002. The operating
experience has proved successful and thus
established the vertical low mass flux design
concept. Based on the success in unit-1,
order for refurbishment of unit-2 also has
been placed on Doosan Babcock in 2007.
Lagisza, 1 x 460MW CFB Boiler has been
built with vertical wall low mass flux design by
Foster Wheeler, Finland. The unit is
commissioned in 2009.
Baima, 1 x 600MW CFB Boiler by Dongfang
China is under construction.
Foster Wheeler is constructing a pulverized
coal fired Boiler of 750 MW capacity using
vertical low mass flux design for Longview
project, USA. The unit is planned for
commissioning by 2011.
In addition, many Anthracite fired once
through supercritical boilers are in various
stages of execution in China.
Conclusions
Once through boiler with supercritical
parameters improve the overall plant cycle

High mass flux,

Vertical wall

Low mass flux

Vertical wall

efficiency and heat rate which results in

reduced coal consumption, reduced gaseous
emissions and pollutants. The vertical wall
low mass flux design developed based on the
test results of vast number of experiments
conducted by Siemens AG, Germany offers
significant advantages like natural flow
characteristic, reduced feed water pump
power consumption, a furnace wall design
simpler to fabricate, erect, operate and
maintain ensuring the reliability and
availability on par with drum type units. The
concept is also validated by the experience
gained from some of the operating units.
References
1. BENSON training manual by Siemens
AG, Germany
2. The worlds first supercritical boiler FWBenson vertical PC Boiler The Long
view power project by Stephen J.
Goidich, Richard J. Docherty, Kenneth
P.Melzer Powergen Europe, Colonge,
Germany, May 26-28, 2009
3. Seven Years On The worlds first
commercial low mass flux vertical tube
Benson boiler by P J Bell, C H Chen &
I R Torkington, Doosan Babcock Energy
- Electric Power 09.
4. Introduction of supercritical / Ultra
supercritical technology in India by

T.Balakrishnan & V.Balarathinam

Energex 2008, Tiruchirapalli, India.